The San Antonio Spurs won the NBA finals opener at home vs the Miami Heat. The Miami team nickname was the operative word as the game was played with no air conditioning in the arena due to a power failure.
The Spurs are (6-0) in finals openers and (5-0) at home. They are (4-1) in previous NBA finals series.
The lone Spurs finals series loss was to the Heat last year. The Heat are (1-4) in finals openers and the game one loser has won all four finals that involved the Heat.
With his usual, arrogant exaggeration, FOX Sports 1 TV and WFAN NYC Radio’s Mike Francesa said “game one means nothing.” First off it does, no matter who wins. Next the Spurs, who opened as seven to five favorites are twelve to five favorites after their game one win.
Since the so often wrong Francesa was so extreme in his statement, I feel very strongly that the game one winner, (my pick anyway, San Antonio) will win the series.
I am not retreating, but I did say the teams will split the first two games. Now anything can happen, but surely the Spurs’ chances are better up (2-0) than (1-1).
Mike Francesa: often wrong
One of the best NBA finals series took place 40 years ago between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks.
The Celtics led by playoffs MVP John Havlicek prevailed in seven games.
The most memorable game, and one of the great games in NBA history, was the Bucks’ double overtime win in game six at Boston. Kareem Abdul Jabbar hit a long sky hook shot to win it.
The Celtics then had to win game seven in Milwaukee which they did. They won 3 of 4 games in Milwaukee during the series. The Bucks won 2 of the 3 games played in Boston.
One other note, the great announcer Pat Summerall, best known for football play by play, was the play by play man on CBS’ NBA telecasts.
“The Only Real Game” is a heartwarming, emotionally tugging film that shows baseball’s importance juxtaposed with the bad conditions in Manipur, a once princely state in northeast India which is now a troubled place.
The movie is written and directed by Mirra Bank and narrated by the superb actress, Melissa Leo.
The footage of the country complete with the ever present threat of violence from both the government police and the insurgents is fantastic.
The people interviewed include MK Binodini Devi (Imasi), the late daughter of the last monarch of Manipur. She, like so many other fascinating people revealed in the film, are for progress and hope. Baseball is a big part of that hope.
Baseball for me, as with millions of others, was a part of something beautiful in years past. My love for it has waned exponentially. Yet seeing it in its purest form and even better as transcending the great game it is,as told in this film, I again felt its beauty.
So many involved in this magnificent film deserve notice. Among them baseball teaching volunteers, Jeff Brueggemann and Dave Palese and one of the producers, Muriel “Mike” Peters
Both the organizations Harlem Rbi and First Pitch are making invaluable contributions toward the dream that conditions will improve in Manipur. Baseball is a big part of that dream as shown in this wonderful, inspirational film.
The NBA finals are a rematch of a year ago. They begin tomorrow night in San Antonio, with the top ranked Spurs hosting the Miami Heat who have won the last two NBA Championships.
I believe the San Antonio Spurs will avenge last year’s loss to the Heat (that series went seven games). There are two major reasons for my prediction of a Spurs’ victory this time around.
First they have great depth on their player roster. I believe they will gain points in those situations when the top players for both teams are on the bench, whether for rest or in foul trouble.
More telling will be not only that San Antonio has home advantage, but that it will be a 2-2-1-1-1 format: meaning games one and two in San Antonio, games three and four in Miami and two of the three “if necessary” games (five and seven) in San Antonio.
I like the change to this format after a 2-3-2 (first two at the higher ranked team, the next two and a potential fifth game at the lower ranked team and the potential last two games at the higher ranked team) was used from 1985-2013.
This year with a “2-2-1-1-1” format and superior depth, the Spurs will win in six games. The teams will split the first four games and having game five at home will propel the Spurs to wins in the next two games.
The NY Rangers will battle the Los Angeles Kings for the Stanley Cup.
This will be the eighth time that teams from New York and Los Angeles are meeting for a major North American sports league championship.
Four previous championship rounds were in baseball, the World Series. Additionally there were NBA finals contested between teams form the two cities three times in four seasons from (1970-1973.)
The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees have split four World Series battles. The Dodgers won in four straight games in 1963 and in six games in 1981. The Yankees’ back to back World Series wins were both vs the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978.
Though the Los Angeles Lakers have won 11 NBA titles while in Los Angeles and the New York Knicks have two, it is the Knicks who won two of three NBA finals vs the Lakers.
In 1970 the Knicks won in seven games while the teams each won in five vs the other. In 1972, the Lakers lost the first game and won the next four while in 1973 the Knicks did the same.
The Los Angeles Kings advanced to their second Stanley Cup final in three seasons by winning game seven at Chicago, vs the defending champion Blackhawks.
Alec Martinez scored in overtime for the Kings, who advanced winning their three series in game seven on the road.
They will face the New York Rangers, who won two series in seven games and one in six games.
This will be the first time the Kings and Rangers meet for the Stanley Cup.
The Stanley Cup final begins in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
Alec Martinez
The San Antonio Spurs advanced to the NBA finals for the second straight season by winning game six in overtime at Oklahoma City vs the Thunder.
It is the first time in Spurs’ franchise history that they will be in the finals in two consecutive seasons.
It will be a rematch of last year’s finals vs the two time champion Miami Heat. The Heat will be playing in their fourth straight finals series, having won two of the previous three. Miami is (3-1) in NBA finals series.
The Spurs are (4-1) in NBA finals and are (4-0) when having the home advantage. Unlike last season, when the Heat won the championship with a game seven win at home, the Spurs have the home advantage this time.
The Miami Heat became just the third NBA franchise to advance to the finals in four consecutive seasons, after dispatching the Indiana Pacers in six games.
The Heat join the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers in making as many as four straight NBA finals. The Celtics made ten straight, winning nine from (1957-1966). No other NBA team has made more than four straight finals appearances.
The game six loss dropped the Pacers to (5-23) in road semi-finals games. They have lost seven of their 8 NBA semi-final series.
The New York Rangers advanced to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 20 years with a (1-0) victory vs the Montreal Canadiens in game six of the Eastern Conference finals.
This will be just the 4th finals appearance for the Rangers in 63 seasons played 1951-2014. There was no NHL season in 2005.
New York awaits the winner of the Chicago Blackhawks/Los Angeles Kings series, which L.A. leads three games to two.
One mega corporation’s ceiling is a country’s low. While NBC gets a final between its country’s largest city and one of the next two, Canada gets a 20th consecutive NHL season without one of its teams winning the Stanley Cup.
It was another great event at the fabulous Bergino Clubhouse (67 East 11th Street) last night as author John Rosengren discussed his book “The Fight of Their Lives,” with Bergino Clubhouse owner Jay Goldberg.
The book is about the before, during, and after of an August 1965 game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, best known for an incident involving the Dodgers’ John Roseboro and the Giants’ Juan Marichal.
Yes, it was the game in which Marichal hit Roseboro on his head with a baseball bat. Yet as Mr. Rosengren detailed with interesting anecdotes and a heartfelt reading from the book it is so much more.
Ultimately it is a story of forgiveness and the fact almost nothing is so one sided. Details about the year 1965, each player’s personal woes that year, and more tidbits about the Dodgers/Giants rivalry were revealed.
I can not wait to read the book which will take me back not only to a glorious baseball time and a pure pennant race, but will serve me in life’s never ending quest to grow.
Mr. Rosengren in tackling this story of forgiveness and in being moved to tears regarding Hank Greenberg in a previous book, shows articulate compassion.
Andy B Sports 