2014 NBA Finals
Miami Heat vs San Antonio Spurs
Well, I suppose it's about time that I started blogging again so the world knows what to expect in the 2014 NBA Finals. I took some time off for 2 reasons: Firstly, I wanted to travel the world and find myself. That didn't happen so my second reason will have to be the one I use which was, I wasn't all that interested in the sports world at the moment. I'm not a big baseball guy, although I do call myself a Cardinals fan but that's just because when they win I get a coupon for 50% off Papa Johns pizza. With the NBA Playoffs don't get me wrong, we had a lot of great series's, but in the end, the two teams that I thought would make the finals did and they did it quick and painlessly. To be honest, the finals this year are the one series that I am intrigued in because I feel like it could go either way. Here are my picks:
A lot of people will look at San Antonio and say that they won game 1 strictly because Lebron James only played 2 minutes in the 4th period. That's not entirely off base, but I will say when I watched the Spurs play and have over 20 turnovers for the game I felt like I wasn't even watching the Spurs. San Antonio wins games by passing the ball to the open man and making shots. Basically playing Basketball the way it was meant to be played. I haven't seen the Spurs have that bad of a playoff game in over 3 years. And yet they still ended up winning the game. If they want to beat Miami in this series they have to do 3 things:
1. Put Kawhi Leonard on Lebron whenever possible and keep him out of foul trouble.
Kawhi Leonard has really grown into his own NBA player this season and has potential to be one of the Leagues best defenders in the near future. He has the quickness and the size to keep up with Lebron James but the Spurs problem is that he's the teams only player who can hold James in check. I'd imagine that Miami knows this and will go right at him trying to cause him to go into foul trouble. If Leonard has to come off the court, that's when Miami is going to pull away.
2. Body up on Bosh and don't let him shoot the mid-range jump shot.
Over the past 2 seasons, Chris Bosh has basically perfected his mid-range jump shot. He usually gets hot in the playoffs about this time and knocks down just about every mid-range shot he takes. Therefore, the Spurs can't allow Bosh to take these shots. They have to trust that Leonard can take care of Lebron and make Dwayne Wade and other Heat players take these shots. Looking at the numbers, Bosh is much more consistent on these shots than every other Heat player besides Lebron. The Spurs have to limit the inside passing and make other players take these shots.
3. Don't give Lebron and the Heat a reason to play hard.
Don't get me wrong, the Heat will play hard Basketball during the finals and do whatever they can to win. But at this point the finals are all business. When Basketball turns from business to personal is when Lebron and the Heat will just annihilate teams in the paint. Basketball players play better when they are angry or need to prove a point. You can't tell me it's a coincidence that Durant knocked down 50+ points the day after a newspaper article ran about him not being clutch. Unfortunately for San Antonio, nobody plays better in clutch situations than Lebron James. When he's angry about a call or something, you can see it on his face for the next 4 minutes and just like that, he himself scores 12 unanswered points. San Antonio needs to be respectful and all business and they'll have a legitimate shot to win the NBA title this year.
Its a tall order to beat the 2 time champs, but on the other hand, the Heat don't exactly have it easy either. They have to do a lot more than the Spurs because there are a lot more players who can score on the Spurs. They can attack you from more angles, but to be fair, I'll just tell you the 3 biggest things the Heat have to do to defeat the Spurs and 3-peat.
1. Defend at the rim.
The Spurs undoubtedly have the size advantage on the Heat. With Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter the Spurs boast one of the best Power Forward - Center combos in the NBA. The Heat don't have this luxury especially since Bosh isn't really considered a center but more of a forward. The Heat are going to have to really utilize Chris Andersen and Lebron's blocking ability to stop Duncan and Splitter from having a scoring fest from the paint.
2. Contest Shots.
The Spurs are the best in the NBA at moving the ball and finding the open man. If Miami wants to beat them, they have to limit open shots and contest every shot. The Heat's goal should be to make every shot difficult for the Spurs and make sure that they get no easy points. The Finals are not a time to play relaxed on defense. Miami needs to be flying around the court to defend every shot the Spurs attempt and be ready for the rebound.
3. Embrace Youth (comparitively) and Expose Age
The Spurs have one of the oldest big 3's in the NBA with Duncan hitting 38, Ginobili being 36, and Parker hitting 32. This is compared to the Heat's big 3 with Lebron being 29, Bosh being 30, and Wade hitting 32. The Heat need to embrace their comparative youth and play fast paced and up tempo. Force the Spurs to match their level of play and score quickly. This will expose the Spurs age as well as turn the game into the type of game the Heat want to play because if the game becomes a game of fundamentals, the Spurs will beat them just about every time.
Series Prediction
In the last 35 years, there have only been 6 NBA Finals series that went to 7 games. They were always with very evenly matched teams and if you recall, last year the NBA Finals was one of the 6 that went to 7 games. After reviewing the Spurs and Heat's head to head stats, I would have to say I think we may be in for number 7. I'm sure it will be a closely contested series, but in the end I think Kawhi Leonard will get in foul trouble one of the games and that will be the difference in this series. The Heat will be the first team to three-peat since the Kobe Bryant led Lakers. And the same question will appear again: Is Lebron James as good as Michael Jordan. I'm sure that will be a nice bit of controversy for ESPN and other sports networks to talk about for the entire off-season.
Miami Heat Win 4 - 3
