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This year’s NBA Finals will pit a rematch between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. The Heat took last year’s Finals, which was a historic series most remembered for Heat guard Ray Allen’s miracle corner-3 in Game 6.
This year’s NBA Finals will pit a rematch between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. The Heat took last year’s Finals, which was a historic series most remembered for Heat guard Ray Allen’s miracle corner-3 in Game 6.
But the Spurs have home-court advantage this year, something Miami enjoyed a year ago. The Spurs are 9-1 at home in this year’s playoffs. And with Game 1 set for Thursday night at 9:00 PM ET on ABC, the Spurs enter the series confident and ready.
“We’ll do it this time,” said Spurs star and future hall of famer Tim Duncan on winning the championship. Those words ring especially loud given Duncan’s usual quiet and humble nature. A healthy Tony Parker will undoubtedly bolster Duncan and the Spurs’ cause. The second-team All-NBA point guard is set to go for Game 1 despite an ankle injury that kept him out for most of Game 6 in the Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Meanwhile, the Heat have lost just three games in the entire 2014 playoffs to this point and are playing as well as they have all season. “They don’t like us. They don’t,” Heat superstar LeBron James said. “I can sense it from Timmy’s comments over the last couple of days.
“They wanted this. They wanted us. And we’ll be ready for the challenge.” Along with James, the Heat can rely on an X factor they didn’t enjoy last year: a healthy Dwyane Wade. Wade is shooting a career-high 54.5% from the field in the Playoffs, an absurd statistic for a guard.
With all the storylines and the build-up from last year’s unforgettable Finals, there’s already a pronounced anticipation for Game 1.
The current Betting spread has the Spurs as 4-point favorites, with the Over/Under at 199.
