Author Archives: Andy G

One paragraph of instant reaction to one of the greatest NBA games I’ve ever seen:

It’s tough to escape the feeling that San Antonio’s chance was tonight.  Not only did they get THE DUNCAN GAME (30 points 17 rebounds) but they also got a whole bunch of awkward shots to fall at times when Miami was turning up the Heat. (!) I’m thinking of Splitter hook shots, Leonard push shots, and Parker fadeaway threes to tie the game with a minute to play.  Kawhi had a chance to ice it and only made one of two free throws.  If the Spurs don’t win Game 7 — and they probably won’t — he’ll probably never win a title and he’ll never live that down in his own mind.  That sucks.  Ginobili made key mistakes.  It’s hard not to focus on Spurs errors because they had all the good fortune tonight and it was their game to lose.  But then again, LeBron WITHOUT HEADBAND was incredible.  As is always the case whenever LeBron is on the floor, his adrenaline-boosted drives are almost unstoppable.  The only thing that put tonight’s win in jeopardy after he turned on the jets was Erik Spoelstra bowing to Dwyane Wade by subbing him back in (he shouldn’t have) and calling an iso set for him that turned into a fadeaway jumper that badly missed.  Coach Pop decided to one up his nervous opponent by taking out Duncan on key defensive possessions that ended with Miami converting second chance points.  All in all, it was a well played game and I’m probably wrong to focus on mistakes.  In any case, I fully expect Miami to win Game 7 at home and this series to be remembered for the Game 6 that Jesus Shuttlesworth saved for his new team with a wild corner trey that was more routine for him than anything else.  Gotta love this.

Fact: My prediction that the Heat would sweep Games 3 through 5 in San Antonio was incorrect.

UNBELIEVABLY incorrect. Like, the-Spurs-won-Game 3-by-36-points incorrect. As my wise Uncle Eric* explained to me in that comments section, the Spurs’ team approach would carry the day over the one-on-one brilliance–or what is usually “brilliance” anyway–of the Heat’s star players. Ball movement and cutting beat standing and watching.

It didn’t hurt that Danny Green and Gary Neal had career games from beyond the arc (collectively they were 13-19 from downtown–unsustainable, in other words) but that doesn’t explain all of this unbelievable ass-whoopin’. There was the non-Big 3 starters Mario Chalmers and Udonis Haslem combining for 0 points. There was Chris Bosh — once considered a medium-list superstar — scoring 2 points in the 2nd Half. There was Dwyane Wade continuing to struggle to find easy shots. But most of all…

Question: Why does LeBron struggle to play his normal style in so many high-leverage games?

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I don’t do a lot of predictions here because, well, I know that nobody really cares about them.

But here goes:

Miami is going to win every one of the three upcoming games in San Antonio and at least two of those wins won’t be close.

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