Battier on possible last game: 'I love the game, I also don't want to play the game anymore'

Sunday night's pivotal Game 5 between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs may mean a little something extra to Heat forward Shane Battier.

Battier would surely love to make the comeback from down 3-1 in the series and earn his third NBA championship, but the bigger talking point before the game was that if the Heat's title run comes to an end on Sunday, Battier's NBA career will end with it.

The 13-year veteran hasn't hidden that he'll be hanging 'em up at the end of the season, though he'll still only speak in vague terms about retirement, like he did on Sunday with CBS Sports:

That's the rumor. That is a possibility. I've never approached a game thinking about the consequences. You think about the process and you let the results fall where they may. I'm not going to change that.

The Duke product and rumored future ESPN College Gameday analyst was even more honest than that when asked if he'd stick around the game once he's done playing:

This is in our blood. You can't dedicate your life to a craft for 25 years and then walk away without any connection. I love the game...I also don't want to play the game anymore.
...
Greatest job in the world. I wouldn't trade a minute of it for anything. I've played without any regrets.

As for whether he thinks he'll get another game or two out of the series, he said that "if regression shows up to the party, we'll forgive her," referring to the Spurs' ridiculously hot shooting.

Still, if this is it, Battier sounds like a guy going out on his own terms, which you have to appreciate and respect.