It was the block heard round the world
and by this point it has surely been played on most living room
television sets and YouTube channels. I have been a long endorser for
the fact that Tiago Splitter just does not look like a basketball
player. He looks like that tall gangly kid who belongs in the band
playing the baritone saxophone because he is the only one as tall
enough to do so. Well, after Sunday night I can't imagine anyone
disagreeing with that. After receiving a very nice bounce pass off a
screen and roll from Tony Parker, Splitter turned to the hoop and got
very wide-eyed. Why did he get wide-eyed you ask? Well it's simple.
He saw a lane. A lane like an airstrip leading right to the basket.
The only problem with this lane, is that LeBron James was at the end of
it....waiting. So as soon as Splitter made his move to the basket,
LeBron made his move to deny him and boy was it a much bigger and
louder move. He got up there and blocked Splitter worse than Dikembe
Mutumbo blocked that child's cereal in the Geico commercial.
Seeing as I am a Spurs fan and want to
save myself from seeing the play again I am not going to post it
here. That being said though, feel free to look it up yourself. Just
go to YouTube and search LeBron James and then YouTube will
automatically suggest the next word to be block. That's how bad it
is. LeBron has a whole Sportscenter special highlight focusing on his
chase down blocks for which he is infamous for. Yet, if you search
LeBron James block on YouTube you have to scroll through 16 different
videos of him blocking Splitter just to find one video on said chase
down blocks.
Please tell me you saw LeBron wearing a LeBron shirt in that interview?
The funniest part about it was the fact that the game
was well out of reach at that point anyways and it still generated
this much buzz. Imagine if it had actually been at a crucial point in
the game, like when Roy Hibbert blocked that terribly selfish player
on the Knicks that will never win a ring in his NBA career.
The LeBron block basically summed up
the game in a nutshell. The Spurs trying to take a commanding 2-0
lead with three games in San Antonio and all of that rejected by the
Heat. For each blow the Spurs dealt out the Heat came right back.
Danny Green was so on fire that he may as well have been the Human
Torch. The only difference is, he would have gotten a bank loan. That
was an Anchorman reference. If you didn't understand it, shame on
you. The kid was 5-5 from the triple zone and 6-6 total on the game.
Even with that performance though they still couldn't handle the
Heat. Insert cliché getting out of the kitchen quote here.
If the Spurs want any shot at winning
tonight's game three there are a few things that are going to have to
happen. First and foremost the Spurs have got to stop turning the
ball over. After having just a measly four turnovers in game one the
Spurs amassed four times amount in game two with 16 of them. Another
change that must happen comes with Gary Neal. I have always believed
Gary Neal to be a poor mans George Hill, but since the playoffs have
started he might as well be the change in the couch cushions. During
the regular season Neal averaged a healthy 20 minutes a game while
shooting a solid 41% from the floor including 36% from the three and
all the while averaging just about 10 points a game. It has been a
different story since the playoffs have started though. Neal is down
in every statistical category. He is only getting about 15 minutes a
game while averaging 5 points and shooting a dismal 35% from the
floor and a Josh Smith Esq, 27% from three point. Now don't get your
panties in a bunch saying stuff like; “You can't compare Gary Neal
to Josh Smith! Josh Smith is good.” Shut-up. I know he is good, but
he shoots three's like he is J.J. Redick and only makes about 28% of
them. Hence, the Josh Smith comparison.
The next thing that needs to take place
is probably a little more crucial than Neal and that is the 3 point
play from Kawhi Leonard and Manu Ginobili. The two are a combined for
4-16 from three point territory in the series and have been missing
shots more open than Manu's bald spot. The only reason I take some of
the pressure off Y in this situation is because he has been doled
the task of guarding LeBron and has been doing incredible thus far.
How do you change these things? Well to
be honest I can't really see Pop changing much as far as Gary Neal is
concerned. If anything I see him maybe actually dialing it back a bit
and maybe taking less shots than he normally would which isn't
necessarily a bad thing. I think that Manu may have an increased role
in this game especially seeing as the Heat may put a little extra
focus on Danny Green. As far as the turnovers go that is just going
to have to be a mental correction and nobody does mental corrections
like coach Pop does. I will also be looking for Tiago Splitter (I
know I thought we were done with him too) to be MORE aggressive.
That's right, more aggressive. I may not enjoy seeing him get
rejected at the rim, but I sure as hell love his aggression and I see
him coming out extra aggressive to show that the block hasn't rattled
him. Then again there is a very good chance it did rattle him. Oddly
enough I also see Borris Diaw having an increased role in this game.
Diaw is only averaging 10 minutes thus far in the series after
getting 17.5 in the previous two so look for him to have a bit of an
increased role in this one.
As far as my prediction goes I do not
have one. I am not a crystal ball and therefore I have no idea who
will win. I also do not want to jinx the Spurs. If I pick them to win
and they lose then I jinxed them, but if I pick them to lose and
they lose well then I was right and I still jinxed them. It's
basically a lose-lose unless they win. HA, get it?
GO SPURS GO!
Also on a side note, Rafael Nadal won
his 8th French Open this weekend bringing his Grad Slam
total to 12 wins trailing only the great Pete Sampras (14) and some
ass-clown that everybody says is the best tennis player ever in Roger
Federer (17). Yeah, people are probably right about that best tennis
player ever thing, but who cares! Nadal is 27 and after a 7 month
lay-off looks poised for greatness. Let's just hope his knees hold up
for another 3-4 years.
On another side note; Djokovich sucks.
No comments:
Post a Comment