WITH the door ajar once again, will San Antonio finally complete its aborted coronation last year?
With a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven 2014 NBA Finals, the Spurs need just one game. That can happen Monday (June 16 Philippine time), when San Antonio battles – and defeats – Miami.
And when it’s done, the Spurs shall have avenged their 2013 defeat in seven games to the Heat, who won last year’s final two games in Miami. The Spurs have reclaimed home court advantage with their 107-86 rout of the Heat in Game 4 Friday.
With San Antonio’s momentum of consecutive blowout wins the last two games, that can be a massive mental baggage for Miami in Game 5.
I don’t know how coach Erik Spoelstra can deflect dethronement against a team suddenly endowed with supernatural-like powers.
Was that 76-percent field-goal shooting by San Antonio on Wednesday that gave the Spurs a 71-50 halftime lead in Game 3, and which was backed up by a wondrous 13-of-15 field-goal shooting in that game’s first quarter, for real?
After San Antonio had won Game 1 by 15 points 110-95, it jacked up its winning margin to 19 in a 111-92 Game 3 victory before fashioning out that rousing 21-point, 107-86 triumph in Game 4.
What is also shockingly terrifying is, the consecutive carnage happened right in Miami’s backyard.
If this was not Maleficent-influenced, then call the ghost-busters.
“They smashed us,” LeBron James, Miami’s top gun, said after the Heat’s Game 4 debacle. “…They came in and were much better than us in these last two games. It’s just that simple.”
No, sir, but not that simple.
Great execution of plays. Making not just one extra pass but even two. Reducing turnovers. Suffocating defense. Superlative offense propped up by well-timed shots.
The Spurs had all that in Games 3 and 4.
The Heat never had any of that in Games 3 & 4.
And if the Heat doesn’t watch it, Game 5 might just be it. Deadend. No team has ever rebounded from 1-3.
With those back-to-back blowouts in Games 3 & 4, I can’t imagine LeBron and the Heat rewriting history.
If a miracle happens, then Pacquiao may yet coach Kia to a Cinderella finish in his PBA debut this October.
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(alsol47@yahoo.com)