Official NBA Game 7 Thread

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HAHAHahA was the Euro guy kissing Barry?

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Possibly. Fortunately many other cultures aren't as homophobic as the US.

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wrong. Fortunately the US is more homophobic than other countries. I don't need to be worrying about some dude planting one me in leau of a high five!

[vulturesrow]

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One good thing about the Spurs winning, maybe everyone can get off of Tim Duncan's back. Sports Guy called him the best power foward ever. I may not agree with that, but he is at least top 3 and deserves more respect than sports hacks calling him a choke artist.

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Anyone who denigrates Tim Duncan is a complete hack in my book. I am not a Spurs fan at all but I have always been impressed by Tim Duncan, reaching right back to his days at Wake.

[PhatTBoll]

Sweet Jesus, they did it. Duncan shuts up the haters and gets his third ring. I love it.

Good series, Pistons.

[Aytumious]

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HAHAHahA was the Euro guy kissing Barry?

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Possibly. Fortunately many other cultures aren't as homophobic as the US.

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wrong. Fortunately the US is more homophobic than other countries. I don't need to be worrying about some dude planting one me in leau of a high five!

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Well, if your a player you'll probably get an ass slap out of it. The US likes to keep its sexuality thinly veiled like that.

Anyway, congrats to the Spurs. They are an excellent team and I really like their players. Best run franchise in the NBA.

[istewart]

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79-73, try to miss it, no?

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I agree, seems like the move to make.

Very good game all around. Tight calls at the beginning, though, for sure.

[istewart]

I really liked Barry in this series, BTW. At least it was more fun to watch than Parker missing SHOT AFTER SHOT AFTER SHOT.

[mmbt0ne]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">En réponse à:</font><hr />
I really liked Barry in this series, BTW. At least it was more fun to watch than Parker missing SHOT AFTER SHOT AFTER SHOT.

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Next year, Parker and Hunter should go 1 on 1 in 7 games of HORSE for the title.

PIG if that takes too long.

[AngryCola]

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79-74, try to miss it, no?

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No.

It was beginning to get close to the time you would purposely miss a free throw, but there was still enough time... barely.

[Phoenix1010]

Ugh. I really want to write a long essay on what exactly happened in this game. I'll try to keep this short, feel free to skip it.

There were two interacting factors that mattered much more than anything else in determining this entire series, and especially this game (and any important game in any sport): confidence, and momentum. The Spurs' most important players have had almost zero confidence since game 2. The reason for this had been Detroit's suffocating five man team defense. They did not let them get anything easy, did not let them get going, did not let them get any momentum, and they did this constantly and successfully for 4 and a half games.

The absolute key to this was always Duncan. The Spurs go as Duncan goes. Detroit made sure to always either have Rasheed (one of the only players in the league who can shut Duncan down one on one) or a combination of Wallace/McDeiss on Duncan at all times. He simply could not beat this defensive scheme. He could not get going, he lost his confidence, he couldn't gain any momentum, the team fell flat.

Then look what happened in the third quarter. A few terrible first half calls mixed with some reasonable third quarter ones, and Rasheed and McDeiss both get into serious foul trouble at the same time. Brown sits them both and tries to go small for a few minutes, playing Prince at the 4, and playing Wallace one on one with Duncan. That was the only window of opportunity Duncan needed. Ben Wallace's strength is his help defense, and Prince's is his on the ball defense. This combination had no chance of keeping Duncan contained. Duncan scores a few buckets, realizes that these guys can't stop him, and although he doesn't take over the game right there, he gets his confidence back. He scores some buckets, he gets more aggressive, he demands double teams, and he involves his teammates.

All of a sudden the floor opens up, Duncan starts making better decisions, starts running the offense from the post, spotting open teammates and opening up driving lanes for Ginobli. He starts playing like an MVP again, and the team rallies around it's leader. Ginobli and the rest start taking advantage of the momentum that Duncan has created, the crowd goes bananas, and Detroit is on it's heels. Even when Detroit's best team comes back, it's too late; the mental dominance that they had worked so hard to create is gone, and the Spurs are playing like the team we saw in the first two games. The momentum is squarely in the hands of the other team. Rip Hamilton plays the rest of the game with both hands around his neck, Chauncey runs into a brick wall named Bowen (the real MVP of this series I tell you. Btw, if Pop had kept him on Rip in the fourth, the Pistons would have won this game, Chauncey is that good), and Rasheed can't do it all by himself.

That third quarter window was the absolute turning point in this series. Detroit had this game in hand until that point. They were literally forced to let their guard down, and a sleeping giant awoke. Yes Duncan came alive, but he only came alive because he was handed that opportunity to get his head on straight. Too many ifs in this game, but there's one thing I'm sure of: if those first half touch fouls don't get called, Detroit wins this game, handily. Still, it ended up being a great game, and a great series. I'm sure David Stern is happy that the more exciting team won.

[andyfox]

I thought Pop was going to kill him when he fouled Hamilton driving to the basket for a concession shot near the end.