If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The planet's best player though, now has his first world championship, and he's done so at 27 years old; or to be exact, one year younger than when the incomparable Michael Jordan captured his first ring with the Bulls in 1991.
As has been the case through four games, though, OKC head coach Scott Brooks elected once again to let Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra dictate his lineup.
OKC has failed to eclipse the 100-point mark for the first time in back-to-back games since Games 2 and 3 of its conference semifinal series with the Lakers. Miami, in that span, has turned them over 25 times, scoring 29 transition points off of turnovers. But why and how?
The Miami Heat finally assembled a legitimate half-court offensive scheme for 48 minutes, and the result was its most impressive total team effort of the NBA Finals.
The Finals rest in the hands of two players not expected to raise the Finals MVP award when it all comes to an end: Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook and Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade.
One source close to the Heat informed me before the series that this is a much bigger problem than Wade has let on and that the pain is palpable. Even so, after Miami's 105-94 loss, the 2006 Finals MVP said: "I've still got something left in me."
For a Miami Heat team that is 33-4 this season and 8-0 in the playoffs when it scores 100 points, James' refusal to get his team over the hump once again was alarming.
After dismantling San Antonio and its 20-win streak in the West, Thunder coach Scott Brooks now faces the task of defending a super-confident LeBron James. The question becomes: Will he double-team him, or try and live with his scoring while attempting to shut down Wade?
The Celtics failed to show up Thursday night and tried to defend James with a bundle of different looks; will LeBron come out in Game 7 with the same mindset? Or, will he fall to 0-3 all-time in Game 7s?
Paul Pierce did it again, ladies and gentleman. In a series full of young superstars, Pierce -- as he has throughout his entire career in Boston -- provided yet another dagger in the biggest of playoff games.
It was not supposed to be this close. Boston was not supposed to be this good; Miami, not this vulnerable. Four games through what has already been a grueling Eastern Conference finals, Miami and Boston are dead even at two games apiece.
In a new segment with Noah Coslov of CineSport, I break down why the Celtics' swing-and-miss Game 2 effort was a necessary but wildly costly risk, even as the series shifts back to Boston. Rajon Rondo was magnificent with 44 points, but he played all 53 minutes.
Because of its remarkable floor spacing and ability to run non-traditional, high-ball screens for Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, their offense quite literally leaves OKC with a cadre of defensive choices, none of which are particularly good.
LeBron James is going to get his. And if Game 1 against Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals was any indication, he'll have an easy time of it.
In a new segment with Noah Coslov of CineSport, I break down why LeBron, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat remain vulnerable against Indiana in Game 6.
