Red Mosquito

I have a date tomorrow night so I will miss the game but just wanted to pop in and say fuck the Heat and best of luck 4/5. Enjoy the games and have a good time bro.

verb_to_trust wrote:I have a date tomorrow night so I will miss the game but just wanted to pop in and say fuck the Heat and best of luck 4/5. Enjoy the games and have a good time bro.

My in laws are going to be in town tomorrow night during the game. I might emerge from the TV room to say hello.

Monkey_Driven wrote:My in laws are going to be in town tomorrow night during the game. I might emerge from the TV room to say hello.

Good call.


I love that the Spurs are getting all the media love right now. It's almost like we've entered a bizarre alternate universe or something. And I think people have forgotten just how BAD Dwyane Wade last through most of the Finals. The Spurs weren't even pretending to cover him when he didn't have the ball, and I don't think they're going to be able to use that strategy this time. Will their "let LeBron take wide open j's" strategy be employed or effective if they do? It seemed like the switch flipped in game 6 where he realized "hey, my midrange game is A LOT better than it was in 2007, I can make them pay if they try this," and I'd expect him to be aggressive right from the jump this time if they try that again.

4/5 wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:My in laws are going to be in town tomorrow night during the game. I might emerge from the TV room to say hello.

Good call.


I love that the Spurs are getting all the media love right now. It's almost like we've entered a bizarre alternate universe or something. And I think people have forgotten just how BAD Dwyane Wade last through most of the Finals. The Spurs weren't even pretending to cover him when he didn't have the ball, and I don't think they're going to be able to use that strategy this time. Will their "let LeBron take wide open j's" strategy be employed or effective if they do? It seemed like the switch flipped in game 6 where he realized "hey, my midrange game is A LOT better than it was in 2007, I can make them pay if they try this," and I'd expect him to be aggressive right from the jump this time if they try that again.

Did I hear correctly that Lebron is a much better jump shooter when his shot is contested versus left wide open? I agree about Wade. He should be much better than last year, but then again so should a healthy Ginobli.

I think a lot of the media love is because there are not very many stories about the Heat that haven't already been told in the past few years.

Monkey_Driven wrote:
Did I hear correctly that Lebron is a much better jump shooter when his shot is contested versus left wide open? I agree about Wade. He should be much better than last year, but then again so should a healthy Ginobli.

I think a lot of the media love is because there are not very many stories about the Heat that haven't already been told in the past few years.

I'm not complaining about the media coverage--the Spurs deserve every ounce of attention they're getting and then some. I have a feeling some of that also has to do with the (very positive) trend of more and more writers being guys who believe in analytics and advanced metrics, etc. The Spurs are pretty much the dream team of advanced metrics, so it's understandable why they're focusing on the Spurs, coupled with the overexposure of Miami for these last 4 seasons.

I'll get back to you on the LeBron question, I don't know the answer to that.

Manu has looked great and I'd expect him to give the Heat trouble throughout the series. I think Wade's health is a much bigger factor than Manu's because of what Wade's poor play allowed the Spurs to do last year. They could hide just about anybody (Sorry, Splitter) on him and he couldn't make them pay consistently enough. Miami's offense ground to a halt whenever Wade was in the game, there was no spacing to speak of, and it was often basically 4 on 5. He was better in games 6 & 7, but the plus/minus for Wade in the series was astoundingly bad. I know that stat can be overemphasized sometimes, but I think it's a pretty accurate indictment of Wade's performance in the Finals.

IMO this series comes down to Wade. He doesn't have to put up crazy numbers, but he puts up an efficient 20 ppg the way the Spurs defend the Heat as a whole will be adjusted in Miami's favor, providing more spacing, more open 3s, more drives, everything. I don't know what the takeaway is from this, but Miami's points per 100 possessions in the ECF would be the best in NBA history over a full season. Small sample and a mentally weak team, I know. But still, that's the best defense in the league, amped up for the matchup they spent a year getting ready for. Miami is playing GREAT ball offensively right now, and they gave a couple glimpses that they can still turn up that defense when needed.

4/5 wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:
Did I hear correctly that Lebron is a much better jump shooter when his shot is contested versus left wide open? I agree about Wade. He should be much better than last year, but then again so should a healthy Ginobli.

I think a lot of the media love is because there are not very many stories about the Heat that haven't already been told in the past few years.

I'm not complaining about the media coverage--the Spurs deserve every ounce of attention they're getting and then some. I have a feeling some of that also has to do with the (very positive) trend of more and more writers being guys who believe in analytics and advanced metrics, etc. The Spurs are pretty much the dream team of advanced metrics, so it's understandable why they're focusing on the Spurs, coupled with the overexposure of Miami for these last 4 seasons.

I'll get back to you on the LeBron question, I don't know the answer to that.

Manu has looked great and I'd expect him to give the Heat trouble throughout the series. I think Wade's health is a much bigger factor than Manu's because of what Wade's poor play allowed the Spurs to do last year. They could hide just about anybody (Sorry, Splitter) on him and he couldn't make them pay consistently enough. Miami's offense ground to a halt whenever Wade was in the game, there was no spacing to speak of, and it was often basically 4 on 5. He was better in games 6 & 7, but the plus/minus for Wade in the series was astoundingly bad. I know that stat can be overemphasized sometimes, but I think it's a pretty accurate indictment of Wade's performance in the Finals.

IMO this series comes down to Wade. He doesn't have to put up crazy numbers, but he puts up an efficient 20 ppg the way the Spurs defend the Heat as a whole will be adjusted in Miami's favor, providing more spacing, more open 3s, more drives, everything. I don't know what the takeaway is from this, but Miami's points per 100 possessions in the ECF would be the best in NBA history over a full season. Small sample and a mentally weak team, I know. But still, that's the best defense in the league, amped up for the matchup they spent a year getting ready for. Miami is playing GREAT ball offensively right now, and they gave a couple glimpses that they can still turn up that defense when needed.

I agree about Wade. The reason I am went with Spurs in 7 was the non-stars vs. non-stars matchup. I think that gives the Spurs the slight edge. There is always that random 6 3's by Lewis game though.

Yeah, the Spurs are definitely deeper and man are they good. With home court and how close they were last year, I completely understand taking the Spurs. I'd counter that LeBron is basically at the pinnacle of his career, and I wouldn't bet against him at this point.

Oh, the Spurs are winning game 1 btw lol. I'm okay with that. Miami needs to take one of two and I think they'll do that in game 2.


Oh, and Danny Green. Nightmares, man. My hope is that as good as he is he can't possibly replicate games 1-5 last year, can he? He can? Crap.

4/5 wrote:Yeah, the Spurs are definitely deeper and man are they good. With home court and how close they were last year, I completely understand taking the Spurs. I'd counter that LeBron is basically at the pinnacle of his career, and I wouldn't bet against him at this point.

Oh, the Spurs are winning game 1 btw lol. I'm okay with that. Miami needs to take one of two and I think they'll do that in game 2.


Oh, and Danny Green. Nightmares, man. My hope is that as good as he is he can't possibly replicate games 1-5 last year, can he? He can? Crap.

The coaching moves, counter-moves, and called plays are going to be so damn fascinating in this series. I look for Pop to ditch the Splitter/Duncan lineup much earlier in this series if it does not work. Can't wait to see Leonard fly around getting boards. He is one of my favorite players to watch.

Monkey_Driven wrote:

4/5 wrote:Yeah, the Spurs are definitely deeper and man are they good. With home court and how close they were last year, I completely understand taking the Spurs. I'd counter that LeBron is basically at the pinnacle of his career, and I wouldn't bet against him at this point.

Oh, the Spurs are winning game 1 btw lol. I'm okay with that. Miami needs to take one of two and I think they'll do that in game 2.


Oh, and Danny Green. Nightmares, man. My hope is that as good as he is he can't possibly replicate games 1-5 last year, can he? He can? Crap.

The coaching moves, counter-moves, and called plays are going to be so damn fascinating in this series. I look for Pop to ditch the Splitter/Duncan lineup much earlier in this series if it does not work. Can't wait to see Leonard fly around getting boards. He is one of my favorite players to watch.

Leonard is great attacking the boards, I really hope Miami does a better job containing him than last year. I don't remember where I read it but I saw an absurd stat that he only missed 2 rebounds in that entire series.

I don't think we'll see much Splitter/Duncan at all in this series. I suppose he might feel compelled to see if it works since its been part of their best 5, but based on last year I really don't think Splitter is going to get a lot of action this series.

The in-game and between game adjustments will be huge. I was reminded this morning that Birdman was a DNP-CD in games 4 and 5 last year. That seems impossible right now, but Duncan had his way with both Birdman and Bosh last year. While I'd expect more of the same this year, hopefully Birdman's energy can at least tire Duncan out and affect him late in games.

Ha! Simmons mentioned the Leonard getting all but two rebounds thing in his today's column. So I guess I read from him whenever he mentioned that the first time.

Also, Zach Lowe.

4/5 wrote:Ha! Simmons mentioned the Leonard getting all but two rebounds thing in his today's column. So I guess I read from him whenever he mentioned that the first time.

Also, Zach Lowe.

Do you listen to his podcast, the Lowe Post? I love it.

Monkey_Driven wrote:

4/5 wrote:Ha! Simmons mentioned the Leonard getting all but two rebounds thing in his today's column. So I guess I read from him whenever he mentioned that the first time.

Also, Zach Lowe.

Do you listen to his podcast, the Lowe Post? I love it.

I've always read him, finally started listening to the podcast the last 2-3 weeks.

4/5 wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:

4/5 wrote:Ha! Simmons mentioned the Leonard getting all but two rebounds thing in his today's column. So I guess I read from him whenever he mentioned that the first time.

Also, Zach Lowe.

Do you listen to his podcast, the Lowe Post? I love it.

I've always read him, finally started listening to the podcast the last 2-3 weeks.

It is pretty new, but always filled with some good nuggets.

A good article about the evolution of NBA offense from the late 90's early 00's for folks who don't watch the league on a regular basis. I believe a lot of the sports fans who claim the NBA is all iso-ball are still stuck in 2001. Interesting that Pat Riley was an early skeptic.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/ne ... eat-spurs/

My main concern is that Pop will insist on putting the ball in Manu's hands late in games instead of Mills or a gimpy Parker. I'd rather see the ball in Mill's hands and have the team run set plays, but Manu seems to be Pop's go-to option in crunch time with a questionable Parker. I love Manu, but his style of play is such a gamble late in games, that I'd rather him not handle the ball.

turned2black wrote:My main concern is that Pop will insist on putting the ball in Manu's hands late in games instead of Mills or a gimpy Parker. I'd rather see the ball in Mill's hands and have the team run set plays, but Manu seems to be Pop's go-to option in crunch time with a questionable Parker. I love Manu, but his style of play is such a gamble late in games, that I'd rather him not handle the ball.

He's such a high risk/reward guy in those spots. If Miami's defense is all amped up, he's just as likely to split it and make a brilliant play as he is to leave his feet and do something awful.

So does Pop dare LeBron to shoot again?

I think he'll do it in spots as a change-up. If he does it all the time LeBron is too good and will adjust and start torching them.

I don't think Parker is going to show many signs of being injured. He's had almost an entire week to rest and will have another two days off after Game 1.

Monkey_Driven wrote:I don't think Parker is going to show many signs of being injured. He's had almost an entire week to rest and will have another two days off after Game 1.

Parker always has something and he's usually really good, anyway. I'm going into this series assuming that he's going to be Tony Parker.