The Miami Heat will defeat the San Antonio Spurs in Game 2 of the NBA Finals if Erik Spoelstra puts LeBron James in better position to succeed.
James finished Game 1 with 18 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists. He played well, but he didn’t overwhelm the Spurs like he’s capable of doing. Much of that should be attributed to what Miami did wrong rather than what San Antonio did right.
The MVP only converted 2-of-8 field goal attempts when defended by Kawhi Leonard on Thursday night—seven of which were in the second half—according to ESPN. When guarded by another Spur, James sunk 5-of-8. He also attempted shots an average of 7.5 feet closer to the hoop compared to when Leonard didn’t defend him.
Spoelstra should’ve seen this coming. Leonard held opposing small forwards to an average player efficiency ratio of 12.6 this season according to 82games.com (the league average is 15.0).
Posting up the 6’8”, 250-pound James on the block against the 6’7”, 225-pound Leonard would work in theory, but for it to succeed, Chris Bosh needs to knock down open ...
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Article written by David Daniels
Heat vs Spurs Game 2: Miami Must Use LeBron James’ Strengths More Effectively
June 8th, 2013 by David Daniels Leave a reply »
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