When the San Antonio Spurs play their brand of basketball and stick to the game plan, there is virtually no team in the NBA that can hang with them. The Miami Heat included. After being criticized by Gregg Popovich in Game 2 for trying to take over the game individually – a formula he promised would ultimately fail them – the Spurs put on an absolute clinic in moving the ball, breaking down the defense and getting fantastic shots one possession after
As the NBA Finals move on to Game 2, we are back with another Three-Man Weave. This time, we take a look at the cramp quotient for LeBron James and which adjustments each team needs to make. 1. Now that the air conditioning at the AT&T Center is supposedly fixed, are LeBron James’ cramping issues a thing of the past? [Read more…]
I have always pondered the challenge of being an NBA coach, so here’s my attempt at coming up with three different key strategies for both coaches and teams to implement if they are going to win the championship. I personally feel that San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich is not only the premier coach in the game today, I actually believe he is one of the greatest leaders of any sport in the history of our country. On the other side you have Miami’s
Having been to nine NBA Finals, winner of five, Earvin “Magic” Johnson is more of an expert on what it takes to make it to the promised land than most, save for Bill Russell and Phil Jackson, among only a select few others. With the start of the 2014 NBA Finals just days away, Magic took to Twitter to share some insight into what it is going to take for the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat to win. [Read more…]
2014 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah led all vote getters for the NBA All-Defensive First Team. The NBA released the 2014 All-Defensive teams Monday afternoon. Leading the charge was the 2014 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year and Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah, who led all vote getters. He was the only player to get triple-digit votes for the First Team, tallying 105 such votes as well as another 13 Second Team votes
LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard figure to be seeing a lot of each other over the next two weeks. That will be the small forward matchup in the NBA Finals. Just like last year, it should be a good one, because both players were named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team on Monday. Neither the Miami Heat nor the San Antonio Spurs have anyone on the All-Defensive First Team, which was voted on by the media and has Defensive Player of the
It didn’t matter that the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs four times in the regular season and held them to an average of 96.8 points in those games. The Thunder knew that going up against the focused, tough veteran group with homecourt advantage would be a tough task. Especially without Serge Ibaka. During those regular season games, the Spurs scored an incredible 27.8 more points per 100 possessions when Ibaka wasn’t on the floor. On Monday in Game 1,
There have been some fair comparisons drawn between the current 17-game winning streak of the San Antonio Spurs and the remarkable 27-game run put together a year ago by the Miami Heat. Both teams expect to compete for the NBA championship. Both teams found their rhythm at the most opportune time of the season. Both teams stormed to the league’s best record and home court advantage throughout the playoffs. There are obvious differences as well. For one, San Antonio still needs 10