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SAN ANTONIO -- Moments after getting his championship ring on the night this NBA season opened last October, Mike Miller walked to midcourt, grabbed a microphone and addressed the delirious crowd. "The journey that starts tonight is going to be even more challenging," Miller said. At the time, Miller had no idea how prophetic those words would seem. Stuck on the Miami Heat bench for much of the year, laughing on the outside as little more than a coping mechanism designed to hide his frustration, Miller is getting plenty of time again in these NBA Finals. A star of last years title series -- he made his first seven 3-point tries of Game 5, the clinching win against Oklahoma City -- Miller is relishing the chance to contribute to perhaps a second straight championship. "Its definitely been a good experience, but weve got a lot of basketball left," Miller said. Miller made all three of his 3-point attempts Sunday night in Miamis 103-84 victory that tied the series against the San Antonio Spurs at one win apiece. Game 3 is at San Antonio on Tuesday night. If the current trend continues, Miller will be the first sub off the bench for coach Erik Spoelstra. Over a 2 1/2-month stretch earlier this season, Miller saw first-quarter minutes exactly once. Hes now gotten them in each of Miamis last three games, after taking the role that had been filled by Shane Battier, who was sent to the bench because of a shooting slump. "The little things," Spoelstra said when asked what Miller brings to the table. "He does a lot of those things. Very similar to Shane. Some of those things dont show up in a box score, but his effort, his hustle, extra efforts, closeouts. He has a knack for being around the ball. If you see a collision or loose ball, Mike likely is involved with it somehow, some way. You add all those up, those are winning plays." And he still can shoot, which helps. Millers three shots from Game 2 might not seem like much, but they all came at key times. His first gave Miami a lead in the second quarter, and his two others helped fuel what became a 33-5 run. Miller was on the floor for all but the very first field goal in that massive Heat spurt. He replaced Dwyane Wade with 3:11 left in the third quarter, with the Heat up 63-62 pending a free throw by Mario Chalmers. When Wade returned and Miller came out with 7:43 left to play, it was 91-67. Wades locker is next to Millers, and at least once this year, Wade asked Spoelstra to find Miller some more minutes. The way Wade sees it, having Miller around without a spot for him to play has been "an amazing luxury" for the Heat this season. "I love it. I love seeing Mike Miller on the floor," Wade said. "Im just as excited to see him as I am when Im on the basketball court, because I know what he can bring to this team. And not even just his ability to shoot the ball, but his ability to rebound. Mike is an underrated playmaker as well." The problem with Millers time has been that hes playing behind guys like Wade, Battier and Ray Allen. Good luck cracking into that rotation. Spoelstra was up-front and direct with Miller from the outset. "He told me from the beginning," said Miller, who entertained retirement talk after battling about a half-dozen injury issues last season but is now feeling as good as he has in years. "If you look around this locker room, Im playing behind three Hall of Famers. So hes told me from the beginning that its going to be spot and when he calls on my number Ive just got to deliver." The Heats "Little 12" -- as they tend to call themselves in a nod to Miamis "Big Three" of Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh -- have been delivering. "Thats when theyre at their best. Thats when every team is at their best," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "When the perimeter is making shots, when the bench is playing well, when you have a lot of contributors, that helps you win basketball games." Look for more of it in Game 3. Obviously, and wisely, the Spurs defensive game plan will revolve around James, Bosh and Wade. And what just about every team has encountered over the last three years is the pick-your-poison problem of either overloading on Miamis superstars and playing off the role players, or trying to play someone like James 1-on-1 and rolling some very tricky dice. "When Mike gets the ball, our shooters got the fluorescent light on our team," James said. "Theyre not even allowed to pass. When Ray and Mike get the ball, they have to shoot it. No matter how close the defenders are, they have to shoot it. When you have that leeway and that confidence, you just have to let it go." Its expected that the Heat will try to address their luxury-tax issues over the summer, and Miller knows that hes making too much money -- about $13 million over the next two years -- to have his game-night attire essentially adhered to the bench. He could be traded. He could be the player the Heat cut loose through their still-available amnesty provision. Or he could stay. All that might get sorted out in the coming weeks. For now, theres a second ring for Miller to chase. "Ive got a lot of basketball left," Miller said. "Its the best Ive felt in five years. That might have something to do with the fact I havent played. Sometimes theres some light at the end of the tunnel even when youre frustrated. So I feel great and, knock on wood, it stays that way."Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Free Shipping . Tests earlier this week revealed a Grade 2 left hamstring strain for Sabathia, who was hurt in last Fridays start against San Francisco. Its an injury that will require about eight weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4. Cheap NFL Jerseys China . LUCIE, Fla. https://www.chinajerseysnfl.us/ . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. Fake Nike NFL Jerseys . -- Canadian Andrew Wiggins got the ball on the wing, made a nifty spin move and then let go with a soft floater from about 10 feet that swished through the net in Allen Fieldhouse. Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap . On Mar. 16, coming off a "fight of the year" performance at UFC 154 the previous November, St-Pierre faced Nick Diaz at UFC 158 in what would be his eighth defence of the welterweight title. Using his superior athleticism, St-Pierre cruised to a five round, unanimous decision victory setting up a much-anticipated title defence against number one contender Johny Hendricks.BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente downplayed any personal satisfaction derived from his teams season-opening performance, but needless to say, he enjoyed most of what he witnessed in his debut as the Hokies head coach.Virginia Tech quarterback Jerod Evans threw for 221 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Hokies to a 36-13 season-opening victory over Liberty on Saturday, handing Fuente his first victory.Fuente, who spent the previous four seasons at Memphis, took over in January for Frank Beamer, who retired after 29 years as Virginia Techs head coach.The atmosphere here is fantastic, Fuente said. Its what college football is all about. People at Virginia Tech take a lot of pride in the game-day atmosphere, and they should. It was incredibleMy thought process coming into the game was how would our kids handle this? How do they respond when things dont go well. There were some times when things were kind of ugly looking, but I liked the way our kids dug in there and plowed away. The atmosphere was fantastic and Im pleased with the way the kids responded to adversity.Fuentes decision last week to name Evans the starting quarterback certainly looked like a good move after Evans completed 20 of 32 passes. He threw touchdown passes on the Hokies last two possessions of the first half to help Virginia Tech rally from a 13-10 deficit.It was a great feeling, Evans said. Its been nine months of hard work. We finally got to showcase what weve been working on for nine long months. We had some mistakes, for sure. I know on my part I had a lot of mistakes that I am going to clean up, but it was exciting.Evans, who won a three-man battle for the job, played less than three quarters. Fuente pulled him after he fumbled on an option pitch -- his second fumble of the game.Some good and some bad would be my first impression, Fuente said of his quarterback. We neeed to take care of the football.dddddddddddd He made some good plays in the passing game. My gut reaction is some good and some bad.Liberty amassed just 160 yards of offense, scoring all of its points off of Virginia Tech turnovers. The Hokies lost four fumbles.They made more plays than we did, but well bounce back, Liberty coach Turner Gill said. We will be a better football team from this ball game.THE TAKEAWAYLIBERTY: Liberty quarterback Stephon Masha got off to a rough start in his attempt to replace Josh Woodrum, a four-year starter. Masha completed 9 of 25 for 70 yards and two interceptions. It was a sloppy debut overall for Liberty, which committed 13 penalties, including eight false-start penalties.VIRGINIA TECH: The Hokies defense struggled with consistency a year ago, but looked good Saturday. Virginia Tech, which intercepted just 10 passes last season, had three, marking the 41st time under defensive coordinator Bud Foster that the Hokies have intercepted at least three passes in a game. Theyre 38-3 in those games.It was a good starting point for us today, Foster said. I was pleased with how we played. We didnt give up any explosive plays. All in all, I thought we did a nice job in some sudden-change situations and on third down. I think they had 11 turnovers last year, so that (forcing the turnovers) was big.UP NEXTLIBERTY: The Flames will serve as hosts to Jacksonville next Saturday in Libertys home opener. The game will be Libertys first against an opponent from the Pioneer Football League.VIRGINIA TECH: The Hokies now get ready to take on Tennessee at Bristol Motor Speedway next Saturday night in a game that could set college footballs single-game attendance mark. The two teams havent met in the regular season since 1937. ' ' '