I totally missed the second game of the NBA Finals due to E3 2013 networking activities (i.e. drinking and eating)…in that order, but thankfully RPadholic 1ceman was on the scene! Below are some excellent photos that he snapped. From what I understand, the Spurs shot poorly and Mario Chalmers played out of his ass. Using Bill Simmons’ terms, Chalmers is one of the best “Irrational Confidence Guys” in the NBA, following a tradition established by Vernon Maxwell. For the majority of the year, Irrational Confidence Guys think that they’re the best player on the floor. On a handful of nights each year, it happens to be true. Apparently last night was one of those nights for ‘Rio.
When you have a chance, post your thoughts on game two of the NBA Finals (please!). Prop to 1ceman for his great photos!
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Said Eric Spoelstra before the game (in my head): “O.K. guys, we won the first three quarters of game one and blew it in the fourth. Tonight, let’s just keep the pace for the first three quarters and then you have my permission to bury them at the beginning of the fourth.”
O.K., so technically, the Heat hit the “ON” button at around 2:00 left in the third, but they didn’t have to go the distance as Popovich got burned so bad, that he sat his starters down with over seven and a half minutes left in the fourth. About a minute later, Spoelstra responded in kind with our third-string team as well. We were watching the NBA Finals with college-level players (and Norris Cole) for the last six minutes of the game. Personally, I think that makes the Spurs look like pussies. Sure, you can construct a logical argument of why it was done, but fighters always fight until the end. You don’t quit just because it looks bad or seems impossible to come back. And even if you are destined to lose the game, you leave your guys out there and make them suffer through every minute of that defeat (or at least up until the last 2 minutes), because it needs to be ingrained into their heads and bodies as punishment so that they make sure to never make that mistake again.
As far as officiating goes; it’s nice to see that this crew is consistent. There were still quite a few bad calls/non-calls all around. This group of refs don’t like to call traveling/walking and seem to have no clue who the hell touches the ball last when it goes out of bounds. It also doesn’t help when they call a foul on James for literally standing still (for a pick) and yet, for most of the game, they allow shoving, pushing, and light S&M.
Also, I have to note that sports journalism seems to be on par with gaming journalism. I was watching ESPN after the game in disgust about LeBron this and Wade that, but what they should have been talking about was Chalmers. Credit to James for finally waking up in the fourth quarter and dazzling everyone as he usually does, but Mario carried that team for the entire game on his shoulders and he deserves the credit. It pisses me off when sports journos talk about the “superstars” even when they didn’t do shit for most of the game. The press should have been flocking around Chalmers and damn near suffocating him with questions and post-game interviews, yet on ESPN, it was just James and Wade, both of whom were fairly flat (for James and Wade) for most of the game. Mario gets the MVP for game 2.
Chris Anderson and LeBron were great with the defense and assists. Danny Green was a monster at the 3-point line and I could not believe that they sat him down. I would have kept him in for most of the game AND given him the ball on every other possession. Old men Ray Allen and Mike Miller narrowed down the three-point pinch by making a bunch of 3’s of their own late in the game.
Defense and turnovers won this game for The Heat. It also helped that Parker and Duncan were pretty much shut down for the entire game.
Hopefully, we’ll repeat this success in games 3, 4, and 5 (which I will not be going to). Anybody here live in Texas?
-M
I don’t think the Spurs’ stars were benched because the game was getting out of hand. That was part of it, for sure, but those guys are old basketball players. Rest them while you can.
Wow. I can’t imagine what you had to pay for those tickets. Amazing pics, dude.
They actually belong to the family. I’ve been going to Heat games since ’88-’89 when I was a kid. My dad used to take me to a bunch of home games. We’ve been season ticket holders since the very beginning and very slowly over the years we’ve had the opportunity to upgrade our seats for relatively cheap.
Even though we all have to share the tickets, my sister doesn’t like basketball and my little brother rarely goes, so I am usually the one that ends up going with my parents.
-M
All part of the plan. Let Miami get cocky, which they are prone to do, and then crush them in San Antonio.
I don’t mind Pop sitting the starters in a finals game. It’s a big “f you” to Stern since he was fined earlier in the season for not playing his main guys. No other coach was fined for that at all during the year. In fact Pop’s 4th string almost beat Miami.
Regardless this series is probably destined for 7 games.