Parker's Heroics Lead Spurs To NBA Finals Game 1 Victory

The long-awaited NBA Finals matchup between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs finally launched Thursday night at the American Airlines Arena.  Both teams had spectacular seasons in the 2011-2012 campaign and were expected to meet in last season's NBA Finals, but fans had to wait another year for the star-filled championship round between San Antonio's experienced Big 3 (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili) and Miami's Big Money Big 3 (Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh).  Both teams are deserving of winning this year's Larry O'Brien trophy because they were two of the league's top teams this season and a Game 1 victory would be a great first step in accomplishing that achievement.

It took heroics to earn the imperative victory in the very competitive Game 1.  Tony Parker stepped up with 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and nailed a memorable game-winning shot with 5.2 seconds remaining.  His shot will go down as one of the greatest clutch plays in NBA Finals history because he beat the shot clock by milliseconds to put the Spurs up 92-88 after nearly losing possession of the ball seconds earlier.  Tim Duncan also had an impressive individual performance, totalling 20 points and 14 rebounds in becoming only the second player in NBA Finals history to accomplish that feat at age 37.

The Spurs were down for most of the game, including a nine-point deficit in the second quarter, but fought hard in the second half to steal the victory in Miami.  They attacked the basket, forced turnovers and limited mistakes in the game's final two quarters.  Normally a great shooting team, the Spurs recognized early that their normal shots were not falling but relied on great ball control throughout the game to tie the NBA Finals' record for fewest turnovers in a game (4-tying the mark set by the Detroit Pistons in 2005).  The Spurs' defense was spectacular against the Heat's top shooters in the second half, forcing a dismal shooting perfomance in the fourth quarter and six turnovers.

LeBron James has become the leader of the Heat during this year's playoff run and played well in Thursday's loss.  He tallied his third career NBA Finals triple double with 18 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists in 42 minutes of play.  Dwyane Wade, bothered with a nagging knee injury, added 17 points for Miami.

The San Antonio Spurs stole both Game 1 and home court advantage from the Miami Heat and now hold a 1-0 series lead in the NBA Finals.  Coach Gregg Popovich is 20-3 in series with a Game 1 victory and the Spurs are 5-0 all-time in NBA Finals' Game 1's, so Miami could be in trouble as it enters Sunday's Game 2 because it doesn't want to go down 2-0 in the best-of-seven series that they once held home court advantage.

LeBron & Wade Lead Heat To 3rd Consecutive NBA Finals

The Miami Heat were outplayed and embarrassed at times throughout the Eastern Conference Finals, but were at their best during the most opportune time of the series, tonight's Game 7 against the Indiana Pacers.  After a competitive first quarter, the Heat outscored the Pacers 33-16 in the second quarter, took control of the game and never looked back.  LeBron's 32 points led the Miami Heat to a third consecutive NBA Finals as the game's leading scorer.  Dwayne Wade's knee injury plagued him throughout the series, but had a series-high 21 points alongside LeBron's impressive performance.  The Heat won the game's two key statistical battles this evening, free throws and turnovers.  Miami nailed 33/38 free throws tonight compared to Indiana's 14/20.  Indiana struggled offensively throughout the game, as many of the shots that they relied on throughout the series did not fall for them tonight.  They finished with 21 turnovers (9 in the first quarter and 15 by halftime), while Miami totaled 11 in the game.  Miami closed out the Eastern Conference Finals with a 99-76 victory and will face the 5-time Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals beginning Thursday in Game 1.

The NBA Finals will feature a veteran Big 3, San Antonio's Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, vs. a Big Money Big 3, Miami's Dwayne Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh.  It will be a fascinating and extended series because so much drama occurred when these two teams met on the court earlier this season.         NBA Commissioner David Stern fined Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich $250K for resting starters Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green for a nationally televised matchup against the Heat on November 29th.  Heat coach Erik Spoelstra returned the favor on March 31st when Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Mario Chalmers were benched for the final regular season meeting, but was not fined.  Although there's not been a true meeting this season, I am not expecting this discrepancy to play the biggest role in the NBA Finals.  Will San Antonio's extended rest or Miami's battle-tested series be the best preparation for the upcoming championship round?  The Big 3 that steps up and carries the load for their team in the series will decide this year's NBA Champion.

Bruins & Luna Help Longhorns Eliminate Gators, Advance in WCWS

After yesterday's disastrous outing against Big 12 rival Oklahoma Sooners, the Texas Longhorns responded with an impressive victory in the Women's College World Series this afternoon.  The nation's #4 team shutout and eliminated the #2 Florida Gators 3-0 to advance to play the #7 Tennessee Volunteers this evening in Oklahoma City.  Texas only had five hits in the game, but were very efficient with runners in scoring position.  Kim Bruins' three-run home run in the top of the third inning put a stamp on the game and they never looked back.  Starting pitcher Blaire Luna had her 13th shutout of the season and struck out fourteen batters in her complete game, one-hit outing.  She was clutch in the most difficult situations of the game, including bases loaded in the bottom of the third and runners on first and second in the fourth.  Florida batters struggled mightily against the dominant Luna with runners in scoring position, as they did throughout this year's Women's College World Series.  They stranded eight base runners in today's game and thirty-five in their three games against Tennessee, Nebraska and Texas in the Women's College World Series.