Heat - Spurs Game Five Takeaways: Follow Someone Else's Lead
 |
| This Is My Happy Face |
> LeBron James tells his teammates to follow his lead by saying inspiring things in front of a live mic
> Ray Allen in for Miami, which would be fine if he were a point guard or young
> Dwayne Wade with the first make, and that's encouraging for drama's sake
> Allen with a strip leading to a James flush, and Miami looks much more energetic early
> Tim Duncan with a miss of a too-open shot, and then Tony Parker does the same, and hmm...
> Actual nastiness in a floor melee -- interesting
> Duncan campaigns and does not get a call, followed by a James flush, and it's 8-0 for the road team
> Manu Ginobili in early and misses, James with a 3 coming back, and wow, the Spurs aren't moving the ball well
> Kawhi Leonard with the first make of the game, a three, with five minutes in -- big shot to stop the bleeding
> Rashard Lewis with a 3 with Chris Bosh driving and oddly dishing when defended by Parker
> Miami's on the ball pressure is just night and day from Games 3 and 4, but it takes a lot of energy to play this way
> James with absurd separation speed past Ginobili for another transition hoop, and the Spurs are yelling at refs, never a good sign
> 19-5 after six minutes is not exactly according to the script that said this was over
> Gregg Popovich goes to the subs, as is he is want to do when the starters do not produce
> James' second block of the game is crazy athletic
> Allen with a three, and he's your designated savior so far
> Ginobili with the old-school three to answer, a lifeline
> Shane Battier and Manu Ginobili get into some awkward weirdness as both men try to flop first
> Patty Mills playing downright disrespectul defense on Allen, leading to a miss and a Leonard three to cut the lead to 7
> Allen misses again and again, and it's telling that Miami is going down with the old guys that used to help
> Mills gets a soft roll in 3, 12-0 Spurs run, and this all feels inevitable
> James with an absurd end of clock 30-footer to stop the bleed
> Norris Cole in for Mario Chalmers, and wow, how the mediocre have fallen
> James with two makes, and that's 17 and 6 in 10 minutes - ye gads
> Danny Green with the transition 3 miss in the 2-for-1 choice, and that shot was going down earlier in the series
> Cole gets bailed out by the refs, and feel free to start thinking conspiratorial thoughts
> Leonard draws the second on Battier, who looks all kinds of spent
> James misses from 30, amazingly, and it's 29-22 Heat after the first
> As better as the Heat looked in the first, it's really asking a lot for James to be this absurdly good for 11 more quarters to suck out a series win
> Boris Diaw with the great pass and flush for Leonard to start the second, and it's telling that the Heat stars are in during what is usually benchie time
> Leonard over James to cut it to 3, and yeah, Young Buck's a coming
> Wade with a long make, and they need a lot more of that
> Green with another open corner miss, and that sort of thing is going to keep Miami hoping
> Chris Anderson ends a Parker drive, and that's shot blocking the Heat haven't had all series
> Parker now 0 for his first 6, not exactly his usual standard
> Green misses from five feet, and it's kind of amazing that the Spurs are only down 7 while shooting this badly
> James tries to pass rather than drive on Duncan, leading to a turnover -- telling
> Bosh misses the too-open 3 with no Heat player in any position to get a board, also known as why I hate it when 4's shoot 3's
> Duncan shakes Udonis Haslem, because, um, that should always happen
> Wade draws on Belinelli, and gets both to fall, which hasn't been the case very often in the dotage of his career
> Haslem blocks Duncan, but Timmy's got enough wherewithal to get a miss on the rim to continue the possession, leading to a Belinielli deuce -- um, he's heady and stuff
> Duncan owns Hawlem again, cutting the lead to 3, and no, Erik Spoelstra, your spirit animal can't play against Duncan
> Allen with the offensive foul turnover, leading to the old-school Duncan three to tie it, but Timmy misses the FT
> Spur defense picking up fast, as James drives and can't finish; Leonard's answering three is the Spurs' first lead
> Really did not think San Antonio could play this level of defense
> Mills with a killshot three, but it stays out
> Lewis with an airball from the corner three, and he's spent
> Ginobili with the super-pretty drive and reverse, and that's another Heat timeout
> Wade with a cheap shot push-off that Mills sells it for all that he's worth
> Miami with six points in nine minutes of the second quarter, and that's Game Four all over again
> Bosh misses the open three, Ginobili skies to make the lead seven, and seriously, no one knew he could still do that
> James with a fade and make to stop a 14-0 run
> Miami's defense worse now, and Ginobili makes the heat check three
> Bench scoring is 22-2 Spurs, and yup, that's kind of important
> James misses and makes at the line to cut it to 7
> Diaw misses an easy floater, Wade gets one to roll in, back to 5
> Diaw's drive and make goes this time, easy ball movement, unlike the first quarter
> James misses the 3, Parker misses to go 0 for 7, but San Antonio is so complete, they are still up 7
> Spurs getting the o-boards now as well -- fresh legs
> Diaw misses the 3, and the half ends Spurs 47-40, 25-11 in the second
> Any hope that Miami would use the break to get their legs and defensive ball pressure back left pretty quickly
> Leonard with the continuing rise and rush, and it's really getting hard to see the fourth quarter being meaningful
> Splitter with a signature block on Wade, and that had to taste good after last year
> Mills with the killshot three after that play, and the series may have just ended
> Bosh with a temporary reprieve make before Mills again hits
> Ginobili three, the lead is 21, and that will be all, Mr. James
> Chalmers and Michael Beasley in, and that's the essence of desperation right there
> Two makes by Miami gives Popovich the excuse he needs for the angry timeout
> Mills makes at the end of the clock to foil good Miami defense and keep the celebration going
> Leonard makes and the lead's back to 21 as Beasley travels
> Credit to Bosh for still fighting the good fight, even while ESPN is giving us a lesson in Aboriginal land rights
> Chalmers to the line and the lead is back down to 17, or at least would be if Mills can ever stop making open threes
> Duncan over James, who replies with a three right back
> Beasley with a nice play on Parker, but James can't keep making threes
> Parker finally gets in the scoring column in the waning moments of the third, and this really should be a full runaway by now
> James makes two, now has 27, and the Spurs lead by 19; Spurs 77, Heat 58, and if this isn't over, I'm an airplane
> Five words from Pop in the interview, he's the best
> Spurs force a 24-second violation to start the fourth, and, um, wow
> Spur crowd outraged over an out of bounds, because they are just that fully invested
> Nice and one from Beasley, which is probably going to make Popovich throw a chair; he misses the FT, of course
> James with the board, speed outlet to Chalmers, who makes and gets Leonard's fifth -- as good a sequence as Miami could hope for
> Leonard gets to the line to end that mini-run
> James owns Diaw for once and dunks, back to 14, glimmmer of drama... so Duncan with the old-school make
> Chalmers with his best game of the Finals, which is damning with no praise
> Parker makes off the terrible Bosh three attempts, the lead is back to 18 with 9 minutes left, and this is starting to get outside the realm of math
> Heat suffer a turnover out of a timeout on the inbounds, which doesn't say much for the coaching of bench players
> Beasley with the follow dunk on James' three, but loses Diaw on the resulting three-pointer
> Wade hits a three to show he's not dead yet
> Parker owns on the hesitation make, just artistry
> James makes, but trading buckets isn't cutting the lead
> Parker again, no answer for Miami on defense
> Green misses the killshot three, but it's 18 with 6:30 left anyway
> James out of the huddle and on the bench, which has to be giving his haters fresh wood
> Wade gets to the line, misses both, stick a fork in him for at least this year
> Wade to Bosh on the break, can't finish, which is the series in microcosm
> Six straight makes by Parker, who seems determined to salvage his percentages
> Beasley really looks like he could have helped his team at some point in this series, but he's hopeless on defense
> It's rare that you see garbage time with so many name players trying to make thematic points
> Wade, James and Bosh out with 3:15 left, and let the rampant and pointless speculation begin
> I'd say something about the last two minutes of game play, but why be better than the professional game coverage
> The Right Way is cited, because guys taking less money for the chance to play for a championship is clearly very, very wrong
> ESPN feels that we will never see this kind of continuity again, because the NBA doesn't copy successful formulas at all
> All four victories were by over 15 points, which didn't say much for why we watched
> The stars and coaches couldn't wait for the game to end to hug, which seemed wrong, really
> Five titles in 15 years is a very odd form of dynasty
> Leonard is your MVP, because he pl;ayed the most like LeBron for the winning team (and yeah, it's an easy choice)
> He becomes the third youngest Finals MVP in history, and um, yeah, the Spurs' window isn't exactly closed
> Honestly, this might be the Finals again next year, which means Commissioner Silver desperately needs to end the conference playoff system
1 comment:
I won't moralize here and pretend there's a right or wrong way to build a team, but I will say that the degree of difficulty on how the Spurs are put together is much higher.
I mean do you realize that Duncan is the only lottery pick on that team? They have the #1 overall pick from 17 years ago, and no one else was picked earlier than 15th. That's amazing.
Post a Comment