****The Official 2013-14 NBA Thread****

Yeah, the OLD Boston garden, 30 years ago.

Who cares what happened 30 years ago?

The Boston garden was torn down because it didn't have AC or all the other amenities the NBA requires now.

 

Also both teams knew going in what they were up against in those days. This blind sided everyone

 

The last game played in the Old Garden was in 1995.....

 

It's hard because LeBron has gotten cramps in the past and no other players seemed to be impacted by the AC. So it's hard to completely say the lack of AC 100% caused the cramps and was an unfair advantage.

I think we need to allow that sometimes weird crap happens in sports. Can't predict the lights going out at the Super Bowl and providing teams with additional rest / time to scheme / change in momentum. They aren't going to reschedule that. Can't predict a swam of bugs is going to attack Joba Chamberlain in the MLB playoffs. It's weird and not necessarily fair - but there isn't really a great answer to the situation, either.

Wasn't there a playoff game a few years ago where the floor was sweating because of the hockey rink below it? Guys kept slipping and falling down and the guys with the towels were out constantly trying to keep it dry? Sports are weird, man.

 

Definitely.

Oh well, I still feel good about game two and this series.

 

Doctor Naismith used peach baskets when he started the wonderful tradition. You could still win championships that way, since everyone* had to play with the peach baskets. Also, no three-pointers.

These spoiled players today get to use nets and backboards?


* - non-blacks.

See? I can do that too.

 

Exactly, if you have a lot of lean muscle mass, you are more susceptible to cramping. That's just biology and chemistry.

 

Also I thought it was funny they kept mentioning players grow up playing outside.

Okay true....however being in an enclosed building with stale air and thousands of people is not the same as playing outside in the heat. Its worse.

 

When I read about people making such claims all I really hear is them saying that either they really know nothing about biology and/or chemistry or that they are unathletic fat slobs with little muscle mass who have no understanding about what a cramp is.

 

This.

Its one thing to play through being sick. When you can't walk ..how the hell do you play through it.

Its basically like having a bum leg except it heals a lot faster.

 

Was that punk ***** J. Martin really trying to weigh in on the matter?

 

The games Magic Johnson is talking about took place nearly 30 years ago.

And there is a difference in not having AC in Boston, versus having no AC in Texas, which is a literal hell on Earth in the summertime

 

Yeah, fine, it happened during the game and there was nothing that could be done.

The issue is what they do now. If the AC isn't working by Saturday the game MUST be moved. It's one thing for an accident to unexpectedly occur. But you don't then continue to return to the scene of the accident until it's been cleaned up.

This is the Spurs problem. If they can't figure out how to get the AC working in 24 hours they forfeit the right to play a home game under non-NBA conditions. The NBA has two other options in Texas. If for some reason, both of those arena are unavailable there are at least 4 NBA arenas that exist between SA and Miami (NO, Charlotte, Atlanta and Orlando). One of them has to be available.

 

And the lack of AC exacerbated LBJ's propensity to cramp. It did not affect his play.

While he was able to play, he was, as usual, the best player of the floor.

Had the game been played under normal conditions it is unlikely he would've cramped to that degree and it is highly likely the Heat would've won.

 

The Heat were up 2 when he left...and lost by 15. It's not like it ended up being a two-posession game. The Spurs finally got into their inside-out game in the 4th Q, their cold shooters got on a roll as a result, and that was it. I mean...they shot 14-16 in the 4th quarter.

I know LeBron's great, but the Spurs were flowing in that last quarter. Gotta give credit where it's due.

 

They were flowing because the opposing defense was exhausted.

 

I give them credit. they took advantage of the best player in the world not being able to play. They were not able to do anything that they did in the last 3 minutes of that game the first 45 minutes of the game. Why do you think that was?

Same thing with Paul George in Game 5 of the ECF. Sure, he gets credit for scoring 37 points and leading his team to victory, but he did it in a game LBJ played less than 30 minutes due to foul trouble. George didn't do anything like that in any other game where he was forced to guard LBJ and be guarded by LBJ as normal.

 

Thank you!

I want to tell that to every one who says " get over it and play" because they tend to have little muscle mass or they are overweight/unathletic. I've had cramps where I couldn't walk, they really do suck and it's so easy to re-aggravate it in a short time period.

Had LeBron went back onto the court for the third time after cramping up, they would have came back the first time he put his legs under any stress outside of slight jogging/walking.

 

Or because they finally commited to dumping it inside to Splitter and Duncan who went 14-16 over the entire game while LeBron was in there. Or because Danny Green finally made shots like he usually does (guy was a train wreck for three quarters). And let's not act like the Spurs older key players were full of energy after playing three quarters in the same hot room. It's not like they were all showing off Ray Allen fitness.

 

The Spurs had been dumping it inside all game, which the Heat was willing to give them. What the heat was trying to do was stop the 3 pointers and force several passes to get turnovers, which worked masterfully until LeBron went out.

The heat didn't affect LeBron's play. He was the best player on the court last night. But it affected his ability to continue playing. And that is not fair.

 

You could tell they were dead based on how they closed on those threes at the end of the game.

I feel like people think the Spurs are old as hell when it's pretty much just Duncan and Manu. Their starting center and rotational guard. The rest of the team isn't all that old.

 

Oh my view isnt that LBJ should have played through a cramp, cramps are terrible and you cant play through it. My point is that dont use it as an excuse that if it didn't happen they would have won....Would they have won? Who knows, maybe or maybe not, sports is full of coulda, woulda, shouldas.....

 

I'm not letting other guys off the hook.

Chalmers was awful and his ridiculous fouls screwed up the whole rotation.

Also, Spo takes some blame for not going a little deeper once it became obvious the AC was not going to get fixed. He never even tried Haslem, who historically has given Duncan fits or JJ.

 

Right, the Miami Heat's team of trainers/physicians should have just given everyone a banana.

Seriously, how can people just say to give them more potassium? The body can only hold so many fluids/nutrients. These guys are all fully-loaded before the game starts. It can take up to 2 hours for your body to get water into the bloodstream, and food even longer, so its not a simple matter of just drinking more. The human body has physical limitations.

 

Their offense didn't change. They just stopped turning the ball over. Primarily because the Heat weren't aggressive in the passing lanes.

 

The Spurs led for the majority of the game and shot over 50% the entire time. Danny Green, their best shooter, kept pumping em up down the stretch and finally stopped laying bricks.

Pop let Duncan, Parker, and Manu sit in the second half. In a hot arena Spoelstra rode his star player with a history of cramp issues for 34 minutes before he left with 7+ to go. Did you expect LeBron to play 42mins in that environment? I guess the coach did.

You act as if the Heat didn't benefit from a tired defense when they got numerous open looks from three when the Spurs were too gassed to close out. Cole, Wade, and Allen all got nice looks. The Spurs made their open shots; the Heat didn't.

 

I agree. I cringed every time Chalmers entered the game. It's sad that I preferred an exhausted Norris Cole over him.

 

Or because they're a team that usually isn't careless with the ball...and they got things clicking in crunch time like they usually do. Several of those 23 turnovers were just stupid unforced errors.

And even though I do think they were lobbing it inside more, the Spurs' offense not changing much was a good move. They had faith that their normally good shooters would wake the hell up...and they did.

 

Wow. Can't believe I'm now reading, "The Spurs aren't that old." Really? After YEARS of, "Can the Spurs make it? Will they last another season? The Spurs are just sooooo old!" Now because the Heat lost we're hearing how the Spurs aren't that old?

The Spurs had an incredible 4th quarter. We'll never know how Lebron might have affected it, but the facts remain that the Spurs managed to correct a number of key issues, as well as the fact that they flat out won the first half, and is it really that hard to remember how close last year's finals were?

Lebron would have made a difference, certainly. Is it certain he would have won it? Not a chance - because just as we don't know how Lebron would have made a difference, neither do we know how the Spurs would have responded to Lebron. It's pointless arguing about it.

The bottom line is that everyone was hot and sweating and toughing it out but Lebron apparently has a weakness to it. I'm sure the Spurs would rather beat the Heat at full strength, but last night, in a frustrating yet ironic turn of events, the star of the Heat couldn't take the heat.

If we really wanted to we could push this to the nth degree. We could perhaps talk about how some players come from higher altitudes, or lower altitudes, or how some are more used to playing in heat than others. Maybe some players actually play worse in cooler conditions? Who knows. It just turns out that an event which would have been uncomfortable for, what, 95%(?) of the league, proved to be a nightmare for Lebron. Hey, maybe it was just last night? Maybe on any other night he would have been fine. It's just one of those things.

 

I have no doubt we would have won, because watching the game it was clear to me who the better team was until Lebron went out.

I actually feel really good about this series being over in six. If we were in the 2-3-2 format I'd say five.

 

I've never said the Spurs were old. Just because the media is/was preaching that, don't say that I was doing the same.

 

You do realize that the Heat trailed for most of the game...and that they took the lead when Pop went to his bench to give his old dudes a blow. Let's not act like the Heat were dominating when LeBron left...they were up two.


I still think the Heat win in six as well. But the excuse making going on here is awful. Everyone played in the same hot room, Spoelstra didn't adjust LeBreezy's minutes like Pop did with his stars, and I mean...injuries happen. Deal with it. They have two other star players who got worked in the 4th quarter.

 

Someone gets it. Good for you, man.

 

LOL Pop didn't adjust anything. Their players all played their regular minutes. The Spurs were at a distinct advantage, because their team is used 32min/game from those guys.

 

The worst part about this debacle by San Antonio is that now if the Heat win in 5 or 6, then you're looking at a celebration on Sunday or Tuesday night A sweep capped off with partying on Thursday night was so ideal.