The Game.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

He went over and above earning it tonight. He was as big as it gets at the biggest moments. Gotta give him props.

Yup. If he was just a little less brilliant we take the series. He carried the Heat for the last 5 quarters and won the thing. Love him or hate him, you've gotta respect what he did.

[dylankerouac]

Credit to the Heat for hitting their mid range shots tonight. It frustrated me how the Spurs were either driving or shooting a three. They completely forgot about the mid-range game during the latter part of the series. IMHO they needed to take some of those too so that Miami respected the mid range game too, I'm sure it would of opened more up and Miami wasn't going to be expecting it, that's for sure.

Duncan also turned away from his high post shots, he hits these at a great percentage but he decides to go away from it as the Spurs get closer to ending the season. I remember he went away from it against OKC too last season. If we win next year I firmly believe its because Duncan sticks with those shots. Every season he trusts them just a little bit more.

I hope Green and Kawhi can bring more to the table next year, especially if Green can handle the ball better.

I'd like to see Tony hungry for the whole season and playoffs. Healthy enough to hit midrange shots (and continue with some surprising threes) at a good percentage.

[Darius McCrary]

It's not this game. It's the series he played so poorly it cost the Spurs #5

I agree, but you can follow cause and effect and blame Pop for not finding more backcourt help and realizing before we got here that Manu was not cut out for doing what we want him to do anymore.
Actually, I think it was Harlem who posted sometime in March that Pop needed to start running offense through Kawhi or it would cost us.
Kawhi didn't start becoming a focal point of this offense until game 7 of the NBA finals. And he played solid. Better than Manu. For some reason, we went away from that in the 2nd half, but the fact of the matter is if you blame Manu for sucking, it's tantamount to blaming Bonner for sucking in the playoffs. Sometimes bad players are put in a position to fail.

Not that I personally blame Pop. I'm just saying, if you blame Manu, you may be misdirecting your blame.

[ElNono]

As I said yesterday, I have no problem with people putting this series on Manu. But if there's anything that 'changes' here is that Manu can't consistently be the '3' in the big 3. That role needs to go to Kawhi now. Manu can still play Neal's role (much better than Neal), and be the 4th/5th best guy. But he has to decide to come back for that. I hope he does. I think he can be valuable in that role.

Lebron was beast. What else can you say after a game like that.

[DPG21920]

I agree, but you can follow cause and effect and blame Pop for not finding more backcourt help and realizing before we got here that Manu was not cut out for doing what we want him to do anymore.
Actually, I think it was Harlem who posted sometime in March that Pop needed to start running offense through Kawhi or it would cost us.
Kawhi didn't start becoming a focal point of this offense until game 7 of the NBA finals. And he played solid. Better than Manu. For some reason, we went away from that in the 2nd half, but the fact of the matter is if you blame Manu for sucking, it's tantamount to blaming Bonner for sucking in the playoffs. Sometimes bad players are put in a position to fail.

Not that I personally blame Pop. I'm just saying, if you blame Manu, you may be misdirecting your blame.

If TP can continually get better at his age, Duncan too, Manu should at least be able to stay mentally strong IMO enough not to derail things. I can't blame Pop for trusting Manu. I trust Manu. I would have done the same thing and gone with him. But when you are at the point where you not playing would have equaled a le that's on Manu. Physical decline or not, you can be a savvy player and help. He hurt the team.

I will always appreciate Manu but I will forever slightly resent him for this. Those talking about him returning, which I want, better drastically alter their money amount though. If you cost a team a le, are injury prone and disminished to the point you can no longer be relief upon to be great against bench players you need to be paid accordingly.

My concern is (and we will see if its valid) is that with the greatness of Tim will he ever trust Manu again? Will pop?

[Darius McCrary]

If TP can continually get better at his age, Duncan too, Manu should at least be able to stay mentally strong IMO enough not to derail things. I can't blame Pop for trusting Manu. I trust Manu. I would have done the same thing and gone with him. But when you are at the point where you not playing would have equaled a le that's on Manu. Physical decline or not, you can be a savvy player and help. He hurt the team.

I will always appreciate Manu but I will forever slightly resent him for this. Those talking about him returning, which I want, better drastically alter their money amount though. If you cost a team a le, are injury prone and disminished to the point you can no longer be relief upon to be great against bench players you need to be paid accordingly.

My concern is (and we will see if its valid) is that with the greatness of Tim will he ever trust Manu again? Will pop?

Dude I'm pretty much full on board with everything you said. But I just don't blame him as singularly as you do. Maybe it's a coping mechanism, but the fact remains (in my mind) the Heat were the better team. Manu didn't make James hit that 2nd 3. Manu didn't make Ray Allen hit a perfectly defended clutch 3. Manu didn't force James and Battier to go god-mode tonight.

[Budkin]

Sadly, the 2013 Playoff Run will be remembered for the biggest Choke Job in History.

Life sucks sometimes... it's now our Redsox 86, Rangers 2011 moment. At least we've won 4 les in recent years.

[Sean Cagney]

Sadly, the 2013 Playoff Run will be remembered for the biggest Choke Job in History.

Dallas up 2-0 and up 15 late in game three! STFU! LA with Magic in 86, watch what happened there! There has been alot worse than one game here! Come on bro! LOL BIGGEST CHOKE job in history.

Life sucks sometimes... it's now our Redsox 86, Rangers 2011 moment. At least we've won 4 les in recent years.

That is what will keep us sane! If we lost those before and this one, we are on suicide watch right now! DAMN I can not imagine!

[DPG21920]

Agreed on a momentary look but boiled down none of that would have mattered if Manu just plays bad vs catastrophic. He didnt have to be great, just not terrible. He was terrible. I'm not second guessing Pop or TP/TD for trusting him either. I'm saying this marks the first time, due to age/cir stance that he can't and won't be trusted. To me, that changes everything.

[Arcadian]

This team has been on an upward trajectory for the past three years.

2011: First round loss
2012: Conference finals loss
2013: NBA Finals loss
2014: ???

[Sean Cagney]

This team has been on an upward trajectory for the past three years.

2011: First round loss
2012: Conference finals loss
2013: NBA Finals loss
2014: ???

Get a few new faces and???????? WHO KNOWS.

[Budkin]

Might take another 10 years but with the way this franchise is run we'll be ok.

[dbreiden83080]

This team has been on an upward trajectory for the past three years.

2011: First round loss
2012: Conference finals loss
2013: NBA Finals loss
2014: ???

I actually like our chances next year.. Manu needs to be downgraded or just go so KL can flourish..

[Bill_Brasky]

Woulda been nice to have Captain Jack.

[Capt Bringdown]

More reason to accept and swallow the fact that Miami was the better team. Props.

Words of wisdom, painful as they may be. Spurs weren't at best for just a second in game 6, and Miami capitalized like the champions they are. They won the series at that moment.
Can't say the Spurs didn't have a chance to respond.
They just weren't good enough.

[John B]

Congratulations to the Heat. But hats off to the Spurs for giving everything they got. I didn't even expect them to be in the finals at the start of the season, and to be on game 7 against LeBron's team and had a chance to win. Wow. My congratulations to the Spurs organization. I don't know what the future brings. We might have seen the last time the big three together. I surely hope not. But we have young players who would be better, Kawhi will be a superstar, and hopefully we pick-up another athletic scorer. Spurs will just be hungrier and better. Thank you for the great season. Go Spurs Go!

[jmanu20]

LeBron and Battier enter the game shooting less than 30% on threes. They go 11-for-18 on threes.

Well done, Miami.

Salt in the wound for San Antonio.

The difference maker bar none in my opinion. Bosh, Miller, AND Allen were scoreless. If Battier hits 3 less threes, the Spurs win.

Damn.

[smaka]

Screw those Miami threes. Scrub Battier hits 6 threes in a game 7, when he was bricking every shot he took in previous games or series. It hurts.

[sanman53]

The Spurs looked like they were playing to 'survive', to not get blown out, rather than 'knock the stuffing out of them'.

[boutons_deux]

As bad as Manu was, Tony and Danny, if they had delivered their average games, could have compensated, but they were too below average in games 6,7.

[Soul_Patch]

The Heat seemed to get every bounce and fluke ball when they needed it most. The Spurs couldn't buy a run to save their life. They just couldn't catch a break. I kept telling my wife, they just need that one small run to get a few points of separation. When they looked like they may get it, they would miss a wide open layup that bounced right to a Heat players hands and ended in a dunk or layup, or even worse, 3 pointer, on the other end.

[jjktkk]

As bad as Manu was, Tony and Danny, if they had delivered their average games, could have compensated, but they were too below average in games 6,7.

Tony is arguably our best player. And he was shut down the past couple of games in this series. Wheres james took over games, Tony did/could not.

[HB22inSA]

The Heat seemed to get every bounce and fluke ball when they needed it most. The Spurs couldn't buy a run to save their life. They just couldn't catch a break. I kept telling my wife, they just need that one small run to get a few points of separation. When they looked like they may get it, they would miss a wide open layup that bounced right to a Heat players hands and ended in a dunk or layup, or even worse, 3 pointer, on the other end.

Spot on.

You just had the feeling the Spurs were never getting over the hump. The Chalmers 3 made me realize it was the Heat's night.

But even with all of the fluke shooting and Lebron in superstar mode, the Spurs had a chance.

Can't ask for much more on the road in a Game 7.