1. Not a bad encore for the Game 6 thriller. Tuesday night’s game will go down as an instant classic, and given that a letdown was somewhat expected last night. Game 7 was much sloppier and poorly played offensively (especially early on). The effort and intensity was there all night, and the level of play picked up as the game went on, but the physical and emotional toll of Game 6 was telling. Still, you would be hard-pressed to ask for a better ending to a truly epic series.
2. LeBron James saved his best for last. Having been dared by the Spurs to shoot the ball from the outside all series long, James finally truly obliged last night. He scored 37 points, including 5 3’s. The 3’s were huge, but to me the more crucial shots toLeBron’s game are those pull-up 16-18 footers, which he was burying last night as well…this included the last dagger midrange jumper with under 30 seconds to play, a shot that pretty much iced the game for good. James struggled for much of the series offensively, but if any questions still remained about his clutchness they should surely be answered now. His legacy also seems to be cemented now as well…but that is another blog post saved for another day in a summer where only baseball, tennis, and golf remain.
3. Oh, and Dwyane Wade wasn’t too shabby either. James actually started slowly on offense. The Spurs strategy against Wade was basically the same one they employed for James, but Wade was the one that started the game off drilling midrange jumpers whenever Spur defenders backed off. After some actually wondered aloud whether it would serve Miami better to bring Wade off the bench in Game 7, Wade delivered his typical D-Wade thanks for doubting me, f*** you performance. WhileLeBron had a line of 37 points and 12 rebounds, Wade had a double-double himself with 23 and 10. I still wonder how rapidly he will decline over the next couple of years, but he looked like vintage Flash for one more night at least when his team needed him the most.
4. Shane Battier made up for the Heat’s others. Let’s just say that Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, and Mike Miller earned their championship rings in Game 6. Game 7 saw them go a combined 0 for 14 with 5 turnovers. Bosh’s doughnut is slightly unfair because he had the unenviable task of guarding Tim Duncan 1-on-1 again, and I thought he got a couple of bogus foul calls that caused him not to get his usual minutes, but still…Battier’s 18 points on 6 for 8 shooting on 3’s couldn’t have come at a better time for Miami.
5. The Spurs were valiant in defeat. There were several instances in the 4th quarter where it looked like Miami dealt a knockout blow, stretching the lead to 5 or 6 after hitting a big shot…and San Antonio continued to answer with a big play of their own. I’m not sure if he’s the type of player you canactually build a team around, but Kawhi Leonard is very verygood, and Tim Duncan was a warrior again with 24 points and 12 rebounds…
6. …and yet, the Spurs have to be kicking themselves. They were down 1 heading into the 4th quarter. They were down 2 when Duncan missed the bunny and the put-back late in the game. They were still down only 4 when they turned the ball over with like 20 seconds left. And let’s not even bring up the sequence of events that led to them choking away Game 6…yeesh.
7. Tony Parker, Danny Green, and Gary Neal were non-factors. Green and Neal are still great shooters, but they had to regress back to the mean a little bit eventually, right? Especially after Miami shifted a more defensive attention their way in Games 6 and 7. But Parker seemed to be completely shut down once the Heat decided to put LeBron on him on a more regular basis. So much so that Gregg Popovich actually thought better to leave him on the bench for the critical play with 20 seconds left down only 4 referenced above.
8. Was Manu Ginobili on the take? Ok, that’s probably not fair. But after having his best game of the year in Game 5 he was awful in Game 6. He was slightly better in Game 7, but he had 3 crucial 4th quarter turnovers that could have been the difference in the series. You have to wonder what his plans are for the future, because as a big time player I would say he’s done.
9. Could we see a rematch in next season’s Finals? Possibly…you would have to think back-to-back rings would be enough for Pat Riley to bring the band back 1 more year. Yes, Chicago and Indiana will presumably be better after getting D-Rose and Granger back, but you would still have to look at Miami as the favorite in the East regardless. The West is a lotdicier to navigate. The Thunder will be back. Memphis will be there. What are the Clippers going to look like next season? Could Houston land Dwight Howard? Despite Kobe’s injury and all the Dwight-drama, you know the Lakers will always be up to stuff. However, Tim Duncan had his best season in 4 years, Tony Parker is still Tony Parker, and the Spurs have a habit of finding great surrounding pieces. Once again, it will mostlycome down to health though.
10. But this night was all about the Miami Heat. Watching the Heat was really interesting during the postgame festivities. After last year’s series clincher against OKC, you could sense the unbridled joy and relief from the whole team. The series with the Spurs was probably their toughest as a group to date, but whereas last year’s time looked like they finally got the chance to exhale, this year’s team exuded a quiet confidence…not the brash cockiness they exhibited when James and Bosh 1st teamed up with Wade, but a man that was hard, but we knew we had this look. That was definitely not the vibe you got from this team 2 years ago, but the completed transformation was something pretty cool to see.
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