NBA Finals: Game 2 Glog

Well, here we are, back for Round 2 of this bout. In one corner, the Western Conference Champions, the favorite, the heavyweight, and winners of Round 1, the San Antonio Spurs. In the opposing corner, the challenger, the Eastern Conference Champions, the lightweight, the underdogs, the Cleavland Cavaliers.

I turned on the television to see LeAnn Rimes sing the National Anthem. I thought she had more class than what she showed. A low-cut, almost butt-high little black dress while standing at midcourt on national television? I thought we wanted to avoid another "wardrobe malfunction". You could just see the bad things that could happen with her wearing that. Also, I'm going to pull a Rick Reilly (SI: Life of Reilly writer) on this one with the song... if you're singing the national anthem and it lasts more than a minute and a half, your microphone gets shut off. Period. No one cares how many notes you can hit on one word. It's supposed to be our national anthem, something that's inspirational, not put us to sleep.

Anyways, enough with the rant, on with the game... tipoff to follow shortly.

1st Quarter

LeBron James said he'd be more agressive this time around, gets his first 1st half field goal in two games. 2-2 game.

Also comes off a great pick and roll and went right for the hoop, drawing Tim Duncan's first foul. Then he missed his first two free throws. 5-2 San Antonio.

Agressive doesn't mean taking stupid fouls though. 2 fouls on LeBron early and now he's out of the game. 9-4 San Antonio.

With James out, the Cavs fall into a 16-6 hole, and they take a timeout with 7:33 left in the 1st Quarter. I know this is easy for me to say, but the Cavs need to put James back in and trust him to play smart on defense. As talented as this young Cavs team is, they simply cannot play with the Spurs without James.

Tony Parker is currently leading the Spurs with 7 points, and James, Gooden, and Pavlovic have 2 for the Cavs.

James is still on the bench, but Eric Snow has entered the game for the Cavs and they score 4 straight points. 16-10 Spurs.

7-0 run by the Cavs out of their timeout, now 16-13 Spurs. Spurs take a timeout to try and stop the run with 3:49 left in the 1st Quarter.

12-0 run by the Spurs out of their timeout. 28-13 Spurs.

Cavs end the quarter with a 4-0 run. San Antionio ahead, 28-17.

Now, like I said before, I think it's a mistake to take LeBron James out with only two fouls. Yes, it's the first quarter, yes, he's your best player. But those are exactly the reasons to keep him in. In all actuality, the Cavs are lucky to be down only 11 at the end of the 1st. If not for those fouls near the end, it could have been much, much worse for the Cavs.

Scoring leaders for each team, Tony Parker for the Spurs with 7, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas for the Cavs with 5.

2nd Quarter

LeBron James starts the 2nd Quarter and promptly takes, and misses, two jump shots. He looks out of his rythem. 32-17 Spurs.

Official timeout with 8:57 left in the 2nd Quarter, and the Spurs have already come out with a 9-2 run to start the quarter. LeBron looks out of sync, the only way the Cavs are scoring is at the foul line, and even then they are missing. The Cavs need help with this Spurs defense, or this series is going to be over fast.

LeBron James just AIR BALLED a FREE THROW??? You've got to be kidding me. Luckilly he drained his second one. 38-20 Spurs.

LeBron has a dunk and three straight made free throws since the air ball. 38-24 Spurs.

Timeout from the Cavs with 5:37 left to play in the 2nd Quarter. Spurs are up by 19, 45-26. The Cavs are playing better, getting the ball to the hoop, getting to the free throw line, getting the ball to LeBron. So why are they down by their largest margin in the entire game? The free throw line. The Cavs are only 7-14 from the line. That's seven points... so that's the lead already down to 12, and then the confidence that builds... you get my drift. The Cavs need to improve from the charity stripe if they want to have a chance to win this game.

Well, there's not much to say at the moment. The Cavs are being outplayed, pure and simple. And, again, I think that it's because James sat early. If he hadn't, the team would have been able to continue to feed off of his energy. Now, the Cavs are down by 24, 51-27, with 2:46 left in the 2nd. Why the Spurs took a timeout is beyond me... just keep playing and grind the Cavs into the ground, that's what I would do if I was Greg Popovich.

Halftime

Well... the Spurs have the 3rd largest lead in NBA Finals history. They are up by 25, 58-33. Now, can the Cavs come back? 'Tis possible. Will they? 'Tis doubtful. This is absolutly insane if you ask me.

Tony Parker leads the Spurs with 16 points, and LeBron James leads the Cavs with 13. Tim Duncan has 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. No other Cavs player has over 6 points. San Antonio has three players with more than 10. Like I said, insane.

Now, let's talk controversy. Once again, Robert "Linebacker" Horry is at the center of attention. Why this time? His last-second three pointer/near technical foul at the end of the first half. He goes up, shoots, comes down on LeBron James, flops to the floor, and expects a foul. When he doesn't get one, he flips out. Yelling, screaming at the ref, tearing his jersey out of his shorts, etc. On replay, it showed LeBron just standing there with his arm up, no foul there. Horry needs to grow up. Seriously. First he slams Steve Nash into the scorers' table, now he starts crying about calls. In my opinion, he was lucky he didn't get a technical. Kudos to James for remaining cool in that situation.

The Cavs shot 27% from the field in the first half, the Spurs shot 55%. The Spurs had 30 rebounds, the Cavs 18. That's the story of the game right there.

3rd Quarter

First stoppage of play in the 3rd quarter, with 7:30 left. San Antonio timeout, Greg Popovich trying to make sure the Cavs don't fight their way back into this game. Not that I think he has anything to worry about. The Spurs are still up by 21, 65-44. The Cavs have shown some more fire starting this quarter, but we'll see if that remains. If the Cavs can get the lead under 12 before the end of the quarter, we may just have a game. If not, this'll be a blowout.

My computer is being a pain, so this is just a score update. With 4:04 left in the 3rd, Spurs are up 76-56.

End of the 3rd Quarter and, instead of the lead shrinking, it has only gotten larger. 89-62 Spurs heading into the final stanza.

This may sound wrong to some, but it's true. This entire series so far, the Cavs only have two quarters with more than 25 points. And this quarter was their highest scoring quarter of the series, with 29 total points. Their previous high had been the 4th quarter of Game 1, with 27 points. The Spurs have scored more than 20 points in EVERY quarter so far this series, including two with 30 points or more.

Cavs are shooting 36% from the floor, they have 28 rebounds, and their leading scorer is LeBron James with 17. The Spurs have shot 56% from the floor, have 35 rebounds, and their leading scorer is Tony Parker with 26. Perhaps even more disturbing for the Cavs, not only does Tony Parker have 26 points, but Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli each have 21.

4th Quarter

Cavs start the quarter with a 12-2 run to draw the score to 91-74. Long way to go still for the Cavs.

Lead down to 12 for the Spurs with just over six minutes remaining. 93-81 Spurs.

LeBron James just cut the lead to 9 with 4:52 remaining, with a free throw still coming. 95-86 Spurs. You want an interesting stat? To this point in the 4th quarter, the Cavs have outscored the Spurs 24-6.

That was probably the dagger in the heart of the Cavs. Ginobli just nailed a three, got fouled, and then hit the free throw. Lead back up to 12. 101-89, Spurs.

Then Daniel Gibson sinks a 3 in response. 9 point lead. 101-92, Spurs.

Under a minute left, Spurs are emptying the bench and lead by 11, 103-92.

And that's how it ends. 103-92 Spurs win Game 2.

Postgame

Well, at least the Cavs made the end exciting. Coming back from 29 down at the start of the 4th to only 8 down with a few minutes remaining. The game announcers were saying that the run would help the Spurs more than the Cavs. I disagree. I think the run gives the Cavs a huge amount of confidence heading back home for three games. Can the Cavs tie or even take the series lead? Absolutly possible. But they have to play as they did in the final quarter for four quarters to win against this Spurs team.

Final stats... Cavs shot 41% from the field, had 42 rebounds, 15 assists, 11 turnovers, 19-29 from the charity stripe, and their leading scorer was LeBron James with 25. Spurs shot 48% from the floor, had 46 rebounds, 21 assists, 10 turnovers, went 21-26 from the free throw line, and their leading scorer was Tony Parker with 30.

Other interesting things... earlier I said the Cavs had not scored 30 points in a quarter yet... they scored 30 in the 4th quarter of tonight's game. I said the Spurs had scored at least 20 in all quarters so far... they scored 14 in the 4th quarter of tonight's game. The Spurs had three players score over 20 points (Tony Parker with 30, Manu Ginobli with 25, and Tim Duncan with 21), but no other player on the Spurs scored more than 6 points. The Cavs had four players score more than 10 points, with two others within two points.

It just seems that if the Cavs can manage to slow down those three from the Spurs, then they have a much better chance to win.

Catch you for Game 3 from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, where the Cavs are 7-1 this postseason.

Glog by Benjamin Amey

Cavs-Spurs Game 1 Glog

Initial Thoughts: Gooden from the Cavs... what's up with the haircut? It looks like he's got a patch of mold growing under the back of his sweat band.

• The NBA Finals logo at mid-court for the Spurs... ugly. That's all I can say.
• Spurs starting off extremely hot. 6 of 7 or something like that.
• Tony Parker just missed two free throws. Maybe that hard fall did bother him. Eva Longoria whispered "Get up, please" after looking at the replay. And then Tim Duncan nails two free throws.

Spurs up 16-10

2:26 left in the 1st Quarter

LeBron has 0 points so far, and the Cavs are only down by 5. It's going to take a team effort to win this thing, and so far, the Cavs look like they may have what it takes. More at the end of the 1st Quarter.

End of the 1st

My biggest thought from the first quarter: the Spurs are nowhere near invincible. LeBron is 0-4 with two free throws for 2 points, and the Cavs are only down by 5. The Cavs scoring only 15 points in a quarter worries me some, since low scoring games play right into the Spurs' hands.

The Cavs shot 6-18 (.333) in the 1st Quarter, the Spurs 9-18 (.500). Leading scorer for the Cavs, Sasha Pavlovic with four. For the Spurs, Tim Duncan with eight.

Be back later with more analysis.

8:25 in the 2nd

• Cavs score the first 6 points of the 2nd and take their first lead of the game, 21-20.
• Tim Duncan hits two of two free throws, and the Spurs retake the lead, 22-21.

6:03 in the 2nd

With LeBron on the bench, the Cavs have taken a 3 point lead, 25-22. The Spurs haven't hit a field goal yet in the 2nd Quarter, their only two points coming off of Tim Duncan's free throws. The Spurs have also been turning the ball over like it's their job. We'll see if Popovich can instill some discipline back into his team.

And right out of the timeout, the Spurs score 9 straight points. Looks like Popovich did his job. And the Cavs take a timeout to regroup. 31-25 Spurs.

Halftime

Spurs up 40-35. LeBron still doesn't have a field goal, and the Cavs are still down by only 5. A pretty good team effort so far. Leading scorers for each team: Sasha Pavlovic for the Cavs with 8, and Tim Duncan for the Spurs with 14.

Manu Ginobli's three pointer at the end of the half was huge for the Spurs. It really gives the Spurs a boost going into the locker room. Tim Duncan is playing a pretty complete game so far, with 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks. As said before, LeBron is 0-7, with 4 points, all free throws. The Cavs had eight different players score in the first half, but none scored more than 8 points. The Spurs had six players score, two over 10 points (Tim Duncan, 14, Tony Parker, 12), but the other four did not score more than 5.

Prediction at halftime: Cavs still win, 91-88.

3:20 left in the 3rd

Cavs Cavs Cavs... what is going on? Spurs are up 58-47 and it seems like LeBron's teammates have disappeared. Drew Gooden is the only one who has stepped up and James finally got his first field goal (second as I write this), but the Cavs defense has disappeared.

Drew Gooden just got called for a flagrant foul, Ginobli hit one of two free throws. Spurs now up by 10, 59-49. Cleavland is shooting under 40 percent from the field.

End of the 3rd

Cavs are down by 15 now, 64-49. San Antonio has finally started getting their offensive rebounding in order, and the Cavs are suffering because of it. LeBron still has not gotten going, and the Spurs are just taking total control of the game. Spurs had their highest scoring quarter of the game, the Cavs, their lowest (24 points and 14 points, respectively). Drew Gooden is the Cavs leading scorer with 14, Tim Duncan for the Spurs still with 20. LeBron has 8.

And the 4th Quarter starts and "Linebacker" Robert Horry drains a 3. 18 point Spurs lead.

5:56 left in the 4th

LeBron has just hit two straight 3s, so he's starting to get his groove, but the Cavs are still down 14, 76-62. We all know that LeBron can completely take control of the game, the question is, can he do it tonight?

2:27 left

Cavs have it within 9, after a 13-4 run. Pavlovic just made a LeBron-like play... again, though, do the Cavs have enough time? Did they wait too long to make their run? Time will tell.

Game End

Well, that 9 point edge remained for the Spurs as they won 85-76. The Cavs showed some promise late in the game, if their shooters get going early Game 2, look out Spurs. The Spurs definately shook off the rust though as the 2nd half went on.

Something else interesting that the final stats show... the Spurs only had three players score above ten points, and eight players score total. The Cavs had nine players score, but had five players score more than ten points. With all the talk of the Cavs being a one man team, it seems like the Cavs were the more complete team.

Anyway, that's all for Game 1. I'll be back for Game 2 on Sunday.

Benjamin Amey

LeBron James is Good at Basketball

Last night's Cavs-Pistons game may have been the most entertaining thriller of the 2007 playoffs. LeBron James scored the last seven Cav points in regulation and all 18 in overtime. He finished with 48 to go along with his nine rebounds and seven assists in the 109-107 double-overtime win. Cleveland returns home with a 3-2 edge in their best-of-7 series with the Pistons.

So, uh, what were we discussing after game 1? Something along the lines of King James fearing the last shot? I think we'll call this his "shut the f#@% up" moment. Also known as a breakout performance in classier circles.