It was eerily quiet last night on my cell phone, no texts, no Facebook alerts, no Twitter mentions, as it seems all the Lebron supporters went into hiding. Game 3 was dominated by the San Antonio Spurs and Lebron James was a non-factor for the second straight game. The Spurs took a 2-1 series lead after the 113-77 beat down on Tuesday. If this was a Marvel movie Lebron would have played the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four.
The Spurs shot the absolute lights out, 43-88 (49%) FG and 16-32 (50%) from 3 point range. The sixteen made 3 pointers was an NBA record. This offensive assault was led by Danny Greeen (27 points and 7 3-pointers) and Gary Neal (24 points and 6 3-pointers) who had the night of their lives. The Heat had no answer for anything the Spurs did offensively and finally they threw in the towel when the lead ballooned past 25 points and eventually ended as a 36 point gap.
This was the 3rd largest margin of victory in a NBA Finals game, ever. The top two were Bulls over Jazz in 1998 by 42 points and Celtics over Lakers in 2008 by 39 points.
The game was so out of hand that Tracy McGrady got 7 minutes of run and looked like he had a pop in his step, grabbing rebounds and dishing to big men for dunks. It was a complete route and in Erik Spoelstra’s post-game press conference he kept reiterating that “we got what we deserved”. No doubt about that, the Heat came out without any passion or game plan. Their alleged leader Lebron James looked confused and disinterested. I’m not sure how in a pivotal Game 3 where history has shown that 12 out of 13 times, 92.3%, the team who wins Game 3 when the series is tied 1-1 wins the series. Yes the Miami Heat are the only team to blow that statistic in their loss the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. But Bron where you at?
How do you excuse not going to the free throw line once in this game? How do you explain shooting 7-21 in a crucial game? How do you have a +/- of -32 worst in the game? It was a pretty pathetic showing from the so called King. The highlight came from when Lebron attacked the basket and Danny Green blocked him straight up. Odd no one was then calling Green the greatest player of all time? Hmm maybe Lebron blocking Splitter was a bit blown out of proportion…
I expect the Heat to bounce back in Game 4, just as the Spurs did in Game 3 after being trounced in the later stages of Game 2. Lebron I’m sure will have a better focus and by laws of mathematics and nature Wade and Bosh can’t play any worse. Bosh has officially sealed his trade this summer whether they’ve consciously decided or not and whether they win or lose this series, he’s out.
And not to be “that guy” but let’s be honest the NBA always seems to even these series out. With the way things have gone the NBA can only hope this series goest he distance as a 7th game would be massive for the ratings.
9 out of 10 times I personally will choose the team over the superstar in basketball. I would never count out any team that had Michael Jordan on it (okay maybe the Wizards with Jordan I wouldn’t count on). But with Jordan I always knew what I was going to get, I knew I’d get a player who would be relentless, passionate and effective. I don’t know I’m going to that with Lebron and sometimes not with Kobe because he can shoot his team out of a game. I will take the well rounded team, even though they have stars in their own right, to beat the guy fighting the fight alone. However in this case Lebron shouldn’t be and isn’t alone, he’s part of the crowned Big 3, the Big 3 that’s coming up pretty small right now.
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