NBA Finals Preview

Welcome back. It's been too damn long! As LeBron said last year, "It's about damn time." It feels like the Pacers-Heat series took months. That was probably the best series that I have watched as a 19 year old NBA basketball fan. I wasn't able to watch Michael Jordan in his hay day. I very, very vaguely remember watching Shaq and Kobe win three titles in a row. So for me, watching the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals was some of the best NBA basketball I've watched. If the Heat had made quick work of the Pacers, we would have put the 2012-2013 Heat into the discussion of best team of all-time. They still might get there, but it wouldn't be the same as if they had only lost three games in the entire playoffs. As Ryan Ruocco said on his radio show with Stephen A. this week "We needed the Heat. Even though I root against them. We needed them." That echoes how I feel. I don't like the Heat for a few reasons. 1. I like the Orlando Magic. So it's a natural rivalry against the Heat. 2. I haven't exactly been a LeBron fan since he left Cleveland in the manner that he did. 3. I didn't like the heat pre-LeBron. I didn't like them when they had Shaq, D-Wade, and company back in 2006. So not liking the Heat isn't something that is new to me like it has been to all the people that noticed the Heat after the culmination of "the Big 3".

On to the Finals. We have the Spurs going up against the Heat. One story line is that the LeBron is facing the Spurs in the finals for the second time in his career. He went up against them in the 2007 Finals as a member of the Cavs, but his team was really, really bad. Another is Tim Duncan possibly becoming the only player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to win NBA Finals MVP 14 years apart. That would be something that will never be forgotten. There's other various storylines like Tony Parker cementing the idea that he is the 3rd best player in the NBA (I think that's crazy but it's out there). Also there's Wade getting his 3rd NBA Title and (officially) claiming the title as 3rd best shooting guard in the history of the NBA.

But let's get down to business. The Heat have games one and two at home before they go down to San Antonio for games three, four, and five. Then we go back down to South Beach for game six and game seven.

Let's look at the line ups. The Spurs have a giant advantage at the point guard spot by having MVP candidate Tony Parker run their offense. The Heat have Mario Chalmers who is capable of having a big game, but is nothing compared to Tony Parker. The Spurs start Danny Green, who should at least know LeBron well after he started his career with him in Cleveland, although, he was glued to the bench. He is a fine role player who shoots 3's and plays hard defense. But Dwyane Wade, could be a mixed bag. It's nearly impossible to know how he will come out on a game to game basis. Something else that Ryan Ruocco has talked about both on his show and "Mike And Mike" was how Dwyane Wade is in a unique position that other athletes are almost never able to be in. Whenever he has a bad game, it's just due to his injury(s) limiting his effectiveness. However, if he has a good game it's because he isn't as hurt today as he was in past games. It probably helps that he is playing along side the best player in the world. Regardless, he is now completely blameless. If Dwyane Wade plays like he did in game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals then he will clearly play a larger role then Danny Green will. Green probably won't play as many minutes as Manu Ginobili will at the shooting guard spot. If he plays how he should, it could be a dead even matchup. Do I even need to go over the small forward matchup? LeBron should and most likely will, destroy whoever the Spurs put in his way. They don't have a Bruce Bowen type to lock him down. Power forward will vary game to game. The Heat usually have Udonis Haslem at that spot, but Shane Battier might get more minutes in this series than he did against the Pacers because of the matchups. The Spurs have one of Skip Bayless's favorite NBA guys in Tiago Splitter at their power forward. Although, he has vastly improved from last year. For that spot, it will change every game. If Haslem is hitting his jumper from 13-16 feet like he did in game three against the Pacers, than he will have a big advantage over Splitter. At center, the Spurs have one of the top players all-time in Tim Duncan, who should always have at least a better defensive game than Chris Bosh of the Heat will. If Bosh can maybe get into double figures at some point in this series it will greatly help the Heat. Otherwise, I expect Duncan to get the better of him in that matchup.

Now on to my prediction. I feel the same way in this series as I did in the Heat and Pacers series. As a team, I feel like the Spurs are more well rounded than the Heat. But the Heat will win the NBA Finals in six games and I will tell you why. 1. They have the best player in the world in LeBron James, and the Spurs don't have a guy that can take him all by himself. That isn't good news for the Spurs. 2. Miami's role player's not named Norris Cole all have a lot of experience. Battier, Haslem, Birdman, and Mike Miller all have a lot of postseason experience. The Spurs role players are young. They have guys like Leonard, Green, Splitter, and Neil. So I like the Heat role guys over the Spurs role guys. 3. Bosh should have a much better series against the Spurs than he did against the Pacers because Duncan is at the very least a better matchup than Roy Hibbert. 4. The Heat have home court advantage. If they win the first two games at home, they should be almost set to win at least one game in San Antonio then be able to close the series at home. 5. The Heat haven't lost back-to-back games since January. I don't see that stopping now. Again, Heat in six, and LeBron wins Finals MVP.

I told you I'd give you a book recommendation. Well, I'll do one better. I'll give you two! Two books any true basketball fan should read are Eleven Rings by Phil Jackson. He talks a little about his life growing up then he talks about his playing days for the Knicks and how he hated the Celtics long before he was with the Lakers. It goes into a lot of detail on his coaching days with the Bulls and the Lakers, and he even compares Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Another book you should read is Dream Team by Jack McCallum. He talked about how the Dream Team came to be and the journey to get the Olympics to allow NBA Players to play. Both are extremely good books and if you have any interest in basketball I suggest taking some time to read them.

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