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,
Lots of NBA news today, so let’s get right to the latest: FINALS WON’T DETERMINE LEBRON’S FUTURE Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com The Heat’s success or failure in these Finals will not affect LeBron James’ decision on whether to opt out of his contract by the end of this month, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. James and the Heat would be the first team in NBA Finals history to overcome a 3-1 series deficit and come back and win a title.
MIAMI — We’re four games into the 2014 NBA Finals and the most consistent player on the floor hasn’t even broken double figures yet. His name is Boris Diaw, and the tremendous impact he has had on this series is still reverberating around South Beach and the rest of America as the San Antonio Spurs followed their 19-point Game 3 victory with an equally impressive 107-86 victory in Game 4 over the Miami Heat, who have been forced to the brink of elimination
When you play the San Antonio Spurs, there is always a risk of getting completely blown out of the game – sometimes by half time. You just don’t expect the Miami Heat to be one of those teams. In two consecutive games in the NBA Finals, no less. No matter how you predicted this series would go (I predicted Spurs in 6), no one could have seen this coming. The Heat were supposed to be the most formidable bunch for the Spurs after
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
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…]
If you break up Chris Andersen’s nickname into two words, you have the operative sentence for Game 2: Free Bird. [Read more…]
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),