That was an unbelievable shooting night for Danny Green and Gary Neal.
Spurs set a NBA Final record by making 16 threes, 13 of those by Green and
Neal. Green had that Michael Jordan look at one point, you know the
shoulder shrug and grin that said, "I don't know, it's just going in." The duo
were responsible for 54 of the Spurs 113 points and didn't play the last 5:43 of the game.
I was a post early talking about the Spurs shooters getting hot and Neal
doing a Vinnie Johnson imitation (for those of you too young, Vinnie's
nickname was "the Microwave," because he was instant offense off the bench).
If I would have wrote that before Game 3 instead of before Game 2 I could have bragged about it. Green and Neal ended up a combined 13-19 in threes and the Spurs shot .500
from 3-PT range overall.
People need to keep a blow out like this in perspective (see how many
sportscasters changed their opinions from after Game 2). The team winning
isn't as good as they looked, and the team losing isn't as bad. Bottom line
the Spurs got super-nova hot shooting from the perimeter players, which
won't happen every night. Still there are a few things that you can look at
in this game that's encouraging if you're a Spurs fan.
Manu Ginobili and Matt Bonner shot
0-6 from behind the arch. Still waiting for Manu to have a great offensive
game, but I'm beginning to believe it's not going to happen. I'm going to
have to be satisfied with Ginobili giving the Spurs offense in small spurts. Still, the fact that the Spurs made 16 threes and none of them came from Manu or the Red Rocket means those two are still due.
Spurs killed the Heat on the offensive boards, pulling down 19 (7 by Tim
Duncan and 4 by Tiago Splitter). Rebounding is the Heats biggest weakness,
but the Spurs aren't a potent offensive rebounding team (29th in OREB for
the season). Hopefully they can keep the level of effort up on the
offensive glass because it is the one thing that can be exploited from the
Heat every game.
Tony Parker, Duncan, and Ginobili didn't play that well on offense. Duncan
shot 5-11 for 12 PTS. Ginobili did have 6 AST, but shot just 3-7. Parker
had 8 AST, but only played 27:28 and left the game with 5:07 left in the 3rd
(he did go back in the game in the 4th, but played less than a minute). He
didn't shoot well either, hitting on just 2-5 for 6 PTS.
Which brings me to the part that scares me the most...Tony Parker's
hamstring. When Parker left the game in the 3rd he went back to the locker
room. Reports say it was he pulled a hammy and that he is having an MRI
today. Losing Parker would be BIG!!! I know the Spurs were only up 66-52
when Parker left the game and they pulled away from there, but if Parker
can't go it seriously hurts the Spurs chances of winning another game let
alone the series.
OK, let's talk LeBron James.
I'm going to disagree with most of the
Sportscasters that are saying James needs to attack the basket more. I do
agree with the ones that say he needs to be more decisive. You're LeBron
James, one of the most gifted b-ball players on the planet (maybe ever).
You're the leading scorer of your team and the team you're playing against
is daring you to take 15 footers...and you're dribbling the ball trying to
figure out what to do??!! Would Kobe Bryant,
Carmillo Anthony, Kevin Durant have any hesitation in that situation? Make
or miss, they would take that shot in a heartbeat...then after every make,
stare in disbelief at the guy guarding him then at the opposing coach.
James should make at least half of those...probably can make 9 of 10 from 15
feet in practice. James shot .753 from the free throw line this year which
is 15 feet from the basket...and the Spurs are daring him to shot 15
footers. Catch the ball, if you're open, shoot it!!! Sometimes the correct
play is to shoot, but it seems like James is trying to analyze the
situation, then deciding to shoot. He's not in rhythm and it's not
surprising that he's missing a lot when he hesitates like that.
I love the way Leonard plays, but a lot of sportscasters are wrongly giving
the credit to him for defending James. Really, it's Green who's playing him
the toughest. Now, I'm not saying that Green is the main reason James is
struggling (see previous paragraph), but he's disrupted James dribble
several times and even blocked one of James' shots in Game 3. Leonard has
been backing off of James, letting him shoot...Green has been all over him.
I've got to give some big props to Green...he was the one that dogged Steph
Curry in the Warriors series and shut him down after the big Game 1 in that
series.
I can't imagine the Spurs shutting down James for the entire series
(although you can't say the Spurs shut him down in Game 1). I keep thinking
back to Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Championship. In my mind,
that's still the most incredible individual performance in a playoff game
I've ever seen. Yea, I know everyone who reads this will probably disagree
with that and has some game by Jordan or Kobe in mind (maybe someone else),
but in that game from the 6:05 mark in the 4th and through 2 overtimes James
scored every point for the Cavs except for 1 made free throw by Drew
Gooden...that's not an exaggeration, that's what happened. Sure other
players have taken over games before, but never for that long a stretch with a playoff game on the line and not virtually every point (Cavs won 109-102, to
take a 3-1 series lead). The Game was also in Detroit against a tough Piston defense. I have to think he's going to have a break out
game before this series is over. I find it hard to think that he will
"check out" like he did in the playoffs his last year in Cleveland.
I have to give Popovich and the staff credit for the game plan. Who would
have thought they would say, "go ahead James, shoot it...we'll live with the
results." Also, in Game 3 they went away from Parker running the
pick-n-roll offense...and I never thought they could be successful without
that part of their game.
Now the Spurs just need to figure out how to get two more wins.
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