Just when you thought this would be one of the most boring NBA Finals of all time, the Heat strike back, achieving the mile high split, sending the series back to Miami evened at 1 game a piece. Maybe you didn’t think it would be boring; I didn’t. Sure, do the Nuggets have the best player on the court? Yes. Do they have the 2nd best player on the court? Well, I say Butler and Murray are a wash. Do they have the size on the Heat? Yes. However, although I’ve started to like the Nuggets coach a bit, the Heat do have Spoelstra, who has gained a bunch of my respect. And the Heat have been tabbed to lose each and every series they’ve been in thus far, and… look how that turned out. I’m still sticking with my original prediction of Nuggets in 7, but if the Heat can take Game 3, and put a little pressure on the Nugs, then…
I didn’t see any of the game Sunday night; we were finishing up our 2nd baseball game of the day. We did listen to the last few minutes on the radio. I also talked to some folks after the game; they said the refs were really questionable. Sounded like they were giving the Heat the “Lakers treatment”… I cannot confirm or deny that claim, but it doesn’t surprise me. So the NBA wants this series to go longer? You don’t say. At the end of the day, I think the more talented team will win out, but… you give the Heat an inch, and… watch out. Regardless of how they ended up tying the series, it IS a series now; Game 3 in Miami will be really interesting. I think I’m going to keep betting on the Heat. Yes, they cost me Game 1, but made up for some of it in Game 2. The line for Game 3 opened at Nuggets -2, and has moved up a half a point; I’ll wait, but… pretty much already sold on taking the Heat ML again.
Talking about stretching it out, how about the schedule? If it does go 7 games, that will be 17 days between Game 1 and Game 7. The longest Bulls Finals was in 1997, when it took them 12 days to dispatch the Jazz in 6 games; it only took them 10 days to beat the Lakers in 5 in 1991. The other 4 Finals were all done in 11 days, 6 games each. So why the extended timeframe now? I thought they were better athletes now then before? Well, load management says otherwise, but this is probably just about money; more hours in the additional days for folks to analyze and bet on the games. Isn’t it always about money?
So yeah, about that money, my money will be on the Heat again in Game 3, as we watch the series march on to the maximum 7 games. Welcome to South Beach.
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