So, all of you out there who write fake blogs know how hard it is to come up with something meaningful when a very close game suddenly becomes the opposite of that. In Game Two yesterday, with less than 4 minutes to go in the third quarter, two things happened.
First, I made a note to myself that First Team All-NBA performers Tim Duncan and Lebron/Zeus were both 3 for 13 from the field. Yechh. Frankly, neither team was playing very well. Both coach’s halftime speeches probably included “Guys, we did not play a good half but we are still right in this game!”.
Second, with 3:49 left Danny Green made a baseline drive past DWade which put the Spurs up 62-61. At that point, Green was 6 of 6 from the floor, including 5 for 5 from 3. This from a guy who the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers had cut last year – just released him because he wasn’t good enough to play on their last place team.
The Heat then went on a 30-5 run. In the immortal words of Ron Burgundy after the violent battle between the San Diego news teams: “Boy, that escalated quickly”. Click here:
My guess is Pop and his assistants had a similar conversation, with the same dazed look, as Ron Burgundy did with his team. The only difference is that no one named Brick had actually killed a guy with a trident.
Though Parker’s and Duncan’s bricks killed the Spurs. Duncan 3 for 13. Parker 5 for 14. Leonard 4 for 12. Manu 2 for 6. A combined 31% by the Spurs best 4 players. Parker also increased his turnovers from 0 to 5. In fact, with his 5 assists, Parker had 5 baskets, assists and turnovers, the rare Triple Cinco -- in French, a “trois cinq”. I don’t speak French, so if the actual translation involves a boy, a girl, and some escargot, my apologies. (After my last fake blog, I received a compliment for referring to both King Sisyphus and Jar Jar Binks. Now I have both Ron Burgundy and escargot.)
Other thoughts:
1. After Game One, I praised the Spurs for having only 4 turnovers. Game Two – they had 16. Miami had only 8 in Game One, an excellent number. In Game Two, the Heat reducedthat number to 6. Remarkable. Once again, there were very few fouls – 14 by the Spurs and 17 by the Heat, which is why each team only shot 14 free throws. And once again, Kawhi Leonard did not foul Zeus – not even once in either game.
2. Despite the fact that there were minimal fouls, and one team had minimal turnovers, it was not a well played game – even before the 30 – 5 explosion. Best word to describe the game through much of three quarters: Choppy. As noted above, Lebron was very un-Zeus like up until the explosion. He seemed remarkably passive, so much so that I and several hoopers watching the game with me wondered aloud whether he was hurt or sick. Of course, shortly thereafter he had the sick block on poor Splitter. I don’t know much about dunking, but I do know it is very very bad to be posterized on your own dunk attempt.
3. It was strange to see how Miami convinced Pop to stop running Tony Parker pick and rolls. The Spurs either did other things altogether, or had Green or Leonard handling the ball on pick and rolls. The Heat did that by doing the opposite of that they did against the Pacers. Against the Pacers in Game Seven, the Heat put extreme pressure on the ball-handler, leading to numerous deflections and steals. Against the Spurs, the Heat backed up, did not pressure Parker, switched a lot of screens, and kept their feet and hands moving. As a result, the Spurs spent a lot of time dribbling around the perimeter with minimal penetration. This in turn led to very few kick out passes to open shooters or shots near the rim. More importantly, it caused numerous possessions with time running out and nothing good happening, or even worse, the ball being deflected out of bounds with only a few seconds on the 24 second shot clock – and no good shots available on the in-bounds pass. Spoelstra deserves credit for doing the opposite of what Pop and the Spurs likely expected. Looking forward to Pop’s adjustments.
4. After Game One, the media, including the world champion LA Times, intimated that a Spurs victory seemed likely, if not inevitable. Now, the Heat are once again being described as the immovable force. Somehow, this sounds familiar. Ah, yes, I have it, though it was long, long ago. Actually, it was the Pacers-Heat series. After the Pacers won game 2 in Miami, the Heat played a great game and blew out the Pacers in game 3, on the road in Indiana. The media was full of stories about how the Heat had “turned a switch” and would likely now roll over the inexperienced Pacers. Wrong. In Game four, the Pacers won by 7. And then won game 6 after a bad loss in game 5. Momentum, and the effect of devastating losses on the next game, are vastly overrated.
(I hope.)
5. That being said, just as Game Two was a “must win” for the Heat, Game Three is double that for the Spurs. Losing the first game in San Antonio would mean they would have to win the next two at home – and one more in South Beach. A lot of the stories about this series have been about the effect on various legacies. Will Lebron go 1 – 3 in his four Finals appearances, or will this be the second in a series of playoff runs allowing him to reach Jordan-esque heights? Will a win by the Spurs cement Duncan’s status as the best player of his generation – the pre-Zeus generation? Will Pop be recognized as the best coach ever if he can win again with this crew? Game Three will be the key to answering those questions. (Until Game Four, at least.)
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