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NBA finals: Spurs v. Heat

Kooze

Kooze

Game 1 is tonight. Miami looked less than impressive in beating the Pacers. The Spurs are getting old and this may be the last chance their big 3 have the opportunity to win a championship.

Im definitely rooting for the Spurs and think the have a decent shot since they have a pretty big lineup, and the Pacers showed that Miami may be vulnerable to a strong physical inside presence.

on a side note, why do announcers continue/ insist upon pronouncing Dwyane Wade as Duh Wayne? Is drives me nuts. I heard some guy pronounce Dwight Howard as Dawhite. One more: why is Steven A. Smith known as Steven A? on 1st take, Skip always says, "what do you think Steven A"?, or begins speaking to him by saying "Steven A". If there is only one person in the room, do you really need to use his middle initial? Argh- rant over.

go Spurs.
 
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SalvadorMontenegro

I think and hope the Spurs will win. Mainly because of Popovich. He's the best coach in the league.

I think that the pronunciation of Dwyane and Dwight is a regional thing. Steven A. Smith refers to them both as a Duh-wayne and Duh-wight. He grew up in Queens, so it's probably a peculiarity of that regional dialect. The same way people in Boston don't go to a PARty, they go to go a PAHty and people in New York go to a PAWty.

I have no idea why Steven A. is called Steven A., but my guess would be that there are a lot of Steven Smiths in the world, so he threw in the A. to stand out and it stuck. He became known as Steven A. Smith and "Steven A." as a nickname just stuck, as well, I guess.

While we're on the subject, I thoroughly enjoy that program, First Take. I want to... uh... take Cari Champion out on a romantic date... Seriously, she's a great addition to the show. She has great rapport with Skip and Steven... A.
 
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warhawk

warhawk

I am going with the Heat to win in 7. This will be the Heat's biggest challenge. If the best player in the planet (Lebron) gets a little help from DWade, CB, and some flashes from Birdman, Cole, Ray Allen, Battier, Chalmers, and Haslim then I think the Heat will win.

All I gotta say is that this is going to be a fun match up. I can't wait to watch. I am so pumped up for this to begin.

WARHAWK
 
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SalvadorMontenegro

LeBron looked like Cleveland LeBron, very unassertive in the fourth quarter. Chris "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Bosh shot as many three pointers as Ray Allen (3-4). And made none of them.
 
Havok305

Havok305

The Heat looked good up until the 4th. They were just outplayed. It was a great game. Still rooting for the Heat (Miami native), but this is going to be their biggest challenge. Allen's first shot was a 3 pointer which he made, but needs to be more productive.
 
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SalvadorMontenegro

Agree. Miami throttled them. 16 turnovers for the Spurs versus six for Miami.

Weird game. Weird series. Kind of disappointing, in my opinion. I expected to see the stars play like stars. Instead, game two was a battle between Danny Green and Mario Chalmers. We even got to see Tracy McGrady!
 
Kooze

Kooze

SalvadorMontenegro said:
Agree. Miami throttled them. 16 turnovers for the Spurs versus six for Miami.

Weird game. Weird series. Kind of disappointing, in my opinion!
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What a horrible game for SA. Duncan looked horrible, and Manu G has looked horrible in both games. Duh Wayne wade looked better (not hard to do though-I can't stand this guy) and Chalmers stepped up to be the player he is supposed to be. Mike miller and ray allen showed up. I stopped watching after the 3rd, as it was too painful to watch.

no way I'm watching espn/ or listening to Steven Smith today.

go spurs
 
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SalvadorMontenegro

I don't know that they've got it figured out, yet. Still a long ways to go.

It was another weird game. The role players (particularly Danny Green and Gary Neal) really stepped up, while the Spurs' big three were quiet. LeBron shot 0 (!!!!!!!!!) free throws. He obviously knows far more about basketball than I'll ever know, but I don't understand what he's doing. He's playing the way he played against Dallas two years ago. It's almost like he's being defiant, or something. Kawhi Leonard is doing a great job on him, but he seems like he's not into it at all. I really don't know what he's doing. It's weird to watch.
 
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SalvadorMontenegro

I'm bordering on celebrity gossip here, but I almost wonder if there's some sort of behind the scenes conflict between the Heat players. After the loss to Indiana in Game 6 of the Conference Finals, Wade had that quote about how he and Bosh needed to get their shots. Wade then came out and had a huge Game 7.

The last two games, LeBron's mentality has seemed to be, "Okay, I'll feed you all the ball for three quarters and if you don't get it done, I'll come in and play Hero Ball in the fourth and win this one for us." It worked in Game 2, because his teammates were playing well enough offensively and defensively and San Antonio was throwing the ball all over the place (16 turnovers). In Game 3, last night, he started to get going at the end of the third, but San Antonio was shooting the lights out (as Havok said) and the rest of the Heat were very mediocre. My point: in the past two games, LeBron has been conspicuously inconspicuous for the first three quarters; and in Game 1 he was better, but he only had 18 points. Is that deliberate?

He strikes me as a guy who doesn't like confrontation or conflict, so I wonder if he's deferring deliberately. When a guy who drives to the hole like a freight train and is virtually unstoppable there shoots zero free throws, something is very off.
 
mattdenicola

mattdenicola

Agreed. The Heat game plan isn't in sync with the talent they have. During the regular season, it works, simply because the sheer talent differential is sufficient to win on a night-by-night basis. But in a seven game series, when the other team is able to make adjustments and institute a game plan, it gets tougher. It's why they've struggled so much in this playoffs. A good set of opposing coaches with some matchup exploits can nearly erase the talent differential. Indiana proved that. The Spurs are proving that. I'm not saying the Spurs are going to win, because I just don't know. But I think it speaks to some of the frustrations from the "Big 3" you outlined above.

Chris Bosh is basically a spot up jump shooter for the Heat. But c'mon, Chris Bosh is not a spot up jump shooter. I can see his frustration
D-Wade looks gimpy, both physically and mentally. I think he was fine deferring so long as the team was winning. But when things got tough, his ego came out a little, and hence the Game 6 frustrations.
Lebron has all the talent in the world. And he is surrounded by all the talent in the world. There is absolutely no reason they shouldn't have swept through the Eastern Conference. There is absolutely no reason for them to lose by 30 some-odd points, to any team, ever. But Lebron is a "team ball" player. It isn't a bad thing. In some ways, it is refreshing. But I don't know why the media expects him to step up and say "I"m going to do more." The whole reason he came to Miami was because he realized that him going solo doesn't work. So when things get rough, he points out the obvious - Bosh and Wade are struggling. He is going to win with team ball, and he is going to lose with team ball. Don't expect hero-ball from Lebron ... ever. He just isn't built that way.

I caught a little whiff of turmoil after that Game 6 interview as well. I see it playing out one of two ways. One is that there is indeed trouble in paradise. It happens to all the super-teams ... bands, sports teams, you name it. Egos get ruffled as soon as something goes wrong. And if they lose this year, expect more ruffling in the off-season and into next year. Perhaps a coach gets fired. Perhaps a guy gets traded (Bosh). The other side of that coin is that perhaps these guys really are good enough friends that they can call each other out, publicly or privately, and it is no big deal. It may indeed be a testament to how dedicated to this team they are, and they will go down swinging, together.

Of course, winning cures all. Make no mistake, this finals has pretty big implications for Lebron's career. Win here, and the story is a guy who just won two straight championships on two straight MVPs. Been to the Finals three times in a row. On pace to return to the Finals every year for the foreseeable future. He just needed the right surroundings to elevate his game. And he wouldn't even need to win again and the media will still tout him as one of the best ever. But lose here? ... things are very different. His solo championship really becomes an outlier, an the story line shifts to him only being able to win if the others around him are good enough to take him there. The onus to prove himself re-settles securely on his shoulders.
 
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SalvadorMontenegro

I think that last year LeBron proved that he can step up and lead. But I also think that's because Dwyane Wade let him. I think Wade realized that LeBron is the better player now (considerably better, at this point), so he reluctantly took on the sidekick role for the good of the team. Between the two of them, though, I think Wade is the more alpha personality. He has more of the Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan killer instinct than LeBron does; and I think that LeBron will defer to Dwyane Wade rather than get involved in an awkward situation. Not that I think LeBron is afraid of Wade, I just think he's conflict averse and would prefer to avoid any sort of drama, or complications. I think the fact that Wade is older and has played his whole career in Miami also makes it difficult.

LeBron was taking over in the playoffs until Game 7 against Indiana, right after the Wade comments following the Game 6 loss. Now he's the facilitator again.

I wonder what the team would be like without Wade. If it was just LeBron and Bosh and the rest of the stellar cast of role players. I can't imagine the team will ever jettison Wade, but it would be interesting.

I agree that this series means a lot for his legacy. If he loses, he's 1 for 4 in the Finals. Win and he's 2 for 2 and, obviously, has two titles.
 
ichiban-

ichiban-

I think the spurs did a great job of mixing up defenders though and keeping lebron off balance by forcing him to adapt to a different defender. But that fact that he didn't take a free throw is ridiculous and he needs to get to the line more.
 
Havok305

Havok305

And that is how you play some defense. The Heat were outstanding last night. The Spurs didn't have all those wide open 3's from game 3. The Heat hustled on both sides of the court. Lebron stepped up with 30+, Wade was incredible. He looked like a much younger player, 30+ points. Bosh, 20+ points. The big three had over 80 points. Allen played well. Birdman had no minutes, but the game plan was perfect. So many blocks!

It will be an interesting game 5.
 
Kooze

Kooze

Has anyone seen Manu Ginobili? His ball handling and dribbling ability may be worse than mine. If the Spurs weren't hitting three's all series, they may have been swept. I saw David Robinson in the stands- think he needs to suit up to give the Spurs a stronger inside presence. Kawhi Leonard is pretty impressive for such a young player. I'm glad Parker is ok, b/c that guy can play some ball.

Lebron was much more aggressive, wade was on fire and even Bosh showed up.

Seraphim said:
Not 1.....not 2......
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I hope it stops at one- go Spurs
 
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