No way a three time MVP should be watching Mario chalmers carry his team in a key playoff road game.

[This message has been edited by Jacques (edited 5/17/2012 8:43p).]

Wade is killing this team so far in this series without Bosh.

i hope the nba officials protect the heat all the way to the finals....the spurs or thunder will abuse them

they're protecting the Heat today? you can't be serious?

If Bosh is back, the Heat are an absolutely horrible matchup for the Spurs.

The Heat don't get calls. Lebron is fouled nearly every time he is at the hoop

Pacers with about 5 terrible possessions in a row

You'll hear nobody on this board whine about Collison's flop and the Chalmer's forearm.

the heat arent competing against the spurs or thunder, with or without bosh

Now that is the kind of performance I expect from an MVP. Wade & James dominated the 3rd quarter and saved the Heat season. Haslem hit some big shots down the stretch.

40, 18, 9, 2, 2 for Lebron.

That's an all time great performance, especially early when Wade couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and the Heat down immediately.

[This message has been edited by Bunk Moreland (edited 5/20/2012 5:09p).]

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If Bosh is back, the Heat are an absolutely horrible matchup for the Spurs.

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How so? Duncan/Diaw will eat them alive, Leonard/Jackson/Green/Manu will cover Lebron/Wade as well as anyone can, and most importantly the Spurs will just keep coming all game, all series with fresh legs.

The Spurs are a better version of the Pacers, and the Heat aren't exactly dominating this series.

vogel needed to come back with west and hibbert sooner....the heat were on the ropes with the lead down to one, and the pacer scrubs got murdered back to nine down...barbosa cost them big down the stretch

I don't understand why the Pacers didn't press their advantage down low early in the second half, before Hibbert got in foul trouble. They never got him the ball in the low block when Haslem and Anthony both had 4 fouls, he only had 2, and the Heat were on a run.

That would have slowed down the Lebron/Wade show and forced the Heat to pick between giving up easy baskets, fouling out Haslem/Anthony, or collapsing to the paint and opening up the shooters.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 5/20/2012 5:24p).]

Spurs play as a team. Heat does not. That was the key to the Mavs winning last year.

Spurs will beat them if OKC doesn't beat them in the WCF.

this series is obviously still in doubt, but with that kind of performance from 2 guys to win a game when the other team was on the edge of putting the heat out of their misery, it is definitely trending back towards Miami, and I could see it ending in 6. Pacers need to mentally rebound and spin this as it being exactly what the series should be after 4, now go steal a game in miami blah blah...but if the Heat get by the Pacers(who IMO are their toughest opponent the rest of the way in the east), I think they could beat Boston or (obviously) Philly without Bosh.

The entire key to the cog is whether Bosh is gonna come back and at what kind of health. If he can return healthy I think the Heat are a top 3 team in the NBA with the Spurs and Thunder...but if he doesn't, just crown the western winner the champ, because the Heat will have to scratch and claw as long as Bosh stays out of that lineup.

Lebron is using so much energy playing down low and taking the beating of a big man that it is bound to start making a true difference. Wade is a big question mark on his health, although today looked great after his awful start in the 1st.

Heat have the makeup when all healthy, but are loaded with question marks. They may not make it out of this series ,but if they do, they'll be in the finals. At that point, the finals even being a competition of not will depend on Bosh.

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How so? Duncan/Diaw will eat them alive, Leonard/Jackson/Green/Manu will cover Lebron/Wade as well as anyone can, and most importantly the Spurs will just keep coming all game, all series with fresh legs.

The Spurs are a better version of the Pacers, and the Heat aren't exactly dominating this series.

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The Spurs have the better overall bigs offensively and a huge plus at PG that the Pacers don't have, but Ginobili, Jackson, Green, and Leonard can't come close to matching what Granger, George, and West a little bit bring as far as length, speed and athleticism in stopping Wade and Lebron. If you don't have the size and athletes to at least neutralize those 2, the Heat have shown that they'll just run you over. Just look at how they beat the Bulls last season.

Duncan and Diaw could potentially pose a problem, but so long as Bosh is healthy and able to assert himself and Wade and Lebron are attacking the hoop, they'll be gassed on the other end of the floor.

Parker would be the scary piece for the Heat, but with Battier in the fold, the Heat now have 3 lengthy, quick, and very good backcourt defenders. The Heat have constantly shut down pretty much every backcourt they've faced this season... that'd be big trouble for the Spur's offense.

Of all of the teams left, the Heat are the absolute worst matchup for the Spurs.

Junk, you're blinded by your Lebron hate if it takes 40-18-9 to get respect out of you.

the only reason I think the Heat could be a potentially tough matchup for the Spurs is because Lebron could guard TP and at least make him work...because Chalmers and Cole would get abused.

However, if Bosh stays out, then Lebron will not be able to guard TP the entire game, and TP would slice and dice the Heat.

It is all about Bosh getting healthy.

I agree with the above post that the Spurs defenders on LBJ and Wade are not as effective(other than depth) than the Pacers because the Pacers pose serious size mismatches right now. A 6'8 top 20 NBA defender in Paul George on Wade, and the entire team on Lebron(who is going undersized in matchups due to bosh's injury) is a very tough matchup.

However, Spurs are a better team than the Pacers.

At this point, don't know who would win if the Spurs and Heat matched up at full health, but I'd now think Spurs in 6 or 7.

kawhi is every bit as good as george on defense, fwiw

Ok... so you put Leonard on Lebron... he likely still abuses Leonard pretty much all game like he is George or anyone else who's faced him this season. Then who slows Wade down? Jackson or Ginobili? Both are great players, but neither have the athleticism to hold up to Wade at this point in their career.

you obviously dont understand how the spurs play...they dont need to one on one anybody to dominate them on defense

tim also wont be committing dumb fouls down the stretch a la hibbert, and the heat have no one who can guard duncan in the post or parker and manu off screens...lebron will get screened off the ball handler every possession

No... they don't and neither does anybody else. But you obviously don't understand how the Heat play. They spread and slash. If you don't have a ton of length on defense on the wings, you better have a lot of it inside. Splitter and Duncan are adequate... but that's all the length they've got who can protect the rim. If the Spurs have to run Blair, Bonner, or Diaw out there to defend the Heat's attack for any amount of time... sucks, but that's big trouble for them.

Anyhow, I wish Spurs fans wouldn't get so offended by this. I'm just stating fact... Miami is an awful matchup for the Spurs. They only played once and it was without Wade, but the Heat pretty much did what they wanted to on the Spurs in the second half once the team was gassed.

Not trying to dog any team... mine is gone and I have no dog in the fight... the Spurs should root hard for Miami to go down though. That sort of team is their kryptonite.

not really, spurs kryptonite is a team with a big interior defensive presence that clogs the lane and bigs that can step out on d, something heat dont have regardless of bosh...

the spurs have enough perimeter size to keep the heat from going apesheet, their lone regular season meeting in miami doesnt tell us much at all

[This message has been edited by aggie_2001_2005 (edited 5/20/2012 7:05p).]

You're right on Duncan, but that's where Bosh comes in. A great post defender Bosh is not, but Duncan is 36... he can and does wear down much easier at this stage. Bosh can do enough on the offensive end to really wear bigs down. Combine that with Lebron and Wade flying in every other possesion and it does take a lot out of a big man, wears them down, and gets them into foul trouble. It's what they did to Chandler this year, Garnett last season, and most bigs they play.

It's easy to declare Duncan a huge mismatch in the post, but it's funny how pretty much no team can actually execute to take advantage of their advantages down low. That's because Miami throws a lot of stuff at big men on defense... the part of basketball where attacking wears opponents down is vastly overlooked.

like i said, its clear you havent seen the spurs play lately, they are probably too boring for your taste

Doesn't tell you much... except that once Duncan gassed, Lebron basically ran the team over.

It's an awful matchup for the Spurs. Don't cry about it.

When you have athletic freaks like Wade and Lebron who can cut off slashers like Ginobili and Parker, you don't need a lot of defense on the inside.

[This message has been edited by ATM9000 (edited 5/20/2012 7:10p).]

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Anyhow, I wish Spurs fans wouldn't get so offended by this. I'm just stating fact... Miami is an awful matchup for the Spurs.

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I'm not offended, you're just wrong. The Grizzlies and Lakers are examples of bad matchups. Even though neither team is good enough to beat the Spurs, they have roughly the right composition (more than one big, strong post presence plus depth at G/F) to give the Spurs trouble. The Heat are not a bad matchup. They have no strong post presences and no depth at G/F.

The Heat consist of 3 good players and nothing else. The Spurs will run them to death on offense and limit them more than people expect on defense. You're mistaking a bad positional mismatch for a bad team mismatch. Lebron and Wade will probably combine for 50 a night, but it won't matter and the Heat will lose the series. They can't protect the rim or the three point line from the Spurs. Spoelstra is badly overmatched against Popovich.

The one game between the teams was in Miami before the Spurs picked up Diaw and Jackson and while Ginobili was out with an injury. The Spurs started Jefferson and Blair, and at that time Cory Joseph was still getting 10 mpg.

It wouldn't be an easy series for the Spurs; the Heat are a good team and would probably win a couple games, but ultimately they will not be able to run with the Spurs.

The team I'm worried about right now is the Thunder. They have a three-headed monster in the backcourt, all of whom can score in a variety of ways, plus strong post presences on defense in Perkins and Ibaka. They have the talent level that the Grizzlies don't and the chemistry that the Lakers lack; fortunately, they don't have post scorers.

Dwight should go to the Thunder. No way they could afford him though.

They won't be able to pay any 3 of Durant/Howard/Westbrook/Beard and still be able to afford quality role players.

40/18/9 is unreal.