SAN ANTONIO — Manu Ginobili is so down on himself, he is actually considering retirement. Not that he is leaning toward retirement, but on Saturday at practice, the day before the Finals against the Miami Heat resume with the series tied 2-2, Ginobili sounded like a player who is ready to move on to the next stage of his life — maybe after one more year in the NBA, maybe sooner. [Read more…]
LeBron James is struggling in the playoffs, and that means everyone is talking about his demise. When the King struggles – which he rarely does – it is always major news. Usually, his struggles stem from the inability of his teammates to step up and make plays. In Game 3 of the NBA Finals, however, that actually wasn’t the case. For once, LeBron didn’t have a whole lot to blame for his poor performance other than himself, and that’s exactly what
The San Antonio Spurs might be in trouble. On the surface, things appear to be OK. The Spurs have executed their defensive game plan, which is to turn LeBron James into a passer. They have prevented the Miami Heat from turning either game into an extended relay race. And most important, they secured a split of the first two games as the road team, which is practically mandatory in the 2-3-2 format of the NBA Finals. Beneath the surface, however, the Spurs
Even before a preposterous third and fourth quarter run, the Miami Heat had already gotten back into a great position in its NBA Finals series against the San Antonio Spurs. Through the changes and adjustments made by the Heat during the first three quarters of Game 2, they had already erased the bad mistakes and trends that ended up haunting them in Game 1. Sure, the result was a 103-84 blowout win for Miami over San Antonio, but margin of victory
Indiana took Miami to seven games in the Eastern Conference finals but the Heat were able to knock out the Pacers in Game 7. The San Antonio Spurs may have as much talent as the Pacers, but they’re a much better team. With sturdy defense, unusual discipline and unbelievable performances from its two brightest stars, San Antonio edged Miami, 92-88, to take Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night. First of all, and most importantly, Miami has to contend with an
It is almost as if Gregg Popovich and Erik Spoelstra knew this was coming all along and have been preparing for this two-week journey against each other for many, many months. Before we dive into our betting preview for the NBA Finals, it is important to learn how we got to this point. [Read more…]
Among the monumental sports topics that are debated everywhere – from local fine drinking establishments to radio and television shows where participants spend hours shouting at each other – is the issue of dynasties. In sports, identifying and labeling dynasties is a must. It’s part of our DNA. And then when a dynasty is established and accepted as fact, it must be compared to other dynasties. That is mandatory. It is what makes sports sports. [Read more…]
… 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. [Read more…]