Last Name Ever...First Name Greatest

Look ma! No (head) band!! 3

I am at a loss for words after Game 6 of the NBA Finals, won by Miami by three points in overtime. As I have said time and time again, the NBA's value proposition to the public is that it offers better theater, especially in the playoffs, than any other American sport.

There is no point in throwing out the X's and O's, statistics, or analyzing what happened down the stretch. We all saw the same game and the numbers are what they are. But the theatrical points in Game 6 place this Finals match among the greatest of all time. I haven't seen a better playoff game in the last 10 years and I am struggling to think of comparably dramatic Finals games in my lifetime.

POINTS OF DRAMA

Rather than analyze the game itself, I think basketball fans were best served from the points of theater in this game.

Theatrical point: Miami regains the lead. - The Heat trailed by 10 points at the start of the fourth quarter. A lead of this size heading into the final frame always heavily favors the team in the lead. When the chance to close out a playoff series, not to mention the championship, is on the line, a comeback is nothing short of epic. Epic is what we got. LeBron James, with some help from the opportunism of Mike Miller and Chris "Birdman" Andersen, caught fire in the fourth quarter. When Miami (quickly) wrestled the lead away from San Antonio and went ahead, the momentum completely shifted and, dare I say, there was an an aura of destiny in the air, the razor thin margin of the Heat's victory notwithstanding.

Theatrical point: San Antonio hits back, appears to have the championship in the bag. - The Spurs counter-punched the punches of the Heat to keep Game 6 a tit-for-tat contest. Tony Parker had a hot flash and helped lead the sequence of events to put the Spurs up by five in the final minute. I thought it was over and so did the league. Reportedly, event staff was preparing to roll the Larry O'Brien Trophy onto the floor in Miami. That roll would stop at the threshold of the tunnel to the court.

Theatrical point: LeBron gives the Heat hope. - The Spurs' Kahwi Leonard, an 82% free throw shooter, missed one of two foul shots in the final minute of regulation. The game is now a moderate two possession game. The Heat miss...the Heat rebound (also clutch)...LeBron James squares up and swishes a three point shot to cut the lead to two and give Miami a significant chance to win the game.

Theatrical point: Ray Allen - LeBron James got an open look from downtown but missed...right into the hands of the Heat's Chris Bosh on the rebound. Then the greatest three point shooter in the history of the league did what we expected, with no margin for error. Five seconds remain and the Heat give the Spurs nothing...but overtime.

Theatrical point: The Heat secure a three point lead late. - San Antonio had a chance to win in the finals seconds of overtime when Dwyane Wade missed a long jumper and the rebound landed into the awaiting hands of Kawhi Leonard. San Antonio can win the championship with one basket and...TURNOVER! Ray Allen rips Manu Ginobli, hits two free throws to make it a three point game. Jeff Green of the Spurs has his desperation three point shot locked by Chris Bosh and the game is over.

If the Heat win on Thursday, we will see this image replayed for decades. 2

GAME 7

It's the greatest event in sports: one game for all the marbles. I've expressed my opinion on what I think happens in such a situation. It's up to the Heat to execute. However, it is highly unlikely that anything that happens on Thursday night can compare to the unlikely path that made a seventh game possible.

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To advertise with The Daily Hat Trick, or to submit a guest column, please contact the editor at eric@thedailyhattrick.info.

The Daily Hat Trick is sponsored by Sports N Stuff. For great deals on jerseys, shirts, cologne, and other guy stuff, visit http://www.sportsnstuff.biz/.

1) Image from a prior post in The Daily Hat Trick.
2) Image from www.sbnation.com
3) Image from www.usatoday.com

Retweet of the Day - June 7, 2013

San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker made a clutch shot to seal his team's win in Game 1 of the NBA Finals over the Miami Heat. Instant replay showed that the ball left Parker's hands just a microsecond before the last tenth of a second ticked off of the shot clock. As many of you know, Parker is the former husband of actress and model Eva Longoria. Reportedly, the two divorced because of alleged infidelity by Parker.

This takes us to today's sophomoric, but clever retweet by Not Bill Walton (‏@NotBillWalton)

"Tony Parker snuck another one in the hole just in the nick of time, barely getting away with it. He is so good at doing that."

Cue Bill Duke for Tony Parker.

Image from www.fanpop.com

Hot Water

Game 1 of the NBA Finals is in the books and the Heat are in hot water already. After going toe-to-toe with the Western Conference champion Spurs in the first half and appearing to gain the upper hand in the third quarter, the Heat we came to know in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers resurfaced. That Heat is "LeBron James and everyone else".

James had a triple double (18 pts., 18 reb., 10 asst.) and more than held up his end of the bargain on defense. However, the same old underachieving effort of the Heat, which is becoming a pattern, reared its head in the 4th quarter. Missed shots, being outworked under the boards (save for LeBron), turnovers, and an inability to contain the Spurs role players in the 4th quarter led to the Heat trailing by two points in the final seconds. Then Tony Parker banked a clutch shot with five seconds remaining to extend the lead to four points, with the ball leaving his fingertips just as the shot clock expired. That put the Heat away, 92-88.

Close only counts in Horseshoes and with hand grenades. This was close to being a shot clock violation.  But it wasn't. It was the knife through the Heat in Game 1 delivered by Tony Parker, right. 1

WHAT NOW?

Miami is essentially facing a must win situation in Game 2 on Sunday night. Falling behind 0-2 is tough. Losing the first two games at home in a seven game series is a kiss of death, especially in the Finals when the team with the lesser record enjoys three consecutive games at home.

Miami has been an extremely tough out when its back has been against the wall. They blew the Indiana Pacers away in Games 5 and 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals when control of the series and the series itself, respectively, hung in the balance. They'd better bring that high energy level to Game 2. I don't think LeBron was referring to conference championships when he said, "Not 2, not 3, not 4...."

What you say today could haunt you forever. 2

Don't forget to vote in the fan polls!

To advertise with The Daily Hat Trick, or to submit a guest column, please contact the editor at eric@thedailyhattrick.info.

The Daily Hat Trick is sponsored by Sports N Stuff. For great deals on jerseys, shirts, cologne, and other guy stuff, visit http://www.sportsnstuff.biz/.

1) Image from www.thebiglead.com
2) Video from www.youtube.com

Poor Parker

The San Antonio Spurs squandered a furious comeback at home in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. They now have to contend with a raucous crowd in Oklahoma City. If the Spurs lose, they will be eliminated from the playoffs after having won 20 consecutive games going back to mid April.

Poor Tony Parker. First, what appeared to be a season of destiny is on the verge of slipping away. Then, he has to go home and realize he no longer has one the shoulder of the hottest women on the planet, Eva Longoria, to cry on.

Your bad, Tony!

Image from www.stylefrizz.com

Weekend Observations

A few quick notes and observations in the sports world, heading into the week leading up to Turkey Day.


LSU Basketball

Hey, it is my blog. I can be a homer every now and then! LSU laid an egg so large that, upon first glance, scientists could hold out hope that the dinosaur is not extinct. The Tigers dropped one to Nicholls State University by 9 points at home in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Tuesday night. REALLY?

REALLY?

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LSU had not lost a home game to an in-state opponent in the PMAC since 1988. Ronald Reagan was president and gasoline was less than a dollar. The Cosby Show was usually the highest rated show on television. Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and the Lakers were en route to repeating as NBA Champions and Danny Manning led the Kansas Jayhawks to an NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament title. If you are not old enough to remember any of that, the clarity of your memory of the aforementioned occurrences matches the level of acceptability of the performance of Coach Trent Johnson's 2010-2011 LSU team. LSU should not be a powerhouse, but they have talent and Trent Johnson is too good of a coach to tolerate the folly that was LSU basketball earlier this week. 

I mean...Nicholls? REALLY?


The New Orleans Saints

New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas is not a $6 million man. But, given his role, prior productivity and the market rate for starters one would expect his market value to be in the neighborhood of $3 to $4 million for 2-3 years. He is currently earning $1.7 million in 2010, far below comparable starting running backs, even those who do not run the ball 20 times per game. 2 Even backup quarterbacks, who almost could potentially never play a down in an entire season, earn just south of $2 million per season.

Thomas is (or was) the starting RB. In my opinion, the Saints hardballed him because of his restricted free agent status, meaning the Saints controlled his rights exclusively at the time of the contract negotiations this past summer. That does not build good will between the Saints and Thomas. Thomas earned the league minimum of $435,000 in the Saints Super Bowl championship season of 2009, in spite of leading the team in rushing for the second consecutive season.  Thomas delivered far above what would be expected of a league minimum salary player and if I were Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis, I would have taken the past production at the discounted cost into account.

The National Football League IS a business, but failing to take care of those who have taken care of you while you expect, in the future, those same people to take care of you is not smart business. In general the Saints have made smart, tough personnel decisions and not allowed emotions to cloud good business judgment. The club released Saints all-time greats like Joe Horn, Deuce McAllister, and John Carney when the productivity had dropped to a point that could not justify those players taking up a precious roster spot. However, the Pierre Thomas negotiations became F.U.B.A.R. and the Saints are in real danger of losing a valuable asset in the 2011 offseason. That is not good business and it is a shame.

Do you really want to lose THIS guy?

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The San Antonio Spurs

Tony Parker is getting divorced from Eva Longoria. The first thought that popped into my head was, "WHAT IN THE WORLD was he thinking!?!?!?" Many of the celebrity gossip sites like TMZ are reporting that Tony Parker hid text messages with and contact information of Erin Barry (former Spur Brent Barry's ex wife) and suggested that Parker and Barry were having an affair. I thought, "Was a dumb way to lose one of the most smoking hot independently wealthy women on the planet!" Then I looked up a picture of Ms. Barry. Now it makes sense.

In the words of the hip-hop poet, Hurricane Chris, "Erin Bar-ryyyy! Erin Barry!!!" 4

Right now, there are men mentioning @tp9network on Twitter (Parker's ID) saying, "Teach me, bro! Teach ME!!!"

The Philadelphia Eagles


Michael Vick's performance at the quarterback position has been jaw dropping in 2010 and is, far and away, the most interesting football related story of any NFL player this season. You you may have heard of the expression "touchdown vultures", especially in fantasy football? An example is when former Tampa Bay Buccaneers fullback Mike Alstott, true to his trademark, would ram it in from 3 yards out after a long pass or run by a teammate. It seems to me that the Philadelphia Eagles have won the "production vulture" lottery.

The Atlanta Falcons used the first pick in the 2001 NFL draft to acquire Vick and paid him a fortune (in the neighborhood of $40 to $50 million, by my estimates) during his 6 seasons in Atlanta. Granted, the Falcons won some games and made the playoffs a few times (including an NFC Championship Game appearance in the 2004 season), but Vick was a super athlete with limits as a passer. Now he is Superman. This is what Atlanta thought they were getting and paying for. And it cost the Eagles what? Six or seven million over two seasons? How can Philadelphia Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman sleep at night? Quite well, I would imagine....

All he is missing is the cape with the letter "S" on it.

1) Image from statesman.com 
2) Source: www.pierrethomas23.com
3) Image from nola.com
4) Image from adannews.com