The Blackhawks Take A 3-2 Lead In The Stanley Cup Finals

Posted on June 23, 2013 by admin

The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins 3-1 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  This gives the Blackhawks a 3 games to 2 lead in the series.  Patrick Kane scored 2 goals to lead the Blackhawks, with Dave Bolland getting an empty-net goal to finish off the Bruins on Saturday night in Chicago.

Corey Crawford, the Blackhawks goalie stopped all but one of the 25 shots he faced in the game.  Zdeno Chara scored the only Boston goal early in the third period.  Jonathan Toews also had another good game, with assists on both of Kane’s goals.  They have really lifted their game since their head coach, Joel Quenneville put them back on the same line together, before Game 4.  Kane has 3 goals and an assist, while Toews has 1 goal and 2 assists in the last 2 games.

Game 6 will be back in Boston on Monday night.  Now it’s time for the best line of the playoffs, to produce like they did in the first 3 rounds.  David Krejci, Nathan Horton, and Milan Lucic need to come through in a big way in Game 6 for the Bruins.  Krejci still leads everyone with 25 points in the playoffs, while Horton is tied with Kane for second with 19, and Lucic is 4th with 18 points.  They are also #1, 2 and 3 in the playoffs in +/-, with Horton leading the way at a +21.

Lucic has 3 goals in the finals, but Krecji and Horton don’t have any goals since the Eastern Conference Finals.  Their line has to heat up quickly, especially with the injury to Patrice Bergeron in Game 5.  He was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, but there is no report of what the injury is at this point.  Also injured in the game was Toews.  He is reported to have an upper body injury.  That’s about as specific as injuries get in the NHL.  He was blasted a few times in this game, especially by Boston’s Johnny Boychuk in front of the Bruins’ net.

The Boston Bruins were in this same situation 2 years ago.  They trailed the Vancouver Canucks 3 games to 2, then won Games 6 and 7 to win the title.  However, the Blackhawks were also in the same situation 3 years ago.  They lead the Philadelphia Flyers 3 games to 2, but then finished them off in Game 6.  Something’s got to give.  I hope Boston wins Game 6, so we will have one more game left in the Stanley Cup Finals.  I’m not ready to have 5 weeks with no football, basketball, or hockey.

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The Miami Heat Win Back-To-Back NBA Championships

Posted on June 21, 2013 by admin

The Miami Heat won Game 7 and the NBA Finals over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night, 95-88 in Miami.  This is the third title in the history of the Heat, and their second consecutive.  The Heat have been in the Finals all three years since the Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh was assembled.  They lost the first year to the Dallas Mavericks in 6 games, but won the next two years.

James won the NBA Finals MVP for the second consecutive year also.  He finished Game 7 with 37 points and 12 rebounds.  By winning the Finals MVP, along with the regular season MVP, he is only the third player to win both in the same year more than once.  The Boston Celtics’ Larry Bird also completed the feat twice, while the Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan did it four different years.  James’ 37 points tied Celtic Tommy Heinsohn in 1957,  for the most points by any player in an NBA Finals’ Game 7 ever.

Wade, who was supposed to have a bad knee, scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds, to win his 3rd Championship with the Miami Heat.  Yes, he won a title before James arrived, in 2006 over the Mavericks.  Mario Chalmers added 14 points for the Heat, and Shane Battier came alive, making 6 of 8 3-pointers, to finish with 18 points.

The Spurs’ Tim Duncan didn’t go down without a fight.  He had 24 points and 12 rebounds, but he did miss a short shot, and a possible tip-in with 48 seconds remaining that would have tied the score.  Duncan was trying to get his 5th Championship.  Kawhi Leonard has emerged as a key player for the Spurs in the last two games.  In Game 7 he had 19 points and 16 rebounds.  Manu Ginobili had 18 points, and Tony Parker had 10 points, but on 3 for 12 shooting from the field.

After breaking the record for most 3-pointers in an NBA Finals, with 25 in the first 5 games, Danny Green cooled down tremendously in Games 6 and 7.  He made a 3-point shot in each game to extend the record to 27, but he took 11 shots in the last 2 games to make those shots, and he was a total of 2 for 19 from the field in the last 2 games.  The Spurs’ hot shooting from Game 5 and the first half of Game 6, dropped back down below 40% in the last game a half of the Finals.  They shot 37.8% from the field, compared to 43.9% for the Heat in game 7.

This could have been the last hoorah for the current core of the San Antonio Spurs, with Duncan at 37 years old, and Ginobili turning 36 next month, but there is some uncertainty with the Miami Heat also.  There’s been a rumor for a long time that James will eventually go back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he started his career, because he’s from Ohio.  But why would he leave the Heat for a while?  Wade is the oldest of their Big 3, and he’s only 31 years old.

The Heat will attempt to win their 3rd consecutive championship next year, and no small amount of credit goes to their head coach, Erik Spoelstra.  He is only 42 years old, and has led Miami to the playoffs all 5 years he has been their leader, and the last 3 years the Heat has been in the Finals.  Spoelsta was an assistant with Miami, when they won the title in 2006, and he is just the 8th head coach to win consecutive championships in NBA history.  Will the Miami Heat achieve dynasty status with a 3rd straight NBA title next year?  If their core players stay healthy, I don’t see why not.

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Blackhawks Win High Scoring Game 4 To Even The Finals

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin

The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins 6-5 in overtime of Game 4, to even the Stanley Cup Finals at 2 games apiece.  Brent Seabrook scored the winning goal 9:51 into the first overtime period.  The Blackhawks had scored only 5 goals in the first 3 games of the Finals, and 4 of those goals occurred in their Game 1 overtime win.

Boston goalie Tuukka Rask has been outstanding in the last 3 rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but not tonight.  He gave up 6 goals on 47 shots from the Blackhawks.  Chicago even showed up on the scoresheet with their special teams.  Michal Handzus started the scoring with a short-handed goal in the first period, and Patrick Sharp ended their long power play drought with an extra-man goal in the third period.

The Bruins kept coming back in this game.  They never had the lead, and were 2 goals behind at two different times.  But they tied the game at 1, 4, and 5, and eventually forced overtime.  This was the third overtime game in the series, and it’s only Game 4.  Only one Stanley Cup Finals ever had more overtime games.  In 1951, every game of the Finals, which was 5 games then, went into overtime.  So that record can be broken this year if they have 2 more overtime games, in the next 2 or 3 games.

As bad as Chicago looked offensively in Game 3, they looked that good in Game 4.  Six different players scored, after it looked like they couldn’t figure out how to get any goals past Rask.  Jonathan Toews even scored his 2nd goal of the playoffs.   Two minutes later, Patrick Kane scored his 7th of the postseason.  This was the first goal in the Finals for each of them.  If this game jump starts both of them, that’s bad news for the Bruins.

The good news for Boston, is the way they were able to keep coming back, and that they scored 5 goals in this game.  They kept beating Blackhawks’ goalie Corey Crawford high on his glove side.  Also, the Bruins were 2 for 5 on the power play, but they also gave up a short-handed goal.

The Stanley Cup Finals goes back to Chicago for Game 5 on Saturday.  After winning Game 4, now the Blackhawks have home-ice advantage, for what that’s worth.  The home team is 2-2 in this series.  Game 6 will be in Boston, and if a Game 7 is necessary, the teams will go to Chicago again.  Patrick Sharp of the Blackhawks now leads all goal scorers in the playoffs with his 10th goal tonight.  He’s just ahead of David Krecji and Patrice Bergeron of the Bruins, who each have 9 goals.  Bergeron had 2 goals in game 4.

It will be interesting to see how Rask responds in goal in Game 5, although Crawford wasn’t much better.  I was surprised that the Bruins gave up 47 shots in this game.  They had looked so strong defensively in most of Game 2, and all of Game 3.  They still outhit the Blackhawks 44-34, but that’s not as important as giving up 14 more shots on goal, and 6 goals, including the game-winner.  The 2013 Stanley Cup Finals is looking like a 7 game series, just like the NBA Finals.  That’s fine with me.  I would like to see 3 more games between these teams for the championship.

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The Heat Force Game 7 In The NBA Finals

Posted on June 19, 2013 by admin

The Miami Heat won a thrilling Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night, 103-100 in overtime, over the San Antonio Spurs.  By winning, the Heat staved off elimination, and will host Game 7 on Thursday night to decide the NBA Champion.  The Spurs blew a 5 point lead in the last 21 seconds of regulation, then only scored 5 points in overtime, resulting in the loss.

LeBron James and Ray Allen of the Heat, hit 3-pointers, at the end of regulation, with the Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard making one free throw in between them.  On both 3-point shots made, James had just missed a 3-pointer.  The Heat grabbed the rebound then put up another shot in both cases, and made both shots.  If Leonard made both free throws, those 3-pointers would not have mattered.  Just before James’ 3-pointer, the Spurs’ Manu Ginobili also missed one of his two free throws.

James led the way for Miami, finishing with 32 points, 23 of them after halftime.  He also added 10 rebounds and 11 assists.  Mario Chalmers had another big game, in his up and down series, scoring 20 points.  Dwyane Wade had 14 points, and Chris Bosh had 10 points, 11 rebounds, and blocked the final shot attempt of the game, by the Spurs’ Danny Green, which would have forced a second overtime.

Tim Duncan had a monster game for San Antonio, especially in the first half.  He scored 25 points in the first half, and ended the game with 32 points and 17 rebounds.  However, he was sitting on the bench when the Heat got those 2 rebounds that led to the 3-pointers to tie the game at the end of regulation.  Leonard also had his best game of the Finals, with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

On the other hand Ginobili, who had his best game of the Finals in Game 5, had another miserable game for the Spurs.  In 35 minutes, he scored 9 points, had 8 turnovers, and was a -21 in team points, when he was on the court.  If you just look at Tony Parker‘s points and assists, it looks like he had a good game, with 19 points and 8 assists.  But he needed 23 shots to make just 6 of them, and his ridiculous drive at the end of regulation hit nothing but the court.

If Ginobili plays like he did in Game 5, and Parker plays like he did in previous games, then they can win, but if they play like they did tonight, even another great game by Duncan will go wasted.  I would like to make a suggestion to the Spurs regarding Parker.  Unless he has a sure lay-up, he shouldn’t shoot the ball.  No jump shots.  He has tremendous production for a guy who can’t shoot, but if the Heat doesn’t allow him to drive to the rim, he’s a liability shooting any other shot.  He is a good passer.  So he can look for the open man or drive to the basket, then kick it back to someone who can shoot, like Duncan, Green, Leonard or Gary Neal.

I know Green and Neal had an off night, but that was the first bad game of the Finals for each of them.  Even though James is a much better shooter than Parker, the Spurs need to keep him from driving to the hoop also.  San Antonio has their work cut out for them in Game 7.  No road team has won a Game 7 in the NBA Finals since the Washington Bullets in 1978.  Will a 35 year streak be snapped, or will the Miami Heat win back-to-back championships?  We will find out on Thursday night in Miami.

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Boston Shuts Out Chicago In Game 3 Of The Stanley Cup Finals

Posted on June 18, 2013 by admin

The Boston Bruins beat the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals 2-0, to take a 2 games to 1 lead in the series.  The Bruins’ Daniel Paille followed up his overtime game-winner in Game 2, with the first goal in Game 3.  Patrice Bergeron added the other goal, both coming in the second period, to provide all the scoring in this game.

Boston’s goalie Tuukka Rask stopped all 28 of the Blackhawks’ shots, to continue his great play, and probable run to the Conn Smythe Trophy, for the Most Valuable Player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Rask now has 3 shutouts in the playoffs.  The Blackhawks haven’t scored a goal since that 19 shot first period in Game 2.  Counting overtime in the last game, that’s 6 periods without a goal for Chicago.  This is starting to resemble the way the Bruins shut down that other high-scoring team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Blackhawks have now gone scoreless in their last 20 power plays overall, going back to the Western Conference Finals.  However, when they are on the power play, they are matched up against the Bruins’ penalty kill, which has now killed off 27 straight power plays in the playoffs.  If this continues, Chicago is in big trouble.  Adding the possible loss of Marian Hossa, who was scratched from Game 3, the chances of the Blackhawks starting and ending this season as the best team in the NHL, are bleak.

Other than Game 1, when Chicago won in 3 overtimes, as the winning shot bounced off 2 teammates, and went past Rask, and that strong first period in Game 1, Boston has outplayed the Blackhawks in all phases of the game.  They have been stronger defensively, and in goal, and have scored enough, to win games 2 and 3.  After 3 games in the Finals, no player has scored more than 2 goals.  The high-powered Blackhawks have 5 goals after 3 games, and only 1 in the last 2 games.

Chicago superstars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane have to start scoring for the Blackhawks to take this series past 5 games.  However that is easier said than done.  Just ask the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.  Those 2 former league MVPs combined for no goals and no assists in a 4 game sweep at the hands of the Boston.

Apparently, the Bruins, led my 6’9″ defenseman Zdeno Chara know how to shut down the league’s top scorers.  Then if you have a goalie behind the defense, playing as well as Rask, that seems to be the formula for winning the Stanley Cup.  The Los Angeles Kings were very similar last year, with an outstanding goalie, great penalty killing, and just enough timely scoring.

The Stanley Cup Finals continue on Wednesday night in Boston.  If the Blackhawks can figure out how to get some goals past Rask, and win Game 4, then they can go back home for Game 5 with the series tied, and having home-ice advantage back.  The Penguins couldn’t figure it out, and they were the highest scoring team in the playoffs.  Good luck to the Blackhawks and their coaching staff.  We will see what happens on Wednesday night.

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Ginobili Comes Alive As The Spurs Win Game 5

Posted on June 17, 2013 by admin

The San Antonio Spurs beat the defending champion Miami Heat 114-104 in Game 5 in San Antonio, to take a 3 games to 2 lead in the NBA Finals.  The Spurs’ Manu Ginobili started his first game of the season, and responded with by far his best game of the playoffs.  He scored 24 points, and dished out 10 assists.  Now the NBA Finals moves back to Miami for Game 6, and if necessary, Game 7.

With San Antonio scoring 114 points, Ginobili wasn’t the only Spur to have a big night.  Danny Green not only matched Ginobili’s 24 points, but also broke the record for most 3-pointers made in a single NBA Finals.  The old record was 22, held ironically by the Heat’s Ray Allen, who watched his record be broken.  Green now has 25 3-pointers through 5 games, with at least one more game to go.  He had 6 threes in Game 5, and is now an amazing 25-38 (65.8%) from 3-point land in the NBA Finals.  Some players can’t shoot that well from the free throw line.

Every starter on San Antonio scored at least 16 points, and the team not only cracked the 50% shooting barrier, but they shot 60% for the entire game.  Tony Parker actually led the Spurs in scoring, with 26 points.  Miami only shot 43% from the field, and while LeBron James scored 25 points, he only shot 8 of 22 from the field.  Dwyane Wade added 25 points and had 10 assists for the Heat.

Ginobili’s performance came as a big surprise to many, including me, because he had averaged only 7.5 points per game in the first 4 games of the Finals, and was shooting a miserable 34.5%.  If promoting a reserve into the starting line-up as a reward for poor play, was Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich plan to get Ginobili jump-started, he’s a genius.  One more game playing like that, and there’s a great chance that the San Antonio Spurs will win their 5th NBA Championship.

However, the Heat respond to losses with double digit wins, including after every loss in the playoffs this year.  They will regroup, and win Game 6, because it’s an even-numbered game.  The Spurs have won Games 1, 3 and 5, and the Heat have won Games 2 and 4.  I know that’s too simplistic, but that’s the way it’s gone so far.  Each team has made the right adjustments after a loss, and then won the next game.  I don’t expect James and Wade to allow consecutive losses for the Heat, especially now that they are back in Miami.  But if the Heat do win game 6, will the Spurs respond with a win, like they did after losing Games 2 and 4?

This NBA Finals has been a battle between past champions, with Duncan leading the Spurs with 4 titles, and Wade having 2 of his own in Miami.  Duncan at 37 years old, and Ginobili at 35, are closer to the end of their careers, than Wade and James, who are 31 and 28 respectively.  This could be the last chance for the Spurs to win another title, with Duncan, Ginobili and Parker all together.  James has plenty of time to win more titles, even if he leaves Miami.

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The Bruins Beat The Blackhawks In Overtime To Win Game 2

Posted on June 16, 2013 by admin

The Boston Bruins evened up the Stanley Cup Finals with a 2-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 2, in Chicago.  It took overtime again to decide the game, but this time it was just one overtime.  At 13:48 into overtime, the Bruins’ Daniel Paille scored the game winner, his 3rd goal of the playoffs.

It took a while for Boston to get going in this game.  They were outshot 19-4 in the first period, but only trailed 1-0, thanks to their goalie, Tuukka Rask.  He turned back a barrage of shots on a few occasions to keep his team close.  The Blackhawks’ Patrick Sharp started off the scoring 11:22 into the game, his 9th goal of the playoffs.  Sharp is tied with the Bruins’ David Krejci for the most goals in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Boston seemed to wake up in the second period.  Maybe they got a stern talking to by coach, Claude Julien after the first period.  Well if so, it worked.  The Bruins had 8 shots in each of the next 3 periods, and the Blackhawks never had more than 6 in a period, after the dominating 19 shot first period.  The Bruins’ Chris Kelly tied the game at 1, 14:58 into the second period.  This goal turned out to be the last score in regulation.

Overtime started with the Bruins pushing the action.  However, the Blackhawks’ goalie Corey Crawford was also up to the challenge.  With only a total of 2 goals in regulation, this game looked as if it might have an hour or two remaining, until Paille ended it.  Boston outhit Chicago 50-34, which might explain why the Bruins seemed to gain strength in comparison to the Blackhawks as the game went on.

The Stanley Cup Finals continues on Monday night, but moves to Boston for the next 2 games.  The Bruins have now taken home-ice advantage, by winning one of the two games in Chicago.  The Blackhawks have to be more than a little bit concerned, after dominating early in the game, and ending up with a loss.  While Crawford has been very good in goal for the Blackhawks, Rask has been even better for the Bruins.  Chicago’s stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane will have to step up their game in Boston, or they could be in deep trouble when they return to Chicago for Game 5.

If Boston’s top line of Krejci, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton catch fire at home, without Toews and Kane matching them, the Bruins could go back to Chicago with a 3 games to 1 lead.  Even so, I see this series going at least 6 games.  These teams are evenly matched, so I definitely don’t see either team winning the next 3 games.  Sharp has been great in the playoffs, but he needs more scoring help, for the Blackhawks to beat the Bruins.

Who knows?  Maybe The Stanley Cup Finals will end up with 7 overtime games.  While that is highly unlikely, so far we have 2 down, and 5 to go.  That would be just fine with me.  Bring it on!

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The Miami Heat Even The NBA Finals At 2 Games Each

Posted on June 14, 2013 by admin

The Miami Heat pulled away in the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the NBA Finals to beat the San Antonio Spurs 109-93, and even the series at 2 games each.  Dwyane Wade had a big second half, scoring 18 points, and finished with 32 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 steals.  Wade seemed rejuvenated, and he wasn’t the only Miami player to look that way.  LeBron James also had his biggest game of the finals for the Heat, with 33 points and 11 rebounds.  James hadn’t scored more than 18 in any of the first 3 games.

While the final score ended in the 3rd straight game of at least a 16 point win, 2 games by Miami, and 1 game by San Antonio, this game was close until the 4th quarter.  After 3 quarters, the Heat had an 81-76 lead.  But the Spurs couldn’t take the Heat in the final quarter, getting outscored 28-17.

The third member of Miami’s Big 3, Chris Bosh, also had a big game, with 20 points and 13 rebounds.  So the Heat’s Big 3 combined for 85 points in game 4.  The Spurs’ Big 3 of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili combined for only 40 points.  Frankly, I don’t understand how Ginobili is part of the Big 3 when his play has been weak, and he isn’t even a starter.  Ginobili  shot 1 of 5 from the field, had 5 points, and the team was a -22 when he was on the court.  Duncan scored 20 points, while Parker had 15.  As has been the case this whole series, Spurs’ Danny Green, Gary Neal, and Kawhi Leonard contributed much more to their team than Ginobili did, each scoring in double figures.

Miami outshot San Antonio 53% to 44% from the field.  The Spurs also committed 18 turnovers to only 9 for the Heat.  When the series resumes on Sunday for Game 5, still in San Antonio, the Spurs will have to play much better defensively, clogging the lanes, so the Heat can’t drive to the basket nearly as easily.  They will have to cut down on their turnovers drastically, getting them down near their Game 1 total of 4, and obviously shooting better always helps.

I think the Spurs, who have the best coach in the NBA, Gregg Popovich, will make the proper adjustments and win Game 5.  The series will go back to Miami, with San Antonio leading 3 games to 2.  The Heat will win Game 6, because they never lose 2 games in a row.  Then it will all come down to Game 7.  I will wait a while before giving my pick to win that game and the NBA Finals.

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The Blackhawks Win Finals Game 1 In 3rd Overtime

Posted on June 13, 2013 by admin

The fifth longest game in Stanley Cup Finals history ended with a deflected goal by the Chicago Blackhawks‘ Andrew Shaw, to beat the Boston Bruins 4-3.  It was the Blackhawks’ 63rd shot of the night, which ended the game 12:08 into the 3rd overtime period.  So this game was just 7:52 short of 2 consecutive regulation games.  Good thing these teams don’t play again until Saturday.

The Blackhawks never led in the game, until the overtime game winner.  The shot was actually made by Michal Rozsival, it deflected off Dave Boland, and finally off Shaw, to get past the Bruins’ goalie Tuukka Rask.  The first 21 minutes of the game belonged to the Bruins’ Milan Lucic, who had 2 goals.  One in the first period, then another 51 seconds into the second period.  Chicago rookie Brandon Saad cut the lead in half a few minutes later.  Boston took a 2-1 lead into the locker room after 2 periods.

6 minutes into the 3rd period, Patrice Bergeron gave the Boston a 3-1 lead, his 6th goal of the playoffs.  But less than 2 minutes later, Boland scored, to cut the lead to 3-2.  Then 12:14 into the period, Blackhawks’ Johnny Oduya tied the score at 3, with a long slapshot through traffic.  It ended up being the final goal in regulation.  The marathon continued through 2 scoreless periods.    The game ended just 3:05 short of the longest Stanley Cup Finals game ever, which was in 1990.  It’s strange that 3 other games ended longer than this game, but less than 3 minutes and 5 seconds longer.

The win was key for Chicago.  It was a home game for them, and they couldn’t afford to let the Bruins’ continue their postseason momentum, which bounced the high-scoring Pittsburgh Penguins in 4 straight games, in the Eastern Conference Finals.  In other bad news for Boston, forward Nathan Horton left the game in the first overtime.  He leads everyone in plus/minus with a +22.  If he misses any games, that could disrupt the Bruins’ top line, with David Krejci and Lucic.  Krejci leads the playoffs in goals, assists, and points.

This Stanley Cup Finals looks like it’s going to be a long series.  Boston did a good job containing the Blackhawks’ stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, but the other guys beat them.  The Bruins need to tighten up their defense.  In addition to the 63 shots that Rask faced, the Blackhawks missed the net on another 23 shots, and Boston blocked 40 more, for a grand total of 126 shots attempted by Chicago.  By comparison, the Bruins had 54 official shots, 8 that missed the net, and 23 blocked shots, to total 85.  So Chicago attempted 41 more shots in the game.

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The Heat Blow-Out The Spurs To Even The NBA Finals

Posted on June 11, 2013 by admin

In Game 2 of the NBA Finals, the Miami Heat clobbered the San Antonio Spurs 103-84.  The game was close until 3:11 was remaining in the 3rd quarter.  That’s when the Heat went on a 33-5 run.  This turned a one point Spurs’ lead into a 27 point 4th quarter deficit.  So now the NBA Finals is tied at one game apiece.

Up until the run that blew the game wide open, both games had been close throughout, with one team never even leading by double digits.  The Heat’s LeBron James‘ block of the Spurs’ Tiago Splutter highlighted the run.  As you see the block on instant replay, it appears that Splitter is going in for an uncontested dunk, when suddenly the big hand of James appears, to stop the ball and Splitter’s hand in mid-air.  James only had 4 points in the first half, but finished with 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists, not to mention that instant classic block.

If you were to tell me that Mario Chalmers would lead the Heat with 19 points, which he did, and that the Spurs’ Danny Green would go 5 for 5 on 3 pointers, which he did, then I would have thought the Heat lost the game.  However, the Heat outshot the Spurs (49.4% to 41.0%) from the field, and even from 3-point land (52.6% to 50%).  Also, San Antonio, who had only 4 turnovers in game 1, had 17 in game 2, while Miami only had 6 turnovers in game 2.

The hero for the Spurs in game 1, Tony Parker, had 13 points in game 2, but was -27.  This means that the Heat scored 27 points more than the Spurs, when he was on the court.  The only other Spur that had more than 10 points was Danny Green, with 17.  Tim Duncan only scored 9 points, on 3 for 13 shooting, but had 11 rebounds.  Strangely, Miami’s Dwyane Wade scored 10 points in the first half, but didn’t have any points during the 33-5 run, or during the second half at all.

Even though the San Antonio Spurs went down in a bad way on Sunday night, they still left Miami with a split of the first 2 games of the series.  The NBA Finals will resume on Tuesday night in San Antonio.  With the next 3 games at home, the Spurs will have a chance to end the series on their home court, by winning all 3 of those games.  However, they will need to make some adjustments from their game 2 performance to win any more games, even at home.  Expect the Spurs to shoot better at home, than the 41% they shot in both games at Miami.

The Spurs are 6-1 this postseason at home, while the Heat started the postseason winning their first 5 games on the road, but lost their last 2 road games to the Indiana Pacers, in the Eastern Conference Finals.  The pressure, which had been firmly on the Heat, all year really, will shift mostly to the Spurs in San Antonio.  You know the Spurs don’t want to have to go back to Miami for a Game 6 and/or 7, even though they already won game 1 there.  I don’t think San Antonio will be the last stop of the NBA Finals this year.  The Spurs will have to win one more game at Miami to win the Championship.

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