Arguably one of the most important and least discussed factors of basketball in the playoffs is the ability of a team to go on a run, to find a rhythm so potent and relentless that the opponent has no other choice than to just accept the thrashing and move on upon its release. There are only a handful of teams that can do it currently: you saw it with Jordan’s Bulls, Kobe and Shaq’s Lakers, Durant’s and Westbrook’s Thunder, and of course the reigning champions. Sunday night was yet another example of the Miami Heat’s ability to completely and entirely remove an opponent from their game plan, turn a closely contested game into an onslaught, and empty both team’s benches in the 4th. Except this time it happened in the NBA Finals, a series with the two best teams from the best basketball association in the entire world-and Miami turned this one into a laugher, with the Miami Heat coming out on top 103-84.
The Big 3 Looked Dismal Last Night
As an avid Chicago Bulls fan, I know full well what every San Antonio diehard is currently attempting to appear apathetic over. I’ve watched LeBron James oust the Bulls in debilitating fashion 3 of the past 4 seasons and let me tell you, it is the world’s worst feeling to watch the transcendent-being of the past decade tear your team apart, appearing completely indifferent about it to add salt to the wound. At times it can even be horrifying what this man and this team’s capable of. While LeBron can’t take entire credit for Sunday night’s Game 2, him and the Miami Heat looked poised to run San Antonio out of the city before Spoelstra called his wolves off early in the 4th. That being said, LeBron did have this block…which was absolutely insane:
Mario Chalmers bounced back from a horrific Game 1, leading the Heat in scoring with 19pts on 50% shooting. I will admit that beforehand, I felt that Norris Cole was the better option, based on how well he’s been playing in the postseason, but Chalmers showed up Sunday night and not only scored, but helped contain the streaking Tony Parker via a great team pick-and-roll defense which held the Spurs to 37.8 shooting inside the 3-point arc. Big contributions from Wade, Bosh, and Mike Miller provided supplemental support for a team that looked as relentless as any team in recent memory. This, combined with stifling defense over the last 4 minutes of the 3rd and throughout the 4th turned a game that at one-point in the 3rd had the Spurs with the lead.
Super Mario Returned On Sunday
The true stat of this game was turnovers. Only having four in game 1, San Antonio had 17 Sunday, which Miami turned into 19 points. Ball pressure crushed San Antonio, who displayed lackadaisical ball movement and unbalanced offense for possibly the first time all post-season. Tim Duncan described his performance as “awful,” which wasn’t far from the truth. The always dependable Duncan had just 9pts on 3-13 shooting, the worst shooting game of his 27 finals games all-time. Tony Parker took a night to maintain humanity, finishing with just 13pts on 5-14 shooting, a far cry from his 22.3ppg playoff average. Look for Popovich to draw up some new plays involving silver lining Danny Green, who had 17pts on a perfect 6-6 shooting, and the Spurs’ defense to not appear as malleable as it was in Game 2.
Game 3 shifts the momentum back to the Miami Heat as the Spurs will have a home game on Tuesday, hopefully they battle back to make this more of a series than was evident Sunday night.
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