Though the Cavs were a two seed in the East, they were the surprise team of the finals. Led by the extremely young star LeBron James and a bright young coach Mike Brown, Cleveland entered the 2007 NBA Finals a few years earlier than expected. The Spurs have three stars, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili, one of the best coaches in the league, Gregg Popovich, and a plethora of perfectly placed role players. The Spurs were the three seed in the West, but still finished with a better record than Cleveland.
Game 1 set the stage for the following three. Cleveland's defense was quite good, but the Cavs still couldn't stop the Spurs' big three and couldn't figure out the Spurs lock-down defense. Tony Parker flew through the lane and twisted his body resulting in numerous easy baskets. LeBron couldn't match Parker, Duncan, or Ginobili and the Cavs never really had a chance. The highlight was when Parker threw Duncan a blind ill-fated alley-oop while crashing to the ground. When Parker got up, he learned that Duncan had missed the pass. Parker's eyes expanded as he said, "You missed it? Shit." Duncan gave his teammate a hug and the Spurs cruised to victory.
The Spurs demolished the Cavs in Game 2. Reminiscent of the Spurs-Jazz series, Cleveland stormed back in the 4th, but it wasn't nearly enough. Lebron scored more points than in Game 1, but his play still fell far short of expectations. Parker continued his excellent play.
Game 3 was the series. The first Finals game ever held in Cleveland came down to the end. Anderson Varejao took the fate of his team on his shoulders which proved not as broad as LeBron's. The Spurs can win in any form or fashion and Game 3 was no exception.
The writing was on the wall before Game 4 for the Cavs. They knew they had peeked. The Spurs knew they would end this season as champions. Tony Parker once again led the Spurs. He won the Finals MVP, ruining Tim Duncan's 3 for 3 streak. Duncan was the second best player on the floor for the series. The Spurs are simply a wonderful team, one for the ages. They've brought back great tough-nosed 1990s defense in an era where David Stern would prefer to see scores in the 150s rather than great basketball. The Spurs provide the latter.
No comments:
Post a Comment