LeBron James Finals Re-Watch Diary: Game 2, 2011 NBA Finals

The rewatch continues as LeBron James and the Miami Heat blow a 15-point lead to lose their series lead against Dirk and the Mavericks.

During the NBA’s indefinite hiatus, I will be rewatching every game of LeBron’s NBA Finals career. Every Finals game from the last 20 years is available to NBA League Pass subscribers on the NBA app or through apps like YouTube TV. We will be going chronologically through LeBron’s Finals career.

Previous Games

Game 1, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals game.

Game 2, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron bounces back but falls down 0-2.

Game 3, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron gets the last shot but it doesn’t go.

Game 4, 2007 NBA Finals: Staying home.

Game 1, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals victory.

For the first time in his Finals career, LeBron James has a series lead after winning Game 1 against the Dallas Mavericks. LeBron is saying all of the right things that the series was far from over. The broadcast begins with copious amounts of LMFAO and a shot of the rowdy Heat crowd, which during the peak Heat days was just as good as Oracle on its best day.

“Feels good because it’s the first game and we played well as a team,” James said after Game 1, according to the Associated Press. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. … That’s one in the books. We’re excited about this game. Tomorrow we prepare for Game 2, and I see ways we can get better.”

And despite LeBron going 4 for 5 from the 3 in Game 1, or perhaps because of it, anybody guarding James when he’s away from the ball is hanging hard in the paint. But a few plays later, James makes the Mavs pay for that off-ball coverage.

Doris Burke is giving us an update on Dirk Nowitzki trying out various splints the night before Game 2 with his legendary shooting coach Holder Geschwinder. Also, Rolando Blackmon is on the Mavs bench, eliciting some MAJOR Remember Some Guys energy from Mike Breen. Bosh goes to work on Peja and its a 10-1 Heat run. Then LeBron flies in for another emphatic slam on a rebound, reminiscent of the slams he had to close Game 1. Then LeBron hits another big 3-pointer. This series feels like it’s his time. But the Mavs remain right there, tied at 28 after the first quarter

The Heat look dominant but the Mavs are just doing their jobs across the board in a way the Heat are not. James steps up with an And-1 to get the fans going, but he can’t make the free-throw. The Heat get another stop, a 24-second call on Dallas. Then a 3-pointer from Wade ties it at 51 with under 30 seconds left to cap another 9-0 Heat run going into halftime. Wade is the leading scorer for the Heat tonight as he finished with 36 points.

It’s the third quarter and the Heat lead 66-61 and the Mavs turn to…Brian Cardinal! He’s played 7 minutes so far this postseason and doesn’t do much of note in this game, but he will be important later. Meanwhile, Mike Bibby just hit his 4th 3-pointer! His best game of the playoffs and it comes at a crucial juncture as he finished with 14 points. It’s 69-61 Heat. A Dirk jumper over a fallen Udonis Haslem gives the Mavs some more life.

A Chandler tip makes it 71-67. The lessons of Brandon Roy remain, even though Dirk is 6 for 15. Then LeBron comes through with another slam, pushing the Heat to a 75-71 lead going into the 4th. A Chalmers lay-up pushes the lead to 79-73, however, and maybe the Heat can break this game open? A Bosh dunk makes it 83-73, Dirk turns it over as his awful night continues. A Wade corner 3-pointer makes it 88-73 with 7:14 left to cap a 13-0 run. Mike Breen feels like this game is over and there’s just nothing the poor Mavs can do against the mighty Heat.

About five minutes before this, I had finally made it to my room in Spain at 6-ish in the morning and fired up First Row Sports. I don’t even think I had showered just yet after going to the bars with friends, but I wanted to watch the end of the game.

The Mavs have started the quarter missing 10 of their first 11 shots and committing five turnovers. The clock is down to 6:21 before Jason Terry breaks the Mavs spell to make it 88-75. As Van Gundy points out, the Mavs also had a great comeback of their own against Oklahoma City only about 10 days earlier, coming back from a 15-point lead to force overtime and eventually win Game 4 in the Western Conference Finals.

At that time, it had been the greatest comeback in NBA history. 15-point leads aren’t daunting in 2020, but what the Mavs were doing in 2011 was something the league hadn’t seen yet. They’d have to repeat that feat. They not only repeated it, but they also did it one better.

The Heat are having trouble scoring because the Mavs are finally taking care of the ball, not letting LeBron and Wade get in transition. A runner by Marion makes it 88-81 and the Mavs are over halfway there in two minutes. Then Jason Kidd hits a 3 on the assist from Dirk. LeBron can’t get past Marion and settles for a midrange shot that clanks. Then Jason Terry hits a free-throw line extended jumper, continuing to spur this run. Then Bosh dribbles it out of bounds. Dirk from 20 feet. It’s 90-88. The Miami crowd is trying to will them but their cheers are more cautious than energetic. They know this is slipping away.

A block by LeBron on Dirk gives them a little life but their offense doesn’t have enough speed. They continue to be bogged down while watching Wade and James shoot jumpers. The Mavs have a wall around the paint and the Heat can’t get through. They get a couple of second chances on the same possession thanks to hustling from Bosh and Haslem, but it leads to a loose ball and, either their spirits or the bodies of the Heat were too tired to get back in transition, Dirk gets his easiest look of the night to tie it at 90. The raucous Heat crowd is so dead not even a bump of good Peruvian would get them going.

Wade misses a 3, another possessions with no penetration. And then the coup de grace de Dirk, a 3-pointer to make it 93-90. Miami is no longer a house of horrors for the German. But then Mario Chalmers, who has the stones to hit big shots as evidenced by his 2008 National Championship game-winner, answers Dirk! Jason Terry left him too early and LeBron exposes it. 93-93! Alaskan, in this case, is a wonderful stand-in for Peruvian.

24.5 seconds remain. The Mavs can take the last shot. Jason Kidd runs the clock down to go to their pet set during this run: Jason Terry screening Dirk so that Dirk can get the ball on the move against Chris bosh. Dirk uses the threat of his shot to hesitate, fake the turnaround and then drive to the rim with less than four seconds to play as the Heat don’t have any timeout. Wade misses a running 3-pointer and the Mavs capped the comeback.

Dirk, after an awful night, scores the final 9 points to finish with 24 points and for all of the great plays, the Heat blew a game that they should have had. LeBron fished with 20 points, eight rebounds, and four assists but was overshadowed on this night by Wade. The narrative is back. The Heat can’t finish. Wade and LeBron don’t work together. And now the series turns to Dallas, where the Mavs can fully take momentum in a series where they are the underdogs.

LeBron James Finals Re-Watch Diary: Game 1, 2011 NBA Finals

As the LeBron James Finals Re-Watch continues, LeBron James gets his first career NBA Finals victory in the 2011 NBA Finals.

Previous Games

Game 1, 2007 NBA Finals

Game 2, 2007 NBA Finals

Game 3, 2007 NBA Finals

Game 4, 2007 NBA Finals

LeBron James has gone four years since playing in the NBA Finals. Since the last game we watched, LeBron left Cleveland to join the Miami Heat. He then became one of the biggest pariahs in the sports world. Even after he eventually lost this NBA Finals series to the Mavericks, he was still one of the most disliked people in all of sports, due in large part to “The Decision” television show where he announced he would leave the Cavaliers to take his talents to South Beach, which also helped generate $250,000 for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Also, as the diary writer, I need to contextualize where I am before we go further with this re-watch. This is really my first time watching the 2011 NBA Finals series in a coherent state of mind. I caught the tail end of Game 2, stumbling back to my room at 6:30 in the morning, living in Spain at the time and winding down the final few weeks of my study abroad. The ending of Game 2, despite the levels of intoxication to be up at 6:30 am from the previous night, is seared into my brain as one of the greatest in Finals history, which I’m thankful to have seen live. Shout out to First Row Sports dot EU. But aside from that great ending to Game 2, I know the 2011 Finals as more story than series.

So for more context of the LeBron Universe at the time, let’s go to one of the best in the game, Marc Spears of The Undefeated, to give more context to the world when LeBron was hated.

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert wrote an angry open letter saying his franchise would win a championship before the “self-declared former King,” described him as selfish, heartless and callous, and called the move a “cowardly betrayal.” NBA commissioner David Stern would later fine Gilbert $100,000 for the letter. The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Gilbert’s email “personified a slave master’s mentality.”

The Q Scores Company listed James as the sixth-most disliked sports personality behind, coincidentally, fellow African-American athletes Michael Vick, Tiger Woods, Terrell Owens, Chad Ochocinco and Kobe Bryant. Forbes.com listed James second in an article on the Most Disliked NBA Players on Dec. 21, 2011. Topping the list was New Jersey Nets forward Kris Humphries, who divorced Kim Kardashian after 72 days of marriage.

The Heat started Game 1 with the exact kind of play that I had wanted to see from the Cavaliers in 2007 and we did, but only in Game 4 when it was too late. Erik Spoelstra gets LeBron the move to go into a post-up catch rather than just camping him out on the left block.

Jeff Van Gundy begins the broadcast by defending LeBron’s bad crunch time shooting numbers, saying that everyone’s numbers are down but Breen chimes in “now he’s on the Miami Heat.” LeBron isn’t just a player on a great team, he’s a Heatle. We are in the first swing of Heatle Mania.

Early in the series, that mania seems to be driving him. LeBron gets a steal, gives it up and gets it back to put the Heat up 10-5. LeBron is doing great things in the open court, but can the Heat keep forcing live-ball turnovers like this?

James hits a corner 3-pointer, which he hit at a good rate of 35.3 percent. The 2011 postseason remains his 4th best postseason percentage mark from the 3-point line. Also, a note about the spacing here compared to the last series. Both teams have four guys out on the 3-point line. Also, there’s actually a back-and-forth to pay attention to, unlike 2007.

LeBron seems to have learned from his last anonymous Game 1 in the Finals. He already has 10 points and he’s being much more aggressive than he was during his first Finals game at 22 years old. But Dirk is here for Finals redemption too. He has 13 points after a banker over a double-team. A dunk by Chandler makes it 38-35 Mavs. A Shawn Marion offensive rebound leads to a 3-pointer for Jason Terry, but Chalmers answers and it’s 44-43 Mavs at halftime.

A Dirk jumper gets him to 15 points and gives the Mavs a 48-43 lead, their largest of the game. A Stevenson 3-pointer makes it 51-43 and the Heat call time. Mike Breen is extolling the virtues of the Mavs veterans at the moment and it almost sounds like he could be talking about the 2019 Toronto Raptors. There are former MVPs in Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd, former All-NBA guys like Marion and Peja Stojakovic. They’ve basically stacked the squad with all of the best players in the league that had still yet to win a title, other than LeBron James, of course.

A James 3-pointer off of a Mike Bibby assist (he did something!) gets the crowd back in it. The Heat defense has also picked up considerably. They put Haslem in and now they are swarming everything. Goddamn, Chris Bosh was good as hell. When Dirk gets it, Haslem and Bosh swarm him and the Heat guards are struggling to get by against Wade, Chalmers and James on the perimeter. The eight point lead Mavs lead is down to 2. Even a rare Peja Stojakovic wide open look doesn’t go. And now a Haslem lay-up on a dish from LeBron ties the game at 57. Another Mavs turnover. The Heat’s supercharged swarming defense has the veteran Mavs completely bamboozled. James then makes the Mavs pay for letting him step into a 3-pointer. This Game 1 could not be any more different for LeBron than Game 1 of 2007. Then he ends the quarter with a fadeaway 3-pointer. LeBron is full Mamba in this one.

Another thing about the Heat of those days that I think we forget is the way they were able to stay big while still creating space. They get credit for “small ball” but they weren’t really that small. Chris Bosh was just skilled enough to create that space while being a center on the other end. On cue, Bosh finds Haslem on a high-low set for an and-1 to give the Heat their biggest lead at 6. Don’t buy that the big man is dead, even in 2020.

Dwyane Wade blocks Marion a play later and the Heat still leads 79-73. Wade hits a very rare triple to make the Heat lead 9. He’s been the 4th quarter guy while LeBron led the way for the first 3.

On the next Heat possession, James puts an exclamation point on the night. There’s 3-minutes left, but it’s over as the Mavs are unable to get the big momentum shots they need. Dallas doesn’t give in or pull the starters and even go to a full-court press, but they were unable to overcome a great game from LeBron and a finishing flurry from Wade. Just in case they weren’t knocked out, the Heat went for one more knockout blow with a Wade-to-James oop.

After going 4 for 16 in his first Game 1 over four years ago, LeBron ends this one with 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists on 9 of 16 shooting in 45 minutes, including 4 of 5 from the 3-point line. Now he has his first Finals win. But he’s about to get a lesson that winning Game 1 is one of four steps to get to an NBA title. See you tomorrow for Game 2.

[lawrence-related id=28396,28385]

LeBron James Finals Re-Watch Diary: Game 4, 2007 NBA Finals

LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers get close, but they had too many crucial failures to extend their series against the Spurs.

Previous Games

Game 1, 2007 NBA Finals

Game 2, 2007 NBA Finals

Game 3, 2007 NBA Finals

The Cavs are down 3-0 and the crowd is once again hyped as they are searching for their first-ever NBA Finals franchise victory. Ilgauskas is called for a violation on the tip-off, giving the ball to Spurs. What would the Uncut Gems folks do with that one? The broadcast then shows that the Cavs have only been swept once before in the playoffs, back in 1993 against the Chicago Bulls. It would happen again in 2018. Gotta give it to the Cavs franchise though, they only get swept by champions.

I know that a lot of folks like to break awards down to Heisman-type moments, like Paolo Uggetti at The Ringer. Parker just had one. He went end to end, blowing by the Cavs defense and got the ball off the glass JUST before LeBron missed the chase down. If only Andre Iguodala had studied the Tony Parker game film. And now a driving Ginobili lay-up, that tandem was underrated, gives the Spurs a 17-16 lead. So once again, the Cavs play high-energy ball on both ends but are trailing. Maybe my Parker hatred is just jealousy that he was married to Eva Longoria?

The Cavs finally get LeBron into a set with some movement. Eric Snow screens for Varejao, who sets a screen for LeBron (screening the screener!), coming off of an initial screen from Marshall. It leads to a foul for Bowen, but this is the kind of stuff that the Cavs didn’t bring out enough in Games 1, 2 or 3. It was all too simple, but simple adjustments could have made things more interesting for the Cavs offense. See, Mike Brown is good, he just didn’t know what was good until it was too late.

A Ginobili 3-pointer makes it 30-25 and also, LeBron is being attended to on the bench. He has a cut on his knee and it’s getting taped up. LeBron gets back in shortly and the offensive rebounds for the Cavs keep coming. They were first in the league in offensive rebounds, no wonder they brought in JJ Hickson so soon after! Eric Snow dimes up Big Z and it’s a 32-31 game. But Tony Parker hits another uncharacteristic 3-pointer, this time from the corner. He has 13 in the first half, those are the kind of Heisman moments that get you the Finals MVP, even if Duncan was the best player on the floor every game.

After a Drew Gooden basket, the ABC broadcast lets us know that LeBron James just had a child, his second, Bryce Maximus. Now Stuart Scott tells us that LeBron originally wanted to name him Maximus, because of the movie Gladiator with Russell Crowe that won the 2001 Oscar for Best Picture, but he allowed it to be a middle name because his future wife Savannah liked the name Bryce. He also got the first choice on naming their first child, LeBron James Jr, who you know today as Bronny James.

The Cavs have clawed back into this game and made it a 44-40 score. ABC is now showing a bunch of the players Bruce Bowen has guarded in the playoffs. Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash, Deron Williams and now LeBron James. Honestly, a pretty cool montage if you loved basketball in the mid-2000s.

Duncan and Oberto just worked the two-man game to get Duncan free-throws and honestly, now I know why Duncan did a Motorcycle Diaries tour through South America with Oberto. This guy rules. He probably knows all the best churrasco spots in the Argentine countryside.

Also, the Spurs continue to be perfect on defense. No matter who does anything on the Cavs, they are covered completely. The Spurs defense is just suffocating and inspiring in the way that they never give up on perfecting their scheme. Also, another one of my favorite subplots of the series is Robert Horry physically harming LeBron James before checking on him. Horry hits LeBron across the face, a foul is called and Horry is very worried for LeBron’s well-being. This is how you know he’s an elite role guy.

A Boobie Gibson 3-pointer cracks the 50-point mark for the Cavs just before the 4th quarter, making it 60-52 Spurs to go into the 4th quarter. The Cavs have 12 minutes. Now Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, both EMPLOYEES OF ABC, are saying Tony Parker should be the MVP as the best player in the series. I mean, maybe?

In the fourth quarter, I notice there is a woman yelling near the microphone on every Spurs offensive possession. She keeps yelping and making weird noises. Did this lady show up during the other Cavs Finals? I feel like I heard her during those Golden State series. Anyway, feel free to mute gameplay during this time.

Varejao ties it with a layup at 66-66 and LeBron gets his 9th assist. The Cavs were a scrappy bunch, even if they weren’t a fun offensive team. They were grinders. But Ginobili helps slow down the bootstraps story by making a 3-pointer to make it 69-66 and LeBron can’t answer.

A possession that starts with a Parker-Duncan pick and roll goes into a Duncan-Ginobili DHO and Ginobili scores on the drive. It’s 76-69 and the game is over. Fans are leaving in Cleveland. The Cavs were a squad, but the Spurs were too stacked. No shame in the loss, but it will be a few years before LeBron gets to taste this stage of basketball again.

Damon Jones hits a garbage 3-pointer to help the Cavs cover a 2.5-point spread, but they lost and LeBron will have to wait four years before he’s here again. We will see you next week to see how LeBron learns from this first NBA Finals experience, four years later, as a member of the Miami Heat.

[lawrence-related id=28339,28284]

LeBron James Finals Re-Watch Diary: Game 2, 2007 NBA Finals

LeBron James is more aggressive after a disappointing Game 1 but foul trouble and the Spurs shooters stopped a potentially great night.

Previous Games

Game 1, 2007 NBA Finals

Game 2 Rewatch Diary

Mike Breen relays to the audience that LeBron James said he will be more aggressive in this game after he went 4 for 16. Dick Bavetta, whom you may know from racing Charles Barkley, is the crew chief tonight.

Despite the bad foot, Mike Brown really wants to get Larry Hughes going and they start the first half of Game 2 the way the start every half in the first two games, trying to get Hughes a midrange pull-up. It’s a miss but LeBron rebounds it and puts in for the first points of the game. It took him until the third quarter to get a field goal in Game 1. An early encouraging sign for LeBron, but the game quickly goes sideways, due in part to LeBron’s aggression and as well as a lack of calculated risk-taking by Mike Brown.

LeBron is driving, looking for rebounding opportunities and making things happen, but then he picks up his 2nd foul less than three minutes in the game. Brown, much to the chagrin of Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, decides to take LeBron out with the Spurs up 8-4. It’s Boobie Gibson time, the Cavs leading scorer from Game 1. But without LeBron, the game quickly gets out of hand on both ends.

I came off as a Parker hater after Game 1 and while I still think Duncan is the biggest reason they won, Parker hits layup after layup to make the lead double-digits in the blink of an eye. The Cavs consistently have no answer for a properly run pick and roll. I can only imagine how badly the 2007 Suns would have destroyed them.

Mark Jackson gets his wish! Eric Snow is in! Snow knocked the ball away from Parker and showed that maybe Jackson has a point. Drew Gooden just had his jumper sent by old Robert Horry, who is in at stretch 4 while Duncan plays center. Also, I’m apologizing to Mark Jackson. Eric Snow knows what he’s doing, he just can’t play the minutes he used to when he was the second guard on the 2001 Sixers. But he’s giving the Cavs a bit of competence while they wait for Mike Brown to finally put LeBron back in.

LeBron is in the game again to start the 2nd quarter and misses a 20-footer with the Cavs down 28-17. At least he’s shooting. LeBron keeps shooting, double-teams or not. He’s really in his Mamba Mentality tonight, but truthfully it’s about 85% full Mamba. But he’s at least a live wire for the Cavs offense that has been sleepwalking for the last quarter on their way to 16 points. He ended up taking 21 shots, but I came away wondering if he should have taken a few more.

Later in the quarter we finally get something fun. LeBron in transition! A steal from Gibson sets him up. Tony Parker just got called for another travel. This crew loved a travel call. While we are here, I’m going to rank the top 5 Cavs on this team. Mostly because this is now a 58-30 Spurs lead, which in this series is 60 points.

1. LeBron

2. Boobie

3. Sasha

4. Andy

5. Illgauskas/Donyell Marshall

The Spurs come out a little slow to start and the Cavs remembered that they are in the NBA Finals. Hughes did a good job setting up a midrange J on the pick and roll for Gooden, but Gooden is clearly not helping as much as Varejao. LeBron to Sasha for 3 and the Cavs have it down to 21! But he Spurs are going for the kill. Horry just blocked Gooden again and the Spurs drivers have plenty of room to roam. Also, Ratatouille is coming soon to theaters!

This is officially the Horry game. A 3 by Horry puts the Spurs up 87-60. Now Pop gets Horry a curtain call and he gets a standing ovation from the Spurs crowd. By the end of the night, Horry had five blocks and it felt like all of them were on Gooden. Meanwhile, Manu Ginobili had 25 off the bench.

Gibson gets a jumper to cut the lead to 14. The Spurs also have Brent Barry and Tony Parker in together, which is bad for several reasons which you can google about. Pop is doing a rope-a-dope, but we should give credit to the Cavs. They didn’t knock off the Pistons with a magic bullet. The Cavs have the lead down to 10 and now 9 after a LeBron take and they aren’t giving in.

The Cavs made this game somewhat interesting in the 4th quarter, in large part due to putting Andy Varejao at center with LeBron and three shooters in Boobie, Damon Jones, and Donyell Marshall, a formula that has proven to be optimal for maximizing LeBron nearly a decade and a half later. But it was a move that was made too late.

Parker just had a spinning pirouette of a finish and maybe that’s why they gave him the MVP. Or maybe was it because he was engaged to Eva Longoria and it was rigged as a marketing move to promote ABC’s Desperate Housewives? I’m just saying anything is on the table. And now an And-1 for LeBron over Duncan! This game is way better than the last one.

But the Spurs get it together before a full collapse happens. Bron tries to drive on Robert Horry but he can’t finish and takes a tumble. Horry then is late getting back on offense because he’s helping LeBron up. Here we see 22-year old LeBron still not knowing exactly when and where to attack. But Horry knows how great the guy he stopped is. Then LeBron commits another turnover as the Spurs blitzing his pick and rolls leads to his 6th turnover of the game. Then Ginobili hit a four-point play, with one of the rare missteps for Boobie Gibson in the first two games. Gibson ended with 15 off the bench.

All in all, LeBron played better and the game was much more interesting late than the previous one. LeBron finished with 25 points on 9 of 21 shooting to go with seven rebounds and six assists. He also played 35 of the 36 remaining minutes in the game after his first-quarter foul-trouble. Much, much better overall. But were their moves the Cavs could have made earlier? I think there are. Tomorrow, the series and LeBron’s Finals career shifts back to his home of Northeast Ohio. See you then.

[lawrence-related id=28208,28193]

LeBron James Finals Re-Watch Diary: Game 1, 2007 NBA Finals

With the NBA on pause, we will look back at all of the games LeBron James has played in the NBA Finals. We start with his first Finals game.

With the NBA on hold for at least three months, making a season cancellation even more likely, I will be diving into the NBA Finals career of LeBron James, the reason for this website. Luckily for me and other people who bought NBA League Pass, every NBA Finals game from the last 20 years is available and I figured this would be the right time to truly go through what LeBron’s Finals career was actually like. 3-6 is what gets cited and the record is undeniable, but the hope of this project is to add a little bit more illustration to how he got there. So without any further preamble, we start with LeBron James’ first Finals game in San Antonio.

LeBron James just demolished the Detroit Pistons, who had been the team of the decade in the East since 2004, with the playoff performance of the year. He was even wearing the same blue jersey in Game 1 against the Spurs that he wore when he scored 25 straight points to beat the Pistons in Game 5 in Detroit before winning in 6 to go to his first NBA Finals. Now the sage veteran, this version of LeBron James is only 22 and playing in his first NBA Finals. What awaits LeBron is a steely machine of efficiency and defense in the 2007 Spurs.

So as we start the game, let’s take a moment to appreciate some of the starters on both teams in this game. At Center for the Spurs: it’s Fabricio Oberto! Starting at the other wing for the Cavaliers: Sasha Pavlovic! Sasha has a plantar fascia issue but he’s a crucial part of their team. This also says a lot about the 2007 Cavs. Larry Hughes, who was way better on NBA Live 07 than he actually was. The 2006 Wizards will always have a soft spot in my heart. Drew Gooden starting in the NBA Finals! Remember him? And his hair was terrible. Was he a bizarro Carlos Boozer?

2007 was a different time pic.twitter.com/z6BQ5KCzdr

— E. García Gundersen (@Erik_Gundersen) March 16, 2020

The first possession for the Spurs is a post-up to Tim Duncan where he gets TRIPLE TEAMED, leading to a Michael Finley pull-up. As for the Cavs, Drew Gooden got called for an offensive foul. A pretty fitting summation of the dynamic between the two teams. Also, so many post entry passes! A lost art! Also, Tony Parker is dominating but it’s all because he has Duncan. Never forget this when we talk about the Spurs.

Why is the offense running through Larry Hughes? LeBron dishes to Big Z for the first bucket. Jeff Van Gundy also wants the Cavs to post up Gooden and Illgauskas when LeBron James is on the court! TOO MUCH LARRY HUGHES.

Tony Parker and Tim Duncan are getting anything they want in pick and roll. Very early on a trend emerges that will break the series: the Spurs know how to play the pick and roll and the Cavs do not. LeBron misses his first shot, midrange fadeaway. He’s gotten a lot better at those since then. LeBron is also getting moved off of his spot in the post by Bruce Bowen.

After a few possessions of Parker and Duncan slicing them up, Mike Brown puts LeBron on Parker and the pick and roll defense but it could not matter any less. Early on it feels a bit like the 2018 Finals. Except that LeBron hasn’t really decided that he can take over because his jumper isn’t there. And the Spurs are killing the Cavs with 2s and not 3s, so it feels closer than it really is. But it kinda feels over five minutes in. LeBron is being a team player but it feels like he’s blending in too much.

LeBron posts up finally but he goes right into a double team. He’s posting a lot as part of the gameplan but he doesn’t have much feel for where the help is coming. The Spurs are building a wall, sending two or three guys and the Cavs other starters can’t really do anything with it. Also, the Cavs are really bad at help defense. Like really bad. The Spurs passing and patience are exposing what had been a top-four defense in defensive rating.

The score says 16-13, but it’s really not that close. LeBron knows it too. He didn’t even try to go for the chasedown block on Ginobili. Meanwhile, Tim Duncan is absolutely destroying the Cavs on both ends. They have no answer for him. Stuart Scott on the sidelines! RIP!

LeBron just got fouled on a layup and he just scored his first career NBA points at the free-throw line. It took to the 1:12 mark of the first quarter. Jacque Vaughn just hit a shot from inside the corner 3 line. Oh, 2007.

Offensive foul on LeBron. This happened quite a lot as the Spurs had clear objectives against James to force the ball from his hands, double him on the pick and roll and force the rest of the Cavs to beat them. The Spurs are just too locked in. Mike Breen just said Boobie Gibson has shown he can be a special player. This is definitely Peak Boobie. They tied the game in large part due to Gibson. He ended the game with a team-high 16 off the bench on 7 of 9 shooting.

The 2007 Spurs are also a hilarious exercise in what David Roth calls Remembering Guys. Francisco Elson! Also, I find a lot of similarities in the way the Spurs use Tim Duncan to the way the Lakers use Anthony Davis. Almost always playing him with another big man even though he’s the superior big man. But Pelicans fans wanted to run AD out of town because he didn’t like being a fulltime center, but nobody called Tim Duncan a diva.

Also, it’s 25-24 midway through the 2nd quarter! Cavs lead! But not for long, Tony Parker dropping a dime to Elson for an And-1 on the fastbreak because Elson outruns Drew Gooden.

Even in semi transition, the Spurs have a wall around the paint against LeBron. It kinda looks like watching how teams guard Giannis. Except that the Bucks have properly optimized the players around LeBron in a way that the early Cavs could not.

Sasha Pavlovic is also doing things. Eric Snow told Stuart Scott that LeBron is thinking too much. Eric Snow, who isn’t playing, also should be playing more according to Mark Jackson because he’s Cleveland’s “best on-ball defender.” It’s comforting in these times to know Mark Jackson hasn’t changed.

Back to the actual game, the Spurs are mixing up their looks on LeBron on the pick and roll and he is just not that confident in the jumper yet. And anytime he gets a screen, they double team him and force the ball from his hands. It’s basically what Damian Lillard and Steph Curry see every playoff. But Popovich doesn’t want LeBron even think he has a chance to get going. Stan Van Gundy just got the Orlando job. LeBron missed another 3, now he’s 1 for 10. It’s been a rough night for him and making the right play has helped Cleveland stay in the game, but it increasingly looks like the Cavs bought a rock to a knife fight.

Tony Parker also just dropped the rings argument when talking about Baron Davis. Tough scene for Baron, who it should be said is way cooler than Tony Parker. Gooden just had a flagrant 1 with the Cavs down by nine, which might as well be 25 in this game. A 3 from Robert Horry! It’s 67-49 in the fourth quarter! Even my wife can’t believe the score.

This game feels like the platonic ideal of basketball for Gregg Popovich and now I have to just say thank god for Mike D’Antoni. Mine is somewhere between the two. But the Spurs just keep pounding the rock and the Cavs look to have cracked. The Cavs are down by 18. They got LeBron in a low pick and roll with two screens, then he drives left and hits the pull up 3. That’s old hat for LeBron now but in this game it feels like a small miracle. Then James hits another 3 over Bowen. He’s not passing when they double immediately anymore. It’s the 4th quarter and he doesn’t really have a choice. But it feels too late.

Pavlovic time! The cup runneth over with Sasha! After the LeBron 3-pointers, Pavlovic gets cooking with a few buckets to finish with 13 points. Then a LeBron James block on Tony Parker elicits a “BLOCKED BY JAMES” from Mike Breen. They also really need to play Boobie Gibson more. It’s down to 8 with 1:17 left. LeBron misses the stepback 3 that would have made it a game but Duncan hits a layup and it’s a 10 point game.

LeBron finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, and four assists while playing 44 minutes and shooting four for 16 from the field in his first Finals game. It was rough, but his journey with the Spurs is just beginning.

See you back here tomorrow for Game 2.

24 marvelous moments from Kobe Bryant’s illustrious career

Kobe Bryant had an incredible 20-year career filled with thrills and highlights.

Kobe Bryant passed away Jan. 26, 2020 with eight others in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, (CA). The Lakers great leaves a basketball legacy that is stunning.

Draft Day

It was a short time but the Charlotte Hornets did have the rights to Kobe Bryant for a moment, making him the 13th overall selection in the 1996 NBA Draft.

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LeBron James says 2011 Finals led him to focus on mental fitness

LeBron James told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that he started focusing on his “mental fitness” after losing the 2011 Finals to the Dallas Mavericks.

LeBron James is opening up about his journey on the way to “mental fitness” now that he’s partnering with the Calm app for a new series of content entitled “Train Your Mind.”

As part of this new partnership, LeBron James opened up about his own journey with ESPN’s Dave McMenamin to what he refers to as “mental fitness.” According to James, he started taking mental training more seriously after losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals. The Heat was seen as big favorites and a loss in his first NBA Finals with them following his momentous arrival was widely seen as a career-low point for him. But James felt his issues were more mental than physical.

After Dallas, I knew that the physical side wasn’t going to be enough. And how I got out of my comfort zone, I lost the love of fun for the game. And I knew that was the mental side.

James says he’s found ways to meditate in a hostile environment because of his mental training.

When you’re on the road, 20-thousand screaming fans going crazy, to be able to find a moment, two minutes,a minute, 30 seconds, to close my eyes and calm myself. It’s meditation basically. It’s worked tremendously for me in my career.

James announced his partnership with the Calm app last night in Los Angeles.