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),
SAN ANTONIO — Adam Silver was not convinced that the sauna-like conditions in the T&T Enter (get it? No AC) led to LeBron James’ cramps. “Did anybody else cramp up?” he asked me as he exited the arena. The new commissioner’s first game as David Stern’s successor is one that will live in infamy. It was sweltering inside the Spurs’ home arena on a day when the temperature reached almost 100 degrees outside and came close to that inside. How hot was it
Players were rolling ice bags on their neck and head during and after Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Tim Duncan said he hasn’t played in this type of heat since he left the Virgin Islands. The Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs played under highly-unusual conditions, as the air conditioning in the AT&T Center stopped functioning due to electrical issues, according to Tim Reynolds of The AP: [Read more…]
How will the San Antonio Spurs guard LeBron James? Exactly one year ago, as the 2013 NBA Finals were about to tip off in Miami, the above inquiry was the question. After all, what is the most effective way to defend such a powerful, explosive, unselfish all-around threat? If you paid attention to the epic series as it unfolded last season, you are well aware of the San Antonio Spurs’ strategy: Make LeBron James into an indecisive player by sagging off of him. Force
Wednesday the All-NBA Teams were announced, and with them came a slew of congratulatory, confused and frustrated tweets. Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant led all vote getters as the lone unanimous selection to the First Team, followed by Miami Heat forward LeBron James, Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah, Houston Rockets guard James Harden and Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul. Much to the chagrin of 124 NBA writers with voting privileges, Chris Sheridan, our esteemed Editor-in-Chief, was the lone vote preventing
It’s a good thing NBA media members voted for Gregg Popovich as Coach of the Year. Because if the San Antonio Spurs win the championship, we won’t want to look back at the voting 20 years from now and wonder how the man who pulled off perhaps the greatest single-season coaching job in league history didn’t win the award. I didn’t believe Popovich was the Coach of the Year. I thought the award should have gone to Jeff Hornacek of Phoenix, who
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…]
Will this be the third time NBA fans are treated to this scene? Home Court Advantage? Some in the media are falling too much in love with the regular season standings and statistics, as if the regular season really mattered to either of the teams in the NBA Finals. Some pundits are touting the San Antonio Spurs as being a superior road team because they had the best road record (30-11) during the regular season. That is bunk. First of