Monday, June 9, 2014

Spurs-Heat, Game 2: We've Got A Match

5 thoughts about last night's Miami victory pulling the NBA Finals even at a game apiece...

1. Resilient is LeBron and Miami's middle name. Last night, James' 3rd quarter reminded me of like a mini-version of his Game 6 in Boston a few years ago. His bounce-back games following a career playoff worst 7 points against Indy and Cramp-Gate in Game 1 and the fact that the Heat never lose back-to-back playoff games are both pretty remarkable.

For 1 night at least, James silenced the haters.

2. That was impressive. James seemed to compartmentalize each part of his offensive game last night. He lived in the paint in the 1st half, worked exclusively on deep jumpers in the 3rd quarter, and found Bosh for the go-ahead 3-pointer on a pretty drive-and-kick late in the 4th. Aside from a couple missed bunnies in the 1st quarter, he pretty much did what he wanted.

3. ...and that was ugly. It's tough to pinpoint any 1 play as the deciding factor in a 2 point game where the lead seemed to change a zillion times in the 2nd half, but it's hard to forget this 2nd half sequence: Tony Parker goes down after catching a Mario Chalmers elbow, Parker misses 2 free throws, Tim Duncan misses 2 free throws, and LeBron cans a 3 at the other end. San Antonio shot just 12 for 20 on freebies for the game.

4. How about Chris Bosh? Can we stop calling Bosh the most maligned member of The Big 3 already? Ok...out of him, Wade, and James, he is the obvious 3rd option, but out of the 3 no one has had to change or sacrifice more from his game. So he's not the greatest defender in the world, but how about his 2 and 1 throwdowns and the knock-down corner 3 to put the Heat up for good? Leave Chris Bosh alone, everybody.

Posters! Get your posters here!

5. San Antonio should feel worried. Now, as I say that, there's not going to be any panic in their locker room. But if not for LeBron's cramping in Game 1, the Spurs could be looking at being down 0-2 heading to Miami. Maybe even more alarming, if you watched the 1st 2 games and paid no attention to the scoreboard, it just seemed like the Spurs were up comfortably in both games (maybe aside from LeBron's Game 2 3rd quarter flurry). And it doesn't feel like the Heat have played particularly well. And yet Miami has been right there with the Spurs in Games 1 and 2.

Now, it's time for Tony Parker and the Spurs to show some resilience of their own.

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