“I’m getting the shots I want,” said Duncan, who is 11-of-32. “I just have to knock them down.”
Don’t expect the metronomic Duncan to continue to shoot 34 percent from the field. And Parker gets to the rim enough to remain efficient. But if Ginobili doesn’t get untracked, it may not matter.
When Ginobili shot just 42.5 percent during the season, many attributed that to the nagging injuries that kept him sidelined and prevented him from developing any rhythm. But his shooting has dropped to 38 percent in the postseason, and injuries are no longer an excuse. During San Antonio’s long layoff, he said he was healthy and feeling better than at any point in the season.
If San Antonio’s offense doesn’t start clicking, you have to wonder how long the Spurs can stay in this series because they have issues on the other side of the ball as well.
4. Defensive scheme. No one should envy Gregg Popovich’s job, which has been devising a plan that somehow limits James, who is by far the best player on the planet. The basics of his scheme are fairly simple – make James a passer.
Unfortunately, James is arguably the best passer in the game. He leads the series with 17 assists. He also leads the series with 26 rebounds. And while he has been held below 20 points in consecutive playoff games for the first time since the 2011 Finals, he also leads the series with 35 points.
As great players do, James has found other ways to dramatically impact the game. His pinpoint passing has resurrected shooters Ray Allen (6-of-9 3-pointers) and Mike Miller (4-of-5). And serving as the screener in pick-and-roll action in Game 2 turned loose Mario Chalmers for 19 points.
If you remove Chris Bosh (0-of-4 in Game 1), who was relocated inside the arc for Game 2, and 
Shane Battier (1-of-6), who has been relocated to the end of the bench, the Heat are shooting 50 percent (17-of-34) from distance in the series. That is primarily due to James’ ability to beat double-teams with laser-like passes to the perimeter.
“We’re going to have to make some adjustments on a couple the stuff defensively,” Parker admitted.
Given the pedestrian postseasons of Bosh and Dwyane Wade and the likelihood that Miami’s shots will not fall with the same frequency on the road, Popovich is probably looking at tweaks more than wholesale changes. But he might want to take a look at a couple of possessions of single coverage on James, just to see how the Heat react to it.
It is also unlikely that James will continue to average 17.5 points in this series. Sooner or later, he is going to have an explosion game, and there will be nothing Popovich or his players can do about it.
TRIVIA: These NBA Finals feature four former Finals MVPs. But a pair of past Finals featured five former Finals MVPs. What were the years, and who were the players? Answer below.
THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: The Atlanta Hawks employee who sent a letter to potential ticket-buyers that mentioned Dwight Howard and Chris Paul and could subject the team to a league fine for tampering may have been Cal Bowdler, a former first-round pick of the team.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy, asked about the influences his brother Stan may have had on Erik Spoelstra during their days toether in Miami:
“Well, Spo doesn’t eat the same food Stan does, so that’s good. He doesn’t eat Oreos by the package. He still seems like he’s relatively together.”
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You might ask the Post Office for their tracking information. Often, the Post Office is able to track people’s movements – from, say, a foreclosed house to a relative’s house or to a post office box – by noted changes in addresses.
je n’ai pas eu un changement de juge n’avait pas encore, mais c’est ma compréhension que le système fonctionnera toujours avec tous les onduleurs d’autres, si vous échouez. Cela signifie qu’une défaillance onduleur assommer un seul des 18 panneaux et laisser les autres 17 Arbeitstage.Ein Un autre avantage est l’onduleur le toit qu’il simplifie le câblage. Il s’agit d’un circuit simple 240V/30A sur le toit et je n’ai pas besoin d’un câble lourd pour les panneaux à courant continu. Merci pour le commentaire!
It is so important that companies view themselves as members of our local, national, and global communities. Thank you Tyson Foods for taking on the responsibility of being a community member. I hope you will continue to give back, with all that you are given.
I much prefer invromatife articles like this to that high brow literature.
C’mon, Chris. The Spurs were 1-1 in Miami with 2 poor shooting games. You had to know they would get untracked shooting the rock, and well… Game 3 happens. Manu wakes up (for at least this game), LeBron is flustered as far as figuring out where his scoring is to come from. Wade is a 1 half kind of impact player for now, and Bosh, I kinda feel bad for. Anyway, this series is going at least 6 games and I close with… Go Spurs!
That is okay…people have been writing the Spurs obituary for a long time now…no surprise here…they just keep proving the media wrong…let’s get game 3..Go Spurs Go!!!!!!!!!
cracks me up, after the first SPurs win, all the sports writers were writng “Heat in trouble”….then the heat win, and because they have to write SOMETHING….its “spurs might be in trouble”. Neither is true. I think three stragith at home is tough for Miami….unless joey crawford’s crew gets another game right away. San Antonio is the better team. But….they had miami tired, and a bit rattled at the start of the third….and they fell apart. Rarely do pop’s teams fall apart that way. I dont expect it to happen again. On the flip side..LeBron will figure to score more. A lot depends on if wade can hold up, because he is critical, as bosh is a dead loss. But…I favor Spurs in six…..these three straight are tough to imagine them losing more than one, if that.
You always are pretty on with your comments, and I know there was an overall woe-is-them tone after Game 1 but I was not among that chorus. I though the Spurs made a couple more plays than the Heat down the stretch of a close game. As for how the rest plays out, Heat don’t need two in SA. They just need one, and based on history of middle 3 games they will get it. After that, Spurs have to play Game 6 like its Game 7, because LeBron will win Game 7 on home floor. But thanks for reading as always.
forgive my snide tone……..no, the format becomes far too big an issue……..its terrible to do the 2-3-2……..and it does feel as if SA didnt really win back home court…..just how it feels. They did….but you’re quite right……..heat only need, and if they get it, they’ll feel comfortable. Im not sure they will though…..and i’ll stick with Spurs in six. No question game three means a lot.