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The air conditioning in San Antonio is fixed and LeBron James sounds like he has put his cramps behind him. While there has been some controversy surrounding James’ health and the AC conditions at the AT&T Center, all seems to be normal heading into game two of the 2014 NBA Finals.
On one hand it’s at least worth mentioning that the Spurs had the home court advantage and the Miami Heat had to tough out some of game one without their best player. On the other, every player had to deal with the high temperatures on the court, and the Spurs still prevailed in convincing fashion.
If the AC becomes a problem for the second game, the it will be perfectly understandable for Heat fans to start to question the “fairness” of these Finals. For now, though, the air conditioning matter is a fluke happening that was seemingly out of anyone’s control.
Heading into a game two that is arguably a must-win game for the Heat, nothing has really changed from a schematic perspective. The Spurs went into game one with a very clear approach: play sound defense, dominate the paint and find a way to limit King James.
The Spurs accomplished all three for the most part, holding Miami under 100 points, containing James to 25 points and getting to work inside (35 combined points from Tiago Splitter and Tim Duncan). San Antonio also held control of the boards with their bigs, as Splitter, Duncan and Boris Diaw combined for an impressive 24 rebounds.
Everything stays the same in game two if the Spurs want to jump out to a formidable 2-0 series lead. LeBron James won’t likely be fighting off cramps and him scoring 25 points or less isn’t safe bet, but the Spurs still have the ability to control what happens down low.
If San Antonio can keep doing the work in the paint that they have been, they should be able to hold their ground at home once again and jump out to the commanding 2-0 lead.
Pick: Spurs 106, Heat 99
