So now what for LeBron James? A miraculous Ray Allen 3-pointer helped King James eventually get to a second championship last season. This year, the Miami Heat never even put themselves in position to cut their deficit to single digits in the final three games. In fact, the San Antonio Spurs outscored the Heat by a jaw-dropping 70 points in five games in this year’s Finals – the biggest point differential in NBA Finals history. That means James lost to the Spurs
One of the obvious takeaways from the 2014 NBA Finals was that the San Antonio Spurs clearly have more good players than the Miami Heat. When the series began, it appeared to be a showdown of each team’s “Big Three” – Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker for the Spurs and LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh for the Heat. But as the Finals progressed, the talent gap separating the teams became evident. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich trusted his bench,
To fill the time between now and what could be the last game of the 2013-14 NBA season, we bring you another edition of the Three-Man Weave. This time, we examine possible NBA Finals MVP candidates – none of whom are among San Antonio’s “Big Three” – and what Miami can do to get back into the series. 1. Who is the NBA Finals MVP thus far? [Read more…]
You may not have noticed it, but Chris Bosh was perfect from the field in Miami’s Game 3 loss, going 4-for-4. Of course, that is a broad interpretation of the word “perfect” because Bosh only taking four shots is far from ideal. As the Miami Heat reviewed film Wednesday in preparation for Game 4, the need to get Bosh more touches was one of the paramount points. Also, Miami needs to get more efficient production from Mario Chalmers, whose nine assists
It will be easy for Miami Heat fans to say that LeBron James’ absence cramped their team’s style. James sat for almost all of the last 7 1/2 minutes of Thursday’s NBA Finals opener, and the line of demarcation was too obvious. There was a 17-point swing following the moment when James first exited with leg cramps as a close game headed for a fantastic finish devolved into a 110-95 win for the host San Antonio Spurs. “With five and change (left),
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…]
Miami relatively cruised through its first six playoff games, with only one of their wins coming by fewer than 11 points. After trailing by two at halftime in Saturday night’s Game 3 against the Brooklyn Nets, the Heat finally took a punch it could not counter. “They got virtually everything,” Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the Brooklyn Nets’ second half offensive surge. “Everybody knows the threes they hit towards the end of the third quarter but they were getting