Friday, June 24, 2005

Finals Recap
by Anastas Vangeli

When the season started, I was afraid of the possibility the Spurs and the Pistons face in this years Finals. I was afraid of boring basketball, shot-clock violations, turnovers, going too physical and low scores.. and the worst Finals ever.

As the season was passing, and my Lakers faded badly, only the surprising Suns kept me alive – the killing spree they were on, man, that was something. Running the floor, hitting the boards hard, transition supremacy, night after night, until the West Finals. In those five matches, the Spurs (surprised me!) showed that they are the franchise! They accepted the run-and-gun style and outscored the Suns, although their defense was as important as the offense. They played tough and demonstrated showtime! They were going 100+, they had the fluid.

In that particular series, after beating the streaking Nuggets and the reigning Sonics, Duncan and the fellas, made it clear that they can play! And that they can addopt every style of playing basketball, cause they are BASKETBALL PLAYERS!

On the other side, we were watching the Heat heating up, goin’ unbeaten to the Eastern Finals. Wade was streaking and kept his team winning besides Shaq’s injury, and I was convinced that the Heat are 99% on the top. That would've meant Kobe being abused in the media, Shaq honored as the best ever, blah-blah. Luckily, Wade got injured, the Pistons won the series and Kobe’s pride is somehow restored.

But, the bad dream about the matchup that will bring the poorest Finals ever became reality. The Spurs showed thay can play, but the Pistons are a team on a mission, a deathly squad that doesn’t let anybody play, and they fight, they make opstructions, they destroy and somehow manage to win games. If the Spurs transformed into the grayscale version of Motown Bad Boys, than the game of basketball would turn into torture for the fans.

Damn, I was wrong! The first 4 games were unexpected blowouts! The home court advantage was main factor. The Spurs hit first in their 2 home games, then the Pistons returned the first 2 on their own court with the same power. Game 5 was antology: Rob’s heroics and the overtime, Duncan’s crunch time panic and Detroit letting it slip.. one of the greatest NBA Finals game ever!

As the series moved back to Texas, I felt that Detroit isn’t losing the grip, although they were on the edge. They won #6 and the Finals entered the ultimate battle.

GAME 7: Forget the trash talk about bad games. Both the Spurs and the Pistons are championship – caliber squads.

As the game tipped off, it was obvious that all the guys were choking – especially Parker, Nazi and Hamilton. The start was sloppy as expected, because every posession was crutial. Hard and physical.. that’s how I describe the first half. Ben Wallace led all scorers (this shows that it was all but ordinary game), Horry led the Spurs (this shows who’s never choking) and the guys at the half time show were awful.

In the second half, The Big Fundamental went nuts, starting to shoot and spend posessions, acting a go-to guy (he finished 10-27 from the field!). I still can not figure out WHY he forced so many shots and howcome thay managed to win at the end?!

The defense ofcourse. The defense wins championships. Bowen stepped up in the last minutes, guarding and then blocking Billups, and that particular block was the play of the game. In the closing minutes, Detroit’s bad interior defense also caused some bad double-teams on Duncan, which resulted with back-to-back treys and a big W at the end.

Tim Duncan was crowned as the Finals MVP, besides Manu’s warrior-like performances and Horry’s heroics. Tim made shots that everybody on the team can make – Rasho can hit those mid range jumpers, Nazi can dunk or lay it in under the basket etc., but Manu’s desperation shots and baskets from nowhere, or Horry’s shots in crunch time.. that is MVP material.

All in all, the deeper bench, the home court advantage, Manu and Horry, the better team-defense in the last game and the better overall transition performance gave the Spurs their third title in 7 years. A better basketball team. I have said, THE SPURS ARE A TEAM THAT HAVE AN ANSWER FOR SUNS' 120 POINTS IN POURING 121, AND THEY CAN HOLD THE PISTONS ON OR UNDER 69, IF THEY LET THEM SCORE ONLY 70. It appeared a bit different, but they are still world champions.

Game 7 Boxscore on NBA.com

Сторија на македонски за пар саати.. Енко да ја искуца :-)

Од оваа, на кратко: - на почеток на сезона, стварно се плашев од финале Сан Антонио - Детроит - очекував тапа, некои 5-6 утакмици мрцварење, тупење и резултати испод 80. - у плејофот, Спарси покажаа дека се екипа со тоа што ги победија сите изненадувања - Денвер, Сиетл, Феникс. - Детроит, можеби на среќа, ама на мој ќејф ги тепаа Мајами (навивам за Лејкерси и замислете што би зборел Шекил ако освои титула, а притоа Коби да не влезе во плејоф) - финалето беше крајно изненадувачко (во позитивна смисла) - првите четири беа наизменични нокаути, петтата беше антологиска, а шестата типична утакмица кога Детроит мора да победи - седмата пак, беше легендарна: играа на почеток во грч, со доза на резерва, затоа што секој напад беше клучен - Роботот се здиве, почна да шутира како луд, со некои си среден ефект, ама затоа Сан Антонио демонстрираше одбрана, а Брус Боуен со бананата над Билапс практично ја реши утакмицата, a Детроит со лоши удвојувања на Данкан си дозволија да примат две тројки по ред што ги кошташе ТИТУЛА - Данкан на мое негодување беше прогласен за МВП - тврдам дека неговиот учинок е чисто статистички, а Ману и Хори се тие кои ја донесоа титулата со кошевите од неизводливи ситуации, односно со решавачките шутеви

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

оффф, пустооо! „Мак НБА“ - а глеај вестиве на кој јазик се!

6/24/2005 11:02:00 pm  
Blogger Shepard said...

Бачко веста јас лично ја пишував, сеа следи и комплетната македонска NBA. Ако имаш нешто против кажи. Тоа иде така заради тоа што соработуваме со амерички сајтови.

6/25/2005 12:12:00 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ааааа, добро де ако соработувате со амерички сајтови! :)))))))))))

6/25/2005 07:40:00 am  

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