The San Antonio Spurs
proved that father time has not yet called their numbers, as Tony Parker, Tim
Duncan, and Manu Ginobili outlasted LeBron and the Miami Heat in game 1 on the
NBA finals. I tip my cap to the men from Texas and Pop, who is the smartest man
in basketball right now (Zen Master excluded of course).
After nine days
without an NBA game, people thought the Spurs would be rusty and unenergetic.
Those people obviously have never met the Spurs. They go out and play like it
is their last game on earth every time down the floor. San Antonio committed 4
total turnovers and scored 40 points in the paint. They shot a collective 41.7%
and made 15-18 free throws.
The Big Fundamental,
aka Tim Duncan aka Big Time Timmy D aka the Lanky Assassin was nothing short of
Hall of Fame worthy. Duncan collected 20 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3
blocks on 8-19 shooting. He even put up a jumper with 0.8 seconds left to go in
the first half, keeping the deficit to only 3. According to espn.com, the last
player to put up 20 and 14 at his age was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Yeah, that guy.
Although he missed his first five shots in the game, he came out in the second
half like a man possessed. He fought for loose balls, jumped for offensive
rebounds (he had 3), and toughed out 37 minutes of play at his old age of,
well, 37.
The Frenchman, the TP,
the big-time-shot-maker dribbling on 1 leg through LeBron James with less than
0.1 left on the shot clock, was also nothing short of Hall of Fame worthy. Tony
Parker has three championship rings. He’s done this all before, and he knows
what it takes to win. Parker dropped 21 points, 6 assists, and ZERO turnovers.
Even LeBron turned it over twice. Tony was phenomenal, I mean, he missed half
his shots, but I have not seen a point play that perfectly in an NBA finals
game since watching old tapes of Magic and Lakers. He didn’t have a
double-double but he played two-way basketball for the 40 minutes he was out
there, and he did it well.
My only criticism of
the way the Spurs played was in their three-point shooting. They went 7-23, and
Kawhi went 0-4. Danny Green went 4-9, and only shot from downtown all night. If
I’m coach Spoelstra I see that as a positive, knowing that once you close out
Danny Green, he becomes almost ineffective on offense. And once Wade posts him
up, Green is invisible on defense. Gary Neal played clutch minutes down the
stretch because he was making key plays, hitting a huge three in the 4th
quarter. Kawhi did defend the best player in the world with excellence and
intensity. LeBron only shot 7-16 and scored 18 points. James did finish with
his third career triple-double (18p-18r-10a), but James needs at least 25 PPG
or else the Heat lose…like tonight.
My criticism for the
Heat will be short, as they played an excellent game until the end. They scored
a mere 16 points in the fourth and turned the ball over 5 times that quarter.
Yea, in the 4th quarter of game 1 of the NBA finals, Pop out coached
Spo, without a doubt. Bosh took a wide open uncontested three pointer with 1
minute left in regulation. Bosh, the team’s center, who shot 6-16 tonight after
having to apologize to his team for his terrible play. Chris Bosh, who missed
every three-pointer he took, and still believed in himself enough to shoot that
three with his team down by 4. He played right into the palm of San Antonio’s
defense when he took every ill-advised shot this whole game. I blame Chris Bosh
for this loss.
One thing’s for sure,
Pat Riley’s gonna have a talk with his team tonight.
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