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Bovada.lv has released the odds on the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. The Heat are 5-12 favorites to win, the Spurs come in at 2-1.

A few more key odds:

NBA Finals MVP
LeBron James 4/9
Dwyane Wade 8/1
Chris Bosh 20/1
Chris Andersen 99/1
Any other Heat Player 35/1
Tony Parker 9/2
Tim Duncan 7/1
Manu Ginobili 20/1
Kawhi Leonard 30/1
Any Other Spurs Player 30/1

Exact Series Result
Miami Heat 4-0 7/1
Miami Heat 4-1 19/4
Miami Heat 4-2 11/4
Miami Heat 4-3 10/3
San Antonio Spurs 4-0 18/1
San Antonio Spurs 4-1 17/2
San Antonio Spurs 4-2 7/1
San Antonio Spurs 4-3 7/1

Total Games in Series
Over 5.5 1/2
Under 5.5 8/5

Dwyane Wade and Tim Duncan being so close for series MVP is kind of an eyebrow-raiser. The Heat-in-six is the obvious answer for the most likely result. The 19-4 Heat-in-five is kind of exciting, as is the 7-1 Spurs-in-six. If you're confident in the Spurs, throwing in with Parker for MVP at 9-2 is pretty transparent.

The Heat being favored isn't surprising, but watching the public action on San Antonio might be something to keep an eye on before Thursday.

The Heat have opened up as 5-1/2-point favorites for Game 1 Thursday in Miami.

Chris Bosh could very well be rejuvenated. At least, he should feel like Chris Bosh again.

When the Miami Heat take on the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals, Bosh could be a player to watch. Even before the Heat beat the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, TNT analyst Steve Kerr envisioned how Bosh might react if the Heat advanced.

"Chris Bosh in particular would feel like he's getting out of jail," Kerr said. "Not that San Antonio is a slouch defensively, but it's a different game, a more free-flowing game. They don't beat you up. They beat you with execution. Bosh would be more in his element." Against the Pacers, Bosh had his worst playoff series since the construction of the Big 3 in 2010. He was limited by Indiana's defense and slowed by an ankle injury.

Bosh's teammate, guard Dwyane Wade (bruised right knee) ran into similar problems. Even though he managed to average 15.4 points, his highest series average this postseason, he still wasn't himself.

Bosh shot 37.7% against and averaged 11 points and 4.3 rebounds. Wade shot 11-for-34 combined in Games 4, 5 and 6. But don't assume that the offensive struggles Wade and Bosh had against Indiana will duplicate against the Spurs. San Antonio doesn't play the bruising style of defense like the Pacers.

"Hopefully, we can get them activated to their normal comfort level," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "I liked where they left off in Game 7. Both of them were very aggressive. They're more comfortable in that game. So as long as they're aggressive and they're attacking within what they do, that's the key."

Not only is it obvious the Heat are at their best when LeBron James, Wade and Bosh are thriving in sync, it increases their chances of winning. Their production also creates better shots for their teammates, making Miami difficult to defend. Wade and Bosh were more aggressive in Game 7 against Indiana, and especially Wade, who had 21 points and nine rebounds, including six offensive boards, and they are looking for more and better opportunities against the Spurs.

"Obviously, we've only done a little preparation so far," Wade said. "As we get into practice and as we get a little bit more into the film, we'll see where opportunities will be different. Obviously every series is different. The Pacers presented a different challenge to us than the Spurs. But they will present a challenge as well. So we'll get to the game plan. … Hopefully I get my opportunities to be aggressive offensively." The Pacers packed the lane, preventing Wade and Bosh from getting their regular opportunities near the basket. Pacers center Roy Hibbert and forward David West muscled around Bosh, and Indiana's perimeter defenders and rim protectors made scoring difficult for Wade.

Not that the Spurs don't have size and strength. They do. They just use it differently than the Pacers, and the Spurs are more willing to play smaller lineups than the Pacers. The Heat prefer when teams match up against their small lineup because they feel they have a decided advantage offensively.

"It will be a different type of series. It definitely will," Spurs center Tim Duncan said. "It will be more up-tempo, more wide open. But the physicality will definitely be there."

The physical nature of the Pacers got to Bosh in the conference finals. He had four games with four or less rebounds and had only one game with more than five rebounds – eight in Game 7.

Spoelstra wants to see the determined play from that game carry over into the Finals. If San Antonio goes with a smaller lineup at times, it gives both Wade and Bosh more options – either driving to the basket or taking jump shots.

Bosh has had success against the Spurs since joining the Heat. While it is just five games, Bosh averages 23.6 points and 9.4 rebounds and shoots 60.1% from the field against the Spurs.

"I don't really like to think too much," Bosh said. "I just like to go and play the game. Each game is different. I do want to establish myself early in the game and in the series to be a threat like normal."

On Wednesday, Bosh professed that his shooting troubles had more to do with him than what the Pacers did defensively. He said he wasn't balanced when shooting.

"If I'm on balance, everything else falls into place," Bosh said. "I wasn't on balance the first few games – really for a while now. That's neither here nor there. I still have to execute it. It's a great stage to make sure I play well.

"I had freedom last series. I just didn't make shots. I missed wide-open ones. I didn't finish around the rim."

Bosh and the Heat can't afford that for another series.









Heat's Chris Bosh looks for resurgence in NBA Finals

Tony Parker banked in a 16-footer with 5.2 seconds left for the last of his 21 points and the San Antonio Spurs stunned the Miami Heat 92-88 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night.

Tim Duncan had 20 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks, and Manu Ginobili scored 13 points for the Spurs, who are in the finals for the first time since 2007 and are pursuing their fifth championship.

LeBron James had 18 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists for his 10th career playoff triple-double and Dwyane Wade scored 17 for the defending champion Heat. But James made just 7 of 16 shots, missing his last shot in the final 5 seconds, and managed his lowest scoring output of the playoffs.

Kawhi Leonard deserves most of the credit for that, with the 6-foot-7 wing player hounding James on the perimeter all night long and not backing down.

Game 2 is Sunday night in Miami.

These Spurs were supposed to be rusty after a nine-day layoff and Duncan showed some signs of that early with an 0-for-5 start. But once those 37-year-old bones got going, the Spurs showed that this will series will be anything but a coronation for King James.

The Spurs trailed for most of the first three quarters, but Duncan kept the Heat from running away by controlling the paint and moving the ball. Parker's two free throws gave San Antonio a 77-76 lead in the fourth quarter and Duncan's putback pushed the lead to 83-79 with 5:30 to go.

James scored on two straight Miami possessions and Ray Allen hit three free throws to make it 88-86 Spurs with 1:28 to go.

Duncan hit two free throws and Chris Bosh missed an open 3-pointer on the other end and Parker finished off the Heat with a shot clock-beating, leaner after falling to his knees, just in front of James that gave the Spurs their final margin of victory.

Leonard had 10 points and 10 rebounds in a remarkable NBA Finals debut.

Unlike Indiana, which had several big, strong perimeter defenders to throw at James in their seven-game Eastern Conference finals clash, the Spurs entered the season relying on Leonard to get the job done.

Leonard picked up two quick fouls, as did Duncan, while trying to deal with the MVP's aggressive attacks on the rim. But he didn't commit another one for the rest of the game.

Bosh finished with 13 points and the big man was 0 for 4 from 3-point range and Wade was held scoreless in the fourth quarter after a vintage first 36 minutes.

The much-hyped matchup of past vs. present was every bit the air-tight, back-and-forth affair most expected. Each time Wade and the Heat appeared to be taking control in the first 36 minutes, Duncan and the Spurs clamped down on defense, got a quick bucket on the other end and halted the Miami burst.

Bosh's spinning layup gave the Heat a seven-point lead early in the third quarter, but the Spurs fired right back with a 6-0 surge to keep it close.

Everyone expected James to take charge right away in this series, just as he has for the last two years. His triple-double -- 26 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds -- clinched his first title in Game 5 against Oklahoma City last year, and he reached that plateau again early in the fourth quarter.

But the scoring wasn't there like it has been all playoffs, and when Wade disappeared in the fourth, the Heat were in big trouble.

After a quiet start, Wade asserted himself in the second quarter, showing plenty of spring in his step while barreling toward the rim like the Wade of old. He scored six straight points midway through the second quarter when James went to the bench, giving the Heat a 44-38 lead.

But the Spurs got a throwback performance of their own from the 37-year-old Duncan, who hit a 20-foot jumper just before the first half buzzer sounded to keep the game every bit as tight as this entire series is expected to be.

James bulled to the bucket in transition to score on a layup, then fed Norris Cole for Miami's sixth 3-pointer of the first half for a 38-29 lead before hitting the bench for the first time.

The Spurs swept Memphis in the Western Conference finals to give banged up veterans Manu Ginobili, Parker and Duncan some much-needed recovery time while the Heat suffered through a rugged seven-game series against the Indiana Pacers.

The last time the Spurs were here, they won their fourth title by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers and a young LeBron James in 2007. Now Duncan, Parker and Ginobili are on one last ride, one final push. And again, James stands in their way.

Read More: Tony Parker leads Spurs over Heat in Game 1 of NBA Finals - NBA - SI-com

LeBron James needed almost 12 full minutes before scoring his first points. He missed 10 of his first 13 shots. He wore a wrap on his knee and put on a display that won't be remembered for offensive brilliance.

But what he did Sunday night in Game 2 of the NBA Finals was unforgettable.

At least, what he did in a 38-second span of Game 2 was unforgettable.

A sensational block on a dunk try. An assist to set up a 3-pointer. A deflection, a runout and then a slam of his own, twisting on the rim and waving his arms for good measure as the Miami Heat celebrated. The best player in the game saved his best for last, sealing what became a blowout win for the Heat, 103-84 over the San Antonio Spurs to knot the NBA Finals at a game apiece.

Game 3 is Tuesday night in San Antonio.

"LeBron couldn't get into a rhythm early on and other guys stepped up," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "He showed great poise and trust in not getting caught up in feeling like he had to make `the play' or score, but rather he would facilitate or let other guys make plays. And that's what they did."

When the Heat lose games, they typically respond by blowing out their next opponent, and this one was no different. Contributions came from everywhere -- Mario Chalmers scored 19 points, Ray Allen added 13, Chris Bosh had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Dwyane Wade finished with 10 points.

The Heat were balanced, efficient and rode a huge 19-2 edge in points off turnovers. And for three quarters, James was far from his usually offensively dominant self, yet controlled play in other ways.

"He played solid basketball," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He played good D. He took what was available, read the defense, involved his teammates. He did a fine job."

In the fourth quarter, he just found another level.

This game's signature sequence was turned in by James starting with about 8 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Tiago Splitter took a pass from Tony Parker and tried to dunk on the league's reigning MVP, which was the mistake James needed someone to make.

He blocked Splitter's dunk at the rim, standing behind the play as the building started to roar.

James said he had one thought: "Just make a play."

He wound up doing far more than that, of course.

"A lot of players wouldn't go for that," Spoelstra said. "The risk-reward, they weigh that right away and the possibility of getting dunked on and being on highlight films. He's been on that highlight film both ways. It takes great courage to go up and make one of those plays."

When James rejoined the play, he found Allen for a 3-pointer that gave the Heat a 22-point lead. On the next possession, he got his hand on the ball for a deflection that led to a turnover, and Mike Miller rewarded him with an over-the-head pass down the floor.

James was all alone, went up for a slam as he faced the Heat bench, then spun around before landing in the other direction. The Spurs emptied their bench not long afterward.

"LeBron is unbelievable," Parker said.

Read more: LeBron's signature sequence seals Heat win to tie NBA finals | Fox News

Odd is the 1-1 series in the NBA Finals that doesn't feel even.

Even though the San Antonio Spurs earned a sought-after split in the first two games on the road against the Miami Heat, it feels like Miami is in control. The series moves to San Antonio for three games with the momentum in favor of the Heat after their dominating 103-84 victory in Game 2 on Sunday.

Game 3 is today (9 p.m. ET, ABC), and Miami has to feel much better about the way it played in the two games, especially in Game 2.

"We have three at home, so we're excited about that," Spurs power forward Tim Duncan said. "But if we play like we did (Sunday), that's not going to matter.

"It's about getting refocused, playing a much better game, ending quarters better and hopefully shooting better."

Here are three keys to Game 3:

1. The pressure is on the superstars to be superstars.

LeBron James heads into Game 3 feeling positive about what the Heat accomplished. They played their game — defense created offensive opportunities, and when the Heat are moving the ball and several players are making shots, they are nearly impossible to defend.

Even when James was 3-for-13 shooting after three quarters in Game 2, Miami still led by 10 points. What he was lacking in the scoring column, he was making up for running the offense.

"What I do know is sharing the ball is contagious, and it allows everyone to feel involved in the offense," James said. "I know I attract a lot of attention. This team has been set up the right way where when I do attract attention, we have guys that can make plays." With that said, the Heat need James to be better. When the Heat won 27 consecutive games, the second-longest winning streak in NBA history, James averaged 27 points a game. In the two games against San Antonio, he's averaging 17.5.

If San Antonio continues to focus its defensive efforts on James, Miami's shooters will continue to find open shots. If they make shots, James eventually will get his chances. If the Spurs decide to stop the shooters, James will get better opportunities earlier. When Miami has it going with James and its shooters, it becomes a game of pick your poison for the opponent.

Spurs point guard Tony Parker is the unequivocal head of this Spurs' snake. And lest San Antonio go down 2-1 in the series, he simply must take better care of the ball in Game 3.



Everything rides on the stars for NBA Finals Game 3

Danny Green and Gary Neal aren't NBA royalty like LeBron James.

Either undrafted or unwanted, they were once more likely to be found playing in summer league or some other country than against the mighty Miami Heat.

On Tuesday, they led the San Antonio Spurs to one of the best-shooting, biggest blowouts in NBA Finals history.

Green made seven of the Spurs' finals-record 16 3-pointers, Tim Duncan had 12 points and 14 rebounds, and the Spurs clobbered the Heat 113-77 on Tuesday night to take 2-1 lead in the series.

Green scored 27 points and Gary Neal made six 3-pointers while scoring 24 as San Antonio went 16 of 32 from behind the arc, rolling to the third-biggest victory in finals history.

"Those guys shot incredibly," Duncan said. "Gave us the breathing room when we needed it."

Neal could be even more important going forward, after starting point guard Tony Parker revealed fresh concerns about his sore hamstring. He plans to get an MRI on Wednesday.

Duncan bounced back from his worst game ever in the finals, and the Spurs' combination of fresh faces and old reliables dominated the NBA's winningest team before an eager crowd that hadn't seen the finals here since 2007.

"It shouldn't be a surprise," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "These are the last two teams standing. I don't think either one of them is going to get down if they have a bad night."

The Spurs were as good as fans remembered in the old days, shutting down James until they had built a huge lead late in the third quarter.

James finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, but missed 11 of his first 13 shots against the excellent defense of Kawhi Leonard, who had 14 points and 12 rebounds.

"Honestly, I just have to play better," James said. "I can't have a performance like tonight and expect to win."

Game 4 is Thursday here, where the Heat are 3-22 in the regular season and so far zero wins and one really bad beating in the postseason.

"We got what we deserved," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "I didn't even recognize the team that was out there tonight."

Duncan shot 3 of 13 for nine points, his worst performance ever in his 25 NBA Finals games, in the Heat's 103-84 victory Sunday. Parker wasn't much better, shooting 5 of 14 and committing five turnovers, and Manu Ginobili admitted afterward the veteran trio had to play well for the Spurs to win.

They were fine, but the lesser-knowns were better.

Parker and Ginobili combined for 14 assists, but the bigger story was the guys who had never played on this stage before.

-Neal, who went undrafted after playing for LaSalle and Towson, then playing overseas for three seasons in Italy, Spain and Turkey.

-Green, who had been cut multiple times -- including by James' Cavaliers -- and now has the shot to stick.

-Leonard, the draft-night trade acquisition from San Diego State who played the NBA's four-time MVP to a stalemate.

"It's a dream come true," Neal said. "Me and Danny both went through a lot of stuff together. We were guys that showed up two hours before practice started to get shots up and to prove to the coaching staff that we belong, and we're going to do whatever we need to do to get minutes.

"So me and Danny, we were able to play great tonight."

Mike Miller made all five 3-pointers and scored 15 points for the Heat, who broke open Sunday's game and seized momentum in the series with a 33-5 run in the second half.

The Spurs seized it right back, improving to 18-7 in the finals, the best winning percentage of any team with 20 or more games.

A brief flurry by James had Miami within 15 after three quarters, but Neal, Green and Leonard combined on a 13-0 run to open the fourth, Green's 3-pointer making it 91-63.

"All of my teammates and Pop. They do a great job of encouraging me. They continue to tell me to shoot the ball. They continue to tell me whenever I'm open, to let it fly," Green said.

The NBA hadn't made its way along San Antonio's River Walk this late in the season since 2007, and fans couldn't wait to have the Spurs back. They sang and danced and clapped around the concourse and in their seats, as if their favorite rock band had returned for a concert.

And they were thrilled to see the Duncan they recognized from his first 24 finals appearances.

He got right on the board in this one, with a short jumper 20 seconds into the game. The Spurs, who had played from behind most of the series, had a 24-20 lead after making 11 of 18 shots in the first quarter.

Duncan hit a pair of three throws and another basket, and after a jumper by Neal, he threw a long outlet to Leonard for a dunk that made it 40-30.

Neal's 3 made it 43-32, but Miller hit a pair of 3-pointers in a 12-1 run that tied it at 44 with 37 seconds in the half, the Heat appearing set to go into the half with momentum. But Parker drilled a 3 from the corner, and after Green blocked James' shot, the Spurs rushed it up for a 3-pointer by Neal that fell at the buzzer, the reserve guard pointing back toward his defenders before the Spurs headed to the locker room with a 50-44 advantage.

The party played on all right, with a huge roar when Tracy McGrady, a former perennial All-Star now in his first finals appearance as a member of the Spurs' bench, checked in midway through the fourth quarter. He was scoreless with three assists.

James started 2 for 13, then made his final four shots of the third as the Heat got within 13 before Ginobili fired a nifty pass to Tiago Splitter under the basket for a score with 0.1 seconds remaining, making it 78-63 and setting the stage for the big fourth-quarter finish.

"They came out in the third quarter and they kicked our butt pretty good and frustration started to set in," the Heat's Dwyane Wade said.

It was a potentially pivotal victory for the Spurs in their quest to go 5 for 5 in the finals. Since the NBA Finals went to a 2-3-2 format in 1985, the Game 3 winner when the series was tied

It's not what Mike Miller did in his new role as Miami Heat starter that made a dramatic impact on Game 4. It's what the Spurs didn't do about it.

Miller, the notable lineup change for Miami in Game 4, didn't score a point in 21 minutes. And it didn't matter. The San Antonio Spurs never punished the Heat for their smallball lineups. That's because their big men couldn't duplicate the damage wrought on Miami by Indiana's Roy Hibbert and David West in the Eastern Conference finals. San Antonio couldn't dictate lineups the way they did against Golden State, when the Warriors had to go big to stay with the Spurs' size.

In Miami's 109-93 victory, the dominant interior force wound up being … Chris Bosh, who blocked two shots and grabbed 13 rebounds. It started with a calamitous 47 seconds from Tiago Splitter, who caught the opening tip and promptly committed a turnover by throwing the ball to a teammate in the backcourt, then gifted Dwyane Wade with two free throws on a foul.

Gregg Popovich then sent in Gary Neal, and while Neal (like Danny Green) initially continued his hot-shooting ways, the Heat's ability to stick with its smaller lineup eventually turned the game in Miami's favor.

"It enabled them to get up and down," Green said. "It created a mismatch for us, especially with D-Wade. We had our 4 guarding him a good amount of time. It created more fouls. It allowed them to get after us defensively. They're aggressive, they rotate faster, they move the ball more. They were able to attack and get open looks."

The Heat stayed small and still managed to win the big-boy stats, categories such as points in the paint (50-38), rebounds (41-36) and blocked shots (7-4).

The Spurs could easily chalk up their Game 2 loss to missed shots and turnovers. But they have a host of issues to address for Game 5, including:

• Tony Parker's ability to provide a sustained effort while dealing with his strained hamstring. Parker got off to an excellent start, with 15 points and six assists in the first half. The quickness was there and his court awareness -- that sense of when to shoot and when to find his teammates -- was on point. But he didn't score in the second half, when he missed all four of his shots, and clearly looked worn out by the end of the third quarter.

"The first half [the hamstring] felt OK," Parker said. "The second half I think I got fatigued a little bit. But overall I'm just happy I didn't make it worse."

At least he gets two off days now to see if the injury can get better.

• Manu Ginobili's disappearance. Ginobili's poor play has gone from a footnote to a feature story, impossible to ignore after this 1-for-5 shooting night in Game 4. The ends of quarters are so critical in this series, and normally that's when Ginobili has the reins of the offense. But he has been so ineffective he's actually negating the strong play by Gary Neal, who had another great shooting performance (4-for-7 overall, 3-for-4 on 3-pointers).

• Too many turnovers. When the ball gets away from them, the ballgames get away from them. The Spurs' 19 turnovers in Game 4 give them a total of 36 in their two losses.

Duncan operated inside more than he had in previous series, but one sequence was alarming: After Duncan scored from close range, he allowed Bosh to slip by him on the opposite baseline for a layup. That wasn't the Duncan defensive presence we'd seen earlier in the series.

We also didn't see him effectively deter Wade, either on drives to the basket or when Duncan switched to defend Wade on the perimeter.

There was a moment in Game 3 that symbolized Wade's ineffectiveness in the first part of this series. It came in transition, when Wade started to pull up for a jumper, Duncan quickly closed out on him and it caught Wade off guard. Wade dropped the ball, hopeful that a teammate would scoop it up before finally grabbing it himself for a traveling violation. Wade was ready for Duncan when he went against him in Game 4. He maintained plenty of space and coolly shot jumpers over him. LeBron was the one everyone demanded atonement from, but Wade was the one who made the biggest difference, and part of it came from the confidence he felt in his ability to score from all of his favorite spots.

The Heat generally felt comfortable throughout. They were able to get back to their style of basketball.

"They've been playing small all year," Popovich said. "That's when they're at their best."

Splitter played less than 14 minutes. At one point Popovich had his team take a foul just to stop the game so he could remove Splitter. Popovich went with Boris Diaw at the start of the third quarter after Diaw helped the Spurs climb back in the second quarter. But there's a reason Diaw was used as a last resort, not a key part of the series rotation, and eventually he began missing shots and turning the ball over like the rest of the Spurs.

Popovich has work to do. He got past the Warriors and Grizzlies by eventually shifting the game from those teams' stars to their supplementary players.

The NBA Finals have taken a different turn, with Miami's Big Three asserting itself to the tune of 85 points and 30 rebounds in Game 4. With the way Ginobili is playing, you can't say the Spurs still have their Big Three in effect right now. At the moment, they simply need somebody big. Lowercase b, for the uppercase W.



2013 NBA playoffs -- San Antonio Spurs struggle with Miami Heat's smallball approach - ESPN

The Miami Heat punched back yet again, and this time they did it the old fashioned way.

With so much scrutiny surrounding LeBron James and his two not-so-super friends that once formed the most feared Big 3 in all the NBA, they joined forces in ways not often seen this postseason to down the San Antonio Spurs 109-93 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. In doing so, they evened the series 2-2 and continued the most revealing of trends.

"When all three of us are clicking, we're really hard to beat," James said. The Heat haven't lost consecutive games since Jan. 10, and they entered play having won those bounce-back games by an average of 21.8 points (the closest margin of victory was 10 points). It isn't a preferred or perfect strategy, but it is a clear sign that the defending champions refuse to stay down for long.

"We got our butts kicked in that game," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "In this one, we wanted to come out and be aggressive."

James, Wade and Chris Bosh combined for 85 points to level the Spurs this time, thereby quieting the masses of critics who questioned whether the trio could still have games like this. Earlier in the day, Los Angeles Lakers great and ESPN analyst Magic Johnson had said the rest of the league was catching up with the Heat, and that he anticipated offseason changes whether they won these Finals or not. There wasn't much room for improvement in the latest outing, though. Wade and Bosh finished what James started, sealing the game during an early fourth quarter stretch that was the closest thing to a baton-passing between relay racers that one might see in a basketball game. James went to the bench with the Heat up 86-79, and Bosh and Wade scored every Miami point during a 10-6 run that stretched their lead and inspired James to pump his fists from the sideline.

"I needed a break for sure," James said. "The tank was empty. I kept my foot on the gas, and that's the way I want to play the rest of the series."

It was just the third time this postseason that James (33 points, 11 rebounds, four assists) and Wade (32 points, six steals, six rebounds) had both scored at least 20 points. James ended his three-game streak of games with less than 20 points that was his longest since his disastrous 2011 Finals loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

"We knew we'd get out shots, offensively we just played basketball, we didn't try to overthink," Wade said. "Right now it's a three-game series, two great ballclubs, come play this way and try to get another one." Spurs point guard Tony Parker had 15 points and nine assists despite the Grade 1 hamstring injury suffered in Game 3. Forward Tim Duncan led the Spurs in scoring with 20 points, but San Antonio fell victim to their 19 turnovers that led to 23 Heat points.

James' explosive first quarter put the Heat up 29-26 at the first break, as he hit five of six shots and had 11 points, three rebounds and two assists.

He had entered the arena wearing camouflage and having vowed to be better, and the promise was fulfilled early on with an aggression in his game that hadn't been there yet against these Spurs.

"I came into the game confident," James said. "I felt good. I wasn't worried about the last game or any other game.

"I didn't go to college, so I didn't have that one game. Here, there is always a tomorrow. As bad as I played in Game 3, I was able to forget about it." After going without a free throw attempt for the first time since Dec. 12, 2009 in Game 3, James earned his first trip Thursday early in the first quarter when he banged with Kawhi Leonard in the post. The Spurs had jumped out to a 15-5 lead, but it was an early sign that James would be playing much differently this time out.

He found the open court again, grabbing an early turnover from Gary Neal and dashing for a layup. He went to the post again, pushing Danny Green on his way to the rim for a miss that was meaningful nonetheless. No more settling for jumpers or patiently waiting for his teammates, it seemed. James was determined to take control his own fate.

The version of James who ran away with the league's MVP award yet again officially returned late in the first quarter, when all the pressure he had applied by attacking the rim paid off. He buried a confident midrange jumper over Leonard with nary a pass on the possession, the confidence carrying the ball after the smoothest of strokes. He did it again on the next possession, making Matt Bonner pay for playing so far off with a midrange jumper from the left side.

Wade's much-improved game (14 first-half points) helped the Heat keep it going when James rested early in the second quarter, as their run stretched to 36-16 and they led 41-31 with 6:59 left before the half. But Parker was smooth and strong from the start as well, and his 15-point, six-assist half had everything to do with the Spurs tying it 49-49 at the half.

The Spurs finished the quarter on an 18-8 run that was almost always sparked by the point guard with the alleged bum wheel. There was Parker's fly-by pass to Leonard in the lane for a basket and five-point deficit, his drive-and-kick to Boris Diaw for his all-alone three in the left corner which cut it to four, his floating, then-falling right-handed scoop shot underneath James' long reach that brought the Heat's lead back to two, and a vintage Parker floater moments later to boot.

The Spurs had survived their 10-turnover first half, and the Heat – who had just four turnovers and were clearly playing their style again – had missed a chance to do more.




Miami Heat top San Antonio Spurs in NBA Finals Game 4

In a lighter moment earlier in the NBA Finals, Shane Battier contemplated a question and answered the way only he can.

Why can't the Miami Heat carry any edge, any momentum gained from a victory in one game into the following game?

"That is a question to ask Sigmund Freud," the Heat forward said.

It's not quite time to bring in the psychoanalysis. But it's close. The Heat have alternated wins and losses in 12 consecutive games, and the latest — a 114-104 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the Finals on Sunday — puts them in a dire situation.

In a series of must-wins, the Heat face the ultimate must-win down 3-2 headed into Game 6 on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, ABC). Either the Heat's streak ends, or the Spurs win the championship. Since the advent of the 2-3-2 Finals format in 1985, only three teams have won the final two games at home — the 1988 Los Angeles Lakers against the Detroit Pistons, the 1994 Houston Rockets against the New York Knicks and the 2010 Lakers against the Boston Celtics.

Despite winning a franchise-record 27 consecutive games during the regular season, Miami has not won consecutive games since the end of the Eastern Conference semifinals and start of the conference finals.

"If I knew the answer, we would have won two games in (a) row," Heat forward LeBron James said.

In two of the three games in San Antonio, the Heat's defense failed. Sunday, Miami shot 43.0% from the field but 47.8% on three-pointers and scored 104 points. It wasn't a great offensive night, but it wasn't the offense as much as it was the defense that abandoned the Heat.

The Heat allowed the Spurs to shoot 60% from the field and 40.9% on three-pointers. All five Spurs starters scored in double figures, led by guard Tony Parker's 26 points and 24 points each from guards Manu Ginobili and Danny Green.

During the regular season, Miami only allowed more than 110 points a game three times in non-overtime games. It didn't happen once from Feb. 26 until the start of the Finals, and the Spurs have dropped 113 and 114 on the Heat in two of the past three games.

"It's pretty obvious that we didn't give that same defensive effort that we had in Game 4, and they picked us apart," Heat forward Chris Bosh said. "We didn't have the same effort from the get-go, and we waited until we were down double-digits to respond, and on the road you can't do that. From here on out, we can't continue to shoot ourselves in the foot like that."

Parker, Ginobili and Green were a combined 60.5% from the field, and Green — who has been on fire from deep — made 6-for-10 beyond the arc.

"Come on, they just absolutely outplayed us," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "At times, they were just picking one guy out at a time and going mano y mano. That will change."

The Spurs bedazzled the Heat with ball movement, penetration, inside shots and outside shots.

"Basically everybody on their team was taking turns off the dribble, getting by us and breaking down our defense," Spoelstra said. In Game 3, the Spurs crushed the Heat late. In Game 5, they did it early and late. San Antonio used a 22-7 run late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter to build a 39-24 lead.

The Heat managed to come back and were within a basket multiple times throughout the third quarter, trailing 61-60 and 75-74.

But from 2:54 of the third to 9:13 of the fourth quarter, the Spurs outscored Miami 21-2 and were 8-for-12 from the field. San Antonio often out-hustled Miami and created outstanding scoring opportunities.

"This is the kind of team that I feel capitalizes on any mistakes you make," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "So if you're a half-second late, they capitalize it." Now, it's Game 6 and back to Miami for at least one game.The Heat faced a similar situation in the 2011 Finals, when the Heat trailed the Dallas Mavericks 3-2. Dallas won Game 6.

"We're going to see if we're a better team than we were our first year together," Miami forward LeBron James said.

James expressed his frustration Saturday about Miami's inability to win consecutive games the past two series.

"We're well overdue when it's time for us to win consecutive games," he said. "We're at 11 or 12 straight consecutive win-loss, win-loss, win-loss. I think it's time. Enough is enough for our team." It didn't happen in Game 5, and if the Heat are going to win a second consecutive NBA championship, they need to two consecutive games. Miami hasn't loss two consecutive games since early January. A Game 7 looks like strong possibility. But it starts with Game 6, and just like James put the pressure on himself in Game 4, he is doing it again with Miami's season on the line.

"I have to come up big, for sure in Game 6," James said. "But I believe we all have to play at a high level in order to keep the series going. So me being one of the leaders of this team, I do put a lot of pressure on myself to force a Game 7, and I look forward to the challenge."

Spoelstra spent the two off days on Friday and Saturday prepping his team to play one of its best games of the season. That didn't happen. "We were a far cry from it," Spoelstra said.

There's not much time — just Monday and a portion of Tuesday — to put his team in a better position.

"We've got an opportunity to do something special," James said. "And we look forward to it."





The NBA Finals problem the Miami Heat can't hide from

With only two games (at most) left in the NBA season, basketball fans everywhere have ramped up the intensity of their cries against flopping. These are the most important games on the league's schedule, and any attempt to gain favor by nefarious subterfuge is seen as a crime against the sport. There have been several suggestions on how to stop it, from increasing the severity of penalties to handing out technical fouls or other forms of punishment on the court. No matter the proposed fix, it's a common belief that something must be done.

At least one high-profile player does not believe flopping is such a glaring issue. According to Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks, the NBA can never get rid of flopping entirely, because it has a place in the game. From Eddie Sefko for The Dallas Morning News (via PBT):

“We’re never going to get rid of it,” he said recently. “But you got to limit it. It’s part of sports. It’s part of winning. Some people are smart and do a little extra thing to kind of sell the call. To me, that’s part of sports.

“You don’t want the obvious ones, the really, really bad ones. I think we’d love to get rid of those.

“But if somebody really does get shoved or hit a little bit, just to sell it a little for the referees so it does get the call, I don’t have a problem with that. I think that’s part of the game.”

In other words, Nowitzki is happy to help the referees see what maybe their eyes may have missed in the course of action on the court.

There's a fairly clear way to take Nowitzki's comments negatively, to assume that he's not serious about the flopping epidemic and wants a place in the game to trick referees into giving him foul calls. Yet it's also possible to see Dirk's response as a more serious effort to treat flopping as a measurable phenomenon rather than a nebulous threat to the integrity of the league. Instead of lumping all exaggerations of contact into the same category, Dirk notes that players do sometimes flop out of necessity, because referees wouldn't blow their whistles for fouls otherwise. It's an embellishment, but it serves to highlight something that exists.

If flopping is a problem, then it's fair to consider not only how it can be stopped, but if various proposed solutions diminish the problem or just perpetuate the same issues and root causes. By defining flopping as any attempt to embellish contact, rather than something more obvious like wholesale invention of contact where none exists, the NBA has ensured that the only way it can stop the problem is by calling out everything. Because the league doesn't want to suspend seven players per game, it hasn't enforced things so glaringly. This selective enforcement has created a system in which fans have reason to complain because they're told that these actions are problems. While certain players have been marked out as floppers, the new rules have mostly served to create the impression that the NBA isn't serious about stopping flopping.

In other words, the current terms of the War on Flopping dictate that it will never end. Nowitzki's take, while potentially a half-measure, at least attempts to define the problem in ways that can lead to improvement. As is, the NBA is really just giving fans more reasons to let their distaste for flopping obscure the quality basketball on the court.




Y! SPORTS

For a moment, it looked the Miami Heat's season was coming to an end.

The San Antonio Spurs were leading Game 6 of the NBA Finals by three points with just seven seconds left to play and LeBron James had just missed a 26-foot three-pointer with the clock ticking down. The NBA's employees were scurrying to prepare the Spurs' locker room for their seemingly inevitable championship celebration and some Heat fans had already left American Airlines Arena minutes earlier.

That's about the time Chris Bosh came up with rebound off a LeBron James missed three-pointer and found Ray Allen, who hit the game-tying three to force overtime. This was just one of several clutch plays that Bosh made late in the game. He also scored Miami's first two points in the overtime period and had two key blocks in the final 32 seconds of action — swatting away Tony Parker's 17-foot jump shot and Danny Green's 24-foot three. The final block on Green sealed the game for Miami, as that shot would've tied the game had it went in.

"I knew they were going to run something for a three-point shooter," Bosh said of his final stop. "I just didn't know where. I was looking at Tim Duncan's eyes the whole time. Tiago [Splitter] set a pretty good screen on Ray, and I just followed the flight of the ball. With 1.9 seconds, there's not much you can do. I saw the ball the whole time, and I was able to make a play."

"Chris made a heck of an effort to give us that second possession and found Ray," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Chris was tremendous down the stretch for us." For much of the game, Bosh was missing shots and struggling to defend Tim Duncan. He finished with 10 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field, and was largely responsible for Duncan's 25-point outburst in the first half. It was a forgettable night for Bosh through three and a half quarters, but then he was arguably Miami's best player in overtime.

"I can't describe the feeling of the game," Bosh said. "Just something we didn't want to give up and we stayed with it and we knew it was going to be a battle. It's always difficult playing at this level but we stuck together, stayed with it and I don't know how we pulled it out but we pulled it out. … We didn't play our best basketball, but it's all about perseverance.

"You just have to stay with it. It's just a part of it. You're going to make some mistakes, timely ones, and we put ourselves in a compromising position. We can't make those mistakes on Thursday." After the win, most Heat players felt that it was Bosh's 11 rebounds and key stops saved the season.

"He was very big," Heat point guard Mario Chalmers said. "He had a couple of big stops and big rebounds. That's what we need from him, along with his offense."

"At the end of regular time and overtime, he was a monster," Heat forward Chris Anderson said of Bosh.

It's always risky when a player attempts to block a jump shot. It's even riskier when it could send a talented shooter to the free throw line in the final minute of overtime. However, Bosh's defense on both plays was exceptional, keeping Parker and Green from drilling daggers.

"It was great defense," Heat forward James Jones said. "He had great position and was very disciplined. He didn't leave his feet and he used his length. He used all of his ability tonight, which is what we need. Defense is how we won the game tonight. We made the stops when we needed to. They're a very good team and they have very good, Hall of Fame players over there. We were able to make things tough on them down the stretch and make more defensive plays than them."

"He had a couple of blocked shots late in the game that were key," Heat forward Rashard Lewis said. "They were key.He got us the ball back and allowed us to go the other way to shoot free throws or setup a play on the offensive end."

Will Jay-Z actually represent clients of his newly created sports agency, Roc Nation Sports, in contract negotiations?

Ron Berkowitz, a spokesman for Roc Nation Sports, confirmed to ESPN-com that, as of this week, Jay-Z is now licensed to work as an NBA agent. Juan Perez, president of Roc Nation Sports, also is now certified with the National Basketball Players Association.

The news was first reported by the Sports Business Journal.

What's not clear is how soon Jay-Z can represent players. A source close to the situation said that, as of Wednesday, the hip-hop mogul had not sold his small ownership share (less than 1 percent) of the Brooklyn Nets.

Industry speculation is Jay-Z might be able to sign players as long as he agrees to pass off his share of the Nets in the near future. Owners of NBA teams cannot represent players.

The first NBA player Jay-Z is expected to sign is Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant, who told his agent, Rob Pelinka, in recent days that he would sign with Jay-Z. Durant has not commented publicly.

Since announcing his intention to start a sports agency a few months ago, Jay-Z's firm has signed New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith and former Notre Dame guard Skylar Diggins, who recently was selected third by the Tulsa Shock in the WNBA draft.

Roc Nation partnered with Creative Artists Agency to do Cano's contract negotiations since the company doesn't have an MLB agent on its roster. Smith's contract will be negotiated by Kim Miale, Roc Nation's new NFL agent who has very little experience.

On Wednesday, NFLPA officials met with Miale to determine if Jay-Z, who is still not certified with the NFL, violated the union's "runner rule." The rule says that anyone who is not certified cannot recruit players, yet Smith, the Jets' rookie backup quarterback, tweeted a picture of himself sitting in the same room with Jay-Z. The outcome of the meeting between the NFLPA and Miale is not known.

While Roc Nation has not confirmed that it has signed New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, who accepted a one-year free-agent tender offer of $2.879 million last week, a deal appears close. Cruz took pictures with Jay-Z, Cano and Smith at a party Monday in Manhattan to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Jay-Z's 40/40 sports bar.

It just might be that Roc Nation and CAA, whose agents have said Cruz was steered to them by Jay-Z, will have a partnership just like they have for the baseball deal with Cano.



Roc Nation Sports confirms Jay-Z is licensed NBA agent - ESPN

Legacies are generally determined after the fact, written by others, imposed on the subjects without their input. For the last three years, LeBron James has endured daily revisions to his legacy, a chorus of critics framing his career based on a single game, a single series, the shots that swished and those that missed, never waiting for a fuller picture to emerge. James at last seized control of his own narrative Thursday night, leaving nothing to chance and no more room for debate. He drove hard, shot brilliantly, scored every critical basket and finally pushed the Miami Heat past the San Antonio Spurs for a 95-88 victory in Game 7 of the N.B.A. finals.

As red and white confetti rained from the rafters at American Airlines Arena, James — oft vilified, perpetually scrutinized — soaked in the revelry and embraced a new identity: back-to-back champion.

There were still doubters out there, somewhere, beyond the clouds of fluttering paper, but their ranks are surely shrinking.

“I can’t worry about what everybody says about me,” a joyful James said on the championship podium after receiving his second straight finals Most Valuable Player trophy. “I’m LeBron James, from Akron, Ohio, from the inner city. I’m not even supposed to be here.”

James came here three summers ago in pursuit of championship glory, to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in a superstar lineup for the ages, to start collecting championships — “Not one, not two, not three ... ” he infamously declared in July 2010. The banners are indeed starting to accumulate, with James earning this second title despite diminishing returns from his co-stars.

With Wade slowed by an injured right knee, James carried a greater burden this June than he did a year ago. And he faced a tougher, more seasoned opponent, a decorated Spurs team with three Hall of Fame talents in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

It took seven games, including a furious comeback and an overtime in Game 6, to earn this moment. And then it took everything James had in the final minutes of the final game.

“The toughest series we’ve ever been in,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said.

After leading the Heat’s comeback two nights earlier, James carried them to the finish with a 37-point, 12-rebound outburst on Thursday. He had 8 points in the final 5 minutes 39 seconds, repelling every attempt by the Spurs to take the game back.

The lead dropped to 2 points just once, on Kawhi Leonard’s 3-pointer with two minutes to go. James answered with an 18-footer, then a pair of free throws. The building rumbled in anticipation and then finally exploded, the Heat celebrating their third title since 2006.

Wade pushed through the knee pain and limitations, delivering 23 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks. Afterward, he insisted on being called “Three,” in reference to his third championship.

“They played Hall of Fame basketball tonight,” Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich said of James and Wade. “That’s some of the best basketball they both played at the same time throughout the entire playoffs, from what I saw.”

The Heat, despite a scoreless game from Bosh, joined the Los Angeles Lakers as the only teams with back-to-back titles in the post-Michael Jordan era. They did it by becoming only the fourth team to win Games 6 and 7 at home after facing a 3-2 deficit. It was the first time in this series that either team won two in a row.

It was a heartbreaking conclusion for the Spurs, who came within seconds of winning the championship in Game 6. Duncan was aiming for his fifth title, which would have placed him alongside Kobe Bryant for the most by any star in the post-Jordan era. This was his first defeat in the finals, and it hit hard.

Sitting on the postgame podium, Duncan looked inconsolable. He stared down at the table, his left hand on his head, and paused frequently between phrases. He bemoaned his “bad decisions” and missed shots, in particular two point-blank shots that could have tied the game at 90-90 with about a minute to play.

Still, Duncan was mostly brilliant, finishing with 24 points, 12 rebounds and 4 steals. Ginobili added 18 points and 5 assists but had four turnovers, all in the fourth quarter.

(Page 1 of 2) www-nytimes-com/2013/06/21/sports/basketball/miami-heat-repeat-as-nba-champions-html?_r=0

The Miami Heat’s defeat of the San Antonio Spurs in the N.B.A. finals averaged nearly 17.7 million viewers on ABC, the most to watch the Spurs play for the league championship. The higher numbers were helped by a series that went seven games and because the Spurs’ opponent was the LeBron James-led Heat.

The Spurs have generally needed a larger market team as a partner in the finals to help attract viewers. In 1999, the Spurs-Knicks finals were seen by an average of 16.0 million viewers. But the Spurs’ sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007 averaged just 9.3 million. Only slightly better was the Spurs’ 2003 finals victory over the Nets, which averaged 9.86 million viewers.

Game 7 on Thursday night drew 26.3 million viewers, the second most to watch an N.B.A. game on ABC. The viewership peaked from 11:30 to 11:45 p.m. Eastern, at 34.2 million viewers.



www-nytimes-com/2013/06/22/sports/basketball/game-7-of-nba-finals-draws-high-tv-ratings-html?_r=0

In the NBA glory days of the 1980s, when the Lawrence O’Brien Trophy was presented in the locker room, not at midcourt, CBS announcer Brent Musburger would make sure to ask the championship coach whether his team could repeat, or in Pat Riley’s case after winning consecutive titles with the Lakers, “threepeat.”

These days, Doris Burke doesn’t corner Erik Spoelstra and ask the coach if the Heat will come back and triumph next season, giving him at least a bit of time to enjoy the accomplishment. But days after the Heat’s Game 7 victory over the Spurs, that Musburger question is still as pertinent as it was 30 years ago.

The Heat and Spurs will have offseason decisions to make because when you are among the top teams in the NBA, with players in their prime — or still quite productive in the case of Tim Duncan — you have to capitalize on that window.

Rebuilding is likely not an option for the Spurs because there is no guarantee that a championship level can be reached again. The Lakers and Celtics are experiencing a similar scenario, unsure if a complete rebuild will result in a return to the Finals. As for the Heat, they have the league’s best player in LeBron James, but there is a level of uncertainty regarding Dwyane Wade. Some NBA observers close to the team believe Wade’s knee issues cannot be rectified; they are a byproduct of 10 years of brutal tumbles and reckless drives to the basket. Others believe Wade just needs to rest the painful bone bruises in his knees and he’ll return to being the high-scoring sidekick to James.

Riley, the Heat’s president, signed James, Wade, and Chris Bosh to six-year deals with player options after the fourth year, and that is next season, meaning all three could opt out then. That has left the Heat in a strange position, especially regarding James.

“We haven’t talked about it, we’re living in the moment. We’re not thinking about the future right now,” Wade said. “We’re not thinking about the past. We’re living in this moment right here. And it’s a sweet moment to live in. So, obviously San Antonio has had a great run. They have had pretty decent luck when it comes to health with Tim Duncan being pretty healthy and Tony Parker staying healthy. Me and [Manu] Ginobili got this big thing going on, but he’s still one of the toughest, fiercest competitors out there. So, it will be sweet to be able to have a long run like the Spurs — but we’ll get to that when we get to that.”

The Lakers and Cavaliers are likely to pursue James if he decides to become a free agent after next season. Wade’s chances of opting out are smaller, and they are even more minuscule for Bosh, who didn’t score in Game 7 of the Finals. He is owed $61 million over the next three seasons.

The Heat are likely to determine Bosh’s value on the open market, hoping to acquire a bona fide center. Amazingly, primarily because of James and Wade, the Heat have won consecutive titles without a productive center. But the Indiana series, in which Roy Hibbert controlled the paint like Ray Lewis, exposed Miami’s lack of a post presence. Bosh is not the post player he used to be, especially during his best years in Toronto.

Miami will not stand pat, but it has limits, since all the players but Chris Andersen have a contract through next season.

“Well, it says a lot about where we’re at now, the team that we are,” Wade said. “In [2010-11], our first year together, we tried to make it work. And we just weren’t a team that we needed to be to gut a Game 6 out, to win a game like that. To be in the championship three years in a row, to win two of those three, is unbelievable.

“Everybody can’t get to the Finals and win six in a row like Michael Jordan. But we are excited about the future of this organization. We are still a good team. And we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that we can stay competitive. And adding a guy like Ray Allen, adding a guy like Birdman [Andersen], this organization doesn’t rest on trying to make sure that we can put ourselves in a position to have a trophy like this. So, we’ll be back next year again, looking to do it again.”

As for the Spurs, Duncan said he will be back next season and Parker has two more years on his contract. With the contracts of Ginobili and Stephen Jackson coming off the books, San Antonio has $15 million to perhaps attract a major free agent. And with the rapid development of Kawhi Leonard, who is certain to assume a bigger scoring role next season, San Antonio may have enough for another run.

“The better prepared you can be to fill in the holes behind the success of an aging group, the smoother landing the transition might be,” San Antonio GM R.C. Buford said. “I don’t think we’ve seen many places where that’s been seamless and without pain.”

STEP RIGHT UP

Allen reflects on clutch shot

Now that the Heat have won the championship, Ray Allen’s 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left in regulation in Game 6 that sent Miami and San Antonio into overtime will go down as one of the great clutch shots of NBA Finals history. Allen did not score in Game 7, but it didn’t matter. He did exactly what he signed to do in Miami, drain 3-pointers and respond in critical moments.

“If it’s not me taking the shot, I have no problem with Ray taking that shot, man,” LeBron James said. “He’s got ice water in his veins. Ray can be 0 for 99 in a game and if he gets an open look late in the game, it’s going down. That’s just the confidence he has in himself. It’s the preparation for every game. It’s the confidence that we have in him. We’ve seen it before.”

During Allen’s Boston years, he caused Miami coach Erik Spoelstra to call many a timeout after made 3-pointers. Several times Dwyane Wade, who was assigned to guard Allen, would walk back to the Heat huddle shaking his head in amazement.

Allen didn’t score as much this season as he had in the past, but his presence forced defenses to respect him. And when the Spurs didn’t a

Doc Rivers had been telling friends for years that if he ever did choose to leave the Celtics, then he wouldn't coach another franchise the following season. His plan was to sit out for at least one year, out of respect for the Celtics franchise and the large role it has played in the NBA and in his own life.

But this was an unusual case. After expressing doubts that he would want to participate in Boston's plan to rebuild, Rivers told the Celtics that he was committed to returning as their coach next season. Then he was "traded,'' essentially, to the Clippers, in exchange for a future first-round pick, based on an agreement reached in principle between Boston and Los Angeles on Sunday.

Rivers' initial intention to return to the Celtics absolves him of the perception that he was forcing himself out. Instead, he was the property of the Celtics and was moved by them in return for the draft pick.

Regardless of the timing, it does not appear as if ultimatums were issued so much as all sides recognized the common interests that would be fulfilled if Rivers were exchanged for compensation from Los Angeles. The Celtics participated in, and profited from, the departure of their coach.

After many well-publicized starts and stops in recent days, the agreement was finalized Sunday. A more complicated proposal -- by which Kevin Garnett would have also been packaged to the Clippers in exchange for DeAndre Jordan -- was viewed as untenable last week by commissioner David Stern.

A subsequent trade of Garnett to the Clippers appears to be a non-starter according to NBA rules that ban salary-cap trades that are linked to coaching hires. The bottom line for the Celtics is that Rivers has turned out to be their most valuable asset -- not only did he net them a draft pick, but his departure will also save them millions in coaching salary annually.

GOLLIVER: Celtics, Clippers complete deal for Doc Rivers, but no Garnett deal imminent

The Clippers were planning to pay Rivers per the terms he had remaining in Boston -- three years for a total of $21 million.

Rivers, Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra and Rick Carlisle are the only active coaches in the NBA with a championship ring. Rivers' presence is expected to keep Chris Paul from leaving the Clippers as a free agent next month.

Rivers had been telling friends that it might be time for him to leave the Celtics after nine years, that he was in danger of growing "too comfortable.'' It was known that Rivers didn't want to go through years of losing and was thinking about taking a year off from coaching in order to work in television.

The Celtics are expected to rebuild around Rajon Rondo, who led Boston to a 20-23 record in his first year as the acknowledged leader of the franchise. The team went 21-17 after Rondo was diagnosed with a torn ACL. Rondo was not seen on the team bench during the Celtics' season-ending playoff loss at home against the Knicks on May 3; he was seen the following night in Las Vegas, however, sitting ringside for the Floyd Mayweather prizefight.

Rivers had been expected to leave the Celtics two years ago when his contract expired. Instead, he negotiated a five-year deal worth $7 million annually. It was a huge investment for the Celtics, but in little time they viewed the commitment as a bargain.

"Can you imagine if Doc were a free-agent coach right now? He'd break the bank,'' Ainge told me 13 months ago, when the Lakers, Knicks, Magic and Heat (who had not yet won a championship with Spoelstra) might have created a bidding war for Rivers. By re-signing with Boston in 2011, Rivers provided an assurance of continuity that kept the core of the team intact, enabling the Celtics to come within one game of returning to the 2012 NBA Finals.

Rivers' move to Los Angeles to lead the Clippers next season is going to be a hard sell to his fans in Boston, whose natural response will be to feel betrayed by their coach. The acrimony should be offset by the understanding that the Celtics have profited from his departure.

One reason why Rivers has been able to rationalize nine years in Boston away from his family is because his daily working environment with the Celtics is rare in the NBA. He has often said that he may never again experience a working relationship as enjoyable and constructive as he has had in Boston with team president Danny Ainge and communications director Jeff Twiss, among many others.

The relationship was good for both parties. The Celtics were able to renew their championship tradition, and Rivers, by devoting himself to their tradition, was able to define himself. Neither the Celtics nor Rivers would have been so successful without each other, and their time together -- the last six years in particular, beginning with the 2007-08 championship -- stands on its own as a time to be cherished.

The ending for NBA coaches is rarely neat and clean. In this case, the Celtics and Rivers will always have their championship and those inspiring years thereafter, and few such partnerships in the NBA can claim to have done so well.

Read More: Celtics, Clippers finally agree on trade for Doc Rivers - NBA - Ian Thomsen - SI-com

The official completion of the deal that will send Doc Rivers to the Los Angeles Clippers is being delayed because Rivers and his representatives are still negotiating the language in the coach's new contract, league sources told ESPNBoston-com's Jackie MacMullan.

The NBA has not approved the deal yet, but the league also is not holding up the completion of the transaction, a league source told MacMullan. ESPN incorrectly reported earlier Monday that the league already had approved the deal. Sources confirmed on Sunday that the Clippers will sign Rivers to the three-year, $21 million contract. The Boston Celtics, who agreed to release Rivers from the remaining three years and $21 million left on his current contract, will receive a 2015 first-round draft pick as compensation in the deal.

League and team sources also confirmed that any deal presently involving Kevin Garnett and the Clippers is on hold in light of NBA commissioner David Stern's objections to the appearance that the trade was related to the deal involving Rivers.

One source with knowledge of the NBA's thinking told ESPN-com that the league does not intend to change its stance as expressed by Stern in multiple radio interviews Thursday, meaning that the league would view any subsequent trade agreement between the Celtics and Clippers involving Garnett to be part of the Rivers deal and thus in violation of league rules.

Celtics forward Jeff Green said Rivers called him on Monday to inform him of the coaching change. Although Green acknowledged he was disappointed, he understands "this is a business."

"I can't speak for the other guys, but I'm not angry at all," Green told MacMullan. "I'm happy for him." The rebuilding Celtics will be tasked with finding a replacement for Rivers, who coached Boston to a league championship in 2008 and an appearance in the NBA Finals two years later.

The Celtics reached the playoffs in each of the past six seasons under Rivers, winning five consecutive Atlantic Division titles from 2007-08 to 2011-12.

The Clippers' acquisition of Rivers apparently elevated Los Angeles' status as a preseason championship contender.

The Clippers moved from 15-to-1 odds to win the NBA championship next season to 10-to-1, according to R.J. Bell, founder of PreGame-com.

Only the Miami Heat (3-to-1) and Oklahoma City Thunder (7-to-1) are given better odds of winning the title next season. The Spurs are also 10-to-1.




Contract wording holds up Doc Rivers deal to Los Angeles Clippers, sources say - ESPN

His new passport says he is Greek, but Giannis Adetokunbo has lived a struggling immigrant’s life. He has peddled goods on city streets to feed himself and his brothers. While other families ferried off on island vacations, his often changed apartments in search of cheaper rent. Yet Adetokunbo, 18, stands out from the hundreds of thousands of immigrants trying to survive in Greece. He was born here. He speaks Greek fluently. He completed Greek schooling. He recently became a Greek citizen.

Adetokunbo (pronounced a-det-o-KOON-bo), a 6-foot-9 son of Nigerian parents, also plays basketball. Very well. That is what N.B.A. scouts say. They flocked to Greece and buzzed about his ball-handling, his court vision and his decision-making.

Analysts at DraftExpress.com and HoopsWorld.com, among others, predict that Adetokunbo’s name will be called, perhaps mispronounced, in the first round of the N.B.A. draft on Thursday. If Adetokunbo eventually develops into anything like his favorite player, Kevin Durant, some N.B.A. team will be happy it took a chance on such a mysterious prospect.

“From the time I started in basketball, my dream was to be a big star, to have a big future in basketball,” he said.

Other Greek stars worked their way up through youth national teams and joined top professional clubs like Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. Adetokunbo, essentially stateless before he received his passport in May, has never played above Greece’s second division. He grew up at a tiny club called Filathlitikos, which took him in six years ago, back when he still shared a bedroom with his three brothers and preferred soccer.

He has signed to play in Spain next season, unless an N.B.A. team has different plans for him after the draft. Passport in hand, he also has begun playing with the Greek national under-20 team.

But before N.B.A. scouts located the 500-seat Filathlitikos gym in Zografou, a densely settled Athens suburb, Adetokunbo sometimes put basketball aside to help his family.

Like other immigrants to Greece, his parents struggled to find work. Adetokunbo and his older brother, Thanasis, would help out by hawking watches, bags and sunglasses. In doing so, they jeopardized their roster spots because they were missing practices. They also missed meals.

“Sometimes, our fridge was empty,” said Adetokunbo, who turned 18 in December. “Some days, we didn’t sell the stuff and we didn’t have money to feed ourselves.”

The good days brought “just enough,” he said, to make the rent, pay a water or electric bill, or buy food.

Immigrants in Greece, particularly dark-skinned ones, have been targets of abuse in recent years by far-right nationalists frustrated by the country’s economic problems.

Filathlitikos helped Adetokunbo’s mother find work, and Spiros Velliniatis, the coach who persuaded the Adetokunbo brothers to try basketball, said he and others chipped in to help the family on occasion.

“You’re in front of Mozart and he has no food, what do you give him? You have a dilemma,” Velliniatis said. “The answer is not a violin. The answer is a loaf of bread.”

The young maestro kept growing. Annual team photos in the Filathlitikos gym show that Adetokunbo was several inches shorter than his teammate and older brother, Thanasis, as recently as two years ago. Thanasis, 20, is a 6-foot-7 forward with N.B.A. aspirations of his own.

Scouts arrived for Giannis this season, as well as N.B.A. executives, including the general managers Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Danny Ferry of the Atlanta Hawks and Daryl Morey of the Houston Rockets. The Toronto Raptors’ new general manager, Masai Ujiri, a Nigerian, visited while he was working for the Denver Nuggets.

Danny Ainge, the Boston Celtics’ president for basketball operations, watched Adetokunbo collect 19 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks in a victory over Volos on March 30. Ainge’s assistant at the time, Ryan McDonough, who is the new general manager of the Phoenix Suns, was also there.

Adetokunbo played on two Filathlitikos teams. With the men’s team, he was primarily a small forward and averaged 9.5 points and 5 rebounds. He shot 31 percent from 3-point range. He was the point guard for the club’s youth team, which was among the best in Greece.

“He’s on the right track,” Kornel David, then the Suns’ director of international scouting, said after watching Adetokunbo play in April. “Guys who are 6-9 with that kind of skill set, especially at that age, there’s not many running around.”

In the last men’s game of the season, with promotion to the top division on the line, Filathlitikos lost, 89-81, in triple overtime. Adetokunbo scored 4 points, with 9 rebounds. After the final buzzer, he sat on the bench and sobbed.

Even if he is drafted, it is possible Adetokunbo will need another season in Europe. At around 200 pounds, he says he needs to become stronger.

His contract with Zaragoza in Spain’s top league, beginning next season, is worth a total of $325,000 over three years, with a club option for a fourth season, at another $325,000. It includes N.B.A. and Euroleague buyouts each season, beginning this summer.

Wherever he ends up, Adetokunbo’s parents and younger brothers are probably going with him. His younger brothers Kostas, 15, and Alex, 11, are avid basketball players. Kostas is a 6-foot-3 shooting guard, and Alex already shows excellent ball-handling skills as a point guard.

Adetokunbo said he was proud that he could support the family. His parents, Veronica and Charles, have struggled to find work in recession-battered Greece.

His mother said: “I’m telling him, Giannis please go, we will come later. He says, ‘No, you’re coming with me.’ He wants to take care of the family, and he wants us beside him.”

Adetokunbo’s parents arrived in Greece in 1991 and settled in Sepolia, a no-frills neighborhood about two miles north of the Acropolis. They were the only black family for blocks. Veronica ea

Not many franchise players are expected to develop, but talent abounds.

The one constant surrounding Thursday's NBA Draft is that there is no clear-cut No. 1 overall pick that everyone can agree on, and thus no franchise-type player who will get folks talking around the water cooler.

No LeBron James. No Tim Duncan. No Shaquille O'Neal.

In short, anyone from Alex Len to Nerlens Noel to Otto Porter to Ben McLemore could become the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. That's the decision the Cleveland Cavaliers - armed with the top selection - will have to make when the draft starts at 6 p.m. CDT.

The uncertainty could make a lot of owners and general managers lose some valuable sleep. But it also should make for an interesting draft, which consumes two rounds and 60 players.

"From a fan standpoint, from a scouting standpoint, I think the uncertainty of where everybody is going is what I like," said Ryan Blake, the senior director of NBA scouting operations. "I think you're going to see so many good players in this draft - I mean good players.

"They may not be franchise players, but that's OK."

In other words, if any team thinks it's going to find the next James, Duncan or O'Neal in this draft, it should think again. But he added that quality talent is abundant.

"There are so many bigs, there are good point guards - every position that you can put in there is deep," Blake said. "And then you add a decent international crop of kids."

With no obvious No. 1 overall choice, Blake noted, there is immense pressure on the Cavs to make the right pick; assuming the Cavs don't trade the pick.

"We don't know who is going to be the first pick, and then every (general manager) has got to map out all these different scenarios," Blake said. "There are just so many options.

"And if someone is falling, it's going to be exciting."

The NBA's top scout, Blake will be behind the scenes at the draft Thursday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. He'll know a lot of the comings-and-goings before they're announced to the public.

"For me, being underneath and listening to the trades before they come out, and listening to the picks beforehand, it's exciting," he said. "Then I can run a few steps away and stick my head out the door and then listen to everybody scream, holler and gasp or whatever.

"So I get a little bit of the best of both worlds."

Mavs high on Schroeder

One of the players high on the Dallas Mavericks' draft board is 19-year old Dennis Schroeder.

A 6-foot-2 point guard from Germany, Schroeder was selected the Most Improved Player and the Best Young German Player for his performance last season in the Basketball Bundesliga League. Some scouts compare Schroeder to Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo.

"He's very young and quick," Ryan Blake said. "He has a little bit of Rondo in him, and a little bit of (Mike) Bibby.

"He's inexperienced, but he can shoot and he can score. He's a good player that could possibly come over for the minimum buyout, but I don't think he's ready for the NBA game. He's going to be a work in progress, but he's got loads of potential."

Read more here: Top selection in Thursday's NBA draft still a mystery - Miami Heat - MiamiHerald-com

A dream day has been completed by Kiwi basketball phenom Steven Adams heading to the Oklahoma City Thunder to begin his NBA career.

Adams was picked at No 12 by the Thunder in today’s NBA Draft in New York, joining superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in a championship-calibre squad.

The 19-year-old New Zealander had to wait an excruciating hour and 20 minutes before hearing his name called out by NBA commissioner David Stern at the glitzy ceremony in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

The Thunder were NBA finalists two years ago, but were eliminated early this year when Westbrook was invalided out of the playoffs with a torn lateral meniscus.

The 2.13m (7ft) centre completed an incredible journey that begun in his hometown Rotorua where he first got involved in the sport, was refined in Wellington where he came under the tuition of Kiwi NBL legend Kenny McFadden and has had the finishing touches applied in the United States.

He now becomes the fourth New Zealand-born player to make it to the NBA after trailblazer Sean Marks, the unlucky Kirk Penney and Aron Baynes, who has switched his national allegiance to Australia despite being born in Gisborne.

But he is the first Kiwi to go in the first round, and just the second after Marks to make it to the big league via the draft,.

Adams spent the last season at the University of Pittsburgh where he averaged an unspectacular 7.2 points and 6.3 rebounds before shocking hoops aficionados by declaring for the draft.

But the bold gamble has come up trumps for the Kiwi as he has shot up the draft boards after a series of impressive workouts and interviews. He’s rated a physical freak with huge upside, but in need of significant development before he’s ready to play in the NBA.

Several analysts believe Adams will spend at least his first season playing in the NBA’s D-League where young players are placed to develop their skills.

Adams had the New Zealand flag stitched on to the inside of his suit jacket and displayed it for the watching world to see as he strode to the podium to shake the hand of soon-to-retire NBA commissioner David Stern

Today’s draft, in which the world’s top 60 young players were distributed to the NBA’s 30 teams via two rounds of selections, was beamed all round the world live on mega sports channel ESPN. Adams said en route to the draft that he’d been relatively calm about the biggest day of his young life, but was a little tired.

“It’s going to hit me when I get to the table probably. I slept well, I had like eight or nine hours sleep. It’s just all the travelling I’ve done last two weeks catching up now,” he said.

Adams had been besieged by good luck messages via Twitter prior to the draft, with All Blacks Ma’a Nonu, Cory Jane, Israel Dagg, Liam Messam and Victor Vito, Hurricanes youngster Ardie Savea, former national skipper Tana Umaga, cricketer Jesse Ryder and Tall Black Kirk Penney among those posting their support.

Tall Blacks star Penney, who has made three fleeting appearances in the NBA, told Fairfax Media the young New Zealander’s life was now about to change dramatically.

“I can't imagine what's going through his mind, how quickly his life is changing, and how royally he will be treated,” Penney said today.

“He's worked hard to get to this point, and as a result he's in an ideal professional position. It will be fun to watch and for New Zealand to support one of their sons on the world stage.”

"Steven Adams has been one of the high risers in this draft," said ESPN draft expert Chad Ford. "NBA teams have loved his workouts, loved his interviews and loved him as a person. He's showed more skill than he did at Pitt, and he has an NBA-ready body."

University of Nevada Las Vegas power forward Anthony Bennett, a Canadian national, was the surprise No 1 choice by the Cleveland Cavaliers, while Indiana point guard Victor Oladipo was picked second by the Orlando Magic and Georgetown forward Otto Porter went third to the Washington Wizards.

Widely predicted top pick Nerlens Noel dropped to No 6 where he was chosen by the New Orleans Pelicans.

WELLINGTON LINKS EXCITED

Surrounded by friends and colleagues, a nervous Blossom Cameron said she was thrilled at the pick.

Adams' legal guardian sped across the road from her workplace to watch the draft at a wellington sports bar.

She last spoke to him three days ago and while nervous, he had been looking forward to the draft and attending with two of his brothers.

Going to a team like the thunder was a dream come true, she said.

"The thing is they're a young team, they'll be able to handle him."

Steve Adam's Rotorua family were "deliriously happy", older sister Vivian said today after hearing the announcement.

"We're jumping up and down making a lot of noise, you can hear us from out on the street," she said.

"We're all deliriously happy."

Around half a dozen family members were at Adams' Te Ngae Road family home in Rotorua this morning waiting for their "baby brother" to be selected from the draft.

Brothers Sid and Mohi were already in New York, she said.

Ms Adams said the family had kept an open mind on which team would Adams would be selected to play for.

"We weren't expecting him to go to any team in particular really."

The family had received "heaps of phone calls" from well wishers.

"Quite a few want to be part of our whanau now."

She could not explain the family's sporting success.

"Dad wasn't a sportsman, although Mum was.

"It's all in the genes, having the right bones, and the right attitude," she said.

Younger sister Gabriella could be the next national representative.

She is currently trialling for the Tall Ferns, Ms Adams said.

FIRST ROUND DRAWS:

1 Cleveland Cavaliers – Anthony Bennett

2 Orlando Magic – Victor Oladipo

3 Washington Wizards – Otto Porter

4 Charlotte Bobcats – Cody Zeller

5 Phoenix Suns – Alex Len

6 New Orleans Pelican