MIAMI — Game 7s do more than settle championships. They define legacies. No matter what happens tonight, LeBron James and the Miami Heat, and Tim Duncan’s San Antonio Spurs have already won NBA titles and secured a place in history. Now is their opportunity to elevate it. The truly memorable teams won the hard way, and that will be the case for the one celebrating at center court this time. It’s either a Heat repeat, possible only after James led them back from what seemed certain elimination in the closing seconds of Game 6, or the Spurs shaking off as gut-wrenching a loss as a team can have to become just the fourth club to win a Game 7 of the NBA Finals on the road. “As a competitor you love it, because you know you have an opportunity and it’s up to you,” Heat guard Ray Allen said. “We have a chance in our building to make something great. All of our legacies are tied to this moment, this game. It’s something our kids will be able to talk about that they were a part of. Forever will remember these moments, so we want to not live and have any regrets.” Allen played in the game the last time the NBA’s season went down to the very last day, the Boston Celtics fading at the finish and falling 83-79 to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2010. That made home teams 14-3 in finals Game 7s, with no road team winning since Washington beat Seattle in 1978. Overcoming those odds, not to mention the NBA’s winningest team, would make this more memorable than the Spurs’ previous four titles, though this is a franchise that never dwells too much on the past or looks too far into the future. All that matters is now. “You know what, it’s all about just winning the title. It’s not about situation or what has led up to it,” Duncan said. “It’s a great story for everybody else, but we’re here for one reason, one reason only: It’s to try to win this game (tonight). We have had a very good season thus far, and I think we just want to get to the game more than anything. We just want to see what happens and be able to leave everything out there.” The teams trudged back to the arena Wednesday, some 12 hours after the Heat pulled out a 103-100 overtime victory in Game 6 to even the series. The Spurs, five points ahead with 28 seconds left in regulation, had to fight off fatigue and heartbreak, insisting neither would linger into today. By far the best game of this series, Game 6 immediately took its place among the best finishes in finals history, with everything from James’ triple-double to Allen’s tying 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left in regulation. It had close calls, debatable decisions, and the NBA’s best player at his very best when his team needed him most. Games 2-5 in the series had been ugly, but that one was a beauty. “I think — I know — that game will go down as one of the best finals games that’s been seen,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. “But I think this series will go down as being one of the most competitive, bizarre series that’s been seen. So this is what you pay for to watch. You pay to watch two great teams battle to the very, very end, and that’s what we’ll do (tonight). It will be to the very last second.” The Heat could become the NBA’s first repeat champions since the Lakers in 2010. James and Chris Bosh moved to Miami to join Wade a few weeks later and they are in the finals for the third time in three chances. But playing for titles is more expected than celebrated now in Miami, and a 66-win season that included a 27-game winning streak — and perhaps the whole Big Three era — goes down as a failure if the Heat fall tonight. Yet James said he doesn’t need the victory to validate his decision to take his talents to South Beach. “I mean, I need it because I want it and I only came here — my only goal is to win championships,” he said. “I said it, this is what I came here for. This is what I wanted to be a part of this team for.” He, Wade and Bosh are going for No. 2, while San Antonio is getting a second shot at what would be a fourth together for Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. All their years together have given the Spurs’ trio the belief they can bounce back from Tuesday’s collapse. The team went to dinner after the game, Duncan figuring that was better than guys sitting alone with their thoughts in their rooms. Parker and Boris Diaw discussed a similar situation with the French national team in the 2005 European championships, when they blew a late lead against Greece in the semifinals but then came back to beat Spain for the bronze medal. “We just have to be positive and forget Game 6,” Parker said. “It was a great opportunity, but that’s life. It’s basketball and everybody will be ready.” So will James, who was planning a relaxing night with family and friends Wednesday. He has the most at stake in the game, and when it’s over he’ll be either a two-time NBA Finals MVP or a two-time loser in a Heat uniform. “I want to go down as one of the greatest. I want our team to go down as one of the greatest teams. And we have an opportunity to do that,” James said. “Hasn’t been many teams to win back-to-back championships. It’s so hard. It’s the hardest thing. I said last year it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, winning my first. Last year don’t even come close to what we’ve gone through in this postseason and in these finals. “So I’ll be there (tonight). I’m going to give it my all.” The Spurs have never lost in the finals, but they’ve never faced a situation quite like this. They won a Game 7 for the 2005 championship, but that victory over Detroit was at home. The last five finals that went the distance all went to the home team. “I don’t really care what it’s been like for anybody else at any time,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “All I know is we have had a hell of a year and we have an opportunity to win a championship. That’s all that matters.”

In little more than a month, Tiger Woods went from being tough to beat to having a tough time even playing. Woods said Wednesday that soreness in his left elbow would keep him from defending his title next week in the AT&T National at Congressional, and that he would not compete again until the British Open next month at Muirfield. This is the sixth straight year that injury has kept him from either playing a tournament or finishing one. The culprit this time is a strain in his left elbow. The problem first became apparent during the opening round of the U.S. Open last week at Merion, when he was flexing his left wrist or dangling his arm behind his back after shots out of the thick, punishing rough. “I was examined after I returned home from the U.S. Open, and the doctors determined I have a left elbow strain,” Woods said on his website. “I have been advised to take a few weeks off, rest and undergo treatment. I’ll be ready to go for the British Open, and I’m looking forward to playing at Muirfield.” His injury is a blow to the AT&T National, which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. This will be the third time since it began in 2007 that Woods has missed the tournament because of injury — knee surgery in 2008, his left Achilles tendon in 2011 and an elbow injury this year. “Any time you have Tiger in the field, it certainly adds to it a lot,” tournament director Greg McLaughlin said. “But we have a very nice field this year and we look forward to a great AT&T National.” Masters champion Adam Scott and U.S. Open champion Justin Rose are among those scheduled to play. McLaughlin said Woods is to be at Congressional at least on Wednesday to take part in the opening ceremonies. Woods was not specific about when or how the latest injury happened. He first showed signs of being hurt after hitting shots in the rough during the rain-delayed opening round at Merion, though he told a USGA official it was “fine” when he left the course Thursday evening. After finishing the first round Friday morning, he said only that the reason he grimaced after shots out of the rough was because of “pain” and that he felt it on a few shots. That afternoon, he revealed that he first hurt his elbow at The Players Championship, but he declined to say which round or on what kind of shot. Woods won The Players Championship on May 12 for the first time in 12 years. It was his fourth PGA Tour win of the season. Woods picked up those four in just eight starts worldwide, and the win at Sawgrass was his third victory in his last four tournaments. The exception was the Masters, where he tied for fourth, four shots out of a playoff. But the last two tournaments have produced a surprising outcome. At the Memorial, where Woods was a five-time winner and the defending champion, he had the worst nine-hole score of his career with a 44 on the back nine that led to a 79 in the third round. He tied for 65th and finished 20 shots behind, his largest deficit for a full-field event. At Merion, he wound up with a 13-over 293, his highest score ever for the U.S. Open and tied for his highest 72-hole score in any major. Even so, the announcement Wednesday was surprising. Woods had said Friday at Merion that he would not have withdrawn even if it were not the U.S. Open. He was not asked about his elbow the rest of the week. It will be the 10th time Woods is unable to defend a title in official PGA Tour events, with six of those related to reconstructive surgery on his left knee after he won the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. The last time he failed to defend was in 2010 at Bay Hill, when he was returning from the scandal in his personal life. His website said he felt minor discomfort before going to Merion and aggravated the area last week. Woods extended his regrets to AT&T, secondary sponsors and fans in Washington for not being able to play. “The AT&T National means a lot to me and my foundation,” he said. “It’s especially difficult not defending at my own tournament. It’s going to be a great event, and I look forward to being there to provide my support.” AT&T is under contract as title sponsor through 2014. The Dallas-based company recently announced that it would take over as title sponsor for the Byron Nelson Championship starting in 2015. It also is the longtime title sponsor at Pebble Beach. The British Open is July 18-21 at Muirfield, where Woods’ bid for the calendar Grand Slam ended in 2002 when he was caught in nasty weather. Woods shot 81 in the third round — 10 players failed to break 80 — for his highest score as a pro.