Sheridan Video: Spurs Will Win in 7 Because …

… because they won’t choke on the grandest of stages at the grandest of moments. They are mentally incapable of laying the type of egg that the Indiana Pacers dumped on us all last night.

There are more reasons, detailed below — both in print, and in the video below with CineSort’s Noah Coslov.

Among them …

• Tiago Splitter is no Roy Hibbert — but he is a reasonable enough facsimile to do exactly what Hibbert did (until Game 7) that gave the Heat such fits. He can score inside with either hand, he can be a beast on the boards, he can be a rim protector and a deterrent. Now, if he goes to the free throw line with the game on the line, I’d much rather have Hibbert. But Splitter is the defensive x-factor for the Spurs, and the amount of second-chance opportunities he creates will be a key factor in the series.
• Tim Duncan is no David West. Yes, both have been All-Stars. But Duncan has been to the league’s showcase event 14 times; West twice. Duncan is a better shooter and shot blocker, Duncan is an 82 percent free throw shooter after having that aspect of his game be his Achilles heel throughout his career. Dude has been drinking something from the Fountain of Youth, and I want a glass of that stuff — whatever it is.
• Tony Parker is 10 times the player that George Hill is. Remember last year’s Eastern Conference finals when the Heat had absolutely no answer for Rajon Rondo’s speed, scoring ability and creativity — not to mention the level of confidence with which he played? Parker is going to be every bit as much of a problem for the Heat. As for Hill? Two stinkers in his team’s final three games shows why the Spurs traded him away for the rights to Kawhi Leonard and Erazem Lorbek, whose name you should tuck away in the memory banks.
• Manu Ginobili can be excellent or dreadful off the bench, and it won’t matter. Anything they get from him will be gravy — and I predict they will be getting a lot of gravy in Game 7. Manu is at a point in his career where he can be as ineffective as Dwyane Wade was throughout the majority of the Eastern Conference finals (the difference is that we’ve seen it before from Manu, but not from Wade), but the guy is a big-game player and will be at his best in Game 7.
• No team executes their offense, no matter who is on the floor, than the Spurs. The Pacers had their moments from time to time, which was enough to win three games. But the Spurs have their moments every single game. They are viciously relentless and efficient.
• Gregg Popovich is smarter than Erik Spoelstra. He is also smarter than you, me and everyone not named Stephen Hawking.

I’d be picking Spurs in 5 if not for the fact that LeBron James is going to win two games all by himself.

(RELATED: Hubbard: To Keep Building his Own Dynasty, LeBron Must Defeat Another)