In the 2005 finals, the Spurs won the first two games against Detroit but had to go seven to win the title.

“I remember,” Ginobili said. “It was really embarrassing. Hopefully the guys that were in that finals learned from that.”

The Cavaliers, who were down 0-2 against Detroit in the conference finals, can also look to last year’s finals for comfort. Miami lost Games 1 and 2 in Dallas before going home to Florida and winning three straight and then beating the Mavericks on their home floor for their first championship.

“We’re definitely still confident,” James said. “We’ve been down 2-0 before and we have to find a way to get back the intensity we had in the fourth quarter and carry it into Game 3.”

Gibson added 15 points, Drew Gooden had 13 and Sasha Pavlovic 10 for the Cavs, who went just 19-of-29 from the line and got zero points in 20 minutes from point guard Larry Hughes, who is playing with a foot injury.

After building a 12-point lead in the first quarter while James was out, the Spurs pushed it to 17 on a 3-pointer from Ginobili. Parker scored on a three-point play and whizzed through the lane for a layup to make it 46-26.

Then, with 30 seconds left before the half, Parker drilled a 17-foot jumper to make it 58-30. By then, most of America had probably already switched over to “The Sopranos” series finale to see if Tony got whacked.

He didn’t. The Cavaliers did.

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As fans dressed in silver and black poured into the arena on a sultry night in south Texas, a mariachi band played to chants of “Go, Spurs, Go,” a cry that can be heard in the streets of the Alamo City even when there’s no game scheduled.

Several fans posed to get their pictures taken in front of a display case containing the club’s NBA title trophies from 1999, 2003 and 2005. There’s plenty of room for a fourth, and the Spurs appear poised to get it.

Notes: Duncan, who had eight assists and nine rebounds, is second in career blocks in finals history with 63 behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had 116. ... The Spurs are just the fourth franchise to play in four finals in a nine-year span since the ABA/NBA merger in 1976-77. ... Gibson led the Cavs with 16 points in the series opener, becoming the first rookie to lead his team in scoring in a Game 1 since Phoenix’s Alvan Adams in 1976. ... Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens, a close friend of Cavs G Damon Jones, sat courtside. ... More than 14,000 fans watched the game at the Q in Cleveland, where the game was shown in High-Definition 3-D.