sitiveni
Years ago

NBA Finals: Spurs & Heat Game 5

Manu is starting for Spurs and hits the first bucket, word is Parker's hamstring is fine

Topic #31930 | Report this topic


sitiveni  
Years ago

spurs have come out strong and James misses a lob dunk. Danny Green gets a verbal from Pop. this is intense

Reply #423469 | Report this post


Take a load off, sitiveni. You've booked the entire bar, go and enjoy it with your buds!

Reply #423470 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

haha SS ^

Reply #423476 | Report this post


sitiveni  
Years ago

Statsheet don't know why you even comment on my posts, I must really get under your skin or you are 1 really extremely jealous lefty. All my friends and I just love seeing your comments, we just crack up laughing all the time

Reply #423480 | Report this post


sitiveni  
Years ago

on a serious note. Spurs came out hard, great shooting from Green, although Miami came back. Spurs need to cut the turnovers if they are any chance. leave splitter on the bench Pop.

Reply #423481 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

Sitivini chilling with Ron Paul, Campbell Newman and Derek Rose in the booked-out bar with Game 5 on one bigscreen and hoops.com.au on the other.

Reply #423484 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

But yeah, Splitter has been all kinds of awful this series. I don't know what anyone has ever seen in him.

Reply #423486 | Report this post


Bear  
Years ago

Baynes will be a better player than Splitter IMO, jus wait and see...

Spurs holding on!

Reply #423489 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Too easy, Spurs up 3-2. Spurs should get the ship from here.

Reply #423492 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

As a Heat fan, I gotta say this series has been extremely entertaining. Both teams playing nice attacking basketball, no typical NBA Finals slogfest. The shooting displays have been great, showing that "small-ball" is the future (for now at least).

Miller's shooting, Ray Ray today, Neal, not to mention Finals MVP Danny Green! He has been the difference in this series so far.

Sure, besides the 1st game, there hasn't been any close final scores, but this doesn't show the competitiveness of these games. The big runs, then the bigger comebacks. It has been great to watch. I'm enjoying it all immensely, I just hope it goes to 7 games now. Game 7 would almost certainly be a barn-burner! Fingers crossed.

Reply #423494 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

One win away.

Can't call this one at all. The trend says Miami wins game 6 in a blowout and then the Spurs take game 7 in a blowout, but I don't know about that. I think if SA drop game 6 they're cooked.

It will all depend on whether Manu's big game was a return to form or a one-off. Also are Wade, Bosh and Allen "back" for good or will they fall back into their slumps?

Reply #423496 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

Agree with anon above. Finals last year was all kinds of awful to watch. I hate watching OKC because they are so boring and predictable. Outside of fastbreak points, their only play is: Westbrook hogs the ball or Durant hogs the ball and then shoots a long jumper. AKA the Mike Brown Cleveland offense. Yay.

Miami was a lot more predictable last year too: their offense this year is a lot better to watch and has a few more wrinkles. They used to go stagnant way more often when not playing out of a defensive stop. Lebron is making plays a lot earlier in the shot clock and dribbling the ball at the top a lot less (ie. less snore fest).

Good to see two teams who are efficient on both ends of the floor go head to head.

Reply #423500 | Report this post


The Cheese  
Years ago

Heat can't win two in a row. Last time was round 1 and that was against the bucks.

Reply #423505 | Report this post


AK-47  
Years ago

I remember a quote from Doc Rivers a few years back when Boston met LeBron and Cleveland in the playoffs, it was the year the Celtics won it.

"You don't want to get to Game 7 when the best player in the world is on the other team".

Spurs need to win Game 6, you do not want to face LeBron James in Game 7 at home.

Reply #423509 | Report this post


MACDUB  
Years ago

Popp outcoaching Spoelstra IMO.

Thought Pops rotations were absolutely spot on today.

-Reduced minutes for Splitter
-A lot of gametime for Diaw (who did a great defensive job: playing Diaw = allows Leonard to focus on offense - who had 16 and 8 today).
-Obviously inserting Manu into the starting lineup was a great coaching decision.

On the flipside, I though Spoelstra made some rotation errors:

-Miller: 24 minutes: Van Gundy said during the game that the Spurs were exploiting him on defence by getting whoever he was guarding to set and on ball screen and play off the switch
-Cole 6 minutes? Thought he needed more. Chalmers hasn't been good this series, and today he was pretty bad.
-Spoel's plan to play no PG for extended minutes. Problem with this = mismatch at PG. Parker was 10-14 and 6-8 FT. Crazy efficient. Got wherever he wanted.

Reply #423510 | Report this post


Speed44  
Years ago

I sort of agree about Cole. Although in the final few minutes of the 3rd today, after the Heat pulled it back to 75-74, Spo inserted Cole, and it went to s**t. What followed was a 19-1 run by the Spurs. Game pretty much over.

Reply #423511 | Report this post


AK-47  
Years ago

Can't disagree with you MACDUB,

Pop killing Spo. Having said that, Pop would beat pretty much anyone.

Reply #423515 | Report this post


sitiveni  
Years ago

Mick, Campbell was doing a marathon in Ipswich Qld yesterday so he isn't here, ron paul is with Bruno(probably) and rose, well speaking of him, his friend who is a very close friend of mine is coming down tomorrow to spend the rest of the week with me, so if you have any questions for him, let me know and ill pass them on.

On the game, watching it I am worried going to Miami. they have so much firepower and James didn't fire tonight. lets hope the spurs can get the job done

Reply #423516 | Report this post


m  
Years ago

The Cheese, Miami Won 4 in a row in round two last time I checked....

Reply #423518 | Report this post


Beantown  
Years ago

I thought Parker was expecting his leg to fall off prior to this game? Gamesmanship or did the Heat just not work him hard enough?

Reply #423519 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

I think what Parker was saying was that he will be fine to play, but there is a risk that it could snap. Ie. it's not going to hamper him but he technically should be resting it to avoid long term injury. Or maybe just gamesmanship. Dwyane Wade has certainly done worse...

Reply #423521 | Report this post


Beantown  
Years ago

I'm hoping gamesmanship! :-)
Would like to see Spurs win and it'd be near impossible if he succumbs to injury.

Reply #423526 | Report this post


The Cheese  
Years ago

My bad, yes they did win four in a row then. But since its as though they stop trying once they get themselves in a good position.

Reply #423531 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

I don't think it's that, they have just come up against a team in Indy who matched up against them well and now a team in San Antonio that is very deep and has a varied attack.

Miami's offense is almost entirely based on getting stops from aggressive defensive pressure (and a lot of gambling, because they are athletic enough to do so), so if San Antonio manages to execute in the face of that pressure and not cough the ball up, Miami misses out on the sorts of easy looks that they thrive on to get themselves going.

As such, turnovers are one of he biggest stories of this series...

Reply #423536 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I couldn't believe how many layups, dunks and easy shots Miami missed in that game. Looked like game 3 all over again.

Reply #423538 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I think people are reading way too much into SA being up 3-2. Obviously they are a great chance to win the series because they are a superb team, but this is the way the 2-3-2 Finals homecourt format should go. Miami are much harder to beat in Miami.

Reply #423543 | Report this post


Vart  
Years ago

Thanks Captain Obvious (anon #423543). 'Miami are harder to beat in Miami'.

Reply #423545 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

yep thats why san antonio won game 1 ;)

Reply #423546 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

Teams who have won game 5 after being tied 2-2 have won 7 out of 10 series since the shift to the 2-3-2 format in the mid 80s.

Reply #423550 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Spurs will be 2013 champions

Reply #423553 | Report this post


KET  
Years ago

Not so fast, I expect a Miami response in game 6.

When it comes to a game 7, it's clean slate - and you don't want to be the team playing against the best player in the league, particularly not at his home.

Reply #423567 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Sitiveni, can you ask them how they put up with you?

Reply #423611 | Report this post


Gordon Liddy  
Years ago

The home team is always the favourite in a Game 7. I don't have the stats handy but the home team has a huge advantage historically.

I'd like the Spurs to take the series but Miami are not out of this yet. This could be like the 1994 Finals when Houston came back from New York down 2-3 and won the last two games at home to take the series. The Lakers did the same in 2010 against the Celtics too.


Reply #423626 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

KET, normally I'd agree but LeBron hasn't been consistently great in this series. He's shown he can flake in the big moments in the past, and the Spurs are playing him as well as it's possible to.

Miami seemed to lack desperation in game 5. Attitude when they started to get buried seemed to be 'Oh well, we'll get em in Miami.'

Reply #423642 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Change the 2-3-2 format. History counts for nothing in this series san Antonio will win the title

Reply #423666 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

Well for that history to be relevant Miami have to win game 6 anyway.

Reply #423669 | Report this post


Statsheet Stuffer  
Years ago

Btw, what has happened to all the 'David Stern conspiring to get the Heat a championship' talk gone?

If anything, the Spurs have had the benefit of the dubious calls from the five games so far.

Reply #423673 | Report this post


Statsheet Stuffer  
Years ago

Also, I'm watching the replay of yesterday's game and man, the Heat had three good chances to get it back to a one possession game. 1st time, James takes a stupid 3pt shot, 2nd time Wade turns it over, and 3rd time James misses that transition layup where Danny Green challenged him and James missed the second try.

Then the Spurs ran away with it. So disheartening.

Reply #423679 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

It's weird to see a Heat game called fairly like these ones have been (by and large). Normally it's just superstar calls all day for Lebron and Wade whenever they initiate any sort of contact.

San Antonio and Miami are two of the biggest flopping teams in the league so it's good to see that the refs haven't been fooled too badly by the questionably dramatic antics of people like Wade, Battier and Ginobili.

Reply #423680 | Report this post


Statsheet Stuffer  
Years ago

What ever happened to the Lebron transition tomahawk posterisation? He has been piss weak on transition this whole series, especially yesterday.

Reply #423681 | Report this post


Statsheet Stuffer  
Years ago

And yeah, I agree that the refs have been doing a good job of keeping the foul count low so as not to encourage milking.

But seriously! When Pop served Tony Brothers on that Leonard baseline out of bounds play, that definitely warranted a tech.

Reply #423683 | Report this post


KET  
Years ago

Statsheet Stuffer, this is finals mate. Maybe during the regular season that's a tech, but in the added intensity, the refs just have to man up and withstand the extra "criticism".

Miami play better against teams they hate or have a reason to hate. The way the Spurs are and play, they won't piss off anyone, so there's a little bit less sting in Miami atm. That's not to say they won't come out in game 6 with a spark.

Reply #423689 | Report this post


KET, when the play happened, Pop stood up and went directly at the ref yelling abuse pretty overtly. And again before a timeout huddle he was in the middle of the floor chewing the ref's ear off again. I agree that there needs to be some leeway given to all, but to me that was over the top. And I'm not a pop hater, just telling it as I see it.

Reply #423691 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

Green and Leonard happened. They are both super smart defenders who have great body control/positioning and are adept at stopping transition plays.

Reply #423692 | Report this post


Yeah kudos to their defence, I'm not disputing that. But James just needs to smash on them one time and they'll think twice about getting all up in his grillz yo. If he gives away an offensive foul, so be it. Might even spur (pardon the pun) his teammates on a bit.

Reply #423696 | Report this post




You need to be a registered user to post from this location. Register here.



Close ads
Serio: Tourism photography and videography
Little Streaks - The fun and interactive good-habits app designed especially for kids.

Advertise on Hoops to a very focused, local and sports-keen audience. Email for rates and options.

Recent Posts



.


An Australian basketball forum covering NBL, WNBL, ABL, Juniors plus NBA, WNBA, NZ, Europe, etc | Forum time is: 6:08 pm, Tue 19 Mar 2024 | Posts: 968,026 | Last 7 days: 754