7th Heaven
I didn’t have time to write about it yesterday, but as you all know now how freakin’ amazing was game 6?! Magic Johnson said it was a top 3 game he has ever seen or been a part of. It will go down as one of the all time great NBA finals games. Game 5 in 1976 (even though I was -7 years old at the time), game 4 in 1985, game 4 in 1987, game 6 in 1988, game 3 in 1993, game 6 in 1998, on and on and on. It was right there with those games. Great action, great drama, great stars, great teams. It had everything.
Having said that….don’t expect THAT tonight. I fully believe we will get a great game, and this has been an amazing series (despite 4 of the 6 games being blowouts). But Dan Patrick brought it up on his show yesterday, great game 6’s usually lead to let down’s in game 7. Mets and Red Sox in 86 was like that. The ball rolled through Buckner’s legs (of course about 8 things happened prior to that blowing the game for the Sox), and that series was over. The same COULD have happened to the Spurs in game 6.
They choked in that game, and I NEVER thought I would see that out of this Spurs team. They have always been like robots in big spots. Why couldn’t they have done that against the Steve Nash led Suns?! Well they did it in game 6 and now a lot of the sports world thinks they’re done. But I just can’t see it.
Again, this team has always been like robots. I can’t see them being effected by what happened at all. Popovich will have made his adjustments, have them fired up and have them in control. If I were Pop, I would simply remind them that they’ve won every 2nd game and been the best team in 4 of the 6 games thus far. Danny Green won’t shoot that bad again, Manu Ginobli probably won’t turn back the clock like in game 5 but I doubt is as bad as he was in game 6, and this time Pop probably won’t pull his hall of famer/best rebounder in the final seconds of the game should they have the lead.
Meanwhile this could be the make it or break it game for Lebron. If he comes through with a big performance and the Heat win, nobody can ever doubt him again (not that I believe they still should be). But if he loses, you will hear the critics in full force. The big thing I could see people saying is that he won his ring in a lockout season. In fairness to the critics, he was pretty bad in the final minute of regulation Tuesday. Ray Allen REALLY saved his ass with that 3 to tie the game. 2 turnovers and 2 BAD misses from 3. He was trying to force things, which is understandable since they were in desperation mode, but he is under a microscope like no other player before him.
I’ll say this, EVERYONE is going with the Heat tonight. The Spurs blew game 6, game 7 is in Miami (not since the Washington Bullets in 1978 has a team won game 7 of the finals on the road), and the Heat are the younger and fresher team. When EVERYONE is going one way, its not a bad idea to go the other. No, it probably won’t be a game 6 and it might not match the great game 4 the Stanley Cup final gave us last night. But its game 7 between 2 great teams….enjoy.
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