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Live NBA report on the 2005 NBA championship Game 7. These are totally unedited game notes taken live as the action happened.

JUNE 23, 2005: LIVE NBA FINALS GAME 7 NOTES

SPURS 81, PISTONS 74 [FINAL]

Spurs win NBA championship. Tim Duncan wins Finals MVP.

First quarter: San Antonio started slow, and with six minutes left Detroit took a 12-6 lead. The Spurs took a timeout and went on a 6-0 run to make it 12-12. Manu Ginobili was out at the time, as he had two fouls. And Chauncey Billups picked up his second foul with 4:30 or so left and the score still 12-12... Hot starters in this quarter were Ben Wallace and Tim Duncan... They just started playing a Jennifer Lopez song as the Spurs were trying to score... With 2:31 it's Spurs 16-12. The Spurs are on a 10-0 run since that timeout we mentioned above... Richard Hamilton's jumper is off, and none of his shots look good so far. They look like misses as he releases... Robert Horry has the Spurs' last six points (18-14 Spurs up, 1:30 to go)... Brent Barry stole a pass, ran, but Richard Hamilton stripped him at the rim for a great save... End of first quarter: Spurs 18, Pistons 16.

Unofficial stats at end of first quarter: Spurs shot 40%, Pistons 38.1%... Ben Wallace 6 points 3 rebounds 1 block... Richard Hamilton 2-of-8 shooting for 4 points 3 rebounds... Tim Duncan 4 points 3 rebounds 1 assist 1 block... Nazr Mohammed 0-of-3 shooting... Tony Parker 0-of-3 shooting... Robert Horry 8 points... Brent Barry 2 points 2 rebounds 2 steals.

Second quarter: It's a defensive struggle, still. Three minutes into the quarter and it's 23 all... Duncan, guarded by Antonio McDyess, backed in, bumped to clear space and put up a short shot to tie it at 25 with 8 minutes to go... A play later, McDyess guarded Duncan well, forcing a miss. And another, a play later... And a play later, McDyess got called for what appeared to be a phantom offensive foul. His second personal... At 6:18, Rasheed Wallace and Manu Ginobili's legs collided with each other, and Rasheed was slow to get up for just a few moments. Nothing serious... At 5:21, Rasheed Wallace fronted Tim Duncan, adjusted as the pass came in, and got called for bumping. It was Rasheed's third foul. He sits. It's still 25-25. Neither team has scored in about three minutes... A few plays later, Brent Barry hits a three. He and Robert Horry have come off San Antonio's bench to score 13 of the team's first 28 points... McDyess has been nice for Detroit... At 4:02, Pistons 29 Spurs 28, Robert Horry got smacked in the face during a rebound and stayed down for about 20 seconds. He hit two free throws... At 3:04, Ginobili hit a three to put the Spurs up, 33-31... Ben Wallace has scored twice in a row for Detroit... And now, three buckets in a row for Big Ben. He has 12 points, leading all scorers. With 1:33 it's tied at 35... End of second quarter: Pistons 39, Spurs 38.

Unofficial stats at end of second quarter: Detroit is shooting 45.0%, Spurs 42.9%... Detroit has 20 rebounds, Spurs 15... Detroit 12 assists, Spurs 7... Detroit 5 blocks, Spurs 1... The Spurs have shot 4-of-3 from threes, compared to about 1-of-8 for the Pistons... Ben Wallace 12 points 4 rebounds 1 block... Chauncey Billups 4 points 2 rebounds 5 assists... Richard Hamilton 4-of-12 shooting for 8 points 5 rebounds... Antonio McDyess 6 points 6 rebounds 2 assists 2 blocks... Tim Duncan 8 points 3 rebounds 1 assist... Tony Parker 2-of-7 shooting for 6 points 2 rebounds 2 assists... Manu Ginobili 7 points 2 assists... Brent Barry 5 points 4 rebounds 2 steals... Robert Horry 10 points.

Halftime: ABC is actually showing really cool footage. It's a mix of good game stuff and interesting behind-the-scenes stuff. Well done.

And no sooner do I say that then all of a sudden, live concert footage of Queen/Bowie is shown, as the song "Under Pressure" gets played over additional game highlights. Who picks this music? It's not basketball. But this is a constant problem in the playoffs on every network.

Third quarter: Tim Duncan dove for a loose ball, Chauncey Billups dove on top of and then over him, and Duncan was briefly shaken up. He's ok... At 11:09, not even one minute into the third quarter, Billups has his third foul and now Rasheed Wallace just picked up his 4th and has to exit. He has 2 points, 0 rebounds... The Spurs do not have a single fast break basket yet in this game... At 10:20, Hamilton drove, put in a runner and got fouled by Parker. Though, I saw no foul. Free throw good. Pistons up, 42-39... At 8:50, the Pistons got a fast break, Hamilton passed to Ben Wallace in the paint, who immediately dished nicely to Tayshaun Prince under the rim, who finished with a reverse dunk. The Spurs call timeout with the Pistons up 44-39 and around 8:30 left... At 7:45, McDyess caught the ball inside, against Duncan, and used physical force and quickness to create a layup... At 6:18, Tim Duncan scored for the first time in about 14 game minutes. It's now Pistons 48, Spurs 44 with 6:02 left... Ginobili scores. The Spurs have 7 straight points. Detroit calls timeout... At 4:33, Duncan drove, but nice help defense made him miss. Detroit is up 6... McDyess is out of the game with four fouls... Detroit temporarily went small, with Tayshaun Prince playing power forward, and it's not working. Detroit now leads 52-51, with 3:30 to go... A play later, Hamilton drove baseline, Duncan blocked the heck out of it, but Brent Barry got called for a foul... At 1:25 or so, Ginobili drove and got an open dunk to tie the game at 55 apiece... The Spurs are rallying. The entire team's energy is up and they now lead 57-55 with 30 seconds left... Tony Parker pulls up with 7.4 seconds left and fires an airball... Billups runs up, dishes to Lindsey Hunter in the right corner and Hunter nails a three to tie the game... End of third quarter: Pistons 57, Spurs 57.

Unofficial stats at end of third quarter: Tim Duncan had 12 points and 6 rebounds in the third quarter alone.

Fourth quarter: At 10:20, Rasheed Wallace nailed a beautiful turn-around jumper over Duncan with the 24 second clock running out, tying the game at 59... Ginobili in the halfcourt offense saw daylight and drove for a dunk... At 8:25, Horry nailed a three from the corner to put the Spurs up 5. Detroit at this time is just 1-of-9 from three-point range for the game... At 6:40 or so, Duncan grabbed his 10th rebound... And a play later, Duncan grabs an offensive rebound and dishes to Bruce Bowen, who nails a three, making it Spurs 67, Pistons 61 with 6:09 to go in the game... Billups has only made one field goal in the entire game so far... Rasheed hit another amazing shot over Duncan, pulling the Pistons to within four... At 4:05, Rasheed fed McDyess down low, but he missed... At 3:45 it's Spurs up 67-63. And on that posession, Duncan hits a deep jumper. Billups answers, back to Spurs being up four... With about three minutes left, Duncan got doubled and dished to Ginobili for a three, putting the Spurs up 72-65 with 2:46 left in the game... After a timeout, Rasheed fired an airball from outside... With 2:19 left the Pistons have just eight points in the entire quarter... Billups missed a free throw, Spurs still up six with 1:40 left in the game... Hamilton curled into the paint, crashed into Horry, and got called for an offensive. that's a huge play. Spurs ball, up six, 1:31 left... Ben Wallace stole it, Billups winds up scoring, Spurs up four with 1:10 to go... Duncan posts up against Rasheed Wallace, drives, Rasheed swipes at the ball and gets called for a foul. It looked like Rasheed got all ball on the replay. Duncan hits one of two free throws, Spurs up 73-68 with 1:02 left... Billups tried to fire an outside shot, but Bruce Bowen got in his face and blocked it. And Ginobili drove in for a layup, putting the Spurs up by 7. Next play, Rasheed hits a three to pull the Pistons to within four with 22 seconds. But Ginobili gets fouled, and hits both free throws. Spurs up 6. Pistons call their final timeout... The Pistons shoot but miss. Spurs ball with 18 seconds and a 6 point lead. Pistons foul Robert Horry. Horry hits both free throws. Next play, Hamilton drives, hits the layup and gets fouled. This with 10.7 seconds left and the Spurs up 6. Hamilton makes the free throw; Spurs by five. San Antonio outlets to Ginobili, who passes on a layup to waste a few seconds, gets fouled, hits both free throws. And a few seconds later, the game ends.

Final score: Spurs 81, Pistons 74

For the third time in the last seven seasons, the San Antonio Spurs are the NBA champions.