The San Antonio Spurs are really everything thats good about sports. They play hard. They are a bunch of guys who play as a team. They seem to genuinely like each other. They are very well coached and are very fundamentally sound. And they have one of the unique super-stars in all of Sports in Tim Duncan who is so unassuming, unselfish and just a class-act. With all that said, the Spurs are single-handedly killing the NBA! They are just boring and they make the game boring for everybody. This was proven again as game 1 of the Finals got the lowest ratings ever inspite of featuring The King with a 6.3 overnight. Sunday could get even ugly for the NBA as the game goes against Soprano's final episode - not the season finale, but the series finale.
I figured out what the problem is with the Spurs when it comes to NBA entertainment. They are just too good defensively. Of course, thats why they win, but thats what makes their games un-watchable except for the die-hard fans. If you want to see King James play and dominate, but the Spurs lock him up, fans lose. Good defense works for the fans in the NFL and the MLB, but it just doesn't look that great in the NBA. It's just as effective in the NBA when it comes to winning, but it's not great TV. I agree with Greg Anthony that the Spurs are actually exciting offensively. They don't have the charisma and Duncan's low-post domination is boring, but Parker is pretty quick and fun to watch on offense. And Ginobli is probably one of the best things going in the NBA. Still it's their defense that makes them boring. They just absolutely stifle the opposition, especially one-trick ponies like the Cavs who have nothing except James. Only really good offenses like the Suns or the Mavs can operate against these guys and thats why those games are fun to watch. NBA should call Pop to request him to take it easy on James to make this series interesting. The funny thing is, the Spurs are actually good enough offensively to outscore teams if they ever choose to slack off a little bit on defense! They consistently show that against the Suns.
So this game was all about the Spurs defense. King james didn't get his first field goal until well into the third quarter. He ended with 14 on 4/16 shooting with 6 turnovers. Bruce Bowen and Ginobli bodied him in the perimeter and Duncan and the bigs were waiting for him in the paint. Bowen also forced him to go one side or the other and made sure he went exactly where they wanted him to go in the paint - straight in to the waiting help defenders. The Cavs got nothing out of the role players either and they just scored 49 points in 3 quarters. Thats ugly anyway you look at it. They did score a bunch in garbage time in the fourth and made the final score and their total points look respectable. But this game was over in the third and was a blowout. The Spurs were paced by Duncan's 24-13 and 5 blocks. This guy is having a tremendous playoffs. Tony Parker did whatever he wanted in this game. He had 27-4-7 on 12/23 shooting. Ginobli scored 16 to help out. He also defended James at times and took charges as always. As I predicted earlier, the Cavs have nobody to defend the Spurs big 3.
Now King James has to come back and do something, anything in game 2 to make this series interesting. I don't expect the role players to turn it around on the road though Daniel Gibson had a good game shooting 7/9 for 16 points. The Cavs coaching staff need to fix their unimaginative offense overnight and get the King going. He is big enough to post Bowen up, but the problem is. he is a good 2 years away from acquiring an effective post-up game. They have to figure something out. ESPN's Tim Legler says there is no way the King gets to the rim against the Spurs and the only way he can even hope to win is if he takes more jump-shots. Interesting thought, but he may be right. The Cavs might have to live and die with LeBron's jumpers. After all, they did live well with it in the Detroit's series.
Cleveland @ Sn Antonio - 76-85
Finals schedule for 06/10/2007
Cleveland @ Sn Antonio - King James has to come strong. The supporting cast may play better when they get back home to Cleveland, but this might be King James's game all the way.
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