San Antonio vs Miami Handicapping
It’s been a week and change since the Spurs last played a game, so when they take the court tonight in Miami in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, it’s easy to forget just how dominant San Antonio has been since the 82-game exhibition season ended way back in the middle of April.
NBA Finals
San Antonio Spurs (0-0) at Miami Heat (0-0)
Wednesday, June 5
American Airlines Arena, Miami
9 p.m. EST
Spread – Heat -5
O/U – 188.5
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In consecutive series the Spurs swept aside the wounded Lakers, sent the run-and-gun Golden State Warriors home for the year and toughed out four games against the defend-the-rim-to-the-death Memphis Grizzlies.
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The Spurs have won 12 of 14 playoff games, and of those dozen victories, only 3 have been close.
If the Heat thought they had their hands full in a 7-game series against the Pacers, wait til they get a load of what awaits them over the next week and a half.
Gregg Popovich has had plenty of time to study and game-plan for LeBron James and the Heat, and it’s doubtful that he spent much time at all concerned about the Pacers. Had Indiana somehow taken out the Heat, Popovich knows the Pacers would not have had much left in the tank for The Finals.
Both teams have been down this road before. The Heat are in their third straight Finals, Ray Allen won it all with the Celtics in 2008, and in 2007 James carried an otherwise-mediocre Cavaliers team to the championships round against a Spurs team that was built around Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker –three names that should sound somewhat familiar.
San Antonio’s 9-day vacation since the end of the Memphis series will re-ignite the rest-vs.-rust debate, but a more interesting story line might be how Miami deals with another series opener.
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The Heat had only three days between the end of the regular season and the first game of the Milwaukee series, and cruised by 23.
With a full week off, the Heat struggled and lost to the Bulls in Game 1 of that series.
With another full week off, Miami was caught by surprise in the first games of the Eastern finals, but were bailed out by Frank Vogel’s defensive brain fart in the final seconds of overtime.
This time it’s the Spurs with all the time off, and it will be fascinating to see if SA’s vets can play through it and execute on offense with the military-type precision that they are known for.
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The Heat opened at -5.5 minutes after they finally sprung themselves loose from the Pacers, then dropped to -5 after some immediate money on San Antonio. As of this morning the line had returned to 5.5, with two-thirds of the money on the Spurs.
In this case the public could be correct. SA has no doubt used the time off wisely.
Historically the Spurs have come out strong in Game 1 of playoff series, so we like them to cover here, with a corresponding under play as the team’s offenses figure out just what they have to deal with.
