The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

2 games in, series is 1/1

Last game i think we saw that the heat aren't the miami lebrons just yet.

Leading scorer and all NBA finals first team selection mario chalmers doing some damage.

There are some guys that play erratically during the season and when the finals come along just forget they are middle of the road and take over a game.

The game was extremely fun to watch in the late 3rd/early 4th quarter last night. 

It should be an interesting series going to 3 games in San Antonio.

The HEAT are in a really good spot right now.  Borrowing from Cowherd, the HEAT are playing their own game both times.  Over a series, you aren't going to match baskets with them.  The Spurs are lucky to have stolen game 1 with some late heroics and a late stall by the HEAT, but in both games, the HEAT have played HEAT basketball.

Let's hope it keeps up.

San Antonio is a very tough place to play.  The Heat absolutely had to win game 2.  There was no way they were coming back to Miami going to San Antonio down 0-2

They couldn't have won 2 out of 3 games on the road?

Isn't this the same team that won ~30 games in a row?

I would say the Heat got lucky the Spurs committed an uncharacteristic 16 turnovers in game two.

Not in San Antonio during the finals.  I can see them taking one of the next three but not two.  I predict this series will come back to Miami but San Antonio will have a 3-2 lead.

The HEAT's defense causes those turnovers, too, though.  Also, San Antonio had a hot 3 point shooter.  That one bum went 5-5 from 3, including 1-1 from 2.  They're not going to see those types of numbers again.  Each game is its own animal.

But, I'd rather be the HEAT at this point, because in both games, the game is at the HEAT's pace.  If you try to match baskets with Miami, you're going to lose over the course of a series.

So you believe that if SA had won two in MIA, there's no way MIA could win two in SA?

Home court is not that big of a deal.

Yes it is.  A huge HUGE deal.  Look at how many NBA Finals have gone to a game 7.  Then look at how many of those game 7's have been won by the visiting team.  Nuff said

^ That's not a good judge, because game 7s go to the team that won more games in the regular season, which means that they're probably the better team to begin with.  If game 7s were randomly assigned to home/away, then you'd have a point.

Who saw this coming? Game 1 was pretty much what you expected with the close score and good defense. Games 2 & 3 have been massive blowouts. I expect Game 4 to be closer to Game 1, but you never know. Wacky series so far.

Game 4 is going to be a dogfight, no question about it.  The Heat are angry and embarassed from last night's loss, but the Spurs are battle tested and ready to handle what comes their way.  I'm shocked at the results of Games 2 and 3 as well.  You usually don't see that in the Finals.

yeah .. it was an ugly game really .. it's what happens when you can't make a shot and the opponent can't miss i guess .. it happens

What's so strange is that the game was tied at 44.  Then it just got crazy.  Then, desperation set in and the Spurs hit every shot.  ...but the game was pretty much over at that point.

It seemed like right after it was tied, when the Spurs knocked down the 3 right before halftime, that was the beginning of the end.  After that, it got out of hand.

But, there's no way 2 role player guys like Green and Neal can keep up that kind of performance for the next 3-4 games.  Those guys had career nights last night.  Can't count on that every game.

Very true.

A better measure would be compare the league's overall percent of regular season games in which the home team wins. 

I didn't do the math but with a basic eyeballing of it in the NBA it looks very  significant.  In hockey and baseball not so much.  Football is less than NBA but more than the other two.   

From here (http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/12/18/football-freakonomics-how-advantageous-is-home-field-advantage-and-why/):

Thanks spider.

I would say that 60-40 is a pretty significant advantage. 

For one game, sure.  Over the course of a series, not so much.  It certainly doesn't mean that winning two out of three games on the road is some Herculean task.

In the Finals it can be. And against a team like the Spurs, it most certainly is

It took SA two overtimes to avoid losing the first two games at home to GS.  Is GS really that much better than MIA?

Perhaps they got caught looking ahead? Or Golden State presents matchup problems for San Antonio

^^ or the Spurs aren't as good as you think.

I think the Golden State Warriors have more talent than many folks give them credit for, and almost all of it is really young. Golden State gave the Spurs fits because they were younger, kept the pace very up-tempo and killed it from behind the 3-point line. The trio of Curry, Thompson and Barnes is a solid foundation, though they still (like many teams) need more quality big men in the frontcourt. They don't have a single pick in this year's draft, so unless they trade for a draft pick, they'll be limited to whatever big man scraps are in free agency.

I think San Antonio is, like Miami, one of the truly "elite" teams in the league, led by one of the greatest players of our generation, T-T-Timmy!! and in Popovich, they the greatest coach currently in the NBA, bar-none.  I'm worried for Miami right now... The Spurs look pretty damned tough out there.

If the home team wins 60% of the time, then the home team should win a three game series  (2 or 3 games) 65% of the time.

Break down as follows
Home team wins sweeps -- 22%
Home team wins 2-1 -- 43%
Road team wins 2-1 --29%
Road team sweeps -- 6%
   

Officiating was awful again in game 4, with rogue fouls and touch fouls all over the floor.  The announcers make it barely watchable.  I've never seen announcers that so clearly hate one team allowed to cover the game.  The whole playoffs, we're having someone cover the game that has a bias: Against the Bulls, we had Steve Kerr, who played his career in Chicago.  Against Indiana, we had Reggie Miller, who played his career with the Pacers, and in the Finals, we have Van Gundy, whose brother has bad blood with the team.  It's awful.

There was a really funny moment last night where Battier gets bowled over and they call it a blocking foul.  Van Gundy said, "Well clearly Battier is either in the charge circle or he didn't get his feet set."  So, they show the replay, Battier steps out of the charge circle and sets his feet well ahead of time.  <Pause>  "Um...yeah....that's close."

Despite all that BS (and a 17 to 31 free throw discrepancy), we still beat their asses.

I think that a game 5 loss for the Spurs basically ends the series.  But Miami can afford it.

Remember this?

(http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly224qdHwF1qm9rypo1_1280.jpg)

Yep. Back during a time when I could stomach the Heat.

Yes, what a horrible group of assholes they are composed of now...  ::)

Landsharkdamus

This has been a ridiculous series. Game 1 went according to plan, but every game since has been lopsided by either ridiculously great shooting or ridiculously poor shooting. The Spurs win because they are on fire and the Heat are mediocre. The Heat win because they are on fire and the Spurs are mediocre. Bizarre.

Also, this may be Lebron's worst playoff series to date. It's not atrocious, but he did set the bar high and this isn't really good.

That being said, Heat in 7. I saw they blowout San Antonio in Game 6 and then win a relatively close one in Game 7. David Stern rejoices.

Why would Stern rejoice? As many people watch to cheer Lebron lose as to see him win. The Spurs winning again will not hurt the NBA.
I think it helps the NBA as it shows that you do not have to go out and buy a big three of your own to win.

Please explain "buy a big three".  Exactly how do you do that with a salary cap?  I hear people say this and it just stinks of ignorance.  All 3 guys took LESS money....not more.  It's the opposite of "bought".

I don't want to argue about their individual salaries because we all know James was paid lower than he could have been. But thinking the salary cap keeps teams from "buying" players shows ignorance as well. Big market teams tend to continually be over the "cap" and just pay the taxes and that is what Miami did as well. I'm a Lakers fan so I really don't mind the process but let's be honest about how ineffective the cap really is.

I wouldn't say bought, more like colluded. That's what stunk in the whole deal back a few years ago. LeBron, Wade and Bosh all knew what they were going to do but lead teams on into dumping players and salary in order to convince them to come to their teams.

free agents can't collude by definition

You must have a weird definition of colluding.

col·lude/kəˈlud/ Show Spelled [kuh-lood] Show IPA
verb (used without object), col·lud·ed, col·lud·ing. 
1. to act together through a secret understanding, especially with evil or harmful intent.
2. to conspire in a fraud.

Nothing about this word causes me to say free agents are inacapable of colluding.

Stern is bringing in the big guns tonight. Your referee tonight.....the one & only Joey Crawford.

The Heat are the champs.  After last night's comeback from nowhere, they will blow the Spurs out in Game 7. 

Couldn't have scripted this better!  ;)

Those non calls on LeBron were vomit inducing. I'm all for letting players play, but, jesus it was so bad it felt like Miami was not only trying to beat a tough Spurs team, but the damn refs too.  Wtf.

I thought the officiating, again, was abysmal.  It seems that if you're on a run, you'll get every call, and if you're not, you'll get nothing.

The HEAT got calls in the last 2 minutes.  The Spurs got calls for the other 46.

My favorite this game was when Mike Miller got stiff armed on that dunk.  A guy pushed him with an open palm, right in the face.  And then the announcer said that it didn't affect the play.

I just can't continue to watch Jeff Van Gundy.  He hates the HEAT so bad that he's not even pretending to call the game evenly.

On 75% of LeBron's drives he swipes his off hand to gain space from the defender and it is never called.....Leonard's hand was in a normal swing motion of what the off hand does on a dunk attempt. I didn't think it was malicious or showed intent. I think they let a lot of calls go in game 6, not wanting to get involved in the outcome of the game. 

I'm not sure what's going to happen in game 7....depends on which Bosh and Wade show up.