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NBA Finals 2013 Part 3


Mexal

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I am so mad Timmy's awesome game was wasted like this. It would've been storybook perfect to get the title with such a performance by him.

Pop is an awesome coach but last night he screwed up IMO, he played Manu way too much when it was clear he was having a terrible night. And taking Duncan out twice down the stretch was a big mistake, they needed their best rebounder.

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No Knick fan would look at this series and say, "Hey, that team that Pat Riley left the Knicks for and then became GM of, who was the hated enemy, that team sounds good. Let me root for that team." Knicks fans have obligations to hate, in no particular order:

- the Heat

- the Pacers

- the Celtics

- the Bulls

And maybe sometimes the Lakers but whatever.

I am hoping the Spurs can get some magic fountain of life juju or whatever for Friday. Tim Duncan was playing like a man possessed last night and I don't want game 6 to be the last time we see that kind of intensity and focus. I really hope his knee is okay.

And for fuck's sake, Manu, one good game and then you bounce? You owe your teammates this next game. Leave the flopping shit at home. Give us the crazy trick pass did-he-just-make-that-shot Manu from yesteryear.

The way I see it, the Spurs have an easy roadmap to follow if they want to be victorious on Friday. Manu needs to step up again and help out Parker and Duncan. The bench needs to come up huge. If Spo can spread the floor with shooters, so can Pop. Continue to play with the same defensive focus and clog the lane, forcing Wade and James to seek other options. Allow key role players - Leonard, Diaw - to spend more minutes on the floor. And find some way of reassigning Parker's defensive job. Tony Parker guarding LeBron James? Not in the long term.

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A whole lot of Heat "fans" left when it looked like they were going to lose. The footage of them trying to run back inside when the tide turned, being denied by security, and complaining about "spending good money for tickets" is pretty funny.

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Spurs shellshocked and haunted in locker room after Game 6.

Tim Duncan limping postgame after Bosh fell on his knee.

Media ramping up their Heat "Greatest of All-Time" dogmafest for Game 7.

Miami planning their championship victory parade.

Game 7 a foregone conclusion because Heat have all of the momentum, the homecrowd, the refs and David Stern in pocket.

Spurs in 7.

Because sports does funny things when you think the outcome is a sure thing.

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I cannot imagine leaving that game early. Absolutely atrocious for someone who paid hundreds of dollars for tickets.

Great game overall. Lebron went from good-but-passive to awesome to terrible and back to good. His defense on Parker was the difference; there were two loooong stretches where the Spurs could not score at all. And even as someone who likes Lebron, his whining about calls was absolutely ridiculous. Overall there were some bad calls each way, but I thought it was a reasonably well officiated game, which isn't easy when things are this intense. And yet there were at least three times that Lebron thought that complaining to the refs was more important than getting back on defense. I don't care whether you were fouled or not - get over it and cover your man, this is the fucking finals.

I really hope that Duncan is himself in game 7. I've always been a Duncan fan, he is consistent and graceful and professional. If he isn't near 100%, I don't see how the Spurs can overcome, from an emotional or a matchup perspective. He has been a rock on defense and the boards this series. Splitter's +/- has to be like negative fifty for the series, if not more. If that's the guy they're relying on for rebounds...it's gonna be over in the 3rd quarter again.

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"I saw the rope. Everybody saw the rope."

-- Gary Neal, Spurs reserve, on noting the yellow line ringing the court in the final minute of regulation in preparation for a Spurs title ceremony.

Talk about a dagger through the heart; not sure how the Spurs can come back from that in less than 48 hours.

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People are being too harsh on Pop's decision to sit Duncan at the end of regulation. The Heat were going to shoot for 3, it made sense. That being said, Duncan would have probably gotten a rebound out of one of the missed 3s.

Definitely agree on giving so much time to Ginobili, tho.

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I'm no tinfoil hat guy when it comes to the NBA, but its games like this that really fuel "The NBA is Rigged Guy." Throw on top of that things like the leaked pictures of Nike's new LeBron shoe with 2 Time Champ already printed on it and you really can understand why they believe in things like the frozen envelope.

Honestly, even when they were down five late; I honestly still felt this was going seven games.

Speaking of being down 5 late... with about 30 seconds to go, the local ABC affiliate out of Louisville conducted a "regularly scheduled test of the emergency broadcast system." :lol: Sound cut out and you got that annoying blare. By the time it was all over, Jesus Shuttlesworth was hitting a three from the corner for OT.

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I'm no tinfoil hat guy when it comes to the NBA, but its games like this that really fuel "The NBA is Rigged Guy." Throw on top of that things like the leaked pictures of Nike's new LeBron shoe with 2 Time Champ already printed on it and you really can understand why they believe in things like the frozen envelope.

Honestly, even when they were down five late; I honestly still felt this was going seven games.

Speaking of being down 5 late... with about 30 seconds to go, the local ABC affiliate out of Louisville conducted a "regularly scheduled test of the emergency broadcast system." :lol: Sound cut out and you got that annoying blare. By the time it was all over, Jesus Shuttlesworth was hitting a three from the corner for OT.

That's awful timing for a EBS test.

Out of curiosity, why do you think this game is indicative that the fix is in? If Manu or Leonard make both free throws it is going to be much harder for the Heat to complete that comeback. If the Spurs could secure a rebound off either of those missed 3s, then their win is a virtual certainty. Likewise, if Allen fails to make that final 3, it's probably over. If the fix was in, the NBA was REALLY playing with fire in those last 30 seconds.

I mean, I can see arguments that the NBA would want the Heat to win the series, but watching that game I just didn't see them getting all the calls. There were some bad ones that went Miami's way, but some bad ones that went the Spurs way too, and overall it evened out to me.

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I'm no tinfoil hat guy when it comes to the NBA, but its games like this that really fuel "The NBA is Rigged Guy." Throw on top of that things like the leaked pictures of Nike's new LeBron shoe with 2 Time Champ already printed on it and you really can understand why they believe in things like the frozen envelope.

The Heat had 21 FT attempts in the game, the Spurs had 28 FT attempts. And I can't remember exactly when it was, but there was a total phantom offensive foul called on the Heat late in the 4th quarter that almost sunk them (looking at the play-by-play, it might have been the one on Ray Allen with 37 seconds left, but I'm not positive). This was not the 2002 Lakers-Kings series.

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The Heat had 21 FT attempts in the game, the Spurs had 28 FT attempts. And I can't remember exactly when it was, but there was a total phantom offensive foul called on the Heat late in the 4th quarter that almost sunk them (looking at the play-by-play, it might have been the one on Ray Allen with 37 seconds left, but I'm not positive). This was not the 2002 Lakers-Kings series.

Agreed. There was an offensive foul against when James was guarded on the post by Parker. Really, the refs bailing out that kind of mismatch is pretty ridiculous, and the foul looked like Parker jerked his head back as if he was struck, but in actuality he wasn't. That was with 3 min left and killed the Heat momentum. Then (iirc) they subbed Wade back in and their offense went to shit down the stretch.

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Oh, I don't think the fix is in. But I've heard it on sports radio and seen it all over my Facebook this morning. Lets be honest, it does look very convenient.

That being said, I agree with you guys that objectively its absurd on the surface.

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Ok. The only call that I saw to give credence to that would be on the final drive by Manu, when Allen reached in and stripped the ball, but there was a lot of contact. You could say that he should have gotten that call, but to me that is much more of the "the refs don't bail you out in the final seconds" rather than "the fix is in".

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BTW, how do neutrals feel about this Finals in comparison to the Lakers-Celtics Finals of 2010?

I'd call myself neutral. I'm no LeBron hater and as a Kentucky fan I'm contractually required to like everything that Pat Riley ever does. Similarly, I really like Timmy and Co and respect how they've won their titles with relentless consistency over the years.

This Finals series has been hard for me to get into primarily because there seems to be no flow from one game to the next. A player is hot one game and then inept the next (Manu being the prime example). Additionally, many of the individual games have felt out of reach for one team or the other. The Lakers/C's series really felt more intense and hotly contested IIRC.

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This Finals series has been hard for me to get into primarily because there seems to be no flow from one game to the next. A player is hot one game and then inept the next (Manu being the prime example). Additionally, many of the individual games have felt out of reach for one team or the other. The Lakers/C's series really felt more intense and hotly contested IIRC.

I've enjoyed the Finals - both teams have won the tough game, both teams have blown out the other. The difference between this series and the LAL-Bos series is that there is no passion in this series - Boston/LA has 50 years of history. When Pierce and Kobe were on the court you could see the ghosts of Chamberlin, Russel, Bird and Magic in the gym. Footage from the McHale clothesline, the Bird two handed dunk and (regrettably) the Magic baby hook were seen There is history there that doesn't exist with any other two teams.

With these two teams what do we have? Pop sitting his starters early this year?

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A few thoughts:

1) Miami fans really are the worst. Who leaves an elimination game 6 early?! You fairweather fucks, you do not deserve this team. The Marlins, that's the team these Seven Nation Army chanting d-bags deserve. Not this embarrassment of riches.

2) Genuinely feel like the refs did the best they could under some incredibly tough 50/50 calls. People just have a hair trigger with regard to it because the NBA has a credibility problem and a lot of people hate the Heat. This was a long way from 2006 Heat-Mavs or 2002 Lakers-Kings.

3) Disagree with the Pop criticism. Even if Ginobili was 0-8, it wouldn't shock me at all for him to provide the dagger in a big spot. He has the history (even recent history considering what he did in Game 5). Ray Allen had 2 points prior to making that game tying 3 - but something about both future hall of famers provides confidence in the clutch that most guys don't have. Also, the taking Tim Duncan out - when did he get injured? He didn't score at all in the 4th quarter and overtime and I suspect he just wasn't right out there by the end of the game. Anyway, if his guys execute like they're capable of in the final 30 seconds of regulation it's a moot point. He's done an incredible coaching job all series but he doesn't become any more brilliant if Leonard makes both FTs.

4) Heard Dan LeBatard talking about it and he's absolutely right. In sports there always has to be a goat, I get it, but let's not lose sight of how incredible of a game this was. Greatest NBA game (in terms of stakes and drama) since, what, Bulls-Jazz Game 6 in '98? Maybe even greater.

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Spurs shellshocked and haunted in locker room after Game 6.

Tim Duncan limping postgame after Bosh fell on his knee.

Media ramping up their Heat "Greatest of All-Time" dogmafest for Game 7.

Miami planning their championship victory parade.

Game 7 a foregone conclusion because Heat have all of the momentum, the homecrowd, the refs and David Stern in pocket.

Spurs in 7.

Because sports does funny things when you think the outcome is a sure thing.

I have a very hard time believing that the Miami Heat think game 7 is a foregone conclusion.

They were incredibly fortunate to not lose this series in 6. Tonight was the Spurs game all the way, and at no point was Miami ever in control. At one point the Heat were down 12 points or so and I thought it was really over. I could not believe how little Dwayne Wade brought to the table. I saw LeBron going from great drives to ridiculous misses yet again. I saw Chris Bosh working hard but simply getting outdone by Tim Duncan, an objectively better basketball player than he is. Is that Bosh's fault? He's just not as good as Duncan is, and there is no shame in it. I saw Leonard being excellent again, I saw Duncan having the best game of the series, I saw Parker being good, but I also saw that Danny Green's 3 point shooting was suddenly nowhere to be seen, and that makes a hell of a difference.

But mostly I saw Miami absolutely desperate, looking all the time as if they were going to lose this game, even when the score was close. Spurs looked the better team, but they just gave it away in the end. Some fine work from LeBron in the end to make it happen, he did step up, but faltered at the rim repeatedly nonetheless. And again, Wade brought so little in that second half, nearly every time he got the ball it was a turnover or a miss.

Seemed like Battier was doing well and should have had more time from Spoelstra. What a crazy, intense game. Unbelievable that Miami got that to OT.

Game 7 predictions? I have no idea. The Spurs to me are the clearly better playing team. They have it in them to beat Miami in that last game, the Miami tongues are on the floor every game. But will they do it? Or will we finally get to see a majestic LeBron? I've pretty much given up hope for a stunning display from him, even though he is still Miami's best player in these games by far. I don't question that the Spurs can come back from this mental blow, it will be all about how game 7 flows. And if it flows like last night's game again, the Spurs will win, because Miami is not going to be that fortunate again. Miami actively needs to be better than last night in my opinion, or it's done.

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