MIAMI — The proverbial “Next step.” When a young player scores a career-high 29 points on 10-for-13 shooting in a 111-92 win in Game 3 in a tied NBA Finals, takes that “Next step,” it’s a big deal (especially in the social media centric world we live in today). Normally he’ll shower, get dressed and head to the podium to answer questions from the media. That was not the case on Tuesday evening. Stone faced and serious, Kawhi Leonard headed toward the throng of media
Everyone likes a good movie, and most movies serve as great distractions from life. They invite us into a new world where we are engrossed in the lives of fictional characters that have some linear story in which they experience various plot turns and twists before finding a resolution. It’s storytelling 101, and it captivates us all. NBA athletes are no less human and enjoy movies all the same. After suffering severe leg cramps and incapable of helping his team as the
As the NBA Finals shift from the pizza oven of San Antonio to the curtain-like humidity of Miami, should we be surprised that the Heat and Spurs split the first two games? Not really. The teams split the first two games in Miami a year ago, and it looks like they are settling into what should be another long series to decide the NBA champion. But that doesn’t mean the series hasn’t been without surprises thus far. [Read more…]
SAN ANTONIO — Ball movement. Two words. It’s that simple. When the ball moves, good things happen. When the ball stops moving, bad things happen. “You move it or you die,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. If you want to break down Game 2 into the one big thing that separated the two teams, you don’t have to bring up LeBron James’ 35 points. They were needed, of course, but the three biggest plays that James made came in the final 1:43 —
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…]
It was unbelievably hot in the AT&T Center on Thursday night. I know because I was there. And while LeBron James was cramping up, the San Antonio Spurs were heating up. In the fourth quarter of Game 1, the Spurs shot 14-of-16 from the field, including 6-of-6 from 3-point range, and turned a close game into a 110-95 runaway. So does San Antonio have the upper hand? Yes – but perhaps not for long. In the “Big Three” Era, Miami is a
If you break up Chris Andersen’s nickname into two words, you have the operative sentence for Game 2: Free Bird. [Read more…]
SAN ANTONIO — On your left we have a bottle of Powerade, endorsed by LeBron James. It’s supposedly the stuff he drinks to stay hydrated. (Cue laughter.) On your right we have a bottle of Gatorade, endorsed by Dwyane Wade. When it was mentioned Friday in a question to LeBron James, he refused to speak of the product by name. Then again, the word “Powerade” never came out of James’ mouth, either, a day after “Crampgate” and the broken air conditioning system at the