Zimmerman is a....?

Zimmerman murdered a man in cold blood. Wait not a man, a teenager. The rest is just smoke and mirrors. If you have been following the first week of the trial you will first notice that Zimmerman has gained at least 100 pounds since the night in question (doesn't seem like a person in distress over taking another life), and that he is guilty of cold blooded murder. When is the last time you heard of a person on a neighborhood watch shooting and killing someone? A first for me. Zimmerman was a man with the "itch", the "itch" to fire his weapon not at a target but at an actual human regardless of necessity. I find it hard to believe that unarmed 17 year old Trayvon Martin  was able to overpower 28 year old Zimmerman and put Zimmerman's life in danger. How did this encounter even ensue? Zimmerman saw a Black male simply walking. That's it, WALKING. So Zimmerman took it upon himself to approach the "so called perpetrator", and low and behold the young Black male ends up with a bullet in his chest. Is Zimmerman a trained police officer who has been trained to detect when people "are up to no good"? No, he saw a Black male and saw an opportunity to scratch his "itch", which he did. He initiated the confrontation, and gravely ended the confrontation. If you believe otherwise you've never held a weapon, and I hope you never do.

Game 6- A monumental collapse, a sleeping Giant awakes

Stop the presses, cork the champagne, and put the trophy back in its case; it aint over yet. Just when you think the Spurs have victory within their grasp the Heat pull one out of the fire (no pun intended). It looked like midway through the fourth quarter LeBron rolled out of bed, yawned, stretched, took of his headband and went straight into Beast mode. He emphatically answered all the critics who say he does not have that extra gear or that killer mentality. LeBron aside, what on earth happen to the Spurs? Arguably the most poised team we've seen in the last 15 years completely derails down the stretch. Sure there was some questionable moves made by Pop that can be scrutinized but regardless, it was a very out of character finish by the Spurs. So the question remains: did the Spurs lose the game, or did the Heat win it? I'm going to say a little of both, the Spurs were flawless up until the very end where the Heat were able to steal the momentum and make some very crucial plays- Bosh with the offensive rebound and kick out to Allen that sent the game into overtime, and Bosh's determined block on Danny Green at the buzzer. My question to the Spurs is: how do you recover from such a heart wrenching loss and bounce back for a Game 7? If your the Heat how do you keep that momentum going into Game 7 after expending so much energy and effort in Game 6? I'm not sure if Game 7 can top what we saw in that epic Game 6 but we should be in for another good one.

Game 6- Through 3 quarters- Spurs clinch 5th championship

Shoot shoot shoot shoot. If Miami doesn't start shooting the wide open jumpers the Spurs are giving them, say goodnight. Instead the Heat are content with putting their head down and going to the rim begging for fouls after the fact. I never saw MJ lay on his back after a drive and then lobby for a call. Silly, get up and get back on D. The Spur's defense is pretty simple, everybody sag back and dare Miami to shoot the ball, which they are preferring not to do (Wade and James). If I'm a Heat player I would prefer to go down shooting rather than pleading to the refs.

Game 6- First half thoughts- Where is that Heat switch I been hearing about? It might be stuck...

I actually think this first half favors the Miami Heat which may seem odd, but give me your ear for just a second. If you are a Heat fan don't fret, you should be okay with Timmy D gettin buckets (25 points) in the first half. It is much better than a three-point barrage from Green and his buddies. If you're the Heat I wouldn't double Duncan in the second half leaving the Spur's shooters open. Wait back and see if 37 year old Duncan can carry the Spurs for another 24 minutes. Heat will get it together and hit the proverbial switch.

Game 6- 1st quarter thoughts

The first quarter just ended and the Heat are fortunate to be in front. Great quarter from Chalmers, better quarter for Duncan. For some outrageous reason Diaw is owning Lebron on defense which I suspect will wake up a sleeping giant. I hope this game doesn't result in a Miami blowout and the Heat are forced to get a gutsy win.

Game 5: There has been a reported Ginobli sighting- the Silver Fox strikes again

Unfortunately I was unable to view game 4 but in looking at the box score, the Heat returned to the Heat team that won 27 straight games. The Big 3 accounted for 85 of the Heat points, but could they replicate that performance in tonight's game and get back-to-back victories? The answer is no.

Just when you think Ginobli is in the twilight days of his Hall of Fame career and Greg Pop should cut his minutes indiscriminately; what does Pop go and do? He sticks him in the starting lineup and Manu returns to the Manu Spurs fans have come to know and love. The Spurs cruise to victory behind the play of Ginobli and the shooting of Danny Green who apparently has no idea that he is in the NBA finals, breaking Ray Allen's record for most three-pointers made in the finals. Also, the severity of Tony Parker's "hamstring injury" was clearly overplayed as he looked as spry as he did in 2001 when he joined the Spurs establishment. Let’s see what else... San Antonio's Big 3 were solid, Manu remembered how to handle the ball, and Green shot the lights out again... oh yea that's right, the Heat also played in this game (if you call that playing). There has been a lot of talk about the Heat "flipping the switch" when they need to, most evident following a loss. However, they can't seem to string together two wins in a row which makes for a great story as the Heat need to win two in a row in Miami to clinch. How effective is this switch? While people talk about how the Heat have not lost back-to-back games since January, well newsflash, the Spurs have not lost back-to-back games since December. So if the Heat take game 6 the odds say the Spurs will take game 7. If the Heat actually do believe that there is a switch they can flip against the San Antonio Spurs they are sadly mistaken. This a tried and true team, and if the Heat plan on winning two straight they are going to have to play all out balls to the wall basketball from opening tip to the final buzzer. No excuses win or go home and hit switches on your 64’ impala.

Game 3: Where was I when Gary Neal became Ray Allen? Another freak occurence...

There isn't a whole lot to say about this game. The Spurs shot the lights out and the Heat took the night off. I don't think you can take much from this game for either team. Neal has never shot like that in his life and probably never will. The only player that showed for the Heat was Mike Miller, the big three for the Heat were completely non-existent and San Antonio's big three had a generic game at best. All in all it was an awful game to watch aside from the shooting of Neal and Green who combined to hit 13 of the Spurs 17 three-pointers in their route to setting a NBA finals record. So what does game 3 mean in moving forward in the series? The answer: not a whole lot. I don't suspect the Spurs will be breaking more records from beyond the arc, and I don't suspect the Heat will sleepwalk their way through another game. However, there was a couple of things that stood out to me about game 3. The way Wade is playing defense in this series right now I don't think he could even guard me. Half the game he looked completely lost in his defensive rotations and when to help leaving Danny Green wide open like he has been all series thus far. Furthermore, what is Lebron doing out there? 7-21 from the field with zero free throw attempts...? That aint no Lebron I ever heard of. I'm not going to go as far as some analyst and say that Lebron needs to have the biggest game of his life in game four, but in order for Miami to win there needs to emerge some semblance of the MVP numbers he put up during the regular season, not just flashes of them during the third quarter. Otherwise the Heat can go ahead and pack it up and go back to Miami and cherish the ring they do have.

Game 2: An anomaly that Spurs fans and Splitter would like to forget

So Lebron took it upon himself to make an ass out of me last night; fair enough. I’m completely ok with that. Can you guess why? It resulted in a victory, however as Steven A likes to say: any statement made that is followed by the word ‘but’, negates everything said before the word ‘but’ was used. So the Heat came out with the victory and Lebron only scored 17 points, ‘but’ this game was a complete anomaly. If Miller, Chalmers, and Ray Ray played like that every game they would be the Big 3. Unfortunately they don’t. Sure Lebron put up numbers that haven’t been seen in 25 years, and good on him. I hate to beat a dead horse but stats don’t win championships (occasionally they win games). If you expect the Heat to win game 3 with Lebron scoring 4 points in the first half, then you are mistaken. If you expect San Antonio’s Big 3 to shoot 10 for 33 again, you are sadly mistaken. Don’t get me wrong, I love what the Heat were able to do last night and I give mad props to Spolstra for the adjustments he made; the high screen and roll with Bron and Chalmers, as well as having Miller and Ray Ray on the court at the same time. That being said, Pop without a doubt will have a new game plan which will rebut the open shots the Heat’s shooters got last game. If you noticed Duncan didn’t even play in the 4^th quarter. So before we hand out rings to the Heat let’s slow down and keep things in perspective. If Bosch and D Wade don’t put their fingerprints on the next 3 games in San Antonio, I wouldn’t place too much investment in Chalmers, Allen, and Miller re-producing their performance in game 2 and carrying the Heat to another victory. Oh and if you didn’t think Bron’s block on Splitter wasn’t one of the greatest blocks of all time then something wrong with you.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Lebron: Why stat sheets don't win ball games.

As I sit and prepare myself for Game 2 of the NBA finals only one question occupies my mind: what will LBJ do tonight? It’s easy to be enamored by 18, 18, and 10, however if it does not result in a W then what is such a performance really worth? Looks great in the stat sheet, but stat sheets don’t win ball games. Some argue that there is too much being asked of Lebron; ‘he got a triple double what else do you want from the guy’? This excuse was a valid one in 2007 when the Cavs were swept by the Spurs. I would even accept that excuse when the Cavs lost to Orlando in the 09 Eastern Conference finals. But it is 2013 and Lebron is self-proclaimed 40 to 50 times better; that is not what I saw late in the fourth quarter of game 1. I “witnessed” the same Lebron that I saw in 07 and 09, great numbers, filling the stat sheet, however lacking the killer mentality that the true great ones possess. I wish I had the game film of the last 5 minutes of game 1 to compare to any 5 minute section of game 7 against the Pacers. I would then mail it to Lebron in hopes that he could remedy this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act. I have no problem with his kick out to Bosh in the closing seconds. On second thought I do have a problem with that play but it’s not necessarily Lebron’s fault.  Firstly, why is Bosh posted up at the three-point line, the furthest spot on the three-point line mind you, when he is money from 18 feet? Bosh is not exactly John Paxson or Steve Kerr. Secondly, Lebron should not give the ball up until he has at least got into the paint, as opposed to when he is at the top of the key. The Heat played directly into the Spurs hands. You don’t have to be Greg Pop to define a defensive strategy where the D sags back and doubles Lebron leaving Bosh open for that ill advised three-pointer. But that one play aside Lebron did not exert his will on the game in the last 5 minutes of the game as say a Kobe Bryant or MJ would. As gifted as Lebron is, it don’t mean much if he can’t take the ball down the stretch and deliver a victory.