The Cyclones were among the group of highly seeded teams that let their opponents linger for much longer than expected. This was a game for the first half but in the second half Iowa State pulled away posting some impressive offensive numbers including: 93 points and 64% shooting from the field for the game.
If you read my preview of Coastal Carolina vs. Virginia, or any Virginia game really, you know I am not a big fan of the Cavs. The final score from their opener against the Chanticleers is more flattering than the game which was in doubt until the final 6 or 7 minutes despite the discrepancy in the seeding.
Twelve seed North Dakota State advanced with a huge upset over No. 5 Oklahoma on Thursday, and will take on the San Diego State Aztecs in the third round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday.
The Baylor Bears entered their matchup with the Nebraska Cornhuskers as one team with momentum against another. The Cornhuskers were hungry for an NCAA Tournament victory, as their last appearance was in 1998.
The No. 2 Michigan Wolverines put together a strong performance in their second-round matchup against No. 15 Wofford, winning 57-40, and their prize is a matchup with the No. 7 Texas Longhorns in Round 3.
The Huskies needed overtime to dispatch St. Joe’s out of the A10 on Thursday.
The No. 7 Oregon Ducks and No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers have survived Round 2 of the 2014 NCAA Tournament, and now they’ll face off in the third round of the West Region on Saturday, March 22. Both Oregon and Wisconsin breezed past their competition in their first matchups.
The Spartans are an early favourite to represent the East Region despite being just a #4 seed.
Dayton is 18-12 ATS with an O/U record of 16-13 and Syracuse is 15-12-2 ATS with an O/U record of 11-15-2.
Pittsburgh is 13-17-2 ATS with an O/U record of 19-21 and Florida is 16-14-1 ATS with an O/U record of 10-20-1.
LeBron James is LeBron James, and Tim Duncan is perhaps the most consistent big man in the last three decades in the NBA. So both the Heat and Spurs pretty much knew that their stars would bring the goods in these Finals.
NBA Finals
Miami Heat (2-2) at San Antonio Spurs (2-2)
Sunday, June 16
AT&T Center, San Antonio
8 p.m. EST
Spread – Heat -1.5
O/U – 188
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But the way series has shaken down, the spotlight has also shone brightly on other players.
Danny Green’s out-of-nowhere 7-for-9 shooting from 3-point territory in Game 3 gave San Antonio a huge boost a 2-1 series lead, then in Game 4 the Dwyane Wade of old emerged for the Heat – 32 points and six steals more than got the job done, and the Spurs had no answers as Miami evened things up with a 16-point win that wasn’t even that close.
Seems like everyone on both teams has had a breakthrough game that has impacted the series – everyone, that is, except Manu Ginobili.
Tne Spurs proved in Games 1 and 3 that they don’t need Ginobili firing on all cylinders to win, but SA coach Gregg Popovich hopes that he can get something – anything – for his top sub.
Ginobili did have 13 points and one turnover in the opener, but even then shot only 4 for 11 from the floor. He followed that up with a 2-for-5 (5 points) in the Game 2 loss, and in the two games in San Antonio is a combined 4 for 12 for 12 points. Ginobili has been sloppy with the ball as he often has to deal with the defense of James.
Fact is, Ginobili is 35 and he’s starting to realize that he can’t do the things that he once did on the court.
“That’s what it has been all year,” Ginobili said after Game 4. “I haven’t scored 30 points a game. I averaged 10. I wish I could score more, but it is not happening. I gotta try to do other stuff. I gotta move the ball.
If my shot is not falling, I gotta be sharp feeding the bigs and finding the shooters.
… I don’t have to force the issue.
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That’s not what I do.
That’s not what I am asked to do.”
Miami is hardly cooperating. When Ginobili is on the court and the Heat ramp up their defense, it’s not a pretty sight. In Game 2 Ginobili’s three turnovers came at times when Miami went into its frenetic half-court lockdown defense, helping fuel the Heat’s crazy 33-5 eight-minute run that breathed life into the series.
With Tony Parker’s hammie on thin ice, the Spurs are hoping against hope that Ginobili can turn back the clock for a few games.
We expected close games, and we’ve gotten three blowouts out of four as the losing teams’ adjustments have paid off. With the Finals reduced to a best-of-three, the series will now turn on whether James goes nuts in two of the three, or SA controls him (and Wade) somewhat and executes its offense at near-peak efficiency.
Liking SA to keep this game close and low-scoring, and get it done in the fourth period.
Play is on the under after two overs have bumped the number up a bit, to 188.
It may get a little claustrophobic at American Airlines Arena tonight, where the San Antonio Spurs have a golden opportunity to place the Miami Heat in a small box when Game 2 of the NBA Finals tips off.
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.
LeBron James is back to his default setting, returning to what worked in high school and AAU basketball, and how it was done when the Cleveland Cavaliers consisted of just him and a bunch of cadavers.
Two teams coming off exhausting seven game semi-final series meet in the Western Conference Final that starts Saturday in Chicago. It isn’t much of a surprise that both the Kings and Hawks are in this position – each has won a Cup in the last four years and each has the quintessential formula for success in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Heat regained home court advantage in this series with their Game 3 blowout win in Indiana where they almost played a perfect first half scoring 70 points.
