SAN ANTONIO, Texas, June 21 -- It was still a one-point game with just over two minutes left, so you may not have noticed the Spurs' fourth quarter collapse in Game 6 of The Finals.

But make no mistake about it, the Spurs' performance on offense in the final 12 minutes played a significant role in their 95-86 loss to the Pistons Tuesday night. Detroit completely took San Antonio out of its game down the stretch.

During the first three quarters, San Antonio scored more than half of its 67 points in the paint. Guards Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker regularly broke down the defense with penetration. Forward Tim Duncan was getting passes and buckets in the post.

A tally of 10 three-pointers in 12 minutes won't win you games. D. Clarke Evans/NBAE/Getty Images

But in the fourth quarter, San Antonio abandoned that strategy and turned into a jump shooting team. They took 10 three-pointers in the final 12 minutes, and finished with a 6-of-20 fourth quarter performance from the field.

"We were a bit frenetic and probably trying to do some things one-on-one instead of with the group in an effort to win a basketball game," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "That's real dangerous against a team that's as poised as Detroit."

San Antonio managed just six points in the paint in the final period and Duncan received only a couple of touches on post-ups late in the game.

"I think we should have put the ball a little more inside on Tim," Ginobili said. "Probably the last two games we won because of those threes. Today we relied on that too much and it was not a great night. So we should have been smarter."

Many of the three-pointers came when the Spurs offense broke down and a perimeter player had to try to bail the team out.

"We were just too quick with everything that we did, not waiting for the game to come to us as individuals and then playing with it, but trying to force things," Popovich said. "Because when you do that, there probably are not any lanes in which to penetrate. You have to let that happen, and when they are there, they are there."

Duncan acknowledged that his team lost its offensive focus towards the end, saying, "We did hold on to the ball a little too long at times."

Duncan also explained he didn't want to force shots just because he hadn't received a lot of touches.

"The ball stuck a little bit," he said. "We went through a stretch there where we were forcing some bad ones or we were not hitting the open guy."

Detroit deserves as much credit for San Antonio's fourth quarter funk as the Spurs deserve the blame. The Pistons aren't regarded as one of the toughest defensive teams in NBA history for nothing. They failed to rotate defensively quick enough on Parker and Ginobili's penetration in the first half but made adjustments at the break.

"I think in the second half, they collapsed better and they came in a little faster." Parker said. "The big guys came in a little bit quicker."

Often the mark of a true champion is the ability to close out an opponent. Although the Spurs failed in that regard in Game 6 they still can redeem themselves by closing out the series in Game 7.

-- Brad Friedman will cover the Spurs throughout The Finals.