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24-Second Thoughts On Game 5

June 16, 2013  ·  11:26PM

24 – Manu Ginobili making Gregg Popovich look like the genius he is by starting him (much the same way Mike Miller made Erik Spoelstra look like a hoops Einstein by starting his veteran shooter in Game 4). Manu’s energy and effort early on will likely set the tone for the Spurs, who need a spark after getting handled the way they did in Game 4. Bald spot or not, Ginobili remains a champion and will show a champion’s heart in this game. Guaranteed.

23 – Tim Duncan and Chris Bosh are absolutely going at it in the post. You have to wonder how this series might have gone for the Heat if Bosh had played like this in Games 1, 2 and or 3 … he doesn’t have to get the better of Duncan. He needs only make Duncan work overtime (they are trying to front him on every offensive possession) for his offensive touches and put the pressure on him to defend Bosh in a similar manner on the other end of the floor.

22 – The Spurs’ balance is ruling the day early. They open a 10-point lead late in the first quarter bolstered by said balance and some great defensive work … make that a 12-point lead after another fantastic stop and scramble that results in a Kawhi Leonard dunk with 60 seconds to play. Their 29-17 lead was really 5-on-3. The only Heat players to score until the final seconds of the quarter were Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. Ray Allen scored the Heat’s only other basket

21 – Leonard has been exposed as a no-frills performer, rivaling Duncan for the title of the most boring (in a good way) player in this series. But how anyone can watch this guy work on both ends of the floor and conclude that he’s anything other than a star in the making is beyond me. He’s been spectacular working against LeBron basically the entire series. His 3 from the corner pushes the lead to 32-19 at the end of the first quarter.

20 – Danny Green for 3 … again. Welcome back to The Finals roller coaster folks. This series swings so wildly in one direction or the other on a given night that it’s impossible to get a feel for which team has any real rhythm. I don’t know if that’s a credit to the team that’s hot or an indictment of the team that’s getting torched. Either way, it makes for spectacular viewing. Green has tied Allen’s record for 3-pointers made in The Finals (22), with a shot over Allen, and we’ve got more than six minutes until halftime.

19 – The Spurs have absolutely no one who can cover LeBron in the post consistently, just as the Heat have no one who can cover Duncan in the post consistently. At least no one can single-cover either one of them on a regular basis. If we get another close game it’ll be interesting to see if Popovich or Spoelstra goes there on a final play.

18 – Parker with a sweet drive and finish to wrap up a breakneck first half for both teams. Spurs are shooting a wicked 62 percent in the first half with four of the five starters in double figures already and the fifth (Leonard) has nine. Loving the bounce back on both sides. Pop says it best, “this game is a big boy game.” The fact that both coaches continue to implore their guys to crank up the tempo is perhaps my favorite part of this series. It’s rare that you see teams willing to play to what could be the others strength on purpose. Supreme confidence on both sides. Splendid.

17 – Jay-Z comes up with three minutes of funky stuff, coming July 4, at the end of an instant classic first half that sends Twitter and Facebook into a frenzy.
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Posted in 2013 NBA Finals: Spurs-Heat, 2013 NBA Playoffs, 2013 The Finals / Comments (103) /

Can Spurs Crank Up The 3-ball?

June 16, 2013  ·  12:30PM

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SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs are a remarkable 34-for-68 from beyond the arc in the last three games. But the number that stands out more is 16. That’s how many 3-point attempts they took in losing Game 4, which equaled the number they made in winning Game 3.

Attempting 16 shots from 3-point range isn’t enough for a team that averaged 21.0 in the regular season and can bury an opponent with an avalanche of 3-balls.

“They have a great defense, you have to give them credit,” Spurs point guard Tony Parker said of the Miami Heat’s ability to close-out on 3-point shooters and take away shots. “We just have to play better.”

Tonight’s Game 5 (8 ET, ABC) is critical for both teams. But it could mean do-or-die for the Spurs, who will have to play Games 6 and, if necessary, 7 on the road. The Spurs know they can squeak out a win if the 3-pointer isn’t falling — they took Game 1 in Miami going 7-for-23 thanks largely to just four turnovers — but they’re far more deadly when the long ball is falling and the home crowd reaches a fever pitch.

A key tonight is how well San Antonio moves the basketball, keeps Miami’s trapping defense scrambling, avoids turnovers and creates those open looks for its 3-point shooters. In the two games San Antonio has won, it has committed 17 total turnovers. In the two losses, the number is 36.

“We need to be efficient just with our execution more than anything,” said Danny Green, who is 19-for-28 (67.9 percent) from beyond the arc in the series. “It would be nice to make shots, but if we execute defensively and offensively, move the ball and continue to run our sets the way we’re supposed to and not turn it over, it will give us a better chance.”

Other items of note:

  • Parker said he has received virtually round-the-clock treatment on his ailing right hamstring. “I feel pretty good,” he said. “Hopefully I can play two halves at the same level.” Parker scored 15 points in the first half of Game 4, but went scoreless in the second half and played just three minutes in the fourth quarter. He described his hamstring as feeling “weak” in the second half.
  • Spurs forward Tiago Splitter has had a forgettable series to this point, averaging 5.8 ppg and an anemic 2.8 rpg in 21.3 mpg. He’s gone from shooting better than 63 percent in both the second round and conference final to 38.1 percent against Miami, an awful percentage for any player, but especially one who spends most of his time around the basket. That’s also where he’s been rejected more than once. There was the LeBron James stopper at the rim in Game 2 and Splitter embarrassingly found himself getting blocked by Dwyane Wade and Shane Battier in Game 4. “Miami’s had a lot to do with that,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They’ve done a good job on him and he hasn’t been able to finish. He’s done what he always does, but he hasn’t finished the same and it’s because of Miami’s defense.”
  • Heat coach Erik Spoelstra shook up his starting lineup for Game 4 going with shooter Mike Miller over rugged forward Udonis Haslem. Will Popovich follow suit? Splitter’s weak play in Game 4 led to him logging just 14 minutes, his second-lowest mark of the playoffs, and to taking a seat to start the second half. Boris Diaw got the call, but Popovich said Sunday morning that he as of now he plans to stick with his usual starting five. However, he did leave himself some wiggle room: “That could change.”

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Posted in 2013 NBA Finals: Spurs-Heat / Comments (21) /

Right & Wrong: No Stops, No Celebrations

June 14, 2013  ·  11:13AM

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SAN ANTONIO – Yeah, yeah, yeah, reports of the Big Three’s demise were premature. We get it. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh played up to their hype in Game 4, combining for 85 of the Miami Heat’s 109 points in another 2013 Finals game that can be classified as a blowout.

What wound up as a 16-point outcome, though, was a mere five-pointer with 8:46 left, though. And let’s get something else straight: James hadn’t put the pressure on Miami’s Big Three to come through Thursday night at the AT&T Center, as some revisionist accounts suggest. James had put the burden on himself and, if anything, marginalized Wade and Bosh to the point that they hitched up their big-boy pants in response.

Meanwhile, the series’ other Big Three — Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili — has been marked down to a Not-So-Big Two-Point-Two or so. Ginboli has been the primary drag with his low production, shaky ball handling and non-factoritis. But Duncan (five rebounds in Game 4) and Parker (scoreless second half) are underperforming their reputations too.

RIGHT: No rings, no rebounds, Heat boss Pat Riley famously said. But the Heat are demonstrating the next level of alliteration: No stops, no celebrations. Defense fueled Miami’s series-tying victory. It had 13 steals, seven blocked shots, a 41-38 rebounding edge — and Chris “Birdman” Andersen never played. Wade (6) and Mario Chalmers (4) combined to grab more rebounds than Duncan (5) and Tiago Splitter (3).

WRONG: The Mike Miller-as-starter lineup switcheroo by Heat coach Erik Spoelstra didn’t cost his team the game but it didn’t win it either. At best, it might have served as a reminder to the Heat and the world that Miami’s best approach is small ball. San Antonio jumped to a 15-5 lead with Miller bumping Udonis Haslem from the starting lineup and still led 19-14 when he sat down for the first time. Miller’s streak of eight consecutive 3-pointers ended with the added responsibility and he finished the night with no points, one rebound and two assists. (more…)

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Flash Is Back, And So Are Heat’s Big Three

June 14, 2013  ·  2:16AM

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SAN ANTONIO – This is what greatness looks like.

Its eyes are cold and deadly. Its arms are long and larcenous. It hangs above the floor like a cloud and it bangs under the basket like a pile driver.

It has a prickly disposition, an inexorable heart. It scores in smothering waves, sudden shuddering tsunamis.

Greatness looks like LeBron James rumbling down the court with the speed and destructive power of a runaway tractor-trailer to score on one possession and pulling up to stab in a 3-pointer on another.

Dwyane Wade's Game 4 shot chart

Dwyane Wade’s Game 4 shot chart

Greatness is the beauty of Dwyane Wade striking like a cobra on the defensive end and then spinning, whirling and making the ball seem to be a yo-yo on the end of a string as he shows off an assortment of his offensive tricks.

Greatness is the mercurial Chris Bosh rebounding with a purpose, snarling and guarding the rim like a Doberman.

On any night when Miami’s Big Three remember who they were supposed to be, the game and opposition are almost secondary to the performance. The only thing lacking is a soundtrack.

This was the Heat the way they were bought and assembled nearly three years ago, cocky, confident and, OK, a little bit irritated, playing with a combination of swagger and defensiveness. Between them they piled up 85 points, 30 rebounds, 10 steals and five blocked shots.

Here is Miami in The Finals for the third straight season and yet the Heat were being asked to show their credentials because they were having trouble putting together back-to-back victories lately in these playoffs.

After failing to score 20 points in any of the first three games of the series, James alone was back to being poked, prodded and suspected of having enough emotional loose change to feed every vending machine in the Institute of Pop Psychology.

Bosh was again the guy whose mood and production seemed to glide on the breeze like dandelion spores.

But if anyone needed to bounce back to reclaim his reputation as something more than 31-year-old with a bum knee on the down side of his career, it was Wade. (more…)

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24-Second Thoughts On Game 3

June 12, 2013  ·  12:03AM

24 – Well, the Spurs didn’t waste any time throwing down the gauntlet with their entry in The Finals National Anthem Battle. I see your 12-year-old future American Idol winner (Julia Dale) Miami and raise you a dapper Sebastien De La Cruz. Let’s get it on!

23 – Props to ABC for having Tony Parker impersonator Jesse Williams in one of the pregame promos to hype the game. With the sound down a little bit and one eye on the computer and the other on the TV, what else do you learn while half-paying attention during pregame show? Dwyane Wade and Manu Ginobili might need to ride some pine during crunch time of a close game if they don’t get it together. I swear the dudes in suits (Mike Wilbon, Bill Simmons, Jalen Rose and Magic Johnson) said it. Overreact much fellas? Seriously, these cats are future Hall of Famers. They need to play better no doubt. But benching ‘em in The Finals? C’mon man!

22 – Spurs spoon-feeding the ball to Tim Duncan in the post early on here. Duncan with the dunk off the sweet feed from Parker for an 11-4 Spurs lead with 6:29 to play. I see you Pop!

21 – The Spurs hadn’t played a home game since May 21st? Crazy. Sweeping my Hang Time Grizzlies forced them into that long layoff at home. No wonder San Antonio was so fired up to see them after all this time.

20 – Jamie Foxx as the President wearing Jordans, huh? Never thought I’d see it in my lifetime. White House Down has to be on the must-see list if for no other reason than to see what kind of kicks POTUS will be rocking.

19 – Is there anyone on the Heat roster Kawhi Leonard can’t guard or get a rebound over? The Heat are doing for him what they did for the Pacers’ Paul George. Holding your own in a matchup against LeBron James can do wonders for your profile. Speaking of LeBron, he looks a little scattered here early.

18 – My man Dancing Danny Green is still feeling it. How Wade loses track of him is beyond me. Green is a ridiculous 10-for-16 and counting in his first appearance in The Finals. #Dancin’DannyGreen

17 – Ray Allen giving up a 3-point look in transition for a Norris Cole corner 3 that goes bottoms. The Heat showing off some of that ball movement that they used during that 27-game win streak during the regular season.

16 – Spurs lead is up to 36-28 the moment after Game 2 hero Mario Chalmers heads to the bench with his third foul with five-plus minutes to play before halftime. Heat are going to do have to do this without ‘Rio for at least a little while.

15 – Spurs take their first double-digit lead, 40-30, of The Finals with 4:35 to play on a Leonard dunk on a break (via a great outlet pass from Duncan). Spurs are perfectly content with LeBron and Wade jacking jumpers from the perimeter.

14 – Gary Neal (knocks down a 3-pointer) meet Mike Miller (knocks down an answer 3-pointer) meet Green meet Chalmers meet … whoever the next role player from the Spurs who is ready for his turn in this series. We forget that while the stars occupy so much of our time during these things that we forget how grand a stage this is for the other guys. And since these are the teams with the deepest and most well-rounded supporting casts, we should have expected nothing less.

13 – Spurs with a crazy 6-0 run to finish the half to hold of the charging heat and head to halftime leading 50-44. Parker knocks down the first 3 from the corner and Neal finishes it off with a pull-up 3 at the buzzer. His 14 points leads the Spurs at the break.

12 – Say the Spurs win this series and keep playing the way they have, is it totally inconceivable for either Green or Leonard to be the frontrunner for Finals MVP? They’ve been the most consistently outstanding players for the Spurs to this point. I know it sounds crazy, but crazy lives here, always has. The work they are doing on both ends (specifically the defense on LeBron and the rebounding) is beyond outstanding.

11 – Miller is the only thing keeping the Heat in this game late in the third quarter. He’s 5-for-5 from deep. He’s also the Heat’s weakest link on defense. Spurs are taking advantage of him non-stop on pick-and-rolls and just shredding the middle of the Heat’s defense. Did I mention that LeBron and Wade are scoreless in the third with just 3:36 to play?

10 – These facial expressions from Heat coach Erik Spoelstra are the same ones many of his playoff colleagues have worn in trying to figure out how to deal with the Spurs. There is no easy way to solve what the Spurs do. This isn’t a part of the “process” he was expecting to deal with.

9 – NBA TV’s Steve Smith called this on the real pregame show. He tabbed Neal to have the big night and boom!

8 – Parker has an injury issue (calf) that would normally be a big deal after this game. But the way the role players have stepped up pushes this story to the background. The Spurs are going to need him to win two more games in this series, though. No way you want to finish this series without TP.

7 – The questioning of the Heat’s Big 3 will crank up again after an effort like this. No fire, no energy and no chance.

6 – Old man Duncan, Leonard and Tiago Splitter have dominated the glass tonight and that has in-turn allowed the Spurs to abuse the Heat around the rim. The Heat’s fatal flaw this season (they were dead last in the league in rebounding) could very well be their undoing in these Finals.

5 – Gregg Popovich is a master because of performances like this. The defense designed to lock down on LeBron and Wade has been masterful.

4 – This is the second straight 2-for-12 shooting start for LeBron. He’s hearing footsteps from The Finals of 2011 and another matchup against a Texas powerhouse (the Mavericks) that dared him to beat them with his jumper. That team had Shawn Marion serving as the primary defender on him. LeBron is stuck in the Matrix again this time, courtesy of young Mr. Leonard. Last time he went three straight playoff games without scoring 20 points in a game was against the Mavericks in 2011.

3 – Complete pandemonium to star the fourth. Spurs role players have officially taken this game (and perhaps the series) over. Neal, Green, Leonard wouldn’t normally constitute a “Big 3″ in practice. But they are the only “Big 3″ playing tonight. Finals record 16 made 3-pointers for the Spurs as the lead continues to balloon.

2 – What he said about #Dancin’DannyGreen …

1 – Fully expecting Neal, Green and Leonard to announce to the world that they are really mutants during the on-court interview at the end of the game.

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Right & Wrong: Heat Flashes

June 10, 2013  ·  11:36AM




HANG TIME SOUTHWEST — Here’s the thing we’ve known and were reminded of again Sunday night: When LeBron James and the Miami Heat crank it up to full blast, there’s not an outft in the league that can match their speed, athleticism or the ferocity with which they pounce.

With 3:50 to go in the third quarter, the San Antonio Spurs led 62-61 and were closing in on a 2-0 NBA Finals lead and the delicious notion of three in a row coming up in the Alamo City.

Six minutes, 31 seconds later — with 9:19 left in the game — the Spurs trailed 84-65. Ninety-three seconds later it was 91-67 — a 30-5 Miami blitz (it eventually grew to 33-5) that got Spurs coach Gregg Popovich calling Southwest Airlines to jet his boys home.

So after two games and four days on South Beach, the Spurs and Heat are even at 1-1. Here’s what went right and what went wrong in Miami’s 103-84 Game 2 victory:

RIGHT: LeBron needs help, LeBron gets help. Let’s start with the guy that’s been getting beaten up, third-wheel Big Three member Chris Bosh. He was getting the ball inside the 3-point arc rather than outside of it and it allowed him to make a move and get to the elbow for higher-percentage shots. That paid off. Bosh had just 12 points, but he shot 6-for-10, with five of his six buckets coming inside 18 feet. He set an aggressive tone early with a couple of steals and a block in the opening six minutes, and finished with 10 rebounds — four on the offensive glass. Point guard Mario Chalmers led the Heat after three quarters with with 17 points. He finished with 19 and was a high-energy player who was a game-high plus-30 in 35:22.

WRONG: Speaking of point guards, the one that hit the brilliant shot at the end of Game 1 wasn’t very good in Game 2. Tony Parker saw a variety of different looks from the Heat defense (give credit to Miami coach Erik Spoelsta) and he was thrown off his rhythm throughout. Parker had just 13 points on 5-for-13 shooting and got to the free-throw line just twice for four free throws. The big stat was five turnovers, which was five more than he had in Game 1 and one more than the entire team committed in the opener. San Antonio had 17 in Game 2 that led to 19 Heat points and a 17-point edge in points off turnovers.

RIGHT: Back to LeBron, who proved that a triple-double is nothing more than a stat. After getting 18 points, 10 assists and 18 rebounds in the Game 1 loss, the regular-season MVP was 3-for-13 for eight points with five assists and five rebounds. Then came the blow-away fourth quarter with James going 4-for-4 for nine points, three rebounds, two assists and one mammoth Tiago Splitter dunk-blockade, his third block of the game. The King never flinched, got help when he needed it and demoralized the Spurs when it mattered most.

WRONG: Hello Manu Ginobili? Earth to Manu? Come in, Manu. It hasn’t been a pretty postseason for the 35-year-old shooting guard. Game 2 was just the latest example. Ginobili, a whirling dervish of a penetrator throughout his great career was again off the mark, going 2-for-6 from the floor and 1-for-4 from beyond the arc with three turnovers in 17 minutes. The Spurs will need more than that from their sixth man on a bench that suddenly looks rather thin. But hard to pinpoint blame solely on Ginbobili in this one when Tim Duncan and Parker combined to go 8-for-27.

RIGHT: If the Spurs can take a positive out of Game 2, it was the sharp shooting of sharpshooter Danny Green. There was plenty of skepticism out there whether the former second-round pick out of North Carolina could handle the spotlight after he froze in last season’s West finals against Oklahoma City. He’s shown, two games deep into his first NBA Finals, that he can. In Game 2, he busted all five of his deep attempts and was 6-for-6 overall for 17 points. In the first two games, Green is 9-for-14 from beyond the arc. Green is shooting 42.3-percent from 3-point range in the playoffs. The even-better news for the Spurs? Green shot 47.6 percent behind the arc at home.

WRONG: It might not be fair to label this as “wrong.” Maybe “huh?” might be better. But what happened to Dwyane Wade? He had the aggressive, 21-point Game 7 to oust Indiana and pretty strong Game 1. In Game 2, however, Wade played just 2:45 of the fourth quarter and had already left the game in the third quarter when the Heat laid the lumber to San Antonio. Wade had just 10 points (though he had six assists) in less than 30 minutes. Questions will persist about Wade’s ailing right knee, the level the player they once called “Flash” is capable of reaching in these Finals, and if all that will be good enough. On Sunday it was.

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Game 2: The Morning After

June 10, 2013  ·  9:45AM

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By NBA.com staff reports

LeBron’s epic block of Tiago Splitter defined a second-half rout for the Heat, who tied The Finals 1-1 with a 103-84 win in Game 2 Sunday night. Here’s a quick recap of NBA.com’s complete Game 2 coverage.

NBA FinalsGame Coverage

Analysis

Video Highlights

Postgame News Conferences

Photos

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24-Second Thoughts On Game 2

June 9, 2013  ·  11:26PM




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24 – If you believe in good luck charms, then you have to believe that they can wear out, too. After just four home losses during the regular season, the Heat and 12-year-old national anthem singer Julia Dale have three playoffs losses and are just 2-2 in the previous four games. Time for a change?

23 – Does anyone else find it silly that the world of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh seems to end every time Miami loses a playoff game? After all, they’ve dropped Game 1 three times together over the past three seasons and then come back to win each of those series 4-1.

22 – Watching D-Wade firing up his team in the pre-game huddle, knowing the situation they’re in, don’t you just expect the Heat to win big here?

21 – Instant reply? Spurs commit turnover on their first possession, just like Game 1. If they only commit four more rest of the night, just like Game 1, Gregg Popovich will be a very happy — I know, that’s a relative term — man.

20 — For all the talk about how the Spurs stole the win in Game 1 with Tony Parker’s clutch shot at the end, too many people overlooked the Spurs’ poor shooting all night long. San Antonio was just 41.7 percent from the field and 30.4 on 3-pointers. If those start to drop … well, well, well, here comes Danny Greeeeen! 3-for-3 from downtown in first four minutes.

19 – This is obviously a pace and style that will make the Heat very happy. Spurs commit fifth turnover of the game with 3:23 left in the 1st quarter. They had five in all of Game 1 and the sloppy play is letting Miami be the aggressor.

18 – What’s left for the LeBron critics to pick at when he’s making the right rotations in the defense, getting that big block on Tim Duncan in the paint?

17 – Scoreboard says it’s tied at the end of the first quarter. But is there anybody who doesn’t feel like the Heat are up 22-22?

16 – Maybe he’s on his best behavior because it’s The Finals. Or maybe it’s just Doris Burke wearing basic black instead of one of Craig Sager’s psychedelic horse blankets. But the biggest under-performer of the first two games has been Popovich in his between quarters interviews. I want some nasty.

15 — Gary Neal takes the long range baton from Danny Green. He’s got eight points in his first seven minutes and the Spurs have hit 5-for-7 on 3s already. That’s one way to make up for all of those turnovers.

14 – Never mind winning the lottery. I’ve decided I could live comfortably plush for years if I just had a dollar for every casual viewer who’s ever walked by a TV and asked “Who is that guy?” the first time they’ve seen Chris “Birdman” Andersen.

13 — Give Chris Bosh credit for being active on the offensive boards. He’s already tipped the ball twice back outside to give the Heat a chance to reset for another possession and both times they’ve scored. He’s given up the long jumpers and playing closer to the basket in general.

12 – Just when everybody’s ready to push 31-year-old D-Wade around in a wheelchair covered in an afghan, here he is looking like his old self again with 10 points and four assists in a first half where LeBron (four points) has been hiding.

11 – In that open court, 1-on-1 showdown between LeBron and Danny Green, come on, admit it, how many picked Danny Boy as the winner? Green suckers James into miss the first time, but LeBron gets the benefit of bad call by ref Joe Crawford on the second time down the court.

10 — Danny Green has taken his talents to South Beach! These 3s are layups for him. Layups, I tell you.

9 – The Spurs have Kawhi Leonard backing off LeBron just a bit and have the other defenders closing down the driving lanes. If James is going to make something happen for himself in this one, it seems he would be wise to get himself down in the low post to show off those moves he learned from Hakeem Olajuwon.

8 – Paint this game Green. Danny Boy rejects LeBron under the basket at one end and then takes the ball to the hoop for his 17th point at the other end. How much longer before we’re calling him “The Chosen One?”

7 – For all the damage being done by the Spurs from behind the 3-point line, the two biggest buckets of the game so far might be those last two bombs from Ray Allen and Mike Miller. Mario Chalmers converts three-point play and 75-65 Heat edge after third quarter is the first double-digit lead by either side in The Finals. People rarely talk about Chalmers, but he has a way of stepping into the offensive gaps and drives strong to the hoop when the Heat need him.  Chalmers flies under the radar like one of those CIA drones.

6 — You can hold down LeBron’s scoring. You can open the door for every critic in every corner of the globe to rip him. But he still plays the game, sees the court and makes the right passes to his open teammates for good shots. See: Double-team from Tiago Splitter and Mike Miller 3.

5 – Now you know why Gregg Popovich looked like he was passing a kidney stone when Doris Burke asked him about those five turnovers in the first quarter. It’s up to 15 turnovers in the fourth and the Spurs are getting burned worse than English tourists on South Beach.

4 – Hello, Tiago! I’m pretty sure the last time anybody threw a tomahawk and did less damage was in the 1960s sitcom F Troop. LeBron at the rim with a facial that usually costs at least $150 at your local spa. Easily the best block of the entire playoffs. And that’s the fat lady you hear singing.

3 — Didn’t you always know that Tracy McGrady would lead a team to The Finals and play significant minutes? Well, it’s happened. That is, if you consider sitting at the end of the bench leading and sweeping up behind the elephants in garbage time significant. The only person who looks more lost and out of place is Manu Ginobili, who is forcing things way too much.

2 –  One word to define the Heat: resilient. They have not lost consecutive games since Jan. 8-10 at Phoenix and at Portland. Following their five losses in these playoffs, they’ve come back to win the next game by an average of 21.6 points. Hold off the end of the world, break-up-the-Big Three talk. Now we’ve got a series. Just the way we always knew we would.

1 – OK, maybe it’s just me.  But seeing Pop sit at the podium and explain to the assembled media that missing lots of shots and making lots of turnovers is a bad combination, I can’t help thinking of Dean Wormer in Animal House: “Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”

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Bosh In Need Of Redemption

June 7, 2013  ·  2:46PM



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MIAMI – Gregg Popovich didn’t need nine days to figure out a game plan for the Miami Heat.

The San Antonio Spurs’ coach needed to watch just nine minutes of footage from the Eastern Conference finals matchup between the Heat and Indiana Pacers to find the weak link his team could exploit in The Finals.

Heat center Chris Bosh made the job easy for him, sticking out on offensive and defensive possessions where he wasn’t engaged in the action. He also played smaller than you’d expect from an eight-time All-Star and a $100 million man who has already anointed himself a future Hall of Famer.

Bosh played to the Spurs’ script in San Antonio’s Game 1 win, making just six of his 16 shot attempts, grabbing just four rebounds and coming up woefully short in the fourth quarter. He missed a wide open 3-pointer with 1:02 to play and the Heat trailing by four, a shot the Spurs will let him take anytime in this series.

“We had an opportunity to get into the paint,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He was open … probably for a reason at that point. But we had a couple of different options, triggers to get guys into the paint or to get into another situation. You know what, we’ll take that shot. He’s been making those. It’s an open shot in the fourth quarter. It didn’t come down to that.”

Sure it did, for Bosh, who needs a redemption game in the worst way in Game 2 Sunday.

It came down to that and all the other missed opportunities to assert himself, both in the conference finals (where he averaged 11.0 points and 4.3 rebounds against Pacers big men Roy Hibbert and David West) and in the 47 minutes leading up to that 3-point miss in Game 1 against the Spurs.

The Spurs left Bosh open the way you would expect them to leave Joel Anthony, the Heat’s former starting center, open in the same situation. It’s not so much a sign of disrespect of Bosh’s game but a nod to the obvious. Bosh is struggling mightily this postseason — the last big-time game he had was in Game 3 of the conference semifinals against Chicago when he finished with 20 points, 19 rebounds and two blocks in the Heat’s 104-94 win.

Bosh hasn’t scored more than 17 points in any game since then and didn’t even manage double digits in the last four games of the conference finals. He hasn’t had a double-digit rebound game since then, either — a stretch of 10 straight playoff games. That’s unacceptable for a player in Bosh’s tax bracket.

Even more perplexing is his reluctance to challenge the Spurs inside. Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter are classic big men but not the rugged forces inside that Hibbert and West are. And yet Bosh rarely ventured inside in Game 1. He missed all four of his 3-point attempts, taking as many as Ray Allen, and only four of his 16 shot attempts came inside the paint, where he was 1-for-4. The only real damage he did against the Spurs was with his mid-range game, going 5-for-8 on those shots.

It’s clear that Bosh has allowed his solid 3-point shooting effort in the playoffs (15-for-31 for 48 percent prior to Game 1) to convince him that he’s more effective from distance. That’s why he claims his confidence hasn’t wavered in recent weeks or after he came up empty in Game 1.

“It’s a part of sports,” he said of his late miss from deep. “You really don’t have to think about it. You just react. And that’s something I always lived by no matter what the situation is. I have confidence in myself and my teammates have confidence in me, every shot that I shoot I expect it to go in. Some do and some don’t.”

But sometimes those numbers can lie. They don’t always tell the true story. And the Spurs want, better yet, they need Bosh to believe in them. They need him to play into their hands by drifting on the perimeter and allowing them to lock down the lane defensively.

Bosh has been non-existent in the pick-and-roll, mostly because he hasn’t shown any inclination to roll to the basket. That allows the Spurs to collapse the lane the same way Indiana did against LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and leaves the Heat with one less body around the basket to help on the boards.

Bosh has to find a way to leave much larger footprint on this series. Some way, some how, he has to be a factor.

“Anytime you get into a series, you have to recognize how a team is playing you. And sometimes it’s not your series,” Allen said. “I’ve been in several series where scoring-wise it wasn’t really in my direction – teams were taking me out. So it’s important you find a way to have an impact. Shane [Battier] came in the game last night, he altered shots, he got loose balls, he got us second-chance opportunities, and he had a great impact on the game. So each one of us has to find a way to have that impact on the floor.

‘With CB, there’s so many opportunities in the paint,” Allen continued. “We’re going to have to rely on him, we’re going to need him. And if he doesn’t score a bucket for us to to be efficient and effect the game, that goes for all of us. We have to be willing to make that sacrifice. I don’t think his confidence has wavered. I just always say I can make it easier on him out there when that ball comes. Especially early, trying to get him into the paint a little bit more. When the ball comes to him, just get that second-chance pick-and-roll where I can come off and get it back to him, so he can get something a little short or something rolling to the rim so he can get some easy buckets.”

The choice is simple for Bosh: he either makes the adjustment to his game and acquaints himself with the painted area or risks more performances like the ones he’s turned over the past 10 games. He either does a little film study of his own, breaking down his own shortcomings and highlighting the things he can tweak in his own game or continues to be the Heat’s weakest link in this postseason and this series.

But there’s no doubt about it, more than anyone else, the burden is on Bosh to change the course of this series for the Heat.

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Posted in 2013 The Finals / Comments (129) /

Miami’s New Challenge? Slowing Parker

June 6, 2013  ·  1:04PM

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MIAMI – There should be no doubt what priority No. 1 for the Miami Heat is when The Finals tip off Thursday night (9 ET, ABC): they must contain Tony Parker.

Parker is the driver of the Spurs’ offense. Via points, assists and turnovers, he has used 31.0 percent of the Spurs’ possessions when he’s been on the floor in the postseason. That’s up from 28.0 percent in the regular season and is higher than LeBron James‘ playoff usage rate (29.1 percent). That number doesn’t include plays where he gets the defense moving, the Spurs get a basket after two or three passes and he doesn’t get credit for the assist.

Simply, the ball is in Parker’s hands a lot. He creates shots for himself and others, and he just tore up the No. 2 defense in the league, averaging 24.5 ppg and 9.5 apg in the Spurs’ sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies to support argument that he’s the best pick-and-roll point guard in the league.

Parker has always been a strong finisher at the rim, consistently shooting about 64 percent in the restricted area over the last 10 seasons. But he has become a much bigger threat to pull up from mid-range this season. He shot 47.2 percent from between the paint and the 3-point line in the regular season, up from 38.7 percent over the previous three seasons. (He’s 55-for-119 — or 46.2 percent — from mid-range in these playoffs.

So, he can do this pretty well …


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With Parker, great ball movement, and a bevy of (other) shooters, the Spurs have the formula to counter the Heat’s aggressive D. They rank first in assist rate, third in turnover rate, and second in 3-point percentage in the playoffs. When the Heat trap or hedge hard on pick-and-rolls, San Antonio should be able to take advantage. (more…)

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Posted in 2013 NBA Finals: Spurs-Heat / Comments (39) /

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