It Only Counts Once

The San Antonio Spurs left little pieces of the defending NBA Champion Miami Heat all over the AT&T Center in San Antonio last night. The Western Conference champs obliterated Miami, 113-77. The 36 point beatdown was the third largest margin of victory in the history of the NBA Finals. 

Coming into last night, the Heat had to win at least one of the three games in San Antonio. Now they need to win one of two. One win is all the Heat need to send this series back to South Beach and win the game on their home floor. It is extremely difficult to win at San Antonio. Likewise, the Heat have not lost consecutive games in five months. Something's gotta give.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the Heat ridicule on the Internet. 1

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Monday, May 27, 1985 - Game 1 of the 1985 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics will forever be known to basketball historians as “The Memorial Day Massacre”. The Celtics hosted the Lakers and treated their guests to a 34 point shellacking, 148-114. Hall of Fame Lakers center (and eventual 1985 NBA Finals MVP) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was completely bottled up, held to 12 points and a measly 3 rebounds. Abdul-Jabbar played so poorly that he later apologized for his performance. 

The good news for the Lakers was that the game was in Boston, meaning the Celtics home court advantage did not become any greater. The other good news was that the game only counts one time. Whether it was the thrashing it was or a one point buzzer beater, Boston led the series 1-0. The scoreboard would have all zeroes at the start of Game 2.

The Lakers would go on to win the series in six games, meaning they won four of the following five games. They closed the series out in Boston. For all of the well-deserved ridicule the Lakers received following the Memorial Day Massacre, they went on to dominate their archrivals for the balance of the series. The iconic image of Magic Johnson popping champagne at the Boston Garden is a permanent reminder that the Lakers would have the last laugh.

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SLEEPING GIANTS

Love the Heat or hate them, America is waiting for the “real” Miami Heat to show up. They vanished in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Finals, and then disintegrated the Spurs in Game 2 only to allow San Antonio to return the favor last night. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat followed up all three losses to the Indiana Pacers with double-digit victories. They dropped Game 1 at home in the second round series with the injury-decimated Chicago Bulls and followed that hiccup with a running of the Bulls out of the playoffs 37 point dismantling of Chicago in Game 2. The Heat beat the Bulls in five games. 

The Spurs are one of a tiny handful of teams, entering the playoffs, which appeared to have a real chance at competing with the Heat (the others being the Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder prior to the Russell Westbrook injury). Should the Spurs salvage a split or better in their next four games, they will have unseated a defending champion that, at one point in the regular season, won 27 consecutive regular season games and was thought by many to be participating in the playoffs as a formality before being handed the Larry O’Brien trophy. Until this team buckles and collapses when the pressure is on, I will believe it when I see it.

Remember that this was just three days ago. 3

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1, 3) Images from NBA Memes via www.facebook.com

2) Image from www.youtube.com