The 2014 NBA Finals Thread (Spurs vs Heat)

[Pyro]

The 2014 NBA Finals

San Antonio Spurs against the Miami Heat

Spurs Stats ------ Heat Stats
4-1 in the NBA Finals ------ 3-1 in the NBA Finals
19-10 in actual NBA Finals games ------ 14-10 in actual NBA Finals games
Champions in 99, 03, 05 and 07 ------ Champions in 2006, 2012, and 2013

Game 1 -|- June 5th, 9:00PM ET. -|- Miami Heat @ San Antonio Spurs
Game 2 -|- June 8th, 8:00PM ET. -|- Miami Heat @ San Antonio Spurs
Game 3 -|- June 10th, 9:00PM ET. -|- San Antonio Spurs @ Miami Heat
Game 4 -|- June 12th, 9:00PM ET. -|- San Antonio Spurs @ Miami Heat
Game 5* -|- June 15th, 8:00PM ET. -|- Miami Heat @ San Antonio Spurs
Game 6* -|- June 17th, 9:00PM ET. -|- San Antonio Spurs @ Miami Heat
Game 7* -|- June 20th, 9:00PM ET. -|- Miami Heat @ San Antonio Spurs
*If Necessary
**All games on ABC​

 

[Numbers Guy]

All depending on Tony Parker's health

 

[Ohio]

Spurs in 7.

 

[Hydroponic3385]

Heat in 4. I'm so confident the sports gods hate me that if the Spurs actually win the series, I'll deactivate my RCF account.

 

[theSTEREO.]

Spurs in 7. Each team wins one on the other's court.

 

[Powerslave]

Pop's pre-series game notes revealed:

Duncan: Tim you beauty son of a bitch. Rotate on the pick and rolls on defense, see you and your gf for dinner - don't be an idiot and bring a bottle of wine, I own a whole winery for God's sake

Danny: keep shooting you almost Finals MVP son of a bitch

Leonard: you're doing a great job kid...how about you make the Goddamn free throws though?!

Parker: you're the worst player I've ever seen, get healthy and prove me wrong you foreign ass hand puppet

AND WOULD SOMEBODY GUARD RAY ALLEN FOR FUCK'S SAKE?!

 

[Plaxicofan7]

Miami in 6

 

[CardiacCavs]

My heart says San Antonio in 7 but my brain says Miami in six.

 

[Walter White]

This will be an interesting series. I would say the Spurs edge and motivation for revenge gives them the upper hand for the series, but it could work against them if they aren't careful. Lets see how bad the Heat want it. LeBron is sort of the x factor. If the rest of the Heat play solid, but LeBron plays out of his mind, the Heat will be really tough to beat. Also, Thunder might beat the Spurs if Ibaka is healthy for the whole series. But I guess same could be said if Tony Parker was completely healthy, they probably would be more dominant.

 

[Simon]

I hate to say it, but Miami.

It also does depend on Tony Parker's health as well. Good for the Spurs they have until Thursday they play.

 

[Walter White]

To be honest, the Heat have been playing really good team ball too lately. That is like the Spurs specialty, but give Miami credit in that area. The big three for the Spurs aren't what they used to be. They will be productive, but the Spurs bench will have to put them over the top. Same for Miami though. It will basically come down to which teams role players will play better at this stage of the season.

 

[Rondo]

King James brings home his 3rd trophy for the 3 peat

 

[Zen]

Spurs are just beautiful to watch. I hope they win with every fiber of my being. I think people forget that they should have won last year, a dice roll of like 3 miracles in a row cost them game 6.

If Tony Parker isn't close to 100% they are fucked.

 

[Steve_424]

If Tony Parker is healthy, Spurs in seven.

1) The Heat haven't been truly tested this postseason. Their first series was against a mediocre Charlotte team with the guy who gave Miami trouble (Jefferson) playing at less than 100%. Their second series was against an ancient Brooklyn team that continually shot themselves in the foot. Both Charlotte and Brooklyn, by the way, would have missed the Western Conference Playoffs completely - finishing five and six games respectively behind #8 Dallas. The Heat's final "test" was a dysfunctional Indiana team that struggled to put away a 38-44 Atlanta team and featured half of the team looking like they were playing preseason games against the Milwaukee Bucks. And one could argue if Dwyane Wade doesn't kick Paul George in the head, we're talking about a Game Seven coming up.

On the flip side, the Spurs have faced very good teams. Dallas, the #8 seed, would have been the #3 seed in the East and only finished five games worse than Miami (!). Portland, who had the exact same record as Miami, was the next team the Spurs defeated. Finally, they took out an OKC team I think could have given Miami a run for their money themselves.

Combined opponents records: Miami 143-103 (.581), San Antonio 162-84 (.658)

2) San Antonio should have won last year. I know, I know...should have, could have, would have...but deep down, even Miami knows San Antonio had them beat. San Antonio was up four with 28 seconds left. Manu split a pair of free throws to go up five, LeBron hit a three to cut it to two, Leonard split a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left to put the Spurs up three, and then they let Ray Allen fire up a three to tie it with five seconds left. They had them beat and let them back into it. Don't think for a second that the Spurs haven't thought about that every day from that day to this one.

3) The format is changed and the Spurs have home court. What would have happened last year had San Antonio been home for Game 6 instead of on the road? The dated 2-3-2 format is gone replaced by the regular 2-2-1-1-1 format this season. This should play to the advantage of San Antonio in not having to play three straight in Miami should they drop Game 1 or 2. Both teams have been very good at home this season - an identical 32-9 - while the Spurs performed much better on the road (30-11) than Miami (22-19).

Here's how I think it plays out:

Game 1 - Spurs with a double-digit win
Game 2 - Miami with a close win
Game 3 - Miami with a double-digit win
Game 4 - Spurs with a close win
Game 5 - Spurs with a close win
Game 6 - Miami with a close win
Game 7 - Spurs with a close win

Tim Duncan is Finals MVP

 

[Mdog1]

I just hope it is 7 games. My brain tells me Miami, but come on and surprise me. I would love a 7 game series again. Last years finals was the best finals i remember. Two evenly matched teams playing at the highest level.

Edit: i really can't see how you can say the 2-2-1-1-1 format benefits SA more than Miami. The extra travel should be higher impact on the Spurs best than on Miami's best. At least common sense tells me that travel will have more of an impact on the older players. Miami is technically the oldest team in the league though, so who knows maybe Ray, Birdman, etc get travel fatigued.

I just don't see how we can say the change in format benefits anyone. Hasn't only two or three teams ever actually won the three straight home games anyways? Seems like Miami got rid of a disadvantage.