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
Brian Shaw won five championships in Los Angeles with the Lakers, three as a player and two as an assistant coach. Clippers general manager Gary Sacks likes him, and Lamar Odom has endorsed his hiring. Makes sense, right? Well, nothing ever completely makes sense with the Clippers, where Donald Sterling rules the roost. [Read more…]
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
MIAMI – The Miami Heat knew they could not go to San Antonio down 2-0, and as much as the Spurs wanted Game 2, once it started to get away from them it simply snowballed into a blowout. [Read more…]
We know the Miami Heat have to be better in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night. But can the San Antonio Spurs be better? The Heat’s issues have been well-documented. LeBron James needs to be more of a scorer. Role players such as Udonis Haslem and Norris Cole have to contribute more than the collective 6-of-15 showing they managed in the opener. [Read more…]
It’s a game of milliseconds, yes. Tony Parker’s clinching bucket with .0000001 seconds left on the shot clock in Game 1 of the NBA Finals proved that. But this game also comes down to sheer inches. And here, The San Antonio Spurs — like the Indiana Pacers before them — have a decided advantage. Granted, no way the San Antonio Spurs beat Miami 92-88 without the brilliance of 6-1 Tony Parker, or future star 6-8 Kahwi Leonard, who did just about as good a
The leading men would never admit this, but is there any athlete in the world who is currently in a better position than 37-year-old Tim Duncan? You’ve got to think anyone would like to trade places with him, even LeBron James. And it has nothing to do with Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs having a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals over James and the Miami Heat. [Read more…]
The Miami Heat have not lost two consecutive games since January. What happens to them if they drop Game 2? I’ll tell you: They run the risk of becoming mental midgets in Game 3 and then getting swept out of the NBA Finals next Thursday night. Should we expect that to happen? The folks who have 25-1 odds on a San Antonio sweep certainly hope so, but there is still a long, long way to go in this series. [Read more…]