2013 NBA Finals thread: San Antonio Spurs vs. Miami Heat

Originally posted by Sims84:

Originally posted by Pillbusta:
Kobe won game 7 vs Celtics because artest locked down Paul Pierce down the stretch. Kobe shot 6 of 24. He did pull down 15 RB. Nobody accused him of choking. The Lakers won. Arrest locked down Pierce and hit clutch shots.

Kobe also was bailed out twice during those games on his airballs in the last seconds. Once by Gasol and the other catch and putback by Artest

Where in the world do you guys get this from? I have no idea what Gasol airball you're referring to, and the Artest putback was off of an inbound play with 3.5 seconds left, which is a play where it's extremely tough to get a shot up. No one would be on LeBron's ass for badly missing a desperation 3 while trying to beat the buzzer.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Whatever, doesn't change my point. It was Gasol's rebound and Artest hitting the clutch 3. Sorry was watching that game pretty wasted from what I remember. Kobe still shot 6-24 in game 7, at home, in the NBA finals.

Artest's "clutch 3" put them up by 5 or 6. Kobe generated several for them down the stretch, including a post entry pass that was right on the money to Gasol. And couldn't care less about FG%. Heck, LeBron's shooting 43% against San Antonio.

Right, 25% shooting doesn't matter in G7 of the finals. Point is, he was totally bailed out by lesser players in that game.

Originally posted by marshniners24:

Originally posted by TheBlueHell:
You guys do realize that the fourth quarter is a full 12 minutes, right?

No just 7 minutes dude

or the last 3

Wade is getting a lot of open looks and also shoots his classic fadeaways in and around the free throw line. He just isn't hitting them and isn't as explosive around the rim consistently.

His game revolves around explosiveness. And IMO that is like a game that revolves around speed. Age hits those strengths real quickly.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by Sims84:

Originally posted by Pillbusta:
Kobe won game 7 vs Celtics because artest locked down Paul Pierce down the stretch. Kobe shot 6 of 24. He did pull down 15 RB. Nobody accused him of choking. The Lakers won. Arrest locked down Pierce and hit clutch shots.

Kobe also was bailed out twice during those games on his airballs in the last seconds. Once by Gasol and the other catch and putback by Artest

Where in the world do you guys get this from? I have no idea what Gasol airball you're referring to, and the Artest putback was off of an inbound play with 3.5 seconds left, which is a play where it's extremely tough to get a shot up. No one would be on LeBron's ass for badly missing a desperation 3 while trying to beat the buzzer.

Kobe airballed the 3 and Gasol bailed him out with the putback.... Kobe also had one of his WORST shooting games, in one of the BIGGEST games of his life yet nobody talks about that....

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by blizzuntz:
Ray totally saved the day. But Lebron definitely had a legendary run in the 4th quarters that made this a great game. Spurs helped a lot and could be argued they lost it rather than the Heat won it.

Loved the Duncan bunny swatted by Lebron in the final minute in 4th

With all our talk about LeBron, this dude is getting a major pass. Totally disappeared.

precisely! Dude played the game of his life in the first half and came away with 5 points in the next 29 minutes...

Originally posted by marshniners24:

Duncan was hit directly in the face on that block

Blocked on Facebook

Originally posted by marshniners24:
Duncan was hit directly in the face on that block

Dude...ball is long gone. That's not a foul. Even Duncan (who complains as much as Lebron) didn't complain about it.

Well good game guys and hoping G7 is as much fun as this one was!

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Bosh has been a jump shooter since he came to the Heat. A lot of that has to do with the fact that they play such small lineups that he's always being guarded by a guy that's too big for him to shoot over in the post. Like I said earlier, Wade has had great seasons with James alongside of him and they've gone to 3 straight finals...he's just played terribly in these playoffs (for the most part). That's not Lebron's fault. How do you go from a 21.2 ppg at 52% shooting in the regular season to what he did in the first 3 rounds? Did Lebron all of a sudden put a hex on him? You could say that in the playoffs the offense has been flowing more through Lebron but I'd say that is because Wade has generally been playing poorly and without confidence or rhythm. That's also the reason why the best Heat lineup is the one with him on the bench. You could also say this has to do with the way the Spurs are playing the Heat. But again that's not an indictment on James.

I'm not really sure what you're implying in that last sentence (especially with how in the previous paragraph you mentioned their best lineup included James), but I don't think any +/- or advanced metric is going to make me believe they're better with James off the court.

They've been outscored by the Spurs with him on the court in 4 of the 6 games. I don't see how this is an advanced metric, it's the score.

Regarding Wade, no, it's not a hex. It's that simple dribble penetration opportunities that are available in the regular season are not available to the same degree in the playoffs. Miami has the regular season benefit of being an unusual team in that their offense is centered around a single player. Come playoff time, that can be prepared for in a way that you can't do in the regular season. LeBron's teams have almost always been significantly better in the regular season than the postseason, even when accounting for the increased level of competition. Wade's not getting the same quality of looks he got in the regular season.

Bosh played plenty of center in Toronto. It certainly wasn't Andrea Bargnani. His sweet spot was in the high post, facing up on guys that were bigger than him. He could knock down that jumper if they played off of him, and he could drive by them if they played up on him. How often do you see Bosh get a high post touch these days?

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by marshniners24:

Duncan was hit directly in the face on that block

Dude...ball is long gone. That's not a foul. Even Duncan (who complains as much as Lebron) didn't complain about it.

The ball was like at half court by the time his face was b***h slapped.

Ref are obviously looking up Court by then.

Lebron averages over 31 PPG in elimination games ...With his back against the wall and everything on the line, he has performed better than anyone in the history of the NBA yet he isn't clutch.... lol yeah ok clutch is not always the last couple of minutes or the last shot, look at the entire picture and for the record, in game winning shot attempts since 2000, Kobe is shooting 30% with Lebron shooting 31% albeit Kobe takes WAAAAAYY more shot attempts (101 to Lebron's 68 I believe) yet Kobe is considered an assassin and Lebron is considered a choke artist? haters gonna hate

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Right, 25% shooting doesn't matter in G7 of the finals. Point is, he was totally bailed out by lesser players in that game.

No, it really doesn't. It's this weird statistic that people obsess over. The Lakers as a team shot 32.5% in that game. But they played tremendous defense, destroyed Boston on the boards, and got to the line far more than the Celtics did, all of which were areas that Kobe contributed to in large quantities.

"I thought in Game 7 [of the 2010 NBA Finals], what gets lost on people, [Boston] was badly outrebounded, and he didn't have a particularly good shooting night, but he had a great rebounding night and that probably was the difference of the game." - Tom Thibodeau, who was Boston's Assistant Coach at the time.

Kobe in game 7...last 4 minutes:

Missed a 19 footer
Missed a FT
MIssed a 3pt shot
Made 2 FTs after game was over

Kobe in game 7...last quarter with team down by 2

1 for 3 from the field
6 of 7 from the FT line
Made 2 FTs after game was over
1 Turnover


lol

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Right, 25% shooting doesn't matter in G7 of the finals. Point is, he was totally bailed out by lesser players in that game.

No, it really doesn't. It's this weird statistic that people obsess over. The Lakers as a team shot 32.5% in that game. But they played tremendous defense, destroyed Boston on the boards, and got to the line far more than the Celtics did, all of which were areas that Kobe contributed to in large quantities.

"I thought in Game 7 [of the 2010 NBA Finals], what gets lost on people, [Boston] was badly outrebounded, and he didn't have a particularly good shooting night, but he had a great rebounding night and that probably was the difference of the game." - Tom Thibodeau, who was Boston's Assistant Coach at the time.

So true. I don't think Perkins played in that game and they got DESTROYED on the glass