“We’ll do it this time.” is what Tim Duncan believes and guarantees in this years finals as the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs take on the Eastern Conference champions and two time defending NBA Champions, the Miami Heat.
There are a few key elements to this final series that makes it more interesting than others in recent memory. The coaches, players and even management all have ties to this final series that makes very captivating to follow.
The chase for the “3-Peat” Pat Riley, the 9 time NBA champion as a player, assistant coach, head coach and executive is looking to FINALLY put his patented phrase to use on T-shirts, hats, jackets, towels, maybe even diapers for babies.
Whatever Riles wants to put it on, I’m sure he will put it on. Riley has came close to the three-peat once before in the late 80’s. If it wasn’t for a young and upstart ’86 Rockets team lead by Hakeem “The Dream” and Ralph Sampson, who knows, Riley may have wanted to patent the “4-peat”.
The “3-Peat” was stopped by the legendarily rough and tough Bad Boy Pistons. Riley was the best coach of the 80’s winning 4 NBA titles in that decade, including making it to at least the conference finals for 8 STRAIGHT YEARS. But the Pat Riley legendary coaching history story is for another time. The Heat are looking to be the 5th team to ever three peat, joining the Lakers in the 50’s, the Bulls who twice 3-peated in the 90’s and the Celtics who 8-peated back in the late 50’s/Early 60’s. Yes, 8-Peat. Could you imagine how ESPN/Twitter would be back then?
The “Heatles” feel very slighted by the thought that many people believe that the Heat may have gotten lucky last year in Games 6 and 7 versus San Antonio. They came on to the scene kind of expecting this in some aspects. LeBron’s famous “Not 2, not 3, not 4” answer to a question when they first formed this dynamic trio immediately shot the expectations through the roof. So far, its worked out pretty fairly, but it didn’t start hot in 2011. 17.8 Points Per Game from the “King” in 2011 versus the Mavericks was not a great start to his NBA finals career in Miami. He followed the peasants performance by putting on his crown in 2012 and 2013 by averaging 28 and 25 points per game respectively. This might be the last chance the heat gets to “Three-Peat” as the contracts of the “Big Three” all have the options to end after this season.
Legacies
The Legacies of not only the Heat and their staff are up for debate but so are the legacies of the illustrious careers for Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan, and RC Buford, the Spurs GM. 1999,2003,2005,2007, the years that Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan have won 4 titles together, including 3 MVP’s for Duncan in those finals.
The most underrated in their respective positions, Coach Pop, Duncan and general manager for the Spurs, RC Buford all has something to unnecessarily prove in these finals. Duncan is looking to trail only Michael Jordan for the Most NBA Finals MVP’s this year if he gets to win his fourth in these finals. The greatest Power Forward of all time should have nothing to prove, but a 5th ring with the same team might just cement his legacy.
The “Big Fundamental” has always been compared to the best of the best at the power forwards throughout his career. Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire, Rasheed Wallace and Chris Webber all at one time or another were considered greater than Duncan, but Tim withstood the test of time and has cemented his legacy as the greatest Power Forward to ever play the game of basketball. Talk about Duncan retiring after this season is not only relevant but very likely to happen especially if the Spurs win the title this year.
Coach Pop has long been considered a great coach, but not as good as Riley, Phil Jackson, Chuck Daly or Red Auerbach. For what reason? The one I can think of is that He coaches the Spurs and is so easily forgotten by the average NBA fan. Coach Pop has done things with different lineups to win titles that no one could even imagine. Fabricio Oberto was the starting center for a 2007 Spurs Championship team, Fabricio Oberto. I’ll give you a few minutes to research and understand why this is a big deal.
A true test of a good coach is to be willing to make adjustments and put out the best starting lineup and coaching them to great things when no one else could. Pop had forgotten players that before him were not even considered to be a part of NBA teams and turned them into somewhat household names. Malik Rose, Beno Udrih, Bruce Bowen, Nazr Mohammed and Stephen Jackson all learned under the tutelage of Coach Pop and went on to have somewhat successful careers, but played big roles for Coach Pop’s teams.
Getting those players for the most part, with the exception of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker, were all RC Buford projects. Acquiring players like Robert Horry, Michael Finley, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Boris Diaw, Gary Neal, Patty Mills, Marco Belinelli, DeJuan Blair and Tiago Splitter has been Buford’s calling card for over a decade. Keep the “Big 3” on board and just sign players to accent their games. No need to sign big names when the team already has 3 of the best players of the last 15 years on board and completely sold into everything that is San Antonio, unlike Charles Barkley.
LeBron James. That’s enough words to start talking about LeBron’s legacy. Everyone knows what’s at stake. Chasing Kobe and Jordan. Trying to win 3 titles before 30. Attempting to have everyone forget about his 2007 and 2011 NBA Finals trips. Wanting to make everyone regret not picking him for the regular season MVP. LeBron is always going to have doubters, haters and people questioning if he can actually get it done when it matters most. This is LeBron’s chance because the great ones, Kobe and Jordan, only have 2 career finals series losses (both by Kobe)
and if LeBron loses this year, he’s looking at a 2-3 career NBA finals career series record. Ouch.
Prediction
The prediction is plain and simple. Spurs in 6. Duncan is hungry, hungrier then I have ever heard him be, for this final series and this title. Duncan and possibly Ginobili want to end their career on high notes and this title may cement that. The Spurs have home-court advantage so keeping the court in the first 2 games is of the utmost importance. Losing one game to Miami will change the whole dynamic of the finals. The future is still bright for San Antonio after this year as well. Tony Parker will stick around and help groom Kawhi Leonard into the potential star he has the capabilities of being.
The Heat’s contributors have stepped up immensely in the Playoffs this year. Rashard Lewis and Norris Cole have played big roles in the playoffs this year. Rashard Lewis trying to somewhat prove he was once worth the biggest contract in the NBA and Norris Cole becoming the “Stephenson Stopper” after Lance’s big 25 point game but before he blew sweet nothings into LeBron’s ear. In all seriousness though, Cole has stepped up big defensively molding his game from being a nice spark off the bench to score quick points to being able to play great defense against some of the leagues best guards. A healthy Birdman, Udonis Haslem and potentially Greg Oden are key to the success of the Heat. The bigs down low have a tall task going against the rebounding and versatility of the Spurs bigs, Duncan, Splitter, Diaw and Bonner all bring different games to the table and playing big inside will be key for the Heat.
The X-Factor and potential difference maker in this series in order for the Spurs to win will be Kawhi Leonard. While many would say Manu Ginobili would be the difference, I don’t think that he will have the same mediocre performances like he did last year. Leonard will have the task of defending LeBron James in these playoffs. Leonard has become a great player in such a short time, and he was almost an Indiana Pacer, imagine that one. Kawhi has a great offensive game. He moves well without the ball, can shoot from three, isn’t afraid to drive inside and earn his points with getting fouled hard and is a terrific passer. Leonard defensively seems to be excited to guard the best player In the world. He struggled at points last year, but this year Leonard seems to have changed a bit and become a better player then people were expecting.
Shooting 50% from the field, 38% from three and 80% from the free throw line make him a threat for not only this season but for the remainder of his career and I imagine San Antonio will do whatever it takes to keep him around. 6’7, 225 pounds and a 7’4 wingspan make him a tough match-up to go against offensively. He’s tough to drive past, he plays big and can get in your pocket defensively and isn’t afraid of some contact. Kawhi Leonard needs to have a few big Games for the Spurs in order for San Antonio to capture a 5th title for the franchise.
The X-Factor for the Heat is plain and simple. It’s not Ray Allen, He will step up, as he always does. Norris Cole will play some great defense and score when needed and Shane Battier will hit some big threes and cause some problems for the stretch forwards. The X-Factor will In fact be the once NBA finals MVP, Dwyane Wade.
Chris Bosh has stepped up his game and even developed a small three point shot, which sometimes affects the Heat when he steps out and isn’t inside to cause havoc and fight for rebounds. He will be the same Chris Bosh and I expect nothing less.
Dwyane Wade needs to have a big series to combat the firepower and scoring of the Spurs. Wade cannot struggle in these finals at all. If he does, the Heat better hope that someone else steps up to score. Wade isn’t the same Wade he was back in 2006, but he still is Dwayne Wade and one of the Top 10 Players in the last 10 years. Injuries have hampered him the last few seasons due to the way he plays. Wade was for the longest time, the human pinball machine and would just go in and bounce of anyway and drive hard to the rim. Wade is not the same anymore, but if he wants the same team to come back next
year and stick around for a lot longer, he needs to step up or he might be saying goodbye to the King in South Beach.
