Culture of Hoops

Poor defense doused Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals

Baller Mind Frame’s No Layups brings you the hottest NBA stories on the web mixed with personal opinion from our very own Aaron Lanton. Check it often and absorb the knowledge we’re dropping on you!

Did the San Antonio Spurs even play last night? According to the chorus of sports media, the only thing that happened was a short film about LeBron James cramping Game 1 of the 2014 Finals thanks to a broken air conditioner.

Confirmed: LeBron James is human. We can ponder this new fact another time. Let’s talk about the real culprit of the Miami Heat’s loss, porous fourth quarter defense.

The San Antonio Spurs shot 14 of 16 from the field including hitting all six three-pointers. No defender is so good that their absence allows the opponent to shoot 87.5 % from the field for a quarter. James left the game with 3:59 remaining in the fourth so he was present for much of that offensive onslaught; hobbled but on the floor.

Some other numbers jump out when perusing the box score:

  • The Spurs committed 22 turnovers but won by 15 points thanks to shooting 59 % from the field.
  • Outside of Ray Allen, the Heat bench scored a total of 4 points.
  • Manu Ginobili started off the game 3 of 3 from the field, all three pointers, with 9 points in his first four minutes on the floor. Ginobili scored 7 points and shot 2 of 7 from the field the rest of the way.
  • Tim Duncan scored 21 points on 9 of 10 shooting. Rashard Lewis, who started at power forward for the Heat, is sometimes the primary defender on Duncan. This probably needs to change. Is it time for some Greg Oden?
  • Mario Chalmers was called for 5 fouls in his first 13 minutes on the floor.

This series is just getting started but it looks destined to be a classic. Both teams are striving to secure their legacies against the best teams of their generation. Sunday can’t come soon enough.

Featured image courtesy of Stab at Sleep/Flickr.

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