Sports: 2013 NBA Finals

Note:  you may have noticed that I changed the title of my blog.  That was for two reasons:  to make it more accurate, and perhaps a little less polarizing.  Of course, it is certainly not a great title by any means, so if you have any suggestions, let me know.

2013 NBA Finals - Miami Heat defeats San Antonio Spurs, 4-3

I didn't follow the NBA quite as closely as usual in the regular season this year; most of what I did read revolved around the circus also known as the 2012-13 L.A. Lakers (good riddance).  All the talk about the Lakers turned out to be wasted breath, as they were promptly swept away in the first round of the playoffs.  Where the Lakers go from here is an interesting question, and could warrant a blog post by itself.  But today, I want to talk about the greatest NBA Finals that I can remember.

The regular season:
No more slow starts for Miami - the Heat took command of the Eastern Conference early in the season. And that was before they went on a 27-game winning streak in the spring, guaranteeing themselves the #1 seed and dominance in the conference.  With the Chicago Bulls hobbled (star PG Rose ended up missing the entire season), it looked like Carmelo Anthony and the rising NY Knicks were the only ones with a chance to stop LeBron and the Heat.

Over in the Western Conference, San Antonio doggedly remained near the top of the standings, even after last season's devastating defeat to the OKC Thunder in the Conference Finals.  Tony Parker had a phenomenal season, and even aging Hall-of-Famer-to-be Tim Duncan lost weight and seemed rejuvenated.  Unfortunately, Parker hurt his ankle late in the season and the Spurs stumbled to the end, losing the top seed in the West to the rival Thunder.

Playoffs:
In the first round, Miami cruised right through the poor Milwaukee Bucks, as expected.  A short-handed Chicago, however, shocked the Heat by taking game 1 of the second round on their home court.  The Heat responded by annihilating the Bulls in game 2; they pulled away at the end of a close game 3 and didn't look back, winning the series 4-1.  In the conference finals they met the Indiana Pacers, who surprised many by defeating the #2 seed Knicks.  They quickly showed that that was no fluke; they came within a defensive stop on the last play of winning game 1, then forced LeBron into mistakes at the end of game 2 to steal that one.  It was a literally back-and-forth series, with no back-to-back wins for either team.  The Pacers' Paul George and Roy Hibbert emerged as stars, nearly matching LeBron point-for-point and taking away the paint, respectively.  But Miami's experience won out in the end, and they won game 7 at home easily.

Many predicted a much tougher path for the Spurs; they had looked bad at the end of the regular season, and the Lakers were surging (plus, everyone thinks the Lakers will win anyway).  Then Kobe Bryant got hurt, and L.A. found just how much they had relied on Kobe, as San Antonio promptly swept them without breaking a sweat.  Next up were the feisty Golden State Warriors.  Led by young PG Steph Curry, the Warriors could score at will, and they challenged the Spurs well, getting to 2-2.  But the Spurs figured them out and won the last two games decisively.  That set up a West Finals against the Grizzlies, who shocked the Spurs as the #8 seed in 2011.  The Spurs throttled the Grizzlies in game one, then survived brief Memphis onslaughts in games 2 and 3 to win both in overtime.  This, understandably, seemed to demoralize the Grizzlies; add to that star Zach Randolph's miserable play and the Spurs finished the sweep in game 4.

Finals:
Before even starting, this NBA Finals matchup had huge implications.  Put simply, old champions vs. new champions.  The Duncan-era San Antonio Spurs are one of the greatest teams of all time:  during Duncan's 16-year (so far) career, the Spurs have made the playoffs every year, won their division 10 times, finished above .700 10 times, been to the NBA Finals five times, and won four of those.  Incredible.  Meanwhile, I probably don't need to say much about the Miami Heat.  Have the best player since Michael Jordan, along with two other big stars, and have now been to three consecutive Finals (winning two of them).  From here, I'll go through a brief game-by-game recap, then highlight some of the major factors and turning points in the series.

The first half of game 1 was close, with the Heat up by 3.  To me, it seemed that the Spurs were in an uphill battle: although their team play was nearly flawless, the Heat seemed to have a decisive athletic advantage.  But they answered every mini-run from Miami, then made a huge push in the 4th quarter, led by Parker, to get a shocking win.  I will certainly remember this play from Parker for a long, long time.  The stars for both teams struggled to start game 2, but Miami started to catch fire and used a 33-5 run to turn a close game into a blow-out.  The Spurs returned the favor, in even more devastating fashion, in game 3 in San Antonio, winning by thirty-six, thanks to the best 3-point shooting display I've ever seen (Green made seven, Neal made six, and other Spurs made three more).  However, during the game Parker injured his hamstring (he would still play the remainder of the series).

Facing a must-win game four, Dwayne Wade came out of his funk dramatically, controlling the game from start to finish (although LeBron ended up with more points).  The Heat's Big Three combined for 85 points in a dominating victory, and though it only tied the series 2-2, it was hard to imagine the Spurs overcoming that much firepower.  So in game 5, it was Ginobili's turn to step up after previous disappointments; put in the starting lineup, he was his old, slashing self with 24 points and 10 assists.  The Spurs clicked on all cylinders and won comfortably.  Back to Miami for game 6, with the pressure all back on the Heat.  This time, Miami seemed tentative coming off the loss, and San Antonio looked to seize their opportunity, going up by 10 to start the 4th quarter.  Then LeBron, who played badly to that point, finally caught fire and led his team all the way back.  Even then, it took a miracle three from Ray Allen to send the game to overtime, where they defeated the demoralized Spurs.  The Spurs refused to concede the title after the excruciating loss, though, and fought hard throughout game 7, even though it was clear only Kawhi Leonard had anything left in the tank.  The Heat won it, a game closer even than the seven point margin of victory.

Epic, epic, epic.  First of all, my preference was for San Antonio to win the Finals.  That said, the series was the most exciting and highest quality that I've ever seen.  The heart and resilience displayed by the Spurs in such a series makes them champions of another kind in my book, and for Miami, they finally overcame a worthy adversary for their crown.  As I pointed out earlier, it was clear that Miami had the advantage in individual talent and the ability to just dominate when everything clicked.  The Spurs had the advantage in team play and also experience and mental toughness.  So what were the deciding factors?  I'll approach it primarily from the Spurs' perspective, as I paid closer attention to them since I was rooting for them.

First, the good.  Kawhi Leonard emerged as a budding star, mostly on defense and rebounding (both of which were essential for the Spurs) but also often on offense as well.  He was the third wheel of the Spurs' Big Three more often than Ginobili, in this series.  Leonard helped keep LeBron in check for the most part, and Boris Diaw even played him surprisingly well, using his bulk and his smarts.  Next was the scoring of Danny Green (mostly on catch-and-shoot 3s) and Gary Neal (from everywhere).  Obviously, it fueled the game 3 blowout, but also kept the Spurs close in almost every game, win or lose (at least through the first five games).  And Duncan, particularly once Parker got injured, provided the steady centerpiece of both the offense and the defense.  Rarely spectacular (except the first half of game 6), he subtly kept the flow of the game in the Spurs' favor by anchoring the paint defense and scoring efficiently (later in the series, anyway).

What went wrong?  I would say the number one factor was Tony Parker's injury.  He was brilliant in game 1, not great (but helpless anyway due to the Heat's big run) in game 2, then injured in game 3.  He bravely played out the series, but he was clearly not himself.  Parker just couldn't get to the rim like he did in game 1, and I blame that considerably more on his injury than on Miami's defense.  Ginobili's struggles hurt a lot, particularly the turnovers, but his scoring was replaced pretty easily by Leonard, Green and others.  Duncan was their only effective big man; Tiago Splitter was embarrassingly bad, getting rejected by guards left and right and generally getting schooled.  The final significant factor was Green:  while he was brilliant early in the series, he murdered the Spurs in game 6 and 7.  It wasn't even so much that he stopped making the 3s; he stopped trying to make the 3s.  The Heat successfully scared him, and he tried to drive way too much; a terrible ballhandler, Green usually turned it over.  I was screaming at him "Just &%#@ing jack it up, or immediately pass it again!!!!".

To conclude, congratulations to the Miami Heat, victors in the best NBA Finals I've ever seen.  Particular props to LeBron James, who was stymied by surprisingly good defense from the Spurs in much of the series.  But in game 7, he played brilliantly; if he hadn't, they probably would have lost.  There is absolutely no shame in this defeat for the San Antonio Spurs, the greatest team since Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls.  I already can't wait for the next season!