*Giants fans may disagree but Bochy is a good manager.
Now I want to make one thing clear, the Heat did a lot to win this game. Lebron is absolutely terrifying when he starts posting up. He reminds me of Tim Duncan and Shaq in the early 00's. Chris Bosh's defense at the end of the game was tremendous. They don't win that game without him. Other than that though, Pop blew this game for San Antonio and here are the biggest reasons:
- Left the lineup on Splitter and Manu in way too long during the beginning of the 2nd and 4th quarters. I know he's trying to get Parker and Duncan rest but that lineup is being gutted by the Spurs.
- Pop needs to leave his loyalty in the locker room. One of the impressive things about Bochy in the Giants two championship years is that he left his loyalty in the locker room. He benched Pablo Sandoval because he played like crap and that helped the Giants. Pop needs to do the same thing with Manu. Manu played way too long, made way too many dumb decisions, committed way too many turnovers. Boris Diaw has been the best defender on Lebron the past two games. Leonard and Green have been his best outside shooters. Less of Manu and more of the other guys.
- This was the biggest killer, needing one rebound to finish off the game and series and Pop took out Tim Duncan. Absolutely incredible. He needs one rebound and he takes out Duncan. Miami is wondering what happened to their season right now if Pop doesn't take out Duncan in the final seconds of the game.
Game 7 can go either way now. I've personally saw two game 7's in 2002 go either way for my teams after devastating game 6 losses. The Spurs can either roll over and die (like the Giants did in the World Series) or they can fight back and either earn a hard fought victory or a devastating loss (like the Kings in the WCF). Gut feeling right now is the former even if Pop makes all the right decisions in that game. Game 6 was just too devastating emotionally and physically. I hope I'm wrong.
Is there an example of a team that blew Game 6 late coming back and winning a Game 7 on the road in a championship series?
ReplyDeleteOff the top of my head: 85 Cardinals, 86 Red Sox, 91 Braves, 94 Knicks, 02 Giants, 10 Celtics, 11 Rangers all lost late in Game 6 and ended up losing the 7th game as well. The only one that comes close is the 05 Spurs, but they had the 6th & 7th games at home.