Game 7: Historical Perspective and How the Heat Can Threepeat
San Antonio Spurs 88 Miami Heat 95
It will be a series long remembered for all of NBA history. When you go 7 games in a NBA Finals and the last 2 games go down to the last minute, it is a historic series that will be talked about forever. You have to give the Spurs a lot of credit for their resilience. After having the series in hand in the last 28 seconds in Game 6, no one gave them a chance to win Game 7. While the Spurs ultimately fell, they fought back time after time in Game 7 and were a Tim Duncan point-blank hook away from tying the game in the last minute. Nevertheless, you must have all the respect in the world in Duncan. After giving everything he had in Game 6, Duncan gave a little more with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Game 7 is when the superstars show up and win games. At age 37, Duncan showed up again and reminded us that he is an all-time great. If Game 7s are when superstars show up, Kawhi Leonard showed up big with 19 points and 16 rebounds. He played big in the biggest game in the sport. At 21, Leonard is definitely a player to keep an eye on in the coming years. Unfortunately, they did not get too much help. Manu Ginobili was effective at times with 18 points but again had bonehead plays to seal the Spurs defeat.
The star of stars and the best player in the sport is Lebron James. While his 37 points and 12 rebounds are mind-boggling, it is not close to telling the full story of how great Lebron was. After Duncan missed the game tying lay in, Lebron put the nail in the coffin with a mid range jumper on the very next possession. While he was great on offense, his defense was just as spectacular. He completely locked down the best player on the other team and Tony Parker did nothing the last two games. Parker is one of the quickest and unstoppable players in the NBA. At 6’ 8”, it is a testament to how much of a physical freak Lebron is to have the agility and quickness to shutdown one of the quickest point guards. Parker was 6-23 and 3-12 in the last two games. With the thin margins of victory, the Spurs win the series if Parker had mediocre games instead of being completely locked down and terrible. No one intelligent will ever question Lebron’s big game prowess again.
Lebron also made the “Decision” because he understood that in a big game, such as Game 7, of the NBA Finals, he would need another superstar to play with who would also show up and guide a team to victory. While Dwayne Wade is clearly not 100% and he may be starting his decline, he was a superstar in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals and was again in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Wade was the second best player on the court with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
If someone told you that Chris Bosh would score 0 points or that the Heat would win with Bosh scoring 0 points, you would think he was crazy. As such, the contribution from Shane Battier was key. He scored 18 points on 6 3 pointers. Battier is a gamer and has won at every level. It does not surprise me that he would go from Did Not Play to hero within the same series. Besides Chalmers scoring 14 points on a mediocre 6-15 from the field, the rest of the Heat team scored 3 points. On offense, it was literally 3 and a half men for the Heat.
Besides Lebron’s ridiculous defense, the team is a great defensive team overall. Their defense came up huge again in the biggest game of the season. Besides Lebron shutting down Parker, the Heat forced one of the best offensive teams to shoot less than 38% from the field in the deciding game. In addition, they made sure that Danny Green never hurt them again after his big Game 5. Green is a spot up shooter. If you close out on him early, he will not get into rhythm and will not have a good game. The Heat knew exactly what to do with Green when they needed to stop him.
Historic Perspective
For the Spurs, their legacy was solidified before this series. They have won 4 championships and already a historic team and dynasty. While a ring for the thumb would have put the cherry on top, losing this NBA Finals does not detract from the Spurs accomplishments. The Spurs gained even more respect for their play, class, and resiliency. However, it is probably the last title run for the Spurs, which will make blowing Game 6 that much more to swallow for their players. Michael Jordan noted that he regretted that the Chicago Bulls were never beaten in the Finals so they were never knocked off the mountain to pass the torch to the next team. When Duncan missed the shot at the end, it was symbolic of one of the great teams in the last decade passing the torch to the team of this decade. When Lebron hit the very next shot, it was as if the best player in the game was accepting the torch.
For the Heat, they could not afford to lose the series. Their Big Three would have been deemed a failure. Even though they have reached the NBA Finals 3 straight years and every year they have played together, they would have last 2 of the 3. As such, they would have moved toward being the Atlanta Braves of the NBA. If they lost, their Big Three might have been broken up and Erik Spoelstra might have lost his job. Moreover, Lebron would have taken the blame for no valid reasons. He would have been 1-3 in NBA Finals. As he is being compared to NBA legends and Michael Jordan in particular, he would have been vilified for losing this year even though he was a one man show for most of the last two series. Instead, the Heat have laid the foundations of a dynasty. While I think the Heat have obvious flaws as shown by the last two rounds and is not an all-time great team when compared to some of the best teams of all-time, it is clear that they have an all-time great player that compares to any basketball player in history. While the constant Michael Jordan comparisons will continue to annoy me as I think a valid one can be done at the end of Lebron’s career, Lebron is on track and has earned that type of respect.
How the Heat Threepeat
The Heat have the clear best player in the game and one of the all-time greats with Lebron James. As such, they will be the favorite again to win the championship again next year. The next most important factor is Dwayne Wade. He needs to get healthy and play like a superstar so Lebron has help. While Wade struggled for most of the postseason with an injury, Bosh struggled because he was just bad. He has been criticized with being soft in the past and this postseason will not help that persona. While I do not think the Heat will look to trade Bosh after winning the title, he is their best trade chip to address their weaknesses. The Heat were last in the NBA in rebounds and their lack of size really hurt them in the last two rounds. While Chris Bosh is tall, he does not play like a big man. He wants to play like a guard and shoot jumpers. The Heat already have a ton of jump shooters to surround Lebron and Wade. As such, I would explore trying to get the Lakers to sign and trade Dwight Howard for Chris Bosh. If Howard is intent on leaving Los Angeles, the Lakers could do worse than Bosh. In addition, Bosh theoretically fits better with Pau Gasol, especially if the Lakers stick with Mike D’Antoni. Gasol could play with his back to the basket and Bosh could help spread the floor with his jump shooting. Howard would help the Heat drastically with their rebounding problems. In addition, the Heat defense is suffocating anyway. Imagine Howard in the middle erasing the few mistakes and providing significant resistance to someone like Roy Hibbert. Nevertheless, the Heat need to keep on adding to their team. They really need someone like Reggie Evans who is a scrapper and grab a ton of rebounds.
At the end of the day, a team also needs luck to win a title. The Heat got 2 missed free throws and 2 offensive rebounds for 2 wide open threes in the last 28 seconds in Game 6 to avoid elimination. Of course, you need to build a team that can take advantage of those opportunities. Ray Allen is the best 3 point shooter in the history of the NBA and he was more than qualified to take the game tying 3 pointer in Game 6. The Heat have made great personnel moves in the last two years to support the Big Three and need to continue to do so. With Pat Riley at the helm, I expect them to make those moves. However, it will not be easy. Teams will be better and challenge them. The Chicago Bulls will get Derrick Rose back, the Oklahoma City Thunder will get Russell Westbrook back, and young teams like the Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Memphis Grizzlies will improve to challenge the Heat. As such, luck will have to be with the Heat to Threepeat whether it being fortunate with injury or having the ball bounce their way.
One issue to look for is the dynamic between Lebron and Wade. During the Pacers series, Wade made a comment about Lebron taking too many shots and Wade needing more shots. At that point, it seemed Lebron became more passive to try to get Wade the ball and appease his friend. While Lebron’s star has only gotten bigger the last two years, Wade is an all-time great in his own right and is beginning to be minimized. While Wade is not a selfish player, he is a great player and it definitely hurt his pride to be marginalized when Lebron was outshining every on the court and there was talk of him returning to his “Cleveland days” when he had no help. It should be interesting to see if this dynamic festers into a problem next season.