6 Thoughts
1) Man, that was a well-played basketball game, totally different from the sludge-ball styles of the Bulls and Pacers. It's hard to hate the Spurs, I couldn't even really get that fired up during the game. Besides liking Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, Miami shouldn't even be in this series, and I don't even really feel like we have a very good chance with Wade's knee so messed up. Any decent team would have had the Heat out of there in the Eastern Conference Finals. So I'm too passive, that's not good. I'm gonna trash talk the Spurs, get things riled up: "Hey, Tim Duncan, you're too mellow!" "Hey, Tony Parker, you're an excellent ball-handler!" See, it doesn't work. Spurs didn't even seem to be thrown off by the nasty, nasty weather we had down here today: torrential downpours, and tornadoes. Adding a tropical storm tomorrow, maybe that will do the trick. Not too sure if they are used to bad weather living in San Antonio - where is that, somewhere in Texas? Let's go, let's do it.
2) Both teams executed well; neither shot it great, even though there were a lot of open looks. San Antonio was 7-23 on triples, and the Heat 8-25. Twice, Mario "Emcee" Chalmers had chances to push the lead out early in the third quarter with wide open looks from 3 (second would have put them up 10), and twice he missed. Every time Miami got up 5 or 6 for three quarters, the Spurs made a jumper. They hung around, they never turned it over (an amazing 4 for the game), and even though Miami only had 8 themselves, a couple came in succession in the fourth quarter as the Spurs opened their own 7 point lead. In a game this crisp, you can't afford any slip up - that was it, that was the ballgame, one soft stretch. This is going to be a really hard series for Miami to win. I think this Spurs team is a much harder matchup for Miami than OKC was last year, regardless of Dwyane's health. They move the ball so nicely.
3) It was kind of fitting, right? Down 2, with Miami needing one stop, under 10 seconds to go, the shot clock down? Tony Parker stumbled across the lane, King James James had him locked down, Dwyane Wade "flashed" by and nearly stole the ball, Parker fell down, got up, KJ kind of reached for the ball, got out of position, and Parker stepped through and made a 14 footer a nanosecond before the 24 second buzzer went off: ballgame. Each team's best player, against each other, with the game on the line. How often does a game come down to that - the two best players actually going head to head? Not often, because your best offensive player isn't usually your best defensive player. Parker was amazing tonight, 21 points, 6 assists, and zero turnovers, even though he had to handle all night against such an athletic team. And James was also great: maybe he could have been more aggressive with his offense - only 18 on 7-16, the jumper wasn't really falling. But he had to do everything else: 18 rebounds, 16 defensive, 10 assists, and guarded Parker down the stretch of the game (although the Spurs smartly screened to get KJ off him). KJ got some help: 17 from Wade, and 13 each from Bosh and Ray Allen, but it wasn't quite enough.
4) Two underrated moments in the pre-game introductions. First, Miami, which, at best, usually has a shambles of an introduction line because KJ James just goes out to midcourt and waits for the game to start before the intros even begin, had to switch it up because the game wasn't scheduled to start directly after the lineups were announced. So while Mike Miller and Norris Cole did their normal bouncy dances to "Seven Nation Army" (Mike Mil-lar's favorite lyric: "And I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding"), the rest of the guys just stood around and talked to each other. No line whatsoever, except Chalmers tried to get some dap, but everyone ignored him...Second, I guess someone told Coach Spo to stand like a statue and stare directly at the tv camera in front of him during his introduction, because that's what he did, he looked a little like Chris Bosh defending the rim, except way more focused and intense. STEP BACK FROM THE CAMERA, SPO, YOU ARE FREAKING US OUT!
5) Not a complaint, just an observation: I honestly believe the Spurs called like 30 timeouts in this game. Every time the Heat scored, Pop called a timeout. It was, like, 17-15, and Pop would leap off the bench: "I've had enough of this, dadgummit, Gary Neal: timeout!" I didn't feel like he was breaking up the Heat's momentum, because they didn't even have any, but now, as I write this, I see Pop has outwitted us all again: he was calling pre-momentum timeouts! We couldn't even get any momentum, because before we could even get to the next play which would start some momentum, he was hollering for the old t.o. He also outwitted the refs, and the official scorer, because there is usually a limit on timeouts, and it isn't 15 a half. Not even close...Was that a flop? Pop says "stop!" Hey, Pop, you're on top! Goodness gracious, that was terrible. Hop on Pop! Ewww, that's what she said!
6) "Hey, super-awesome Bradford Cox and your band Deerhunter: do you mind if I stand in your earhole and shoot a diagonal video of you with my cell phone? Great! Hey: have you been working out?" ... Warning: Do not click on this video unless you like totally ill music. DO NOT CLICK ON THIS VIDEO UNLESS YOU LIKE TOTALLY ILL MUSIC!!!
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Sorry this was the worst blog ever, I know I am going to get 50 emails saying I was not vitriolic or defiant enough after a loss. I'm the Chris Bosh of blogging! I'll come stronger next game, I promise. That's Sunday. If you need me before then, I'll be playing my guitar, but sideways. Have a good weekend!
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