BALLET IS LIFE - spurs vs heat, NBA finals 2013 thread

heat in 6 seems like the safe pick right?

i'll go out on a limb and say heat in 5

i say spurs in 6. what's vegas saying?

i just don't see who on the spurs is guarding lebron -- danny green is too short and i don't think kawai has nearly the strength

duncan is also a decent match up for bosh and the heat should be able to go back to playing small

i could see parker taking two games on his own though, so smarter money is prob heat in 6

the spurs will do it w team d and kawai is just as strong as pg

kawhi still makes me think lil bow wow snuck onto a basketball court

Spurs in 6

(just trying to get J0rdan's attention for Mets-Marlins this wkend)

Like the contrasting ballet stylez here. Not sure if Bron will go down like a dying supernova, or if Spurs will overplay the olds too much early in the series and run out of gas first. Really looking forward to the first game, when Heat will spend the 1st half adjusting to a team that can embarrass them w/ passing.

Fuck the Heat, Spurs in 6.

Spurs in 5, just for fun

playoffs are so boring this year overall

lol classic thread title

eff you the warriors made the playoffs best playoffs ever imo

heat in 6 is the hot pick no doubt.

Spurs in 6. Fuck the Heat.

the spurs will do it w team d and kawai is just as strong as pg

― Heez, Tuesday, June 4, 2013 11:50 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

pg couldn't guard lebron

but then again no one can guard lebron

lol is this thread named after my ballet life

there was classic typo where someone typed ballet instead of baller, cant remember the context tho

yeah having "someone who can guard lebron" is kind of a red herring in debates and maybe even detrimental to the team itself, no one actually stops lebron, and if you put someone out there for that purpose that player either

1) sucks at offense in the first place (tony allen, early thabo) so it's a wash, or
2) wears themselves out so much that they don't have enough left for their own offense (KD, PG)

lol yes hibachi

heh then on topic I have to miss game 1 bc out of town for ballet activities and will be watching on dvr friday but spurs in 7

The no one can stop LBJ thing can be just as easily flipped to no one can stop Tony Parker, ESPECIALLY no one on the Heat

it's not really about an individual player "stopping" LeBron so much as a defensive system forcing him out of his comfort zones afaict

this is true

but also not being able to stop lebron james has graver consequences than not being able to stop tony parker

yeah system defense is always gonna work better to stop a great player than an individual i think

also not just "stops" but making them take bad shots

i mean there's no system or person that can stop lebron, it's sort of a moot discussion

he's too talented/smart

yeah I mean I'm just talking damage control, reducing his percentages a little

Stopping wade and bosh seems to be the key

yes also/and least keeping the heat off the three point line

idg thread title

Stopping = hoping they continue to suck most of the time

fuckin dvr cut off the last five minutes of gsw-nugs grr

― joe smith avatar (agent hibachi), Saturday, April 27, 2013 10:45 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hibachi what kind of ballet life do you lead that you can never watch games live?

― brony james (k3vin k.), Saturday, April 27, 2013 10:58 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha ok

live or die

The no one can stop LBJ thing can be just as easily flipped to no one can stop Tony Parker, ESPECIALLY no one on the Heat

― why pee on the beat (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Tuesday, June 4, 2013 2:13 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lebron?

anyway spurs in 6

i'll say Spurs in 7!

Can he guard TP one on one?

http://25.media.tumblr.com/61d3a41852bbe1a794ae8003b51ee03e/tumblr_mnvchuGL6B1rfimo0o1_500.jpg

Can he guard TP one on one?

― Poster The Sheeple (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Tuesday, June 4, 2013 4:50 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he guarded the hell out of derrick rose

i have heat in 4, lol spurs

yellow card me m bise IDGAF

Ha oh yeah I forgot about the MVP GOAT Rose.

the question in this series as i see it is can the spurs force the heat to go big

of course if wade n bosh arent healthy and cant play better its academic and the spurs will win easy

cause they are a much better team than indy

wade's health is one thing, but unless bosh's ankle is way more fucked than we think it is, he should be fine

duncan and splitter aren't exactly going to punish him physically

the question in this series as i see it is can the spurs force the heat to go big

― lag∞n, Tuesday, June 4, 2013 5:03 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah, see i think this is the spurs problem. their lineup is much better small to me (parker-green-manu-kawhi-duncan) than big, but i don't know if you wanna play small with the heat

then again, i don't think it's impossible that the spurs could go small vs the heat and just outshoot them. parker/green/manu/kawhi should be a better shooting trio than any four the heat can come up with.

i don't think the heat are that scared of having to guard splitter or diaw. i wouldn't be surprised if diaw barely sees the floor in this series cuz he's an obvious player for the heat to hide someone on, and there's no way that guy is gonna wanna chase battier around screens

better shooting foursome*

this is assuming that battier and ray stay lukewarm with their shots, but i guess that's not something you can really predict.

this entire series really just may fall on who shoots better from deep between green/leonard/neal/bonner and allen/battier/chalmers/cole

duncan and splitter aren't exactly going to punish him physically

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, June 4, 2013 5:07 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

are you srsly of the mind that duncan is incapable of being physically punishing

he guarded the hell out of derrick rose

TP smarter/craftier, better at using picks etc than Rose

they are not exactly the same guy and yet they are very similar

Rose isolated at top of key nearly every go at LBJ I think? (kinda hazy, think it was only for last 5 mins of last game of that series, and I was at that game so memory is fuzzier than if I saw on tv). LeBron def best shot at Heat "stopping" TP, but he'd prob get tired chasing TP around 5 screens every possession.

yeah it kinda seems unlikely theyd match him up all game but maybe 4th quarter or if parker is going off

better shooting foursome*

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, June 4, 2013 5:10 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no homo

75k

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

think i'm going to go with the home team and take the heat in 7. hopefully this series will be awesome

i really have no idea how this series will play out, other than being pretty sure somebody will have a 3-2 advantage going back to miami for the final two games, which reminds me that 2-3-2 is horseshit, ban it forever.

yeah 2-3-2 is so lame

Finals should be 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

I think it's pretty much 50-50 considering Wade looks like a corpse. Bovada has Spurs +185 and I would take that.

pinnacle had them at +230 earlier today

Finals should be 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

― Poster The Sheeple (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Tuesday, June 4, 2013 8:47 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't think the heat are that scared of having to guard splitter or diaw.

they probably should, diaw is a good offensive facilitator and splitter is good on the p'n'r. though they prolly shoudnt fear fat boris on defense that much.

basically if the same bosh and wade show up this series as last, spurs win.

also j0rd i think you are off tm about spurs small ball, they really dont play that lineup much. the development of splitter and leonard means they dont need to go small like they felt they had to when they had richard jefferson and rookie splitter

they play a p trad lineup and it works well. manu will get burn if and when danny green's shooting is cold. boris will play select minutes, as will bonner. maybe gary neal has a big game, but im not counting on it. cory joseph can stick with chalmers or cole and just make it difficukt for them to set up offense.

leonard will give lebron some problems, enough to keep games honest, though he's not going to command as much of his efforts on d unless he's covering tony parker (good luck bron chasing him through 40000 screens tho).

Getting the Dubs to take Richard Jefferson off your hands is still maybe your best move of the last couple years.

no kidding, goodbye lux tax, hello cap flexibility, goodbye over the hill wingman, hello kawhi leonard playing most minutes of any spur this year

are you srsly of the mind that duncan is incapable of being physically punishing

― lag∞n, Tuesday, June 4, 2013 5:20 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

like roy hibbert? no

Fresh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grdzCU3VbJ4

Doris Burke on interviewing Pop:

How do you approach an NBA Finals that you know includes Greg Popovich?

There’s no coach in the league, including Phil Jackson when he was in the league, where I feel more angst for the (in-game interview) than Gregg Popovich. Do I go into the finals with the idea in the back of my head that seven more times at the end of the quarter I have to interview him? You bet you I do. There’s no question about it.

I try very hard not to take his reactions personally. I’ll be honest with you. It is not easy.

What is your relationship with him?

He makes it clear in every conversation we have how much respect he has for me.

Gregg Popovich is one of my favorite coaches in the league in terms of his approach and what he stands for. I’ll give you a contrast when it comes to me and Gregg Popovich. He’s responsible for one of the greatest moments of my career. And one of my worst.

The worst was the first time I had to interview him for his in-game interview. Keep in mind, I have great admiration for him. Instead of just asking him a simple question, I tried to be smart. In doing so, I think the final line, the lead-in to my question was, “What was the problem with your defense?”

Well, he crossed his arms, he got the scariest smile on his face I’ve ever seen, his face got a little red. I really do not have any recollection what he said. When I went back to my seat, the producer came in my ear and said, ‘Doris, do you mind if we don’t run it?’ I said, ‘Thank you for not humiliating me.’ It literally was that bad.

Well, fast forward three years and I’m doing the color analyst work. A different job. We go to his office during the pregame. Some subject came up, and he looked directly at me, ‘Doris, you’re a basketball person. You know what I’m talking about.’ He wouldn’t remember it, but for me, a woman doing that job, he’ll never have any idea how much that meant to me. And how much confidence that gave me.

<3

battle b/w hoops good and hoops evil, afaic
go spurs go
SA Town deuce dime motherfuckers

pop is an awesome person as far as i can tell

doris and pop are both the best

Larry Bird demanding 5m a year to run the Kings

so much <3

http://youtu.be/IGY6UamVRSU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGY6UamVRSU&feature=youtu.be

its boring to say i know ... but lowe's piece for the series is v good. read, ilh

The Spurs will play a very consistent series and Pop will be brilliant at tinkering his match-ups for maximum effectiveness. That's their big strength. Plus, the old coots got some rest.

The Heat are very hard to read right now. Wade most likely won't be a big factor in this series. Bosh should look better than against the Pacers, but he's probably not in a good frame of mind and it could show up in his game. Ray Allen has been off, too. Birdman has been on fire, but he's a loose cannon. LeBron needs a decent team around him and the rest of the Heat may not give him the supporting cast needed to win this series.

I voted Spurs in 7. This almost certainly will not happen, but it seems possible to me.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

16-9 for the spurs overall.

also who are all these people voting in an ilh poll? say hi, guys!

hi! longtime lurker here. voted spurs in six.

Oh wow thought Heat in 6 would landslide this poll!

hello lurker

hey fit! stick around and give us your thoughts during the series if you're up to it!

also be sure to vote in the upcoming first annual HOOPIES awards!

Oh wow thought Heat in 6 would landslide this poll!

― Poster The Sheeple (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Wednesday, June 5, 2013 8:28 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it may be more aspirational than predictive

it seems so

good plug xp

HOOPIES

HOOPIES

http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/481/803/48180359_640.jpg

ha otm

Oh wow thought Heat in 6 would landslide this poll!

― Poster The Sheeple (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Wednesday, June 5, 2013 8:28 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark

NBA FINALS 2012 OPO

ilh did pick the mavs to dirk the heat in 6, putting us in the very forefront of lucky guessers.

Watching Dirk Dirk during that run was one of the greatest things in basketball history.

Another lurker-voter saying hi (long-time reader, etc). I went with Heat in 5 but hope it goes longer. Sorta cheering for Spurs, but mostly looking forward to the gamesmanship.

SEANBALLAT IS LIFE

didn't vote cause i only broke self-imposed posting ban to complain about that birdman flagrant.

but i'm back in the (continental) usa and i'm saying heat in 7.

Welcome back from the honeymoon. Hope it was better than game 7 of Pacers v. Heat.

thanks. i actually deigned to watch the first half of that trainwreck at the outrageously-priced beach bar at our hotel.

I'm sorry you made time for that fiasco.

@TrueHoop: Just talked to guy who serves drinks and snacks to the people in the expensive seats at Heat games. He's calling Spurs in 5.

lol

welcome back cad!

yeah dude and congrats on getting hitched!

Happy honeymooning!

@ESPNChrisPalmer one of Magic, Bird, Mike, Zeke, Dream, Duncan, Kobe or Dwyane has played in last 34 NBA Finals.

thx fellas!

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/969277_10151677787841224_1916570492_n.jpg

that was a crazy play

I kinda wish he would murder the rim more, he likes to just kinda throw it straight down without touching the rim. maybe that's more ballet tho

maybe worrying bout fucking up his hands. rims are like metal n shit.

hi ilh, i'm another one of the lurkers who read & vote in ilh threads. ilh threads are my favourite things to read in the mornings, to catch up on what happened in the previous night's games. they're also the only way i can follow basketball since the games are during the night here. voted for spurs, more because i want them to win then because i actually believe they will.

welcome friend!

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA 2m
Karl will not be brought back for the final year of his contract, source tells Y! Sports. He was informed this morning.

welp

Karl grows on you and you find yourself liking him more and more, right until he's coaching in the playoffs.

has any coach been fired a month after winning COY before?

sup lurkers welcome n stop lurkin and start murkin, ilh need more people

congrats cad also breaking honeymoon ban to post abt birdman is all-time

I bet karl gets a fat check to coach the nets right out of the first round again next year

as a relatively new ILH'er... yeah this board is a bit insular, i have no idea what you guys are talking half the time

We can change.

**extends pinkie and takes a sip from his bone china teacup**

wow RIP karl

COY really is the kiss of death

http://www.denverpost.com/kiszla/ci_22999809/kiszla-nuggets-george-karl-has-no-use-cursed

From April:

"Coach of the year? I'm not sure I want that legacy," Karl said Wednesday. "Have you seen what happens to guys who win coach of the year?"
The award is cursed. Ask any of these winners from the past 10 years.

i don't think anyone needs me asking dumb questions itt

but if you insist

haha

The award is cursed. Ask any of these winners from the past 10 years.

... all of whom have primo jobs coaching shitty teams for the michael jordan's and russian billionaires of the world.

enjoyed this...

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/64659/courtvision-how-the-heat-and-spurs-score

tho i'd have been more interested in playoff shot charts

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2013/0606/grant_r_HowMiamiScores.jpg

AAAAAAAAAA

Battiers face is so punchable

and his shot chart is pretty hilarious

looking forward to new era of deep-stats fueled heckling. "Hey Battier your shot shot is FUCKING LOPSIDED AS FUCK"

i don't like either of these teams and yet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-LbvFckptY

is balls posting here yet. how can we have an ilh board without... ballsssss

good link jordan

Apparently Ujiri was going to fire Karl if he'd stayed on

I keep thinking Karl would be great for the clips

masai shouldve fired karl before he left, just cause he seems to enjoy firing people

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWR_VITiqPA

damn that shit got me AMPED

gametime in approx 45 minutes, so here we go, it's HOOPIES nominations time!

thread for discussing ILH's first annual HOOPIES - the most important awards since the cable ace

pumped

god i wish i had blood pressure meds for the next 2 weeks

whats up w the heat intros they just stand around

Yelling, jumping, and gesticulating can release some of the stress.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/gregg-popovich-admits-winning-championship-this-ye,32711/

i thought this headline was funny. a spurs victory would be more boring than a heat victory.

weirdly kinda rooting for the heat based on residual dubs grudge

The Heat need to hire seat fillers like on awards shows to sit in the expensive seats until the ticket holders show up. That shit looks horrible.

spurs aint missed

all that rust.

oh look, a bad call. :(

he leaned imho

hah that wasn't too ovbvious but the fact that he shot free throws off of an obv pass was more of a mistake

timmy got to lay off that one

haha jvg just irate about 2-3-2

otm

btw, my wife has already said to me "if you're gonna keep acting like this we're going to turn it off" in re: to me sighing loudly at every miami 3pter
i know we're down 4 but it feels so much worse cos we're getting killed by role players and bosh

game def being played in miamis style so far

enjoying duncans assertiveness, he needs to be that way all series, they cant hold him

lol breens Norris cole love has resurfaced

one of our most exciting young players

btw i'm at JFK and can't find a place that has 1) the game, 2) food, and 3) beer all at once. get your shit together JFK

http://twitpic.com/cvp83v

goldsberry's charts on the spurs are just things of beauty, and why the spurs are so good/fun. all 3s and layups

The Heat need to hire seat fillers like on awards shows to sit in the expensive seats until the ticket holders show up. That shit looks horrible.

giving everyone white tees doesn't help.

that last sequence was poetry for the spurs, kawhi beating lebron and muscling wade for a dunkup, then manu sweeping past bosh

btw i'm at JFK and can't find a place that has 1) the game, 2) food, and 3) beer all at once. get your shit together JFK

― k3vin k., Thursday, June 6, 2013 10:04 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

jesus christ, this is america, what have we come to

make a 3, i'm beggin

kick miller in the face more

this game has been tight as heck all the way through, good omens

yeah this is going to be an amaze series

best game of the playoffs.

splitter has been nice this game

srsly how have the spurs stayed in this game?

KAWHIIIIII

TONE!!!!!

that parker spin was OOOO_OOOO

sick

graceful lil fucker

almost as pretty as the wrong-footed layup earlier

so slick

ballet life move

TIMMMMMMMMMMMM

heat getting sloppy out there

lebron has 1 million. rebounds

lmao at miami crowd freekout followed by 24 sec violation

tony is the clutchest midrange jumpshooter i have seen since jordan there i said it

tony parker doin cheat codes

was just thinkin how he's never fazed

Tony proving Lebron isn't the only one who has vastly stepped up his game since last they met. Crikey.

rarely makes a bad decision, rarely dribbles around unnecessarily, doesn't try to do too much even when he gets hot, dude is such a good pg

just took abad shot tho

wondering how he'll be considered amongst the greatest pg's ever all of a sudden, never even considered it before

fuuuck

god danny is pissed at himself for that foul

he should be

his 3pt shooting redeems him for that, esp if spurs hold on

3pt marksman christopher bosh

ha spurs daring bosh to take the three

spurs sure dodged a bullet there whew

you can see his form is kinda fucked from there

OH MY GODSDDDDDDDDDD

OOOOOHHHHHH

hahahaha

Tony fucking Parker!

just wow

actually feel kinda bad for heat after that

got it off by 1 frame

called good on the floor right?

"it's still on his fingertips" yeah but there was .1 on clock then

lol they need high frame rate for this shit

O.O

as Granny said, looks like one frame.

smh at JVG right there, maybe he has a tiny monitor and cant see

wow TP

on the first angle it looked like the relevant info was in between frames

2nd one was clear tho

actually feel kinda bad for heat after that

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger)

yesssss great game

JORDY DANIEL ESQ WHERE U AT, WHERE UR CREW AT

lol

giving up the 25.6 second bucket very unclutch

paging good job good effort kid to the miami tunnel

damn tony's abs

Now that the rust is off I wonder what we'll see next game.

4 TOs vs this Heat D is ridic

time to go to sleep, tomorrow is the last day of school #balletlife

no turnovers for either team in the 2nd quarter wtf

liked how much refs let them play

Both of these gifs are instant classics:

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2013/6/6/4404886/lebron-james-chris-bosh-surprise-foul-tim-duncan-spurs-heat

kinda feels like the spurs pulled that one out their ass

Nah. It was anyone's game the whole night.

Spurs definitely didn't play their best ball there, but once again Miami looks kinda useless outside of Lebron

I might have to watch this game again tomorrow. Amazing.

James needs to be more attacky, wade had a good game but is obvs still no where near %100

EZ Snappin
Posted: June 7, 2013, 3:42:59 AM
Nah. It was anyone's game the whole night.

objectively maybe but for three quarters it felt like miami was about to run away w it

But every time it felt that way if you looked at the score and it was still close. Spurs were just hanging in until they could get in some shots and take the Heat down.

lol i know

espn crew all looking bummed w this result hah

man simmons is really the worst w all his narrative bullshit, called the parker shot 'potentially famous'

But I agree, the Heat should have put it away before the fourth, and it seemed for a while that they would. It was a bad, bad fourth quarter from the Heat.

xposts

uhg thee guys just show me some replays

Simmons is a twit with too much makeup.

Spo seems a bit pissed at his guys.

spurs looked way hungrier

you can tell simmons spends the breaks brainstorming his ridiculous shtick

lol these dudes are turning on the heat real fast

They'll be right back on the bandwagon if the Heat win game two. And whoever wins they'll say they backed all along.

The Heat played like they were all a bunch of heroes in their own minds already. The Spurs played like a team.

Game 2 will have a different script, but the Spurs are on track for ilh's 4-2 chip.

bron 18 boards in a trip dub is kinda lost in the mix but holy shit

still he needs to shoot more

Stephen A worse than the Simmons aftershow. Yuck.

ha yeah droopy dog is the pits

lebron needs to shoot more yeah, gotta give spurs credit for great team d on him, making him be a passer and contest w/o fouling when he did attack

guess if you're heat you can say spurs had nearly a mistake-free game, parker and duncan played well, wade had only 4 pts in 2nd half, Big 3 all had less than 20...and still only lost by 2 buckets.

^^ yeah, but you can't say all that without the word "lost", which tends to dampen the effect.

it was a fun game, will be a fun series

playoff series tend to look exponentially less like game 1 as the series goes on

i missed the first half so wade looked drastically bad to me but i guess he had an okay game overall

Tony MVParker

They'll be right back on the bandwagon if the Heat win game two. And whoever wins they'll say they backed all along.

watching those guys flip back and forth every game during the Pacers series was pretty entertaining

Holy crap Spurs only 4 TOs the whole game?? Was Miami playing some kind of prevent D or something, or was it just Spurs being Spurs and passing well?

miamis D looked pretty great, just a virtuoso performance by the spurs

heat been pretty ho hum offensively four of the last five games fwiw

92, 90, 77, 99, 88

next game they will score 66

Spurs vets just demonstrably better passers than basically anyone else in the league, save Bron/Wade fastbreaking. Not really sure what stats demonstrably prove this (assist totals I guess, I'm sure Spurs were high up there), but pretty sure they exist. No team in recent memory can make those 2nd/3rd extra passes that just embarrass defenses.

Yeah the Spurs seem amazingly calm when the shot clock is running low, a time I'd imagine most teams turn the ball over or at least take terrible shots. They just keep making passes like it's no biggie. The only player who looked kinda terrible was Gary Neal from what I saw.

spurs looked overly frenetic in the first half i thought but then they settled down and found their groove

heat been pretty ho hum offensively four of the last five games fwiw

― lag∞n, Friday, June 7, 2013 9:55 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

92, 90, 77, 99, 88

― lag∞n, Friday, June 7, 2013 9:58 AM (57 minutes ago) Bookmark

well putting up 90+ on the pacers with the pace they play at would come out to a very good PPP i imagine

#AmnestyLeBron

miami shot 40% in one of those games w a bunch of fts and 50% in another w not that many fts, they didnt have too many turnovers in either game, so they did ok but didnt really look like themselves, AND they let the pacers dictate the pace

the pacers totally cut off their three point shooting

nba playoffs are so interesting tactically/strategically, its kinda the best

yeah 100%

lowe scoffs at criticism of james passiveness and then kinda agrees w it, imho the issue is miami maybe getting bron the right looks rather than brons specific decision making, aslo says wade had an awful game, and he doesnt frame it this way but points out what may be the first signs of bron aging http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/64797/a-story-of-refinement-how-the-spurs-elevated-playmaking-triumphed-in-game-1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSRk7qrwDNA

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2013/6/7/4406476/dennis-rodman-lebron-james-average-player

trolol

the master xp

again i only saw the second half but yeah wade looked epically awful i thought

Will someone please gif that Manupass so I can use it as my tombstone epitaph thx.

bill simmons i forgive you for everything, ur websites basketball coverage is so cool http://www.sbnation.com/2013/6/7/4405046/nba-finals-2013-spurs-heat-video-breakdown

lol im confused

xxxp not its lebron aging as much as can anyone be expected to play defense like that, as well as offense, for that amount of minutes in a finals game

i feel like bron used to be capable of such a thing w o tiring

yeah maybe, i just can't recall anyone playing this defensive style for such long stretches

Has been said over and over again but Spurs are one of the most exciting teams to watch fuiud and if this doesn't float your bball boat please find another sport.

http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/51b1441769beddba2b000000/manu-ginobli-crazy-pass.gif

spurs are kinda a basketball aficionados team, can understand why the casual fan wouldn't be that into them, tho their rep as boring comes mostly from the earlier defensive oriented teams

yeah exactly, i think they're pretty entertaining now but the nba as a whole is more entertaining now than it was 10 yrs ago

manupass LITERALLY blew my mind

referring to between Cole's legs but other one was sick too

literally sick

Best part about that between-Cole's-legs pass is that, in slow-mo, it almost looks like Manu switches from left hand to right hand, then guides the artisanally-crafted pass. Looks almost like a magic trick.

Also dumbfounded that Parker was even looking / ready for it. All hail Spur.

ballet

http://i.minus.com/ibzdYI9wXSck9J.gif

http://i.minus.com/ibdfH339BUAUEy.gif

I def recall seeing that Manu pass in Compupost's gif and thinking damn that's an amazing pass, then moments later thinking, yeah but it didn't lead to anything.

As I saw it in the game, seemed like he was doing it just cause he thought it'd be cool but after seeing gifs can see how he thought it might give Bonner a look

this is v v mesmerizing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFUh4toTS5k

thread title so prescient

put that video to the nutcracker song and we're in business

TNT / NBA should consider eliminating inbounding / first ten seconds of offensive possessions and just broadcast everything else @ 120 fps.

On that pass to B0nner, I can't think of the last time I saw the Magnus effect on a basketball.

Wonder if Manu is the all time NBA nutmegger? Here's 11min of Manu to zone out to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPSXDDg-aZw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPSXDDg-aZw

This may be the best highlight reel in all of sports (next to Barry Sanders)

god, you could make a highlight reel nearly as long of all the bone-headed plays he's pulled in his career

2 days between games is sum bullshit

yeah manu has so many head scratchers xp, even just in these playoffs.

2 days between games is sum bullshit

― joe bogus (am0n), Friday, June 7, 2013 5:51 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

god, you could make a highlight reel nearly as long of all the bone-headed plays he's pulled in his career

― one if by lamp, two if by deeznuts (m bison), Friday, June 7, 2013 8:36 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

artists

he truly is

it is why it took me such a long time to love him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGhbYmECnHw

this is really good^

brons reaction particularly

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/22370103/in-game-1-lebron-on-parker-late-early-shift-may-work-magic

maybe last 10mins of the game? seems kinda desperate tho

cbs' hoops coverage is terrible!

That's a cool quick recap video-- love that Tony foreground / Spo background shot in it, too.

chris bosh inspirational image macro

"I believe in balance," Bosh said. "In my life I believe in balance. I have to put a lot of responsibility on myself to really mix it up more. I keep saying if I get an open shot I'm going to shoot it without thinking, but I want to continue to put a little bit more pressure on that rim and see what happens."

Asked how he sought balance in his life, Bosh replied, "It's all around. Everywhere. It's like, I'm around people today right now. I'm not going to not be around people a little later."

Other assorted picks and pops on a day when Tracy McGrady won the media session with his comeback when asked if he'd be ready to play: "Is pig p---y pork?"

lmao

he actually said "pig pee-dash-dash-dash-wye pork"?

Serge Ibaka on the Thunder offseason: "There will be changes, like the departure of Kevin Martin. We have room for improvement and we have to add something to improve our play."

hah burn

subtweet

Metta World Peace ‏@MettaWorldPeace 2m
All Mental toughness of the decade first team :
Kobe Bryant
Derek fisher
Tim Duncan
Dwayne wade
Dirk N...
This is why the Spurs can win!

LOL D FISH

good point

The Spurs' front office has an eye for talent, but that isn’t what separates them from their peers. They place far more value on the draft than most contending teams. They don’t sell their picks and they almost never use them in trades. When they draft a player, they make sure he gets enough playing time to show what he can do. It’s asset management 101. Over the last six years, the Spurs have had their fair share of misses in the draft. The difference is they took enough swings to make up for it.

http://basketball.realgm.com/blog/228064/The-Empire-Business

who's got a gif of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSRk7qrwDNA

bosh is actually 15-35 on 3's in the playoffs, surprising

They already have enough 3-point shooters on that roster, they need him hitting that little mid range and hustling everywhere else.

boshes made threes are mostly from the corners fwiw

oh my god there's talk of the Wizards trading the number 3 pick for Ersan

that would really be something

whaaaaaaaaat

http://espn.go.com/wnba/story/_/id/9355865/wnba-debuts-referee-cam-mercury-fever-game lol

cool ref got that google glass

joey crawford cam coming in 2014.

wiz and cavs really may be protesting too much re: "we have too many young players"

why we gotta wait 11 more hours for this shit, im ready now

im ready

an afternoon finals game would be pretty dope

<3

http://i.minus.com/ie2XlvbSSvYd4.gif

lol manu hair

i was just thinking that someone needs to make a year by year gif or youtube of manu's hair

MIAMI — Joey Crawford, Ed Malloy and Ken Mauer will officiate Game 2 of the Finals between the Heat and Spurs in Miami on Sunday night.

i can never remember which officials are biased

What's important to remember here is that Joey Crawford legit tried to fight Timmy D.

i think the point here is that joey is the GOAT troll

Brian Windhorst ‏@WindhorstESPN 1h
Joey Crawford lead official for Game 2. He has history w/Spurs but also was lead in both playoff games LeBron fouled out of last 2 years

i had forgotten he was suspended in 07

crawford has the thickest philly accent imaginable too, real philly boy

omg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyj7iqlEeRM

noooooo crawforrrrrrd

ESPN Stats & Info ‏@ESPNStatsInfo 1m
Chris Bosh's last 5 games:
PPG 8.2
FG pct 28.0%
RPG 5.0

just saw m bise on the street and took his pic

http://i975.photobucket.com/albums/ae232/daggerlee/59DBE7F3-4D59-4125-96CA-03EEB624B5BE-82537-0000091A11A81149_zps8319b7a7.jpg

it's a based shirt, im a big fan

based boba bise

mott street

lol well spotted

ty ty

FOR SHAME

Sunday game is a no-go for me. I'll have to read ilh afterward to see what was.

Oh man that LA/HOU/Crawford video

I love that it was both teams like they were in it together

i had forgotten he was suspended in 07
― 乒乓, Sunday, June 9, 2013 12:52 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Worth trotting out since it / Duncan's reaction is amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOygTd1NWCM

xp coordination is what makes it-- love that he T'd up both teams, they all start settling back to the free-throw line, and then start it back up again.

Duncan slowly goes from

xD

:0

:)

:/

x(

*:?

shame on breen, riding crawfords nuts

SportsCenter ‏@SportsCenter 32m

Carmelo Anthony STILL leads NBA in most FG attempted this postseason (310), despite Knicks being eliminated May 18.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/miami-heat-hands-t-shirts-proclaiming-larry-loves-215121702.html

love this story

http://www.doubletakedebate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/duncan.jpeg

Where does Tony Parker's head hair end and his beard begin? Such things in life are unknowable.

remember when kev thought manu was the smartest player in the NBA, what was that about

manu just tried to do a shammgod

lol

anyone have a stream of this??

even I have a tv now, kev

i'm in thailand

oh, nice! yu can prob catch a Thai broadcast

playoff Tiago

when I was in china there would be simulcasts. and a Thai channel will prob show a replay later

here

Lol ginobli

lol crawford hates lbj

Crawford hates life.

So chalmers has been the 2nd best player for the heat for a few games huh?

lol I thought this was starting now not an hour ago :(

Quick first half, low on fouls

danny green > lebron james

where r u kev

i was in thai once during the plsyoffs and it was def not on tv but iirc it was the first round

also some of you may have witnessed my recent struggles w the superbowl

this series is awesome it might be a lil sad if the spurs win tonight

leonard > bron

k3v if you still need streaming links, here's one + about 10 other streams if this one isn't working well for you (assuming you have adblock turned on) here.

looooooiool

green has a molester stache

leonard > bron

green > mj

bron looks shook

yeah he's a candidate for haunted webgirls

timmy having a bad game too

up 10 and Bron is 3-13

Wonder if there's an advanced stat related to runs, or the volume of points some teams score during their spurts. Seems like Heat put up more points in less time than any team in the league.

chalmers > Green > MJ > LBJ

BTW timmy and bron BOTH 3-13

spurs missing all

ew gary neal ew

heat hit all

well this got outta hand kinda quick

think I just saw redfoo

lebron just joined the sick block hall of fame if he wasn't already a member

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahhaaaahhhhahahaahha

OHHHHHHHH DAMN

playoff tiago

and his drive n kicks have been ridic tonight too

hahahahahahahahahahhhahahahaaahahahahahahaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahhahahahahhahahaahahahahahahhaahahhaahahhahahahahhahahhahahaaahahahahhahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhhhhhHasaanshahahahhhhahahhhhahahhahhahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahaaahahahahahahaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahhahahahahhahahaahahahahahahhaahahhaahahhahahahahhahahhahahaaahahahahhahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhhhhhHasaanshahahahhhhahahhhhahahhahha

RIP SPurs

this collapse is unbelievable, so unspursian

tiago should be deported for that

lol

lbj having a great bad game

omg that block for real

t-mac on the floor! in the finals!

tmac > king james

i wonder if tiago will ever be the same

like that one that hibbert had was like he just had enough strength to divert the shot but lebron takes everything tiago has and just straight up reverses that balls course

he threw it back

spiels tea should bench the big three

James
jones sighting!!!

omg rashard Lewis is gonna get a ring.
he wasn't on the team last year was he

well, either rashard lewis or tracy mcgrady will be an nba champion

question is... how is D Fish gonna weasel his way onto the Heat next year?

rio chalmers

goddddd that second half was the worst basketball theyve played all playoffs

game was good til it wasn't

Manu was so bad

^

it looked for a minute there like chalmers was gonna outplay parker and kawhi was gonna outplay lebron but then the second half happened

that game was a blur including the heat barrage so i'm pretty interested to see what the guys who break down game tape say about the heat's defense, if they did anything diff strategically or just tried harder

thing is, i fully expected the spurs to lose this game bc lolstats and heat are really good, and yet why am i so disappointed that it ended this way?
*watches tiago get stuffed*
;_;

nevertheless, series is playing out to my expectations which is spurs split in miami and then win 2 at home

hopes for game 3:
ginobili uses PEDs to make him reverse time (see if tim has some left over)
gary neal: DNP
danny green hits 5/5 3 pters again

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2746093/leblockepic.gif
http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2746141/lepose.gif
http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2745745/lefrown.gif

if you close your eyes and just listen to the lebron block it sounds like someone getting hit in the head with a bat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOV2nnhiYB0

He straight up volleyball spiked it

so screener bron is def the best bron?

The Heat came into this series with the home court and the best record in the league. They leave now with a 1-1 split and 3 games to play in SA. The Spurs know this very well. I don't think this blowout will keep them down for long.

The Heat need at least one win in the next two games. If either team gets up 3-1, they've got this chip in their hip pocket.

lebron standing around gloating for 5 secs while his team is trying to score is why I will never be all in on dude

where r u kev

― lag∞n, Sunday, June 9, 2013 9:32 PM (Yesterday)

mae sot

i don't think it was on but i only looked briefly and had to run to the clinic at 9pm east coast time anyway. O_O bron's block on tiago tho, saw the replay

yeah i have no clue what he thought was happening after the block but it was lol watching him sprint back into the play

that was absolutely the best part of the play, him standing back there so impressed with himself

heat are gonna win the next 3 and they're gonna point to that block as the turning point of the series

dont say thaaaaaat

yeah i have no clue what he thought was happening after the block but it was lol watching him sprint back into the play

― call all destroyer, Monday, June 10, 2013 6:49 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

i think he thought it was a fast break not a 4 on 5

lebron standing around gloating for 5 secs while his team is trying to score is why I will never be all in on dude

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, June 10, 2013 3:34 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

there was something great about this moment... lebron was astonished by himself. that moment was so immediately iconic that even lebron had to take a step back.

then he set a pick and dished a no look pass for a corner three, but hey who's counting

lol

The Heat entered having won its previous 10 games after a loss, by an average margin of 19.9 points. So it was appropriate the Heat won this one by 19.

During the playoffs, the Heat has followed its losses with wins by margins of 37, 18, 11, 23 and 19.

biggest diff i take in game 2 was lebron screening all over the place, especially for mario. its a great play, worked well against indiana.

and mario is kinda good from the wings idk looks like a rare spot.

JORDY DANIEL ESQ WHERE U AT, WHERE UR CREW AT

― one if by lamp, two if by deeznuts (m bison)

http://cf.chucklesnetwork.agj.co/items/4/0/0/0/2/i-dont-always-watch-basketball-but-when-i-do-i-cheer-for-the-heat.jpg

not very interesting

it's bizarre how many lay ups at the rim chalmers gets out of the halfcourt

huh that block just whuBANG, tiago splits pants

lol @ bron lollygagging back impressed with himself, i think he figured there would be a tv timeout or something just because why would play continue, then randomly catching up, throwing a pick and a sick pass to ray

ugh he is good

aimless otm tho- spurs got handled but they got a split and go home for three straight, this is probably an even match so not bad at all

kind of wish this series would stay close and could be like a best-of-14 or something, just eliminate the first round and let stern decide how long the finals will be when he sees the matchup

aimless otm tho- spurs got handled but they got a split and go home for three straight, this is probably an even match so not bad at all

― joe smith avatar (agent hibachi), Monday, June 10, 2013 7:02 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is definitely the positive way to look at it for the spurs

the heat had one insanely bad quarter and the spurs eked out a win or else this would be 2-0, so there's some eerie parallels there with the 2011 finals

but this isn't the 2011 heat. i think they wrap it up before it hits 7.

or maybe more to the point: this isn't 2011 lebron

that's definitely the positive way to look at it for the heat- their #2 & #3 guys were awful in game 1, no roleplayers showed up and they still only lost by a sliver

i could really see anything happening, for as good as he's been i still think lebron could uncork a couple of monster full games and just end this series without a doubt, or the spurs machine could grind the rest of his team to pieces before he can beat them

im sticking with my spurs in 7 vote for now but yeah- lebron is better than 2011 and if he has enough gas left this season, who knows

i guess it will be interesting to see where the spurs turnovers materialize. cuz 4 for an entire game is not sustainable, but 16 isn't an astronomical number but the heat completely blitzed them off that.

materialize normalize

they looked uncharacteristically sloppy even when it was close in the first half, but i wasn't watching closely enough to really get a feel for whether it was just random turnovers or if miami was specifically creating them with defensive activity

i will wait for zach lowe to tell me

word

agree with the assessment that spurs barely won game 1, + the dominating performance by Miami in game 2, still sticking to Miami in 6

Joe Jones III, also known as Baby Joe, is only 13 years old. He is 6'6 and is expected to be seven feet tall. Baby Joe is not the first basketball player in his family. His father, Joe Jones Jr. played at Fairmont State and his half brother, Greg Oden, was the number one overall pick in the in the 2007 NBA draft.

good luck, kiddo.

there was something great about this moment... lebron was astonished by himself. that moment was so immediately iconic that even lebron had to take a step back.
― J0rdan S., Monday, June 10, 2013 1:00 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah that's what happened

that's exactly what happened!

i mean that manifested itself in the form of celebration but who the fuck cares, oh wow a guy celebrated after one of the most iconic nba plays of the past 20 years. what an affront!

It was a cool block. Not really a pivotal moment in the game, however

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA2E8KCdx5Y

#iconic

guys celebrate after sick plays Jord, you don't have to get all Armond White reviews GI Joe about it

lol he was showboating, he wasn't genuinely taken aback. don't have a problem with the showboating tho, they were up like 20

In a world where that Gatorade commercial would make any kind of sense with lbj/splitter starring instead of wade/durant, there'd be a case for iconic

that lebron block is way beyond that wade block, imo. the sheer ferocity of it was dumbfounding.

but yeah i agree that lebron was just flexing his muscles.

"whoa that was just a really sick block by me, let me take a minute to think about my place in history, maybe start thinking about a piece for thought catalog"

lol guys heat were up by 20 not really a huge deal if bron took a sec to enjoy the moment

thats the thing, if it's close I doubt he does it. maybe this always wasnt true in the past but bron seems super aware of the game situation now, he's not just celebrating the block but the fact that the game was totally in hand by that point which had to feel good given the must-win implications

Not really a pivotal moment in the game, however

― a very generous Cordoban (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, June 11, 2013 2:24 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

this is irrelevant

that wade block was insane and people flipped out about it at the time and it would have been a bigger story had the whole lebron thing not been the only thing people talked about after that series

Dunno. Seems relevant to me. All of the iconic plays I recall from bird, magic, or Jordan VHSs growing up had to fit into a dramatic narrative. The only narrative that bron's block supports is "wow the heat crushed em in game 2." That narrative is boring if the heat lose in the end.

Had it happened in the Olympics, it would have a Vince Carter hopped over dude type narrative

we are all bill simmons now

Call all bill simmons

it was an incredible play that will be in every finals highlight montage until we all die

people will talk about that block more than they talk about lebron hitting a game winning lay up in a playoffs game, "impact" on a game only matters to a point

like, MJ had many more "important" shots than his two-handed lay up but that's easily one of his most iconic plays

Yeah, you are prbly right. I guess I'm just less impressed with blocks, particularly of splitter.

haha otm
its a sweet highlight tho, so for sure itll be in lebron's all-time playoff reel, moreso if the heat win

call all destroyer
Posted: June 11, 2013, 1:50:53 PM
we are all bill simmons now

lol otm stfu everyone

tho jordans passion for this heat team is kinda cute if not quite d esq daily eddy curry updates level yoga flame

thx boo

1. Tayshaun's block
2. Wade's block
3. Lebron's block

1. list of shots
2. list of dunks
3. list of assists
4. list of outfits
5. list of blocks

1. 4
2. 1
3. 7

The one thing we don't appreciate enough about Tim Duncan is how much he's blended in to South Park. You can't think of them seperately anymore. You just can't.

6. 9
69. 69 69 69

^ marv albert's list

I have no doubt the Spurs will stiffen for Game 3.

that wade block was insane and people flipped out about it at the time and it would have been a bigger story had the whole lebron thing not been the only thing people talked about after that series the Heat won the series

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 11 June 2013 13:07 (5 hours ago) Permalink

i had heat in 4 but now im just gonna say heat in 5

that's the bare minimum of what math says, so...

@ matt

sure -- we're basically saying the same thing (if the lebron thing doesn't happen the heat prob win the series)

game 3 in sa town, lets get ittttttttt

just started raining, just like it will be raining 3s on the heat d, booyaaa

remember how the spurs hit like 80% of their threes in game 2 and still lost by 25

remember how fuck you?

>:-}

actually checking the box score, miami ended up shooting 53% from 3 in that agme compared to the spurs 50%

i think somebody mentioned this upthread but the way i saw game 1 was, despite a historically low 4 turnovers and a great performance from their big 3, the spurs still had to depend on a freak tony parker shot with less than 30 seconds to go to seal the game

so i think game 2 is gonna be more indicative, ergo, heat in 5

Spurs split in Miami and now are going to lose three straight in San Antone? I don't see it

or u could look at it as the spurs played miami tight for nearly 7 quarters and got blitzed at the end of game 2. legit to think miami swung momentum back, but spurs are fucking good! they were playing ugly and had a shot to take 2 on the road

that's true

it was really surprising to me how quickly miami swung that around

not to me (or vegas). the heat do that after every loss

You wouldn't like the Miami Heat when they're angry. Opponents sure don't.

The Heat used a 33-5 run during the second half of Sunday's Game 2 of the NBA Finals to blow out the San Antonio Spurs 103-84 and even the series at one win apiece heading to San Antonio. Sunday's game added to the mounting pile of evidence that mild-mannered Miami transforms into a more dangerous team when threatened. Let's take a look.

No losing streaks
Sure, you know about the Heat's winning streak, but what about their losing streak -- or, more accurately, lack thereof? The last time Miami lost consecutive games came exactly five months ago. On Jan. 8 and 10, they fell to the Indiana Pacers and the Portland Trail Blazers on the road.

Over the course of the regular season, the Heat's winning percentage after losses (13-3, .813) was only slightly better than their record after wins (52-13, .800). However, looking at point differential adjusted for location and opponent shows how much better Miami was coming off a loss. The Heat played 9.9 points per game better than an average team when avenging a loss as opposed to just 6.3 points per game better than average after a win.

And those stats take into account the whole season, including the three two-game losing streaks Miami suffered during December and January. Since signing Chris Andersen on Jan. 20, the Heat have yet to lose back-to-back games. With the Birdman in the fold, Miami went 4-0 after losses during the regular season and is 5-0 so far in the playoffs -- all five wins coming by double figures. Apparently, beating the Heat is the worst thing an opponent can do for its chances.

Best when behind
When it comes to the postseason, Miami's Big Three have always played best when the odds have been most against them. Many of Miami's iconic performances over the past three seasons -- like coming from behind at Indiana in Game 4 of last postseason's series behind 40 points from LeBron James and 30 from Dwyane Wade and James' 45-point effort in Game 6 at Boston in the 2012 conference finals -- have come when the Heat trailed in the series.

Including Sunday's game, Miami is 6-1 in the playoffs the past three seasons on the rare occasions the team has trailed in the series. The Heat's only loss in that scenario came in the clinching Game 6 of the 2011 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Every other time Miami has trailed, the Heat have won -- and generally won big, including a 37-point destruction of the Chicago Bulls in Game 2 of their series this postseason.

Over the three seasons, as the chart shows, Miami has played slightly better when even in the series as opposed to leading. But the Heat double their average game score (differential adjusted for opponent and location) when behind in the series, reaching an historic level of effectiveness.

Situation AdjOff AdjDef AdjGSth
Ahead 6.9 2.4 7.7
Even 9.7 3.0 8.4
Behind 12.7 8.2 16.9
Why Miami bounces back
Heat players and coaches were asked about the team's resilient nature over the weekend. After Game 2, Wade attributed it to the ability to adjust.

"We're a very humble team," he said, "and when we make mistakes and when we lose, we come in the next day willing to learn. We own it, and we come out and make the adjustments."

Head coach Erik Spoelstra offered a slightly different perspective, pointing to the team's pride.

"There's a maturity with this group," Spoelstra said on Saturday. "It's not a guarantee. We don't take that for granted. But our guys get angry. They own it. We all own it together. And then we just work together to try to get better."

The statistics in the chart above, as broken down by offensive and defensive rating adjusted for opponent, point to an additional explanation. (Note that these numbers don't add to the adjusted game score because game score is per game, not per 100 possessions, and offense and defense aren't adjusted for location.)

While the Heat have been better on offense, as was the case in Game 2, the much-larger improvement has come at the defensive end of the floor. When trailing in the series, Miami has held opponents 8.2 points per 100 possessions below their output from the regular season -- several multiples better than the Heat's defensive effort in games when ahead or even in the series.

The statistics confirm what is evident from watching Miami play -- the Heat have an extra gear on defense they save for the most crucial moments of a series, such as Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Pacers. The additional pressure tends to force opponents into miscues. Lo and behold, the Spurs turned the ball over 17 times in Game 2 after committing just four turnovers in Game 1.

The most extreme example of Miami's ability to bounce back is shown by the statistic that made the rounds after San Antonio won Game 1. The previous three times the Heat lost the first game of a series (both 2011 and 2013 versus Chicago, as well as 2012 versus Oklahoma City), Miami didn't lose again, sweeping the last four games.

It's too early to anticipate that the Spurs might meet the same fate, but if so, they have only their Game 1 win to blame.

spurs are too sound imo to get swept from here on out, but i think this goes back to miami 3-2 heat

so this is 2-3-2? can't remember which one i'm supposed to prefer, 2-3-2 or 2-2-1-1-1

The previous three times the Heat lost the first game of a series (both 2011 and 2013 versus Chicago, as well as 2012 versus Oklahoma City), Miami didn't lose again, sweeping the last four games.

i'm not sayin but i'm sayin

2-2-1-1-1 makes tons more sense

magic is dressed like an elderly lady's pillow tonight

2-2-1-1-1 fo life, 2-3-2 is some prop plane ass bullshit

i guarantee stern is leaving a couple of things for adam silver to do right away when he takes over the league so he looks sharp- i think fixing that is one of them, and maybe looking at goaltending/offensive interference

The one thing we don't appreciate enough about Tim Duncan is how much he's blended in to South Park. You can't think of them seperately anymore. You just can't.

― frogbs, Tuesday, June 11, 2013 2:22 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

heh i dont know if this is a real quote from the article b/c i got through a paragraph or two and then remembered that life is short

love this kid's outfit

kind of just love this kid in general

lil mariachi is goin harrrrd on this anthem

SACU, THATS WHERE I BANK AT

it was not the smoothest anthem but he's got a huge voice

that anthem was puro pinche san anto, FUCK EVERYBODY WE TAKIN THIIIIIIIIIIIS

didn't know pop broke out a tie for the finals

bosh looking like he's never shot a basketball

im all right with this

SACU, THATS WHERE I BANK AT

― battle hyrr of the shepublic (m bison), Tuesday, June 11, 2013 8:57 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is killing me for some reason, lol

mike miller got that fresh out the wrapper feel, must be nice to take the whole season off basically

lol no foul there

lol @ fouling Bonnie there

Danny u gotta shave that molester stache

green mvp

wade REALLY wants to help off his man and go for steals on the double a lot, and he's been getting torched on it this series

he's always gambled for a lot of steals but i think he's not fast enough to recover to his man anymore

its a john waters stache, dude loves pink flamingos
xp

green flamingos

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=19306433

nice run

lol tim tried to get fancy with that pass when all he needed was the most basic bounce pass to manu

embarrassed for cwebb re social media awards, embarrassed for humanity

great contract push by Manu here

he looks so bad:(

dang manu

gary Neal on the other hand

gary fuckin' neal

neal tho! xp!

he is basically worthless if he doesnt hit shots, but when he hits shots
FUCK ERRBODY

STERN!

takeaways from half 1
*fuck mike miller
*tony parker, crazy 3pt heave aside, looks solved. he needs to figure out a way through this defense quick
*tim wants this so bad and he's so frustrated with himself right now
*fuck mike miller
*wade looked aight
*fuck mike miller

both teams making the other guys scrubs beat them

real hardhitting Wilbon-Stern interview

"gee Mr. Stern, what's the deal with coaches getting fired"

did he present him w a lifetime achievement award at the end that was strange

terrible call

timmys tripping balls

spurs generic dudes have been great so far

lmao

I FUCKIN LOVE THIS TEAM
BTW

mike miller stop it

i know right

FUCK

dude mike miller wth

omg guard him

i mean i really enjoy that battier got benched but come on

Manu scored a basket

heat are getting heated w/all these turnovers leading to easy points

Kawhi definitely gonna be a solid rotation player someday

woww

i guess game 2 was more indicative of the series as a whole in that it became a blowout in the third quarter.

miller is limping

Inevitable

mike miller limpin
this shit over

how can miami win games without their best player, mike miller?

maybe bron will make a shot like mike miller some day

wade n bron shook from mid range is v strange cause theyre both great shooters from there generally

miami really gonna go into the 4th < 60 points

hot damn spurs handing out just an ol fashioned ass whuppin here

gary neal u cant hold him

kawhi is kind of a badass, he just gets in there and rebounds and does non-box-score thangs and his expression never changes

mike miller is mad b/c this was supposed to be the "mike miller game" and it's turned into the "gary neal game"

breen/cole alert

spurs randos have just turned into a bunch of fireballs tonite

heat acting like they never had any intention of winning this game

haha you have no idea how attentively im waiting to hear breen call kawhi one of our most exciting young players

OOOMEYP

lol xp

uh oh lebron warming up to defcon 3 or so

they should consider guarding him

man, thats the least secure 15 point 4th quarter league of all time right here

dont worry gary neal

omfg

gary

he's just got one name now

kneel 2 gary

RIP Heat

to say gary is on god mode would be an insult to gary's power

i could cry, gary has been shooting terribly the last few months and now its like
I AM REBORN AHHHHHHHHHHHH
*drains 100 3s*

if u extrapolate from this game and the end of the first one the heat have already lost the series rip heat

this is grotesque

spo, why are you leaving your starters in smh
*prays 4 ur injuries*

bison otm, danny green really does look like john waters

TMAC SIGHTING

DANNY

spo is just rubbing his starter's faces in this now

jvg asking the difficult questions abt these social media awards

danny green not scared

fuckin' get boris into the game

boris is too high up the rotation for this, this is dejuan time now

36pt win :0

danny green surprised they interviewed him so great x)

that one completely defies analysis

i had heat in 4 but now im just gonna say heat in 5

you're now picking heat in 6, i presume

spo sits, says well, we got what we deserved tonight

wait questions

2 free throw attempts for Wade and James

jesus, that was a straight-up murder box for the Spurs. Kawhi, Neal and Green stepping up crazy

what happened tonight even

this seemed somehow even more brutal than game 2

It will get Miami's attention, that's for sure.

remember how the spurs hit like 80% of their threes in game 2 and still lost by 25

― 乒乓, Tuesday, June 11, 2013 5:16 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

leonard is just terrific

Barkley literally drunk on NBA TV right now

i would say we're definitely at the point now where the heat have to really wonder why they're playing wade more than very sparingly. their offense just doesn't work with him playing like this.

that one completely defies analysis

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, June 11, 2013 8:33 PM (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink