The (Probably Way Too Long) 2014 NBA Finals Preview

We're back. I'm not sure we ever left.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

12 months and 100+ games later, we're right back to where we started - Miami and San Antonio for all the marbles.

There are two prevailing opinions about a Finals rematch. Some people think "wait, I don't want to watch these two teams play each other again - last year's series was so amazing, there's no possible way to top that. Let's get some new blood in here." Others think "Last year's series was amazing, but it was so incredibly close that I'm still not even sure the better team won. I need seven more games of that to make sure."

Personally, I'm more in the second group. Yes, I realize that there's probably not much chance that this series can top last year's seven-game instant classic. But even after watching all seven games twice last June (once live, once again the next morning) and then a third time over the last week, I'm STILL not sure which team was better.

For the most part, this year's series is going to be a carbon-copy of last year's series, with a few small changes. Last year's series was as close as a series can be, with Miami barely prevailing. This year, San Antonio has upgraded Gary Neal and Cory Joseph to Marco Belinelli and Patty Mills (although Neal was huge in the Finals last year - he was 14-for-30 from three, with many of them coming in huge moments). Miami has lost Mike Miller and replaced his minutes with Rashard Lewis (but I'm not sure if you can call that a downgrade with Lewis making nine of his last 16 attempts from three, and Miami being +58 in his last 100 minutes on the floor). Manu Ginobili is playing well, but so is Dwyane Wade. There are a few subtle changes, but they wash each other out. The only truly relevant points are home-court advantage shifting to San Antonio (more on that later), and Tony Parker's semi-questionable ankle.

Western Conference Finals Preview: (1) San Antonio Spurs vs. (2) Oklahoma City Thunder

With Serge Ibaka out of the lineup, Oklahoma City will need to find other contributors in the frontcourt.

 By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

By The Numbers

San Antonio:
62-20 (32-9 Home, 30-11 Road)
PPG: 105.4 (6th); PPG Allowed: 97.6 (6th)
+7.7 Average Scoring Margin (1st)
Off Rating: 108.2 (6th); Def Rating: 100.1 (4th)
+8.1 Net Efficiency Rating (1st)

Oklahoma City:
59-23 (34-7 Home; 25-16 Road)
PPG: 106.2 (5th); PPG Allowed: 99.8 (12th)
+6.3 Average Scoring Margin (3rd)
Off Rating: 108.1 (7th); Def Rating: 101.0 (5th)
+7.1 Net Efficiency Rating (3rd)

Season Series: Oklahoma City 4-0
Oklahoma City 94, San Antonio 88 (November 27)
Oklahoma City 113, San Antonio 100 (December 21)
Oklahoma City 111, San Antonio 105 (January 22)
Oklahoma City 106, San Antonio 94 (April 3)

West Round 2 Preview: (1) San Antonio Spurs vs. (5) Portland Trail Blazers

Terry Stotts isn't a household name like Gregg Popovich, but that could change if the Blazers advance.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

By The Numbers

San Antonio:
62-20 (32-9 Home, 30-11 Road)
PPG: 105.4 (6th); PPG Allowed: 97.6 (6th)
+7.7 Average Scoring Margin (1st)
Off Rating: 108.2 (6th); Def Rating: 100.1 (4th)
+8.1 Net Efficiency Rating (1st)

Portland:
54-28 (31-10 Home; 23-18 Road)
PPG: 106.7 (4th); PPG Allowed: 102.8 (22nd)
+4.0 Average Scoring Margin (8th)
Off Rating: 108.2 (6th); Def Rating: 104.7 (16th)
+3.5 Net Efficiency Margin (T-8th)

Season Series: Tied 2-2
Portland 115, San Antonio 105 (November 2)
Portland 109, San Antonio 100 (January 17)
San Antonio 111, Portland 109 (February 19)
San Antonio 103, Portland 90 (March 12)

West Round 1 Preview: (1) San Antonio Spurs vs. (8) Dallas Mavericks

Manu Ginobili's health is a key for San Antonio's success this postseason. He's seen here discussing his health with his doctor.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

By the Numbers:

San Antonio:
62-20 (32-9 Home, 30-11 Road)
PPG: 105.4 (6th); PPG Allowed: 97.6 (6th)
+7.7 Average Scoring Margin (1st)
Off Rating: 108.2 (6th); Def Rating: 100.1 (4th)
+8.1 Net Efficiency Rating (1st)

Dallas:
49-33 (26-15 Home; 23-18 Road)
PPG: 104.8 (8th); PPG Allowed: 102.4 (20th)
+2.4 Average Scoring Margin (12th)
Off Rating: 109.0 (3rd); Def Rating: 105.9 (22nd)
+3.1 Net Efficiency Rating (11th)

Season Series: San Antonio 4-0
San Antonio 116, Dallas 107 (December 26)
San Antonio 112, Dallas 90 (January 8)
San Antonio 112, Dallas 106 (March 2)
San Antonio 109, Dallas 100 (April 10)

NBA Finals Game 6: What The Hell Just Happened?

Ray Allen cemented his legacy as one of the great big-time shooters in history.

By Jeremy Conlin

At 12:19 a.m. Wednesday, Dylan Murphy of ESPN's TrueHoop Network (Hardwood Paroxysm, HoopChalk), SB Nation (Poasting and Toasting), The Classical, and Knicks Now posted the following to Twitter: 

No article tomorrow - no matter how great the writer - will be able to capture what just happened.
— Dylan Murphy (@DylanTMurphy) June 19, 2013

Dylan is somewhat of a friend of mine, insomuch as that we are each aware of the other's existence and we've have interacted on the internet and met in person once. I very much respect his opinion.

That being said, I'm going to try. I'm going to fail - miserably - but I'm going to try. What follows is my poor attempt at describing what it was like to experience Tuesday night's Game 6. And I say "experience," not "watch," because "watch" doesn't even remotely do it justice. It was a complete surrender of agency. Anyway, here goes:

Taking You to School Podcast: Game 5 and the Heat vs History

Join Suite Sports' Joe Parello and Jeremy Conlin for their weekly podcast with Roundball Daily's Kels Dayton. This week, the three discuss game five of the NBA Finals, and tackle the debates of Jordan vs LeBron and Kobe vs D-Wade.

Also, what to make of Doc Rivers, KG and Paul Pierce all possibly joining the Clippers.

Listen to internet radio with Real Fans Sports Radio on BlogTalkRadio

NBA Finals: Notes from Game 2

Chris Bosh had a strong Game 2 and is a key to the series for Miami.

By Bennett Corcoran

•    While his numbers in the first half may seem oddly pedestrian as LeBron James scored just four points on 2-7 shooting, it’s not as if he played poorly during that stretch. While he didn’t shoot the ball particularly well thanks to the lockdown defense of Kawhi Leonard, James drew double teams seemingly every time he touched the ball or the Heat ran a screen for him, opening up other players for wide open looks. While I was expecting LeBron to have one of “those games” in which he effortlessly drops 35+ points and takes over the third quarter like he has done on so many other occasions, he still orchestrated a huge run with Mario Chalmers to blow Game 2 out of proportion, even if the gaudy point totals weren’t there last night. Acting almost as a decoy, LeBron caused the Spurs to abandon shooters in the corners and leave unguarded Miami players under the hoop.

The (Probably Way Too Long) Suite Sports 2013 NBA Finals Preview

The 2013 NBA Finals could come down to coaching.

By Jeremy Conlin

Is it just me or did we take the circuitous route and end up at the same point we all thought we would end up at from the beginning of the season?

The Heat are taking on [insert strong Western Conference Champion here] for the NBA Championship. Yawn. Right?

We might have squabbled about which team would represent the Western Conference – I picked the Lakers and was very happy to be wrong. My second pick would have been San Antonio, and the popular pick seemed to be Oklahoma City. But we all knew we were basically going to end up with an iconic Heat-Somebody matchup. Either the storied, star-studded Lakers, the up-and-coming star-studded Thunder, or the Old Guard of the Spurs.