Sports Eye
Tick-tack for Spurs and Heat duel
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
LAST Friday morning, basketball aficionados were glued again to their chairs and anxiously watched completely the seventh and final game of this year’s NBA championship between the two-time and defending champions Miami Heat against the four-time winners San Antonio Spurs. As I had expected, Miami won the deciding seventh game, 95-88, clinching their third NBA tiara since joining the professional league in 1988. It was really a tough game and Miami never led by more than six points during the first three periods. The win was undeniably the talk of the world, especially that unforgettable-heartbreaking sixth game last Wednesday that lasted in overtime with Miami prevailing, 103-100, and forced a knockout match last Friday. If not for that triple successfully made by veteran Ray Allen in the last five seconds and subsequently a clean block by Chris Bosh over Tony Parker, the finals for sure would have been won by the Spurs. The seventh game was the most important but the sixth was the most memorable and could be ranked as the greatest game in NBA’s Finals.
The finals unexpectedly turned into a seesaw battle in the first six games, first time in the history of NBA to happen. I likened the first six clashes to the tick-tack, tick-tack sounds of the old Big Ben clock. Tick for the Spurs seizing the first game, 92-88, and tack for Heat capturing the second game, 103-84. The third match was tick again for the Spurs humiliating the Heat with a 36-point advantage, 113-77, considered as the third biggest margin in the history of NBA Finals. It’s Heat’s tack in the fourth match, 109-93, and restored their confidence despite playing at Spurs’ own turf. The Spurs continued to tick scoring a ten-point margin of victory in the fifth battle, 114-104, to take the series at 3-2. They were on the verge of winning their fifth crown in the sixth game with a five-point lead, 94-89, with just 28 seconds remaining and then three points with 19 seconds left and the people in attendance were obviously on the threshold of exiting in despair and some NBA officials even started to prep are the coronation for Spurs. But “It’s not over until it’s over” as the saying goes. The ‘Hail Mary’ 3-point shot by veteran Ray Allen and the important block by Chris Bosh all changed the classic championship story. And eventually the Heat reigned (tack) during the extra period by three points that forced the deciding seventh game which was another tack for the Heat as the eventual victors.
I’ve been following the NBA games since the time of Jerry West and I describe the sixth game as the closest and most tense of all NBA Finals that I ever watched. That hard-earned victory by the Heat in the sixth game last Wednesday continued to protect their image for not losing back-to-back to any team starting last January. It also proved once more that no ‘road team’ since 1978 has ever won the seventh and final game. It’s commonly won by the host. Why, because of the home-court advantage like familiarity with the court and moral support by the partisan crowd that I know counts a lot. I’ve been a professional athlete before and it also happened to me during my heydays, especially in 1973 when I won my first title.
Majority of us Filipinos sided with the Heat for various reasons. I observed that the Filipinos liked Heat to win because they admire Lebron James, 28, describing him as the successor of Michael Jordan or the now injured Kobe Bryant. They also liked Heat to prosper because of Heat’s head coach Erik Spoelstra being a Fil-Am. It means that being a half-Filipino, the Filipinos are close to his heart and consequently to his team Heat. That’s patriotism. Also, they favored the Heat to win because they’re the younger team compared to the aging Spurs. But I would say the Spurs have more championship pedigree and with more senior players, but the Heat are more superior and, being the defending titlists, they prevailed. The championship was a battle of ages not only to the players of both teams but also to their head coaches. Spurs Gregg Popovich is 64 while Spoelstra is 42. It’s seniority versus superiority, ‘ika nga.
And the early question now is, can they win the title again next year (trepeat) like the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls? That’s a million dollar question and only God can answer. Let’s wait and see.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: And God said to Noah “For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping that creeps on the earth, and every man. GENESIS 7: 4, 19, 21.
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