Of course. The Spurs are the Good Guys. I didn't think we would come out against the Grizz, and I have a worse feeling right now, so I'm picking against the Spurs again this time and hoping I'm wrong again. Heat in 6.
Spurs in 6. I think the Heat are on a severe decline. Wade is aging, Bosh is not making any shots, and other than Chalmers, there has been no help for Lebron. Indiana took them to game 7 with no offense and straight defense. The Spurs are a complete team with veteran talent and experience. They have the defense to defend Miami and they have the offense to score. I don't think anyone can contain Tony Parker and I don't think anyone will contain Lebron. The difference is, Spurs will have plenty of help from their role players. Miami has and will not. It will be a great series, but I'm calling Spurs in 6. San Antonio looks pretty awesome at this point. Just going by that, San Antonio is the better team as of late. Everyone seems to forget that Miami just almost lost the series against a team who had 40 wins in the season and is missing their best shooter. This will not be easy for Miami. They are not the team they were last year. This is going to be very reminiscent of Lebrons Cleveland days. Try and take the team on your back. Win against teams you are better then, but lose against teams you are not. San Antonio is a better team. If Lebron is doing it all by himself, they are done. It worked against Indiana, but it will not work against the Spurs.
George Karl, the Coach of the Year, has been fired by the Denver Nuggets. Interesting decision, not sure why. Karl has had trouble leaving the first round of the playoffs, and he was given the team "he wanted" and they got the 3 seed this year. Gallo goes down and they struggle to replace him in the playoffs. Oh well, I guess overall picture Denver wanted a new HC
2-3- 2 format hurts Spurs, never will understand it, if they split in Miami, I would say they would have to sweep at home, which is almost impossible
the first time the home team won all three in the middle was 05 with the Pistons. since then it has happened twice again, both being Miami. I hate the format as well, because in general it forces the team without HC to win twice on the road, but in recent years it hasn't been terribly uncommon so almost impossible is an overstatement.
Imo the purpose of 2-3-2 is to guarantee the finals goes 6 games. Winning 3 straight is hard, chances are the road team wins one of those which means there will be a 6th game. What happened last year was surprising, the Thunder shoulda won one of the three but they didnt.
2-3-2 is dumb in my opinion especially after going 2-2-1-1-1 I don't think the lower seed should ever have played more home games than the higher seed at any point in the series. That way if you go by the home team should win idea, the home team/higher seed is always up or tied in the series and never down. The higher seed should never have their backs against the walls until game 7.
I don't think 2-3-2 guarantees a sixth game very well. 2012: 5 games 2009: 5 games 2007: 4 games 2004: 5 games 2002: 4 games 2001: 5 games 1999: 5 games 1995: 4 games 1991: 5 games 1990: 5 games 1989: 4 games That span covers 24 finals. 11 failed to reach a sixth game. That's 45.8333...% One out of every six finals in that span resulted in a sweep. And only three times there was a Game 7. There were more sweeps than there were seven game Finals.
speaking of scheduling, it'd be nice if they could start earlier than 9 PM, considering Game 1 is in the Eastern timezone. Instead, we get NBA and NHL going head to head again. NHL is being played in LA, NBA in Miami. I want to meet the person who decided that 9 PM is the beginning of primetime, because it certainly is not.
There must be something more involved here. How do you fire the coach of the year after 57 wins, and losing in the playoffs with an injured Gallo? I can see they are concerned about 1st round exits, but seriously, that's just dumb unless Karl is about to get hit with kiddy porn charges or something else Sandusky-esc.
I don't see the Spurs winning. I also don't like 2-3-2 format, it gives more of an edge to the road team, IMO. Wasn't it like that like 15 years ago? So they changed it and eventually changed it back. I wonder why. I agree with the Miami in 6 notion, however. They will steal at least one of the 3 on the road. I am not convinced by this year's spurs yet.
They never changed it. It's always been 2-3-2 for the finals. Originally the rationale was to avoid excessive travel, like when LA played Boston in the Finals fairly often. Flying in those days isn't like it is now. Flying coach, no chartered jets, cramped seats for 7 footers, etc.
Listening to Francesa makes me want vomit. He picked the Grizzlies last round and is giving the Spurs no real shot because they are to old. The only player whos showing his age is Ginobli. Duncans playing great, Parker is way better than he was 6 years ago. Guys like Leonhard, Splitter, and Green are all nearly as important as Ginobli at this point and are still in their youth Hes acting like if Ginobli doesnt show up we are fucked, Ginobli has been sloppy all year and we have made it this far. If anything Leonhard has passed Ginobli on importance level and is now the new member of the big 3.
Fuck the times man, maybe if the Knicks made the damn finals and the rating drop after 10:30 then the NBA will be forced to start the games earlier. I feel bad for the people that got work at 8 or 9. I wish I lived on the West Coast. Game starts at 6, ends at 9, then get to watch a postgame till 10 and then can pass out.
they tailor the playoffs 100% for the west coast, which doesn't make a lot of sense considering the east coast TV market dwarfs the west coast. Games should not be starting after 8 PM local time. They say 9 PM which means tip will probably be like 9:10 after they're done with their prolonged ceremonies and time-wasting. The game will probably end around 11:45-11:50, assuming no OT. Primetime is really 8-10 PM. Anyone who attends the game (media, players, coaching staff, fans) won't get back to wherever they're staying until at least 12:30 AM, I'd guess.
Knowing ABC games from earlier these playoffs, 9PM means 9:07-9:13 ish. TNT was starting 8:30 games at around 8:32 which was nice. Maybe ABC can start at 9:02.
