Despite some suggesting they may roll with Matt Bonner, like they did late in the Western Conference final, or Boris Diaw, who seems the best option on paper, the San Antonio Spurs will start Tiago Splitter at center for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday.
With the Miami Heat starting a smaller lineup with Rashard Lewis at the four, it seemed as if Diaw, who is a more agile and versatile post player and a decent option to guard LeBron James for stretches, could get the start. Splitter, however, was successful in concert with Tim Duncan in last year's final, with the Spurs outscoring the Heat by 19 points with that duo on the floor together.
Splitter averaged a modest 4.9 points and two rebounds in 15.4 minutes in that series. What's more curious, though, is that the Spurs didn't use that look much once the Heat went small late in that series, so it's a slightly new wrinkle to the matchup.
Splitter averaged 8.2 points and 6.2 rebounds this season, shooting 52.3 percent form the floor, numbers that have improved slightly in the playoffs to 7.9, 6.8, and 59 percent, respectively. Even still, Splitter became a non-factor against the Oklahoma City Thunder when Serge Ibaka proved too tricky a matchup problem.
