April 28, 2022 • 44 mins
Hosted by 7-time champion Robert Horry and Jabari Davis, NBA Finals File dives deep into the greatest Finals series in NBA history, breaking down the best moments, storylines and matchups using rare archival audio from the NBA, and the personal touch that only Big Shot Bob can give.
In this episode of NBA Finals File, we examine the 2013 Finals, Spurs vs Heat. An epic back-and-forth 7-game battle filled with future Hall-of-Famers and spectacular performances. The Miami Big 3 are going for back-to-back titles vs the San Antonio Big 3, but Ray Allen is the player who steps up and makes one of the greatest shots in NBA history. Rob and Jabari talk about the legacy altering significance of the series to LeBron, D. Wade and Bosh, where the Ray Allen game-tying 3 ranks among the most clutch shots of all-time, and Rob shocks us with his first ever "Big Shot Bob" award for the most clutch player in the series.
NBA Finals File is available on the iHeart app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. NBA Finals File is a production of iHeartMedia and the NBA.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
All right, welcome to episode two of NBA Finals filed
with Robert Ryan, Jabari Davis. Rob. Great to be back
with you once again as we continue breaking down the
NBA Finals featuring, as we mentioned, the Big Three of
Miami versus the old Big Three of San Antonio. Yes,
this is a great matchup so far one to three
and four have been exciting, you know, Jabari and Rob
here to break down game file. Let's get it going, brother,
(00:27):
this game it's a big boy dame physicality, toughness with
the ball. It's supposed to be hard. It's the final,
all right, give him some adversity, knock the stuff out
of jumping into game five? Hop into you. He makes
an adjustment here he in searched menu into the starting
line up kind of breaks him free of of of
(00:49):
what is If we're being honest, it was a bit
of a slump to start the series. Antonio. Remember money,
he scores twenty four points. He has tennessis you know? Uh?
And and as I mentioned, he was ten for thirty
one in the series prior of this adjustment. Can you
(01:11):
speak to that? What we know? What putting mine who
in the starting lineup was? You know? Does for the spurs.
I think Pop is always good at making adjustments, and
he saw that. Let's be honest, mind it was I
wouldn't say he was struggling, but he wasn't being the
Mono Genovle that we used to and so and plus
when Um Miami made the adjustment of going small with
Mike Miller, um Pop counter now going small with Mino Jenovle.
(01:34):
So it kind of, you know, fixed itself. And Minu
came out and showed that, hey, you know, I still
got a little left in the tank, and he was
able to go out and put up some good numbers,
had twenty four points at the lineup. I didn't do
the book, my boy is I have to fill tho
for Moniteno. But this was old mine Jenova, you know,
back and when he first stepped on the scene, he
was shocking everybody with drive into the holes. He's crazy
(01:57):
under the under people arm scoop shots the euro Step.
But Monel Genobley up old Terry Game five. I wonder
if Mino Genobli is the originator of the euro Step,
because he's one of the first people I ever saw
to do it. So Minu GENOBLEI uh, let me steal
this from charge barking Genoboli. So it was exciting, all right.
(02:17):
So I can already hear I can already hear the
basketball nerds, you know from my Twitter timeline upset about
about that reference, in particular Elgin Baylor was doing the
euro step way back in your way back in the sixties,
you know, but but mine who definitely broke that, that
mone who definitely popularized that. I would imagine. Yeah, you know,
I'm saying when I saw it, I never I never
saw the play, so you know, I know how great
(02:41):
he was, but you know, I never saw it. Playing
and play against and with Mino Jone was was awesome,
you know, Hall of Famer. So it's it's great to
see him get out of this. It's not doing this series.
So we got Tony Parker. He shoots, He has his
best shooting game, if I'm not mistaken. He goes ten
for fourteen from the Flooria's twenty six points. It away,
Tonny Parker flicks it up. There's a specialty spurs by four.
(03:05):
You know, Duncan was efficient throughout the paint. Duncan and
he slams it by you at seventeen points. You know,
twelve boards. He was seven fourteen from the floor. Danny Green,
you know, stopped me if you've heard that name before.
Over the course of this conversation, he makes another six
threes on his way to twenty four points. But the
stretch that I want to focus on was with three
minutes left in the third, it's a one point game.
(03:26):
Danny hits a three to put them up four grade
Bang Danny Green from White Downtown. Listen, Mike. Normally at
that range you would go under. Then man who gets
a nan one only a couple of chap steps drives,
count it head on mottos only what a chance? Grut
three point play. Then Green hits another one, then Man
(03:49):
who basically just goes ballistic, and the Spurs wind up
going on a nineteen to one run, stretching from the
end of the third through the early stages of the fourth.
San an Tonio ends the period on a twelve one
run seven gree for three, talking all the follows, nineteen
point what's it like you're when a team like the
(04:10):
Spurs goes on runs like this? You know, when you
hit that run, it feels like there's nothing you can't
do on the court. You can knock down shots. You
can play good defense, especially when you do it against
a team that you know, it's an incredible team with Lebron,
Chris Bosh, Dwyane Waight and Ray Allen. So this team
was one of those teams like, we can make this
run against them. Anything is possible. And it's not just
(04:31):
talking about a team that can is offensive minded Miami Heat,
like you said, seventh defensive minded teams. So when you
make a run like that, it's exciting you at home.
You're making the fans feel good and the crowd is
into it, and there's nothing you can do but go
out and get a victory and feel good about yourself.
So look from Miami side of themes, Lebron waiting, Boss,
They're still effective, but you're not quite as dominated as
(04:53):
they were in the previous game. You know, and even
though it was a loss, I want to mention this.
Ray Allen looks more and more comfortable with the the series.
He gets hot off the bench, you know, to the
two one points and he goes four for four from deep.
Does great shooting like that or a hot shooting like
that carry over between you know? You know, throughout the series,
I think players that can shoot the ball extreme where
they go through ups and downs, and it can be
(05:16):
a week, it could be two weeks, it could be
a series. And when Ray Allen, we know he's one
of the best shooters to ever do it, and he
could get on the hot street and it ain't about
the game, is about the week. And this was a
point where you know, the previous game he had fourteen.
In this game he had twenty one. So he was
on his way of feeling good. And that's and that's
what you have to look at players and coaches. Let
(05:37):
me let me credit the coaches to the coaches understanding,
because if you look at this series, Um, okay, who's
playing well, Ray Allen starting to feel a bit more combable.
So as a coach, you can give him more minutes.
And then you said, on the other side, it stirs that, oh,
barstall is playing a little bit better for us too,
Let's give him more minutes. And that's what you have
to do as a coach. You have to go with
with your gut and those guys who are playing a
(05:58):
little bit better and and putting up plus pluses on
the floor and not monsters, all right. And then the
last thing that I have on the last thing I
have in this game is you know, Danny Green. You know,
as you mentioned it earlier, he was on his way
to sad and you know, what was an NBA Finals
record at the time. But and you know, while Duncan
and Tony, you know, they both they both had solid moments.
Was it possible that we were absolutely or that we
were actually going to see a Danny Green Finals MVP
(06:20):
had the Spurs ultimately won this series, or do you
think they would have gone with you know, Duncan Either way,
I think we're going with Duncan Tony Parker because those
guys were on a consistent basis and even though Danny
Green was consistent, you know, probably the leading scores in
this series, but it was too many other things that
come into play with way Tim played defensively, the way
Tony played defensive But you know, who knows, you know,
(06:43):
if if he goes out and have a crazy game again,
which he did, who knows. You know, We've seen crazier
things in NBA Finals and people who get m vps,
so we'll see, you know. And to that point, because
part of me asked that question because you know the
fact that you wind up in you know, your finals
MVP and is Kawai Finals, MVP, is Iggy Finals, MVP
(07:04):
in probably was going to beat Draymond had he not
been suspended, which is really just a testament to the
greatness of you of how great Lebron has been. Yeah,
you know it's I would never have thought this in
a million years that you can slow down a guy
like Lebron James. When I say slowed down, instead of
him averaging thirty points, the only has twenty seven points,
you slow him down by three points and then you
(07:25):
can get m v P. But hey, you know that
lets you know how dominant this guy is and was
in the game of basketball. It really is. It really
doesn't that, you know. Like I said, it's a testament
to his greatness. Ended up being a one fourteen, one
oh four victory for the San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio
Spurs that a three two lead in the NBA Finals.
DR Miami, We've been here before and going back home
(07:46):
being confident about, you know, our game, being confident about
you know, getting to win, which we are trying to
come up and get to We couldn't do it, but
we got to at home. So take care of game six.
All right, it's up game six in Miami. All right,
we've reached the moment, We've reached the game rob game six.
(08:10):
But let's go ahead and get to that. After this break,
we're back in Miami, where the NBA Finals return. Or
Game six, well the Spurs close out and win their
fifth championship, or can Miami force a decisive Game seven?
All right, so we're back for game six. You know,
(08:32):
let's be real about this. We heard all the rumblings
about not one, not to not if they lose this game.
You're right, it's not gonna be it's not gonna be two,
it's not gonna be three. It's just one. So can
you talk about the pressure of what that would feel
like coming back home down three two against the Spurs. Yeah,
when you're gonna talk to talk, you definitely gotta walk
that walk. And um for them to go out in
in game six and been down three two were walking
(08:55):
into the game six, you gotta it's a must win.
And this is one of those series where everybody it
has to step up big. And you think about Lebron James.
He steps up big with thirty or two points, but
you know, We talked about adjustments all the time, and
we talked about players getting the momentum, and we haven't
mentioned this. One guy who's gonna be huge on down
(09:15):
the line is Shane Batty. You know, he came into
the season, didn't play much in the first two or
three games, and then he coach supposed to start ease
them in there for five for defensive purposes, because we
know Shane Beatty, he hangs his hat on defense. And
next thing you know, he's starting to get more minutes
and he's getting more comfortable. So it was a little
late the game, but hey, better late than never, right,
(09:35):
And so this game six, they are supposed to put
out all the little tricks he putting, you know, same
Batty a he he let Lebron lose. He hits still.
Mike Miller came out, he had eight points. But you know,
we talked about real and last game coming off his
best game having twenty one points, but in this game
he only had nine points. And then and then something
happened within those nine points, something did well we'll get
(09:56):
to that, you know, coming up here. But you know
what the point that you just the point that you
just made, you know, you're regarding Shane Batty. Is that
is that one of those you know, you know, chess
versus checker situation, you know where Sposuer was holding it
in his back pocket, or is it okay, look, you
know the chips are down. We we have to throw
everything out on them. It's the chips are down. Let's
try something different because what we've been doing isn't working
(10:19):
for us. And you can't be afraid because some coaches are.
Sometimes they get hard head and said, you know what,
this is how we got here. We're gonna stick with
this game plan, and we're supposed to say, you know what,
let's those Shane Battier out there to try to mess
things up, you know, because Shane is a guy who's
defensive oriented. He comes out, he likes to you know,
hard files getting the lane, take charges and occasionally knocked
(10:41):
down threes. And in this game, you know, even though
he only had nine points, he was big defensively with
his his way to play models, you know, but his
way to even you know, get in there and hard
files on Tim Duncan and make him earn his points
at the free throw line. So things like that. At
what's players need to do because Tim had thirty points
in that game. He started that game killing you know,
(11:01):
Oh it looks ventage Tim Duncan. So you need to
try to change things up to you know, to throw
the spurs up their scheme. That right there is where
we're gonna kick it off. Let's get let's get into
the action before we get to that, you know, that
big moment that you you know that you alluded to earlier,
because yeah, Tim Duncan and Kauai, they both came out
like there was blood in the water. James turned away
by a Duncky goes from the top way, take it
away by Kawhi, letters chased out by all and it
(11:23):
was one of those situations where you know, I'm sure
you've seen the look you're like, whether you've given a
look to somebody or you you know you're you're playing
with you know with somebody where they give you that
look like it's time to go, it's time to be
it's time to put the kiddies in bed and it's
time to go. Well, they definitely came out you're playing
like that. They combined for fifty two points or twenty
eight boards. You know, they were both combined they were
(11:44):
five from the floor. Tony Parker didn't shot well. You
ended up scoring nineteen points and at eight and sist,
but you really struggled from the floor like the rest
of the starters. Uh, you know, Parker, Danny Green managed
and nobody they combined to go just nine for thirty
five from the floor. And honestly, the Spurs kind of
this was a game where they really needed just something
from one more guy. Yeah. You know, for me, I
was looking at this game and I'm watching Tony Parker play,
(12:06):
and I'm a huge believer in body language, and in
that game, he didn't have the same energy easy had
in one, two, three, four and five. It's almost like
he was getting fatigued. And I think putting a lebron
on them kind of wore him down because now he
has to work extra hard to get those shots off
because he has to go over a six nine guy
instead of like a six four guy, six three guy.
(12:27):
So I think when you look at stuff like that,
we talk about chess, it's it's all sometimes it's all
about trying to wear an opponent down. Okay, you can
you can try to rope a Dobe Mohammad Ali style,
but eventually you're gonna get tired some of them. And
I think Tony got a little fatigued in that series
because he's scoring output started dropping it and you see
how it dropped also in game seven, but Tony was
(12:48):
still you know, Tony Parker still have nineteen points, but
you can see that it was tough points, not easy
buckets like the first five games. Yeah, and to that point,
you know, you know, not to make an excuse for
Tony Parker, you know, go heading into the series. It
according to the reports, he did have a he did
have a sore hamstring, So I I also wondered, you know,
(13:08):
is it a matter It wasn't a matter of you know,
like the attrition of the series, you know, and and
and can you speak to how how much that plays
into being able to win a title, especially for Tony,
no hamstring that cuts the speed done. His whole game
is predicated on speed. If he can't go out and
do things with explosives as he had, because this first
step is flash fast. You know, he can get by you.
(13:31):
And if you don't have that speed, that's half your
game and you can't really do the things you want
to do. Getting into the pain effectively. Now you've got
to sell it for jump shots and do things that
that that that are not in your nature. And for
Tony to have a hamstring injury that takes away half
his game because he can't use his speed. So rob
the Spurs are up ten at the start of the fourth.
Lebron had previously been struggling from the floor, but he
(13:52):
really starts to turn it on Lebron James, who had
lost his head down. Mario Chalmers also gives you know,
it gives you four for five from d over the
course of the game, and you know, and drops twenty
and really helped him pace the team along the way.
But Bron upside charmers up three, but Lebron actually winds
up scoring six team you know, sixteen and the fourth
on seven of eleven shooting. What does it feel like
when a star basically says, give me the ball and
(14:14):
get the heck out of my way. You know, it's
ventures Lebron, and you know so many guys have done that.
Kobe Shag dream. When you're on the in the finals
and you need a bucket and you need a team
to get on your back, you say, get on your
back and your attack and if you look at what
Lebron did, he was an attack way Lebron pitch up
for the life that gosh, I'm you're dunking doing it
(14:36):
on both things. The f V pace without the head bat.
It wasn't you know, the pretty game to pull up jumpers.
He was doing a little bit of everything and trying
to get to the whole. We call it bulleyball playing
bulleyball um. And then he got Mario Charmers, who was
shooting the ball extreamly well, you know, twenty points in
that game. And when you have others to step up
big like that, because Chris Bosh wasn't having the best game.
(14:58):
He only had ten instant Dwayne where they don't have fourteen,
and you got your big three and two of only
getting twenty four points, you need someone else to step up,
like Mario Chalmers. And that's what he did. And Lebron
was able to carry that team and bring him back
to get in the position to win that game. Even
with a herculean effort you know from Lebron and and
and a great step up effort from Mario Chalmers, the
first still had control of this game very late, you know,
(15:21):
you know it absolutely looked. In fact, you know you
from a personal level, it looked like the Spurs were
on their way to closing things out down the stretch.
The crowd has already starting to trickle out. You know,
with twenty plus seconds ago and us being down five,
you know, the human nature doubts starts to creep into
your mind. You see San Antonio fans popping into jerseys,
you know, jumping up and down. It's a dark moment.
(15:43):
Even though man who splits the pair, there's under thirty
seconds left. This is actually at the point where you know,
the Spurs are up five. Pop decides to sub Duncan
out for d out, which is actually something that he
had done earlier in the postseason and had been successful.
But can you speak to that decision, And well, you
know a lot of people were given Pop flak for that,
(16:04):
But you had to go with a defensive scheam. You're
only up five. A quick to can hurt you, just
like a three ken and um, you have to go defensive.
And Tim wasn't in a position where he could guard
anybody on the court because the biggest man on the
court was Lebron James, and Lebron James has better blowby
ability than the other four down the floor. So a
(16:24):
lot of people was questioning pops thought process on this.
But sometimes you have to roll the dice when you
go when they other team go small down the stretch,
because you don't want to give a three, you try
to match up. And it kind of hurt him in
the end because they were saying the best rebounding in
the game. Where is he He's on the bench and
they get a rebound. Yeah, and the two things to
that point. On that very next play, Lebron misses a jumper,
(16:46):
then Wade actually taps the rebound out I believe to
Mike Miller. Then it ends up back in Lebron's hand
and he ends up knocking down a big three as
a result. And but to your point, you can't necessarily
you can't necessarily account for that. You kind of have
to play the sentages and you know, like and and
and in my estimation, that's that's not not any shade
whatsoever the pop's decision there. Yeah, because if you look
at the play, you know, Dwyane Wade kept it alive
(17:10):
and then three Spurs converged on the basketball and then
knocked it away from each other and then went to
Mike Miller, who was able to scoop it up and
give it to Lebron for the three. It was just
basketball guys. As what we said, the basketball guys were
on the Miami heat side, where there's no way you
can't tell me. Mina Genova usually grabs that snatches that
rebound out of the add with his left hand game over,
(17:32):
but in this case it got tipped out to Lebron
for three. James catches fires a three boy off breebound tips,
still a little specked up by Miller, back out to
James another three. James stocks down two point game were
twenty seconds wading, and here we are again. The very
next possession, after Kawai split another pair of threes, you know,
(17:52):
the very next possession, Lebron misses another open three point attempt,
but Boss, you know, to his credit, battles inside with
three smaller Spurs players and winds up finding Ray Allen
in the corner for what, like, let's be real, at
that point, at least in my life, that was the
greatest final shot of in NBA history. Shook the Spurs,
foul shook, and he goes for the three right aways.
(18:12):
Just attack the basket. James catch Us puts up a
three WoT go rethou blosh back out to Alan his
three pilot tie game with five seconds for Spurs do
not have a time out, but the offessionals are gonna
review to see if Allen was behind the line. Where
(18:38):
does it land for you? Yeah, for me, it's it's
up there. But I look at the playoff shots and
I've always looked at um speaking of the Spurs, Sean
Elliott shot where he has his feet uh up in
the air says he doesn't step on the out of
bounds line. There's so many great shots in the finals,
you know, you think about the moment that Lebron has
(18:58):
had uh Steph Curry. I'm not even gonna mention me,
but it's so many guys that are out that have
knocked done shots. But this shot by real and it's
probably in top five. Yeah, I mean for me, easily
top five. And you're exactly right. It's you know, when
you get to comparing your greatness at the greatest level
from the all time great it can get a little
bit company. But but you know, just given you know,
(19:20):
given everything, you know the fact that they had the
yellow tape already coming out, You're already around the court.
They the fact that the Larry O'Brien Trophy was already
making its way down because because everybody essentially it said
like okay, we're done here for me, that just kind
of heightened the greatness of the moment. Yeah, when you
when you see them bring that tape out and he's like,
(19:40):
hold on, we're not done yet, No, sir, ree Bob,
we got some more left in this. And there's so
many times when fans leave the building like they were
in Miami, it kind of upsets the home teams like, Okay,
we're gonna show you you should have stayed in your
seat because we're gonna have one of the greatest endings
in the NBA's Final that you've ever seen before. In
they had one of the greatest end is every end
(20:02):
think about it. Ray Allen on the court, Lebron James
on the court. I think we have an eight Hall
of Famous on the court right now. And this is
these are historical moments in the NBA that you cannot
walk out on as a fan. I don't I don't
care if your team is losing, you stay. You stay
there to the end, because this is where amazing happens,
and it happened in ray Allen hands, and you sort
(20:23):
of alluded to it earlier when you reference to Sean
Elliott played. But can you speak to can you speak
to the presence of mind and awareness that it takes
for ray Allen to not only be open and you
know and available for that shot, but to get you know,
to back up and get behind the line and you
and be there. You'll be there for perfectly your writing rotation.
I say, get to that three point line somehow, some way,
(20:44):
get there. Smart players do smart things. And when you
have veterans on the court, they know what the situation
at all time, They know the time, they know what
they need to do. And for ray Alan to be
aware of its surrounding nous to back up and then
have the presence of mind to know, hey, I know,
I got up room to get this shot off, to
knock down this three, and to knock down this three,
and it's so it's it's it's just so ray Alan.
(21:06):
He knocks down at three and straight ray Alan for him,
he has a calm face and it does this little
patent three down to the floor and going into o
t ray Dead, what he's done his entire career. This
gave us a new life, gave us a new life,
and that's how we wanted. Once we got that new life,
and over time we knew the game was ours. It
(21:27):
isn't lost on me. I I didn't address it right away,
but I do. I do want to quickly circle back.
You just mentioned that the home team gets upset, in
particular when they see the fans streaming. Now, I didn't realize.
I always kind of wondered, like, how much do you
guys really hear? How much do you really see? Are
you just locked into the game and not really paying
attention to all that? But I get the feeling you
guys are much more aware than I would have even anticipated. Well,
(21:51):
you know, you have to be aware of your surroundings
first of all, man, You know, as you're walking, especially
when you have a white out like like the Miami,
have you see all of a sudden surge or white
going up there, going up the stairs and leaving the
arena Like are these people leave? Oh no, We're gonna
put on the show. You know. So you always got
to be able to surrounding. And guys know that because guys.
(22:11):
It's funny how you look at every player that has
ever played this game. You have to find every little
thing to motivate you. If it's you know you you
pretend the guy you know stepped on your brand new
white shoes, or you know the guy has you know,
you know, destrong your family in some way. You come
up with these scenarios in your head to try to
give you some type of fuel and some type of
(22:32):
fib But when you see your fans leaving the arena,
sometimes that's all you need to say. Okay, I'm gonna
embarrass my fans by saying, you just missed out one
of the greatest moments in history. I can only imagine
in fact, the last the last bit that I have
on that shot. You know you alluded to it earlier. Also,
you've knocked down some of those shots. What does it
feel like when the ball is coming out to you,
(22:53):
like in that exact moment. Is it one of those
situations where the world slows down around you, because at
least feels that way, you know, watching it. How does
it feel when you're right your as that moments being
set up and as you're going through those motions when
it's for me been in that position being a knockdown
three guys in games. You're sitting there like saying to you, said,
(23:14):
giving the ball, give me the ball. I'm ready, I'm ready.
You have all these things going through your mind, but
you're never thinking about, oh, I got to do this
on the shot. I gotta do down the shot. You
just saying give me the ball because that's what you want.
Because at the end of the day, you've done this
so many times in the gym, it's become a part
of your root team. It's becomes a part of who
(23:35):
you are. And I like to relate to people and says,
when you have to get up in the morning and
walk to the bathroom to brush your teeth or go
to the bathroom, you don't go right foot, left foot,
right foot, left foot. You just do it. And as
a basketball player, when the shots coming to you at
the end of the game, you just do it and
you knocked down the shot. And and Ray Allen has
been in that situation since he was at you can
(23:57):
now he's in the Miami, he he was at the Celtics.
He's done this over and over again, and he was
able to say, you know, what it's coming to me.
It's routine, it's butter, it's money, it's buckets. As cliche
as it sounds, big time players make big time plays
and big time moments. It really, it really can be
broken down as simple as that they tie the game
on that they end up kind of salting the game
(24:17):
away in overtime in order to tie the series up
and head and head. In the game seven, Front Court
left one point nine seconds they needed three free trying
to get free, cross Court passed the green Bock fight fuss,
game over. We were a few seconds away from winning
the championship, and we let it go. It wound up
(24:41):
being a one oh three one victory for the Heat.
They absolutely needed it. They were down three two in
the series, so obviously they had to win two in
a row. They showed a lot about what this team
was about and what this team was about. All yeah,
we're a resilient team and we fight to the variant.
We fight, We fight, fight second second, the last man,
(25:03):
the last man again, you know, just reiterating as you
mentioned at the top, this really has been a fantastic
series and even more fun than I remembered it, you know,
thinking about it, you win, I win, you win, I win,
And you love series like that because it's you know,
it's gonna probably go to Game seven because nobody wants to,
you know, lay down. You know, I've been a part
of three sweeps in NBA Finals, and you felt like, oh,
(25:25):
we're just gonna cruise to But this is one of
those series where you're on the edge of your seat.
It's a nail body. You have no clue who's gonna
win this series, and it's a great series. You're seeing
some of the best matchups offensively and defensively that you
would ever see. You know what, I'm gonna tell you
just like this, And I don't even think it was
an intentional humble brag, but it's a pretty nice situation
to be able to say, oh, you know, I've set
(25:47):
I've been a part of three sweeps. You know, I
don't really know what it's like to be quite as
stressed in these moments, but that that that is the
flex that I'm here for. Absolutely. But you know, sometimes
you got to, you know, throw a little little sprinkle,
little seed out there and let everybody know that he
was part of three sweets. You know, I've been a
couple of I've only been in one game seven in
(26:08):
the finals, two game seves. I'm sorry to so scratch
all that. Man. I had to think about that out loud,
New York in the Pistons. That's it. Oh yeah, yeah,
it's only been in two game sevens. And here we
go in seven of the finals, one game on our
whole floor to bring on another championship. Man. This is
everything that we worked for all season long, all the
(26:29):
sacrifices we have made to each other. Dog, every single day, Dog,
every single minute. They say hardward payoff, man, So let's
make that statement become true. All right. Speaking of Game seven,
Kawaii and Duncan came out once again. They were phenomenal. Uh,
you know, Kauai had nineteen and sixteen, Duncan at twenty
four and twelve, Man who was also able to get
to go into the tune of eighteen points. But the
Spurs just didn't quite have enough or didn't quite get
(26:51):
enough from Tony Parker and Danny Green and we and
we talked about it earlier, earlier in the conversation. It
seemed as though, you know, both of those guys kind
of wore down. But do you think it was actually
more of adjustments that were being made against those guys.
I'm gonna I'm gonna give credit to the to the
Heat for making a justice because Danny Green was on
the m v P pace of this series and last
(27:12):
game he only had uh three points. The game seven
he has five points. And for me, you know, when
you have the guy who has been playing at a
high clip actually maybe fifteen sixteen points in this series,
and you don't get that in the last two games,
that's key. That means that the Heat say, you know what,
on the low log, Danny Green is playing really good.
(27:32):
We need to stop him and forget about the Big
three and and and focus on him because he was
that silent assassin that was going on and knocking down
big shots. Him and Gary Neil were two of the
guys that was playing for the Spurs that was getting
unnoticed because we're gonna talk about the Big three and
add and thro Kawhi Leonard, We're just gonna talk about
those guys. But those two guys were playing at a
(27:53):
high clip, and we talked about all the time having
other step up and the other step up nine times.
I attend you're gonna go to win and others. I'm
not saying they didn't step up, they didn't put into
point production that they had been doing in the previous games. Yeah,
and and saw on the other side of things, Lebron
he pours in thirty seven, The James messing this fust
play wade As twenty three. But this is something that
(28:15):
I had actually forgotten until I rewatched the game. Boss
was in foul trouble throughout the game and it really
limited its productivity. But the you know a guy that
you were just giving you know that you've given credit
to Shane batty A. Not only did he pick it
up on the defensive end, he also picked up the
offensive slack. This was a shame Batty A game where
he went six for eight from deep off the bench
Chicago splitter in the game Reality kicks it out, patty
(28:35):
A puts up at three, knocks it down, Alan kicks
it out. Patty A tries again. That's Kirk said. Batty
two for two from Downtown, three for three from Downtown,
struggling enormously shooting the ball for most of these playoffs.
The last couple of games, he's couple alive. Yeah, eighteen
(28:55):
points in that game. Um, he was knocked it down.
I think he was five or five At one point,
he was planning in a high clip and think about
Shane Betty, you're gonna get that deepest of intensity on
the other end. So he was guarding to him at times.
He was making it tough with him because Shane six
eight guy, but he can play bigs. He's been known
to play that at Duke. So he was the guy
that was going out playing extremely well for them. And
(29:17):
you know, Lebron, what can we say about Lebron thirty
seven points? But you know, I wanna give some credit
to Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan being that guy was leading
his team and the Duncan easy layout San Antonio Leeds
and people could see that it was time for him
to hand the reins over to somebody. But he fifty
four points in the last two games of the finals.
Let you know, he came to play, and you gotta
(29:39):
take your hats off. And we talked about guys who
probably won't m v P. If somehow the Spurs would
have managed to win that game, Tim probably have been
m v P of NBA Finals. Again, we go talking
to the rebound throws, the black out stolen by Charms,
her comes, James Drives, kicks out, put of a tanks
(29:59):
for time. I want to talk about the legacies a
little bit, you know, So in terms of legacies, you know,
I felt like, you know, Duncan's legacy was already established.
You know, yes, he eventually gets that one the next year,
but you know, but honestly that that felt like gravy
on top of a great meal to me, what do
you think? What did you know? But you know what
I mean, what did this mean in terms for Lebron
(30:21):
given it was his second But if things don't go
you know, things don't turn out the way that they
did in Game six and then they ultimately win in
Game seven, it was win for the Heat. They take
the series four three, the Spurs will not foul final
seconds want to finish. It's back to back titles for
the Heat. The NBA Championship resides once again in Miami.
(30:45):
I feel like the conversation is going to be very
different following these finals. Yeah, you can talk about this
big three. You came in with all this hype, and
I got to tell people this, Sometimes you say you
think three guys can carry you to an NBA Champs.
It's not about that. You know, you put three guys
out of the court against five, you're gonna lose every time.
So you need those other guys to come in and
perform at the high lif You need Mario Charmers to
(31:09):
come in, You need Shane bad Age, you need these
type of guys to come out and to perform. If
you don't, you go home with an L. And And
if you look at what happened with the Spurs, they others,
they didn't do very well. I think if you look
at their bench, they only had twelve points. I know
the the the Heat had twenty one points off their bench.
But there was guys that on the bench that could
do things other than score and play defense and calls
(31:31):
havoc on the floor. And and as you look at
this series, you go back and look at each and
every game, there were always adjustments. You think about it.
We didn't talk about Shane Batty in the first couple
of games. He didn't even step on the floor, and
all of a sudden he comes through in the big moment.
You talk about how Thiago Splinter for the Spurs played
(31:51):
great in the first three games and all of a sudden.
He doesn't even have He hardly touches the floor in
the last two games. It's about adjustments. So at the
end of the players are gonna get all the credit,
but we really we need to look at how these
coaches performed and how they made adjustments each near the
game to make their teams perform at a high level.
Well to that point, do you feel like one coach
(32:12):
got the better of the other in this series? You know,
this is one time where you can say, Okay, this
guy got our coach or that guy guy coach. This
did not happen in this In this series, I think
each team um made adjustment. It just bored on to
who was who got hot and if you had to
give an m v P a one game, you know,
outside of Lebron, it's been shamed Batty. Think about it.
(32:32):
He had eighteen points off the bench. He was ghost
the first couple of games, and for him to stay
in shape and stay ready, we like to say he
kept his phone on the hook and when he was called,
he answered. He stepped up to the moment. He answered
the moment and stepped up big for them because those
shots were daggers. Those shots were demoralizing to the Spurs,
(32:53):
and he stepped up and made those shots and made
the Spurs take an l in the finals. I'm gonna,
I'm gonna, I'm gon continue to call them the others
that you know why and while you may be the
king of the others, you know the absolute king of
the others, Shane Battiger was in that moment. I can
appreciate that, all right. So look, last question I got
about this, about this situation. And I know a lot
(33:15):
of times folks don't want to speak directly on things
like this, but it's okay. It's just you and me, Rob,
Nobody else is listening, Nobody else is here, nobody it's
gonna hear this. It's it's just it's gonna be good.
Where does Lebron not at this stage? But where does Lebron?
You know? Rank for you all time? You know? For me? Um,
I I always put players did I play with up
(33:39):
on the pistol um because I've seen the work they
put in. I've seen all the times they're in the
gym and how many times they carry us to a victory.
You know, I don't I never even talk about him
out rushboy and put Michael joining because he doesn't count.
He's like Zeus looking down on everybody and controlling who
goes him J and everybody else, Yeah, MJ and everybody
(34:01):
else and and and for me, Lebron is in my
top five. You know, when you take out you take
out of MJ because I played with Dream, Um he's
probably you know, my my favorite on that list, and
then Shock and Kobe and then Tim and then LBJ
because you know, people want to look at people's body
to work. And you can't deny what those four I
(34:23):
just mentioned with Lebron have done. The way Dream and
Tim played in the inside, was able to put teams
on their back, played great defenses in the post, control
the paint. And then you look at what you know,
what Kobe did and and and so it's it's it's
just amazing the people I've had the opportunity to play
with and watch them. You know, do you think about
(34:46):
I watched Kobe go from a rookie to one of
the best players that ever played this game. I was
able to, you know, play against Shock in college and
then watch him become an m v P mean, one
of the most dominant players to ever played the game.
Then I had the chance to play with Dream who
hadn't won a championship, who had been to the Promised Land,
who never won a championship. Then they help him get
his not just one, but two championships, and then you
(35:07):
just you sit back in amazement. That people always ask me,
is there one player you wish you would have played with?
And it have been Lebron James, because I think when
you look around the league, Lebron James is one of
that one of those players that can make the people
around him better. And I would love that had the
opportunity to play with him, because we could have probably
won two or three championships, maybe one or two, maybe
(35:27):
one or two. Do you remember that you remember the
old game like six degrees of Separation to Kevin Bacon,
you like the for the NBA, for the NBA world,
you are the six degrees of separation. You have literally
touched greatness kind of kind of like across thirty years
of greatness, and that's kind of fantastic. I look back
at my career and I think about all the guys
I played with. I didn't even mention Clyde. I don't
(35:47):
even mentioned money, you know, I ain't mentioned Tony in
that other series of the top four or five guys
I played with and and and and and for me,
it's been a fantastic run. It was so good to
play with guys and and and then be able to
tell these stories and speak on it from inside source
is great. Never get sold. Having up Parade for the
(36:08):
third time, down Miss Stangela, no better time for a break.
But when we come back, we're gonna wrap the series up,
and we're gonna we have a special set of awards
for you, not to not necessarily just your traditional awards,
but given you, given that we've got Robert Ory here,
we've got a special setup awards for you to enjoy. Yeah,
this is gonna be fun. We've got some Clutch Awards,
We've got some MVP Awards, and more important, a big
(36:32):
SOB Bob Award. All Right, we're back here on the
NBA Finals file with Robert Ryan, Jabari Davis and it's
it's awards time. It's the awards ceremony time. Now this
is your show, Which order or how do you want
to break this down? Um? You know, let's just start
(36:54):
with the ultimate ward. Let's start the m v P. Well,
I mean, look, I don't think it's a secret who
the MVP was. Less you're gonna unless you're gonna surprise
me and say that, you know, for the first you know,
for only the second time in the NBA history, the
you know, the the m v P came from a
team you know that did not win. That's that's not happened.
Lebron James clearly was the MVP of this game. The
way he put the team on his back in Game six,
(37:16):
you know, scoring on those points in the fourth quarter,
and you know it's it'll b J. Thinking about games six,
he had thirty two games seven had thirty seven. Man,
that's a lot of points in two games. And for
him to be able to go out and put the
team on his back, especially when you have other guys
on your team like Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, all guys
are Hall of famous. So for him to go out
(37:36):
and said, you know what, it's time for Lebron James
to take over, and he took over all right? Fair enough? Yeah,
I felt like that was a pretty straightforward one. Lebron
has missed to do whatever it takes, and his knack
now for making big plays and big shots in big games. Kendah,
they say nothing about it. He scored thirty seven points
and grabs twelve rebounds. He dish your seven and says
he guards Tony Parker. He is today's greatest player. Now
(38:02):
what about the best role player? And the reason why
this is interesting is while there's an obvious name, you know,
we kind of alluded to it throughout this conversation. Throughout
both of these conversations, a lot of different role players
stepped up and played well, yeah, you know this this
award is so difficult because if you think about it,
Kawhi Leonard really wasn't the star he is in this
day and age. He was kind of a role player.
(38:23):
You have Danny Green, but I'm gonna go off, you know,
killed here and talk about Mario Chalmers. I think Mario
Chalmers to me watching this series after you know, at
first I thought maybe you had Danny Green, but I
think games six and seven kind of took Danny Green
out of that slot for me. So even though Mario
Chalmers had zero points and game thing, but I still
(38:43):
think it down the stretch he played big defensively, you know,
wearing down Tony Parker because it ain't always about points.
I think the way he had to, you know, grind
it out with Tony Parker and then step up big
in Game six and knocked down some big shots twenty points.
You know, it's I had to go with with Mario
Chalmers in that and then fourteen in game seven. So
(39:04):
he is my guy that stepped up big time when
you needed him. You know, I'm gonna be completely honest
with you this. This is one of those moments where
in the moment you may have convinced me because heading
you're like heading into the conversation, I was like, Yeah,
if there's a if there's their best role player in
this series, it definitely has to be Danny Green. But
I I kind of feel I kind of feel, you know,
the point that you just gave those last two games,
(39:26):
they kind of they took him out of the running
for me. And and even though you know, I I
want to honor you know that he played a great
series and then you and obviously you know he did
all that he could. I'm gonna go with Rio as well.
So I'm right there with you. Oh cool, you know,
because sometimes we look at points way too much in
this game, and defense is a critical key in this game,
(39:46):
and as you see, he got better and better as
he played Tony Parker in each and every game. All right,
we got two more. I'm actually going to jump you
jump the final one, and let's do the coaching matchup.
You kind of already gave the answer. But who's the
coaching matchup winner. It's almost like the time when we
had co Rookies of the Year. It's like you want
to give them both awards. But the scratch part is
(40:08):
you gotta give it to you know, Spoister because it
could win in either way. But the final outcome is
the Miami Heat won the series. So you have to,
you know, side with Spoister. Even though Pop made a
lot of great movements on his chest, he like, he
made a lot of good movements here where you know,
he went with a small up. He think about it,
(40:29):
Mino Genoboli is not playing well, you know what I'm
gonna do. I mean, insert him into the lineup, and
what does Mino do? He comes out with his best
performance in the series. He has a great game. So
to me, that's a great coaching move. But at the
end of the day, it's about winning a series, and
so I would have to give it to Spoilster because
he won the series, but pop was right there neck
and neck with him. When you have two all time grades,
(40:50):
and you know, we we we've spoken about that on
the for the on the court product a lot throughout
this conversation. When you have two all time grades, which
I absolutely believe Spolster and Popovich are, you know, you
really can't go wrong. But I actually, you know, I
actually lean right there with you. You know, if if
it's close, you go with the winner, Ty goes to
the runner exactly. All right, Look, I've been waiting for
(41:13):
this one. This is my this is this is my
favorite award of all time. Let me hear it, the
big Shot Bob Award, which let's be real, it's the
best clutch performer. But you know, you might think I'm
gonna go with ray Allen because of the shot he made.
But I can't go with ray Alan. I'm gonna have
to go with Lebron James. And because this is the
(41:35):
reason he had to put this team on his back,
he had to knock down some key shots. Thinking about that,
he missed the three, he almost air ball to three
in this game. Six gets it back and knocks down
the three. You know, a lot of times guys were
shot away from a shot out that he just missed
a shot, but not Lebron James. That's set up the
three for Ray Allen to sit in the ot. So
(41:58):
there's little moments like that. As a as a player,
you look as oh, that was big. People always look
at the shot that was at the end of the game,
but they're shots within the game that are big shots too.
You're right, and it's gonna be the only time I
disagree with you. I mean, and I mean no disrespect whatsoever.
Could look Lebron. Look, I'm not gonna take anything away
from Lebron. You're exactly right. All of those shots along
(42:19):
the way those count two, especially especially down the stretch
when you consider that he clanked the couple, but then
you got it right back and was willing to fire
it right back up and knocked them down. But honestly,
I'm biased because the cat the cats out of the bag.
I already told you I think that's the greatest final
shot of all time. So for me, you know, for me,
it ends up being Ray. But you know, I I
(42:40):
completely understand in that situation we can be co big
Shot Bible Award winners, so you can have ray I
take a Lebron. So basically bois down and you've been
Jason Kidd and I am grant hell on this and
so we both win. We're both winners, right, I'm gonna
tell you like this, I appreciate how gracious you are
robbed because the better and you just like nah the
award is named after me. We are going to go
(43:02):
with the guy that I stated, you know, we win
this thing together, man, so we can call it we
code they this is our first and probably the last,
you know. Co alright, fair enough, fair enough champs, alright, alright.
You know, as we stated throughout, this was a fantastic series,
which was a great time breaking it down and discussing
it with you. I really appreciate you, know, your insight
(43:25):
as well as your analysis with this. Uh any final
thoughts on the series? For me, this is one of
the better series, um, throughout the NBA Finals history. Um,
you had three guys on one team that were great,
three guys on another team that was great, a lot
of Hall of famers on the court at one time,
back and forth. Any time a series you can watch
with one team wins and the next team wins, and
(43:47):
then we'll show you why home court is so important.
Because think about the Miami Heat went home down three
to two in this series. If that was another way around,
you don't win this series in San Antonio. That shows
you the importance of home court advantage. They go home,
they win two in a row, and nowaday NBA World Champions,
(44:08):
all time, grade finals, all time, great players and coaches
all all around. Can't ask for anything better. We definitely
appreciate each of you for listening to our debut episodes
of NBA Finals File, but make sure you stick with
us each week because Rob and I will be back
to break down the best final series and matchups of
NBA history. Jabari and Big Shot are the best at
(44:28):
doing this. Oh yeah,
All right, welcome to episode two of NBA Finals filed
with Robert Ryan, Jabari Davis. Rob. Great to be back
with you once again as we continue breaking down the
NBA Finals featuring, as we mentioned, the Big Three of
Miami versus the old Big Three of San Antonio. Yes,
this is a great matchup so far one to three
and four have been exciting, you know, Jabari and Rob
here to break down game file. Let's get it going, brother,
(00:27):
this game it's a big boy dame physicality, toughness with
the ball. It's supposed to be hard. It's the final,
all right, give him some adversity, knock the stuff out
of jumping into game five? Hop into you. He makes
an adjustment here he in searched menu into the starting
line up kind of breaks him free of of of
(00:49):
what is If we're being honest, it was a bit
of a slump to start the series. Antonio. Remember money,
he scores twenty four points. He has tennessis you know? Uh?
And and as I mentioned, he was ten for thirty
one in the series prior of this adjustment. Can you
(01:11):
speak to that? What we know? What putting mine who
in the starting lineup was? You know? Does for the spurs.
I think Pop is always good at making adjustments, and
he saw that. Let's be honest, mind it was I
wouldn't say he was struggling, but he wasn't being the
Mono Genovle that we used to and so and plus
when Um Miami made the adjustment of going small with
Mike Miller, um Pop counter now going small with Mino Jenovle.
(01:34):
So it kind of, you know, fixed itself. And Minu
came out and showed that, hey, you know, I still
got a little left in the tank, and he was
able to go out and put up some good numbers,
had twenty four points at the lineup. I didn't do
the book, my boy is I have to fill tho
for Moniteno. But this was old mine Jenova, you know,
back and when he first stepped on the scene, he
was shocking everybody with drive into the holes. He's crazy
(01:57):
under the under people arm scoop shots the euro Step.
But Monel Genobley up old Terry Game five. I wonder
if Mino Genobli is the originator of the euro Step,
because he's one of the first people I ever saw
to do it. So Minu GENOBLEI uh, let me steal
this from charge barking Genoboli. So it was exciting, all right.
(02:17):
So I can already hear I can already hear the
basketball nerds, you know from my Twitter timeline upset about
about that reference, in particular Elgin Baylor was doing the
euro step way back in your way back in the sixties,
you know, but but mine who definitely broke that, that
mone who definitely popularized that. I would imagine. Yeah, you know,
I'm saying when I saw it, I never I never
saw the play, so you know, I know how great
(02:41):
he was, but you know, I never saw it. Playing
and play against and with Mino Jone was was awesome,
you know, Hall of Famer. So it's it's great to
see him get out of this. It's not doing this series.
So we got Tony Parker. He shoots, He has his
best shooting game, if I'm not mistaken. He goes ten
for fourteen from the Flooria's twenty six points. It away,
Tonny Parker flicks it up. There's a specialty spurs by four.
(03:05):
You know, Duncan was efficient throughout the paint. Duncan and
he slams it by you at seventeen points. You know,
twelve boards. He was seven fourteen from the floor. Danny Green,
you know, stopped me if you've heard that name before.
Over the course of this conversation, he makes another six
threes on his way to twenty four points. But the
stretch that I want to focus on was with three
minutes left in the third, it's a one point game.
(03:26):
Danny hits a three to put them up four grade
Bang Danny Green from White Downtown. Listen, Mike. Normally at
that range you would go under. Then man who gets
a nan one only a couple of chap steps drives,
count it head on mottos only what a chance? Grut
three point play. Then Green hits another one, then Man
(03:49):
who basically just goes ballistic, and the Spurs wind up
going on a nineteen to one run, stretching from the
end of the third through the early stages of the fourth.
San an Tonio ends the period on a twelve one
run seven gree for three, talking all the follows, nineteen
point what's it like you're when a team like the
(04:10):
Spurs goes on runs like this? You know, when you
hit that run, it feels like there's nothing you can't
do on the court. You can knock down shots. You
can play good defense, especially when you do it against
a team that you know, it's an incredible team with Lebron,
Chris Bosh, Dwyane Waight and Ray Allen. So this team
was one of those teams like, we can make this
run against them. Anything is possible. And it's not just
(04:31):
talking about a team that can is offensive minded Miami Heat,
like you said, seventh defensive minded teams. So when you
make a run like that, it's exciting you at home.
You're making the fans feel good and the crowd is
into it, and there's nothing you can do but go
out and get a victory and feel good about yourself.
So look from Miami side of themes, Lebron waiting, Boss,
They're still effective, but you're not quite as dominated as
(04:53):
they were in the previous game. You know, and even
though it was a loss, I want to mention this.
Ray Allen looks more and more comfortable with the the series.
He gets hot off the bench, you know, to the
two one points and he goes four for four from deep.
Does great shooting like that or a hot shooting like
that carry over between you know? You know, throughout the series,
I think players that can shoot the ball extreme where
they go through ups and downs, and it can be
(05:16):
a week, it could be two weeks, it could be
a series. And when Ray Allen, we know he's one
of the best shooters to ever do it, and he
could get on the hot street and it ain't about
the game, is about the week. And this was a
point where you know, the previous game he had fourteen.
In this game he had twenty one. So he was
on his way of feeling good. And that's and that's
what you have to look at players and coaches. Let
(05:37):
me let me credit the coaches to the coaches understanding,
because if you look at this series, Um, okay, who's
playing well, Ray Allen starting to feel a bit more combable.
So as a coach, you can give him more minutes.
And then you said, on the other side, it stirs that, oh,
barstall is playing a little bit better for us too,
Let's give him more minutes. And that's what you have
to do as a coach. You have to go with
with your gut and those guys who are playing a
(05:58):
little bit better and and putting up plus pluses on
the floor and not monsters, all right. And then the
last thing that I have on the last thing I
have in this game is you know, Danny Green. You know,
as you mentioned it earlier, he was on his way
to sad and you know, what was an NBA Finals
record at the time. But and you know, while Duncan
and Tony, you know, they both they both had solid moments.
Was it possible that we were absolutely or that we
were actually going to see a Danny Green Finals MVP
(06:20):
had the Spurs ultimately won this series, or do you
think they would have gone with you know, Duncan Either way,
I think we're going with Duncan Tony Parker because those
guys were on a consistent basis and even though Danny
Green was consistent, you know, probably the leading scores in
this series, but it was too many other things that
come into play with way Tim played defensively, the way
Tony played defensive But you know, who knows, you know,
(06:43):
if if he goes out and have a crazy game again,
which he did, who knows. You know, We've seen crazier
things in NBA Finals and people who get m vps,
so we'll see, you know. And to that point, because
part of me asked that question because you know the
fact that you wind up in you know, your finals
MVP and is Kawai Finals, MVP, is Iggy Finals, MVP
(07:04):
in probably was going to beat Draymond had he not
been suspended, which is really just a testament to the
greatness of you of how great Lebron has been. Yeah,
you know it's I would never have thought this in
a million years that you can slow down a guy
like Lebron James. When I say slowed down, instead of
him averaging thirty points, the only has twenty seven points,
you slow him down by three points and then you
(07:25):
can get m v P. But hey, you know that
lets you know how dominant this guy is and was
in the game of basketball. It really is. It really
doesn't that, you know. Like I said, it's a testament
to his greatness. Ended up being a one fourteen, one
oh four victory for the San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio
Spurs that a three two lead in the NBA Finals.
DR Miami, We've been here before and going back home
(07:46):
being confident about, you know, our game, being confident about
you know, getting to win, which we are trying to
come up and get to We couldn't do it, but
we got to at home. So take care of game six.
All right, it's up game six in Miami. All right,
we've reached the moment, We've reached the game rob game six.
(08:10):
But let's go ahead and get to that. After this break,
we're back in Miami, where the NBA Finals return. Or
Game six, well the Spurs close out and win their
fifth championship, or can Miami force a decisive Game seven?
All right, so we're back for game six. You know,
(08:32):
let's be real about this. We heard all the rumblings
about not one, not to not if they lose this game.
You're right, it's not gonna be it's not gonna be two,
it's not gonna be three. It's just one. So can
you talk about the pressure of what that would feel
like coming back home down three two against the Spurs. Yeah,
when you're gonna talk to talk, you definitely gotta walk
that walk. And um for them to go out in
in game six and been down three two were walking
(08:55):
into the game six, you gotta it's a must win.
And this is one of those series where everybody it
has to step up big. And you think about Lebron James.
He steps up big with thirty or two points, but
you know, We talked about adjustments all the time, and
we talked about players getting the momentum, and we haven't
mentioned this. One guy who's gonna be huge on down
(09:15):
the line is Shane Batty. You know, he came into
the season, didn't play much in the first two or
three games, and then he coach supposed to start ease
them in there for five for defensive purposes, because we
know Shane Beatty, he hangs his hat on defense. And
next thing you know, he's starting to get more minutes
and he's getting more comfortable. So it was a little
late the game, but hey, better late than never, right,
(09:35):
And so this game six, they are supposed to put
out all the little tricks he putting, you know, same
Batty a he he let Lebron lose. He hits still.
Mike Miller came out, he had eight points. But you know,
we talked about real and last game coming off his
best game having twenty one points, but in this game
he only had nine points. And then and then something
happened within those nine points, something did well we'll get
(09:56):
to that, you know, coming up here. But you know
what the point that you just the point that you
just made, you know, you're regarding Shane Batty. Is that
is that one of those you know, you know, chess
versus checker situation, you know where Sposuer was holding it
in his back pocket, or is it okay, look, you
know the chips are down. We we have to throw
everything out on them. It's the chips are down. Let's
try something different because what we've been doing isn't working
(10:19):
for us. And you can't be afraid because some coaches are.
Sometimes they get hard head and said, you know what,
this is how we got here. We're gonna stick with
this game plan, and we're supposed to say, you know what,
let's those Shane Battier out there to try to mess
things up, you know, because Shane is a guy who's
defensive oriented. He comes out, he likes to you know,
hard files getting the lane, take charges and occasionally knocked
(10:41):
down threes. And in this game, you know, even though
he only had nine points, he was big defensively with
his his way to play models, you know, but his
way to even you know, get in there and hard
files on Tim Duncan and make him earn his points
at the free throw line. So things like that. At
what's players need to do because Tim had thirty points
in that game. He started that game killing you know,
(11:01):
Oh it looks ventage Tim Duncan. So you need to
try to change things up to you know, to throw
the spurs up their scheme. That right there is where
we're gonna kick it off. Let's get let's get into
the action before we get to that, you know, that
big moment that you you know that you alluded to earlier,
because yeah, Tim Duncan and Kauai, they both came out
like there was blood in the water. James turned away
by a Duncky goes from the top way, take it
away by Kawhi, letters chased out by all and it
(11:23):
was one of those situations where you know, I'm sure
you've seen the look you're like, whether you've given a
look to somebody or you you know you're you're playing
with you know with somebody where they give you that
look like it's time to go, it's time to be
it's time to put the kiddies in bed and it's
time to go. Well, they definitely came out you're playing
like that. They combined for fifty two points or twenty
eight boards. You know, they were both combined they were
(11:44):
five from the floor. Tony Parker didn't shot well. You
ended up scoring nineteen points and at eight and sist,
but you really struggled from the floor like the rest
of the starters. Uh, you know, Parker, Danny Green managed
and nobody they combined to go just nine for thirty
five from the floor. And honestly, the Spurs kind of
this was a game where they really needed just something
from one more guy. Yeah. You know, for me, I
was looking at this game and I'm watching Tony Parker play,
(12:06):
and I'm a huge believer in body language, and in
that game, he didn't have the same energy easy had
in one, two, three, four and five. It's almost like
he was getting fatigued. And I think putting a lebron
on them kind of wore him down because now he
has to work extra hard to get those shots off
because he has to go over a six nine guy
instead of like a six four guy, six three guy.
(12:27):
So I think when you look at stuff like that,
we talk about chess, it's it's all sometimes it's all
about trying to wear an opponent down. Okay, you can
you can try to rope a Dobe Mohammad Ali style,
but eventually you're gonna get tired some of them. And
I think Tony got a little fatigued in that series
because he's scoring output started dropping it and you see
how it dropped also in game seven, but Tony was
(12:48):
still you know, Tony Parker still have nineteen points, but
you can see that it was tough points, not easy
buckets like the first five games. Yeah, and to that point,
you know, you know, not to make an excuse for
Tony Parker, you know, go heading into the series. It
according to the reports, he did have a he did
have a sore hamstring, So I I also wondered, you know,
(13:08):
is it a matter It wasn't a matter of you know,
like the attrition of the series, you know, and and
and can you speak to how how much that plays
into being able to win a title, especially for Tony,
no hamstring that cuts the speed done. His whole game
is predicated on speed. If he can't go out and
do things with explosives as he had, because this first
step is flash fast. You know, he can get by you.
(13:31):
And if you don't have that speed, that's half your
game and you can't really do the things you want
to do. Getting into the pain effectively. Now you've got
to sell it for jump shots and do things that
that that that are not in your nature. And for
Tony to have a hamstring injury that takes away half
his game because he can't use his speed. So rob
the Spurs are up ten at the start of the fourth.
Lebron had previously been struggling from the floor, but he
(13:52):
really starts to turn it on Lebron James, who had
lost his head down. Mario Chalmers also gives you know,
it gives you four for five from d over the
course of the game, and you know, and drops twenty
and really helped him pace the team along the way.
But Bron upside charmers up three, but Lebron actually winds
up scoring six team you know, sixteen and the fourth
on seven of eleven shooting. What does it feel like
when a star basically says, give me the ball and
(14:14):
get the heck out of my way. You know, it's
ventures Lebron, and you know so many guys have done that.
Kobe Shag dream. When you're on the in the finals
and you need a bucket and you need a team
to get on your back, you say, get on your
back and your attack and if you look at what
Lebron did, he was an attack way Lebron pitch up
for the life that gosh, I'm you're dunking doing it
(14:36):
on both things. The f V pace without the head bat.
It wasn't you know, the pretty game to pull up jumpers.
He was doing a little bit of everything and trying
to get to the whole. We call it bulleyball playing
bulleyball um. And then he got Mario Charmers, who was
shooting the ball extreamly well, you know, twenty points in
that game. And when you have others to step up
big like that, because Chris Bosh wasn't having the best game.
(14:58):
He only had ten instant Dwayne where they don't have fourteen,
and you got your big three and two of only
getting twenty four points, you need someone else to step up,
like Mario Chalmers. And that's what he did. And Lebron
was able to carry that team and bring him back
to get in the position to win that game. Even
with a herculean effort you know from Lebron and and
and a great step up effort from Mario Chalmers, the
first still had control of this game very late, you know,
(15:21):
you know it absolutely looked. In fact, you know you
from a personal level, it looked like the Spurs were
on their way to closing things out down the stretch.
The crowd has already starting to trickle out. You know,
with twenty plus seconds ago and us being down five,
you know, the human nature doubts starts to creep into
your mind. You see San Antonio fans popping into jerseys,
you know, jumping up and down. It's a dark moment.
(15:43):
Even though man who splits the pair, there's under thirty
seconds left. This is actually at the point where you know,
the Spurs are up five. Pop decides to sub Duncan
out for d out, which is actually something that he
had done earlier in the postseason and had been successful.
But can you speak to that decision, And well, you
know a lot of people were given Pop flak for that,
(16:04):
But you had to go with a defensive scheam. You're
only up five. A quick to can hurt you, just
like a three ken and um, you have to go defensive.
And Tim wasn't in a position where he could guard
anybody on the court because the biggest man on the
court was Lebron James, and Lebron James has better blowby
ability than the other four down the floor. So a
(16:24):
lot of people was questioning pops thought process on this.
But sometimes you have to roll the dice when you
go when they other team go small down the stretch,
because you don't want to give a three, you try
to match up. And it kind of hurt him in
the end because they were saying the best rebounding in
the game. Where is he He's on the bench and
they get a rebound. Yeah, and the two things to
that point. On that very next play, Lebron misses a jumper,
(16:46):
then Wade actually taps the rebound out I believe to
Mike Miller. Then it ends up back in Lebron's hand
and he ends up knocking down a big three as
a result. And but to your point, you can't necessarily
you can't necessarily account for that. You kind of have
to play the sentages and you know, like and and
and in my estimation, that's that's not not any shade
whatsoever the pop's decision there. Yeah, because if you look
at the play, you know, Dwyane Wade kept it alive
(17:10):
and then three Spurs converged on the basketball and then
knocked it away from each other and then went to
Mike Miller, who was able to scoop it up and
give it to Lebron for the three. It was just
basketball guys. As what we said, the basketball guys were
on the Miami heat side, where there's no way you
can't tell me. Mina Genova usually grabs that snatches that
rebound out of the add with his left hand game over,
(17:32):
but in this case it got tipped out to Lebron
for three. James catches fires a three boy off breebound tips,
still a little specked up by Miller, back out to
James another three. James stocks down two point game were
twenty seconds wading, and here we are again. The very
next possession, after Kawai split another pair of threes, you know,
(17:52):
the very next possession, Lebron misses another open three point attempt,
but Boss, you know, to his credit, battles inside with
three smaller Spurs players and winds up finding Ray Allen
in the corner for what, like, let's be real, at
that point, at least in my life, that was the
greatest final shot of in NBA history. Shook the Spurs,
foul shook, and he goes for the three right aways.
(18:12):
Just attack the basket. James catch Us puts up a
three WoT go rethou blosh back out to Alan his
three pilot tie game with five seconds for Spurs do
not have a time out, but the offessionals are gonna
review to see if Allen was behind the line. Where
(18:38):
does it land for you? Yeah, for me, it's it's
up there. But I look at the playoff shots and
I've always looked at um speaking of the Spurs, Sean
Elliott shot where he has his feet uh up in
the air says he doesn't step on the out of
bounds line. There's so many great shots in the finals,
you know, you think about the moment that Lebron has
(18:58):
had uh Steph Curry. I'm not even gonna mention me,
but it's so many guys that are out that have
knocked done shots. But this shot by real and it's
probably in top five. Yeah, I mean for me, easily
top five. And you're exactly right. It's you know, when
you get to comparing your greatness at the greatest level
from the all time great it can get a little
bit company. But but you know, just given you know,
(19:20):
given everything, you know the fact that they had the
yellow tape already coming out, You're already around the court.
They the fact that the Larry O'Brien Trophy was already
making its way down because because everybody essentially it said
like okay, we're done here for me, that just kind
of heightened the greatness of the moment. Yeah, when you
when you see them bring that tape out and he's like,
(19:40):
hold on, we're not done yet, No, sir, ree Bob,
we got some more left in this. And there's so
many times when fans leave the building like they were
in Miami, it kind of upsets the home teams like, Okay,
we're gonna show you you should have stayed in your
seat because we're gonna have one of the greatest endings
in the NBA's Final that you've ever seen before. In
they had one of the greatest end is every end
(20:02):
think about it. Ray Allen on the court, Lebron James
on the court. I think we have an eight Hall
of Famous on the court right now. And this is
these are historical moments in the NBA that you cannot
walk out on as a fan. I don't I don't
care if your team is losing, you stay. You stay
there to the end, because this is where amazing happens,
and it happened in ray Allen hands, and you sort
(20:23):
of alluded to it earlier when you reference to Sean
Elliott played. But can you speak to can you speak
to the presence of mind and awareness that it takes
for ray Allen to not only be open and you
know and available for that shot, but to get you know,
to back up and get behind the line and you
and be there. You'll be there for perfectly your writing rotation.
I say, get to that three point line somehow, some way,
(20:44):
get there. Smart players do smart things. And when you
have veterans on the court, they know what the situation
at all time, They know the time, they know what
they need to do. And for ray Alan to be
aware of its surrounding nous to back up and then
have the presence of mind to know, hey, I know,
I got up room to get this shot off, to
knock down this three, and to knock down this three,
and it's so it's it's it's just so ray Alan.
(21:06):
He knocks down at three and straight ray Alan for him,
he has a calm face and it does this little
patent three down to the floor and going into o
t ray Dead, what he's done his entire career. This
gave us a new life, gave us a new life,
and that's how we wanted. Once we got that new life,
and over time we knew the game was ours. It
(21:27):
isn't lost on me. I I didn't address it right away,
but I do. I do want to quickly circle back.
You just mentioned that the home team gets upset, in
particular when they see the fans streaming. Now, I didn't realize.
I always kind of wondered, like, how much do you
guys really hear? How much do you really see? Are
you just locked into the game and not really paying
attention to all that? But I get the feeling you
guys are much more aware than I would have even anticipated. Well,
(21:51):
you know, you have to be aware of your surroundings
first of all, man, You know, as you're walking, especially
when you have a white out like like the Miami,
have you see all of a sudden surge or white
going up there, going up the stairs and leaving the
arena Like are these people leave? Oh no, We're gonna
put on the show. You know. So you always got
to be able to surrounding. And guys know that because guys.
(22:11):
It's funny how you look at every player that has
ever played this game. You have to find every little
thing to motivate you. If it's you know you you
pretend the guy you know stepped on your brand new
white shoes, or you know the guy has you know,
you know, destrong your family in some way. You come
up with these scenarios in your head to try to
give you some type of fuel and some type of
(22:32):
fib But when you see your fans leaving the arena,
sometimes that's all you need to say. Okay, I'm gonna
embarrass my fans by saying, you just missed out one
of the greatest moments in history. I can only imagine
in fact, the last the last bit that I have
on that shot. You know you alluded to it earlier. Also,
you've knocked down some of those shots. What does it
feel like when the ball is coming out to you,
(22:53):
like in that exact moment. Is it one of those
situations where the world slows down around you, because at
least feels that way, you know, watching it. How does
it feel when you're right your as that moments being
set up and as you're going through those motions when
it's for me been in that position being a knockdown
three guys in games. You're sitting there like saying to you, said,
(23:14):
giving the ball, give me the ball. I'm ready, I'm ready.
You have all these things going through your mind, but
you're never thinking about, oh, I got to do this
on the shot. I gotta do down the shot. You
just saying give me the ball because that's what you want.
Because at the end of the day, you've done this
so many times in the gym, it's become a part
of your root team. It's becomes a part of who
(23:35):
you are. And I like to relate to people and says,
when you have to get up in the morning and
walk to the bathroom to brush your teeth or go
to the bathroom, you don't go right foot, left foot,
right foot, left foot. You just do it. And as
a basketball player, when the shots coming to you at
the end of the game, you just do it and
you knocked down the shot. And and Ray Allen has
been in that situation since he was at you can
(23:57):
now he's in the Miami, he he was at the Celtics.
He's done this over and over again, and he was
able to say, you know, what it's coming to me.
It's routine, it's butter, it's money, it's buckets. As cliche
as it sounds, big time players make big time plays
and big time moments. It really, it really can be
broken down as simple as that they tie the game
on that they end up kind of salting the game
(24:17):
away in overtime in order to tie the series up
and head and head. In the game seven, Front Court
left one point nine seconds they needed three free trying
to get free, cross Court passed the green Bock fight fuss,
game over. We were a few seconds away from winning
the championship, and we let it go. It wound up
(24:41):
being a one oh three one victory for the Heat.
They absolutely needed it. They were down three two in
the series, so obviously they had to win two in
a row. They showed a lot about what this team
was about and what this team was about. All yeah,
we're a resilient team and we fight to the variant.
We fight, We fight, fight second second, the last man,
(25:03):
the last man again, you know, just reiterating as you
mentioned at the top, this really has been a fantastic
series and even more fun than I remembered it, you know,
thinking about it, you win, I win, you win, I win,
And you love series like that because it's you know,
it's gonna probably go to Game seven because nobody wants to,
you know, lay down. You know, I've been a part
of three sweeps in NBA Finals, and you felt like, oh,
(25:25):
we're just gonna cruise to But this is one of
those series where you're on the edge of your seat.
It's a nail body. You have no clue who's gonna
win this series, and it's a great series. You're seeing
some of the best matchups offensively and defensively that you
would ever see. You know what, I'm gonna tell you
just like this, And I don't even think it was
an intentional humble brag, but it's a pretty nice situation
to be able to say, oh, you know, I've set
(25:47):
I've been a part of three sweeps. You know, I
don't really know what it's like to be quite as
stressed in these moments, but that that that is the
flex that I'm here for. Absolutely. But you know, sometimes
you got to, you know, throw a little little sprinkle,
little seed out there and let everybody know that he
was part of three sweets. You know, I've been a
couple of I've only been in one game seven in
(26:08):
the finals, two game seves. I'm sorry to so scratch
all that. Man. I had to think about that out loud,
New York in the Pistons. That's it. Oh yeah, yeah,
it's only been in two game sevens. And here we
go in seven of the finals, one game on our
whole floor to bring on another championship. Man. This is
everything that we worked for all season long, all the
(26:29):
sacrifices we have made to each other. Dog, every single day, Dog,
every single minute. They say hardward payoff, man, So let's
make that statement become true. All right. Speaking of Game seven,
Kawaii and Duncan came out once again. They were phenomenal. Uh,
you know, Kauai had nineteen and sixteen, Duncan at twenty
four and twelve, Man who was also able to get
to go into the tune of eighteen points. But the
Spurs just didn't quite have enough or didn't quite get
(26:51):
enough from Tony Parker and Danny Green and we and
we talked about it earlier, earlier in the conversation. It
seemed as though, you know, both of those guys kind
of wore down. But do you think it was actually
more of adjustments that were being made against those guys.
I'm gonna I'm gonna give credit to the to the
Heat for making a justice because Danny Green was on
the m v P pace of this series and last
(27:12):
game he only had uh three points. The game seven
he has five points. And for me, you know, when
you have the guy who has been playing at a
high clip actually maybe fifteen sixteen points in this series,
and you don't get that in the last two games,
that's key. That means that the Heat say, you know what,
on the low log, Danny Green is playing really good.
(27:32):
We need to stop him and forget about the Big
three and and and focus on him because he was
that silent assassin that was going on and knocking down
big shots. Him and Gary Neil were two of the
guys that was playing for the Spurs that was getting
unnoticed because we're gonna talk about the Big three and
add and thro Kawhi Leonard, We're just gonna talk about
those guys. But those two guys were playing at a
(27:53):
high clip, and we talked about all the time having
other step up and the other step up nine times.
I attend you're gonna go to win and others. I'm
not saying they didn't step up, they didn't put into
point production that they had been doing in the previous games. Yeah,
and and saw on the other side of things, Lebron
he pours in thirty seven, The James messing this fust
play wade As twenty three. But this is something that
(28:15):
I had actually forgotten until I rewatched the game. Boss
was in foul trouble throughout the game and it really
limited its productivity. But the you know a guy that
you were just giving you know that you've given credit
to Shane batty A. Not only did he pick it
up on the defensive end, he also picked up the
offensive slack. This was a shame Batty A game where
he went six for eight from deep off the bench
Chicago splitter in the game Reality kicks it out, patty
(28:35):
A puts up at three, knocks it down, Alan kicks
it out. Patty A tries again. That's Kirk said. Batty
two for two from Downtown, three for three from Downtown,
struggling enormously shooting the ball for most of these playoffs.
The last couple of games, he's couple alive. Yeah, eighteen
(28:55):
points in that game. Um, he was knocked it down.
I think he was five or five At one point,
he was planning in a high clip and think about
Shane Betty, you're gonna get that deepest of intensity on
the other end. So he was guarding to him at times.
He was making it tough with him because Shane six
eight guy, but he can play bigs. He's been known
to play that at Duke. So he was the guy
that was going out playing extremely well for them. And
(29:17):
you know, Lebron, what can we say about Lebron thirty
seven points? But you know, I wanna give some credit
to Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan being that guy was leading
his team and the Duncan easy layout San Antonio Leeds
and people could see that it was time for him
to hand the reins over to somebody. But he fifty
four points in the last two games of the finals.
Let you know, he came to play, and you gotta
(29:39):
take your hats off. And we talked about guys who
probably won't m v P. If somehow the Spurs would
have managed to win that game, Tim probably have been
m v P of NBA Finals. Again, we go talking
to the rebound throws, the black out stolen by Charms,
her comes, James Drives, kicks out, put of a tanks
(29:59):
for time. I want to talk about the legacies a
little bit, you know, So in terms of legacies, you know,
I felt like, you know, Duncan's legacy was already established.
You know, yes, he eventually gets that one the next year,
but you know, but honestly that that felt like gravy
on top of a great meal to me, what do
you think? What did you know? But you know what
I mean, what did this mean in terms for Lebron
(30:21):
given it was his second But if things don't go
you know, things don't turn out the way that they
did in Game six and then they ultimately win in
Game seven, it was win for the Heat. They take
the series four three, the Spurs will not foul final
seconds want to finish. It's back to back titles for
the Heat. The NBA Championship resides once again in Miami.
(30:45):
I feel like the conversation is going to be very
different following these finals. Yeah, you can talk about this
big three. You came in with all this hype, and
I got to tell people this, Sometimes you say you
think three guys can carry you to an NBA Champs.
It's not about that. You know, you put three guys
out of the court against five, you're gonna lose every time.
So you need those other guys to come in and
perform at the high lif You need Mario Charmers to
(31:09):
come in, You need Shane bad Age, you need these
type of guys to come out and to perform. If
you don't, you go home with an L. And And
if you look at what happened with the Spurs, they others,
they didn't do very well. I think if you look
at their bench, they only had twelve points. I know
the the the Heat had twenty one points off their bench.
But there was guys that on the bench that could
do things other than score and play defense and calls
(31:31):
havoc on the floor. And and as you look at
this series, you go back and look at each and
every game, there were always adjustments. You think about it.
We didn't talk about Shane Batty in the first couple
of games. He didn't even step on the floor, and
all of a sudden he comes through in the big moment.
You talk about how Thiago Splinter for the Spurs played
(31:51):
great in the first three games and all of a sudden.
He doesn't even have He hardly touches the floor in
the last two games. It's about adjustments. So at the
end of the players are gonna get all the credit,
but we really we need to look at how these
coaches performed and how they made adjustments each near the
game to make their teams perform at a high level.
Well to that point, do you feel like one coach
(32:12):
got the better of the other in this series? You know,
this is one time where you can say, Okay, this
guy got our coach or that guy guy coach. This
did not happen in this In this series, I think
each team um made adjustment. It just bored on to
who was who got hot and if you had to
give an m v P a one game, you know,
outside of Lebron, it's been shamed Batty. Think about it.
(32:32):
He had eighteen points off the bench. He was ghost
the first couple of games, and for him to stay
in shape and stay ready, we like to say he
kept his phone on the hook and when he was called,
he answered. He stepped up to the moment. He answered
the moment and stepped up big for them because those
shots were daggers. Those shots were demoralizing to the Spurs,
(32:53):
and he stepped up and made those shots and made
the Spurs take an l in the finals. I'm gonna,
I'm gonna, I'm gon continue to call them the others
that you know why and while you may be the
king of the others, you know the absolute king of
the others, Shane Battiger was in that moment. I can
appreciate that, all right. So look, last question I got
about this, about this situation. And I know a lot
(33:15):
of times folks don't want to speak directly on things
like this, but it's okay. It's just you and me, Rob,
Nobody else is listening, Nobody else is here, nobody it's
gonna hear this. It's it's just it's gonna be good.
Where does Lebron not at this stage? But where does Lebron?
You know? Rank for you all time? You know? For me? Um,
I I always put players did I play with up
(33:39):
on the pistol um because I've seen the work they
put in. I've seen all the times they're in the
gym and how many times they carry us to a victory.
You know, I don't I never even talk about him
out rushboy and put Michael joining because he doesn't count.
He's like Zeus looking down on everybody and controlling who
goes him J and everybody else, Yeah, MJ and everybody
(34:01):
else and and and for me, Lebron is in my
top five. You know, when you take out you take
out of MJ because I played with Dream, Um he's
probably you know, my my favorite on that list, and
then Shock and Kobe and then Tim and then LBJ
because you know, people want to look at people's body
to work. And you can't deny what those four I
(34:23):
just mentioned with Lebron have done. The way Dream and
Tim played in the inside, was able to put teams
on their back, played great defenses in the post, control
the paint. And then you look at what you know,
what Kobe did and and and so it's it's it's
just amazing the people I've had the opportunity to play
with and watch them. You know, do you think about
(34:46):
I watched Kobe go from a rookie to one of
the best players that ever played this game. I was
able to, you know, play against Shock in college and
then watch him become an m v P mean, one
of the most dominant players to ever played the game.
Then I had the chance to play with Dream who
hadn't won a championship, who had been to the Promised Land,
who never won a championship. Then they help him get
his not just one, but two championships, and then you
(35:07):
just you sit back in amazement. That people always ask me,
is there one player you wish you would have played with?
And it have been Lebron James, because I think when
you look around the league, Lebron James is one of
that one of those players that can make the people
around him better. And I would love that had the
opportunity to play with him, because we could have probably
won two or three championships, maybe one or two, maybe
(35:27):
one or two. Do you remember that you remember the
old game like six degrees of Separation to Kevin Bacon,
you like the for the NBA, for the NBA world,
you are the six degrees of separation. You have literally
touched greatness kind of kind of like across thirty years
of greatness, and that's kind of fantastic. I look back
at my career and I think about all the guys
I played with. I didn't even mention Clyde. I don't
(35:47):
even mentioned money, you know, I ain't mentioned Tony in
that other series of the top four or five guys
I played with and and and and and for me,
it's been a fantastic run. It was so good to
play with guys and and and then be able to
tell these stories and speak on it from inside source
is great. Never get sold. Having up Parade for the
(36:08):
third time, down Miss Stangela, no better time for a break.
But when we come back, we're gonna wrap the series up,
and we're gonna we have a special set of awards
for you, not to not necessarily just your traditional awards,
but given you, given that we've got Robert Ory here,
we've got a special setup awards for you to enjoy. Yeah,
this is gonna be fun. We've got some Clutch Awards,
We've got some MVP Awards, and more important, a big
(36:32):
SOB Bob Award. All Right, we're back here on the
NBA Finals file with Robert Ryan, Jabari Davis and it's
it's awards time. It's the awards ceremony time. Now this
is your show, Which order or how do you want
to break this down? Um? You know, let's just start
(36:54):
with the ultimate ward. Let's start the m v P. Well,
I mean, look, I don't think it's a secret who
the MVP was. Less you're gonna unless you're gonna surprise
me and say that, you know, for the first you know,
for only the second time in the NBA history, the
you know, the the m v P came from a
team you know that did not win. That's that's not happened.
Lebron James clearly was the MVP of this game. The
way he put the team on his back in Game six,
(37:16):
you know, scoring on those points in the fourth quarter,
and you know it's it'll b J. Thinking about games six,
he had thirty two games seven had thirty seven. Man,
that's a lot of points in two games. And for
him to be able to go out and put the
team on his back, especially when you have other guys
on your team like Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, all guys
are Hall of famous. So for him to go out
(37:36):
and said, you know what, it's time for Lebron James
to take over, and he took over all right? Fair enough? Yeah,
I felt like that was a pretty straightforward one. Lebron
has missed to do whatever it takes, and his knack
now for making big plays and big shots in big games. Kendah,
they say nothing about it. He scored thirty seven points
and grabs twelve rebounds. He dish your seven and says
he guards Tony Parker. He is today's greatest player. Now
(38:02):
what about the best role player? And the reason why
this is interesting is while there's an obvious name, you know,
we kind of alluded to it throughout this conversation. Throughout
both of these conversations, a lot of different role players
stepped up and played well, yeah, you know this this
award is so difficult because if you think about it,
Kawhi Leonard really wasn't the star he is in this
day and age. He was kind of a role player.
(38:23):
You have Danny Green, but I'm gonna go off, you know,
killed here and talk about Mario Chalmers. I think Mario
Chalmers to me watching this series after you know, at
first I thought maybe you had Danny Green, but I
think games six and seven kind of took Danny Green
out of that slot for me. So even though Mario
Chalmers had zero points and game thing, but I still
(38:43):
think it down the stretch he played big defensively, you know,
wearing down Tony Parker because it ain't always about points.
I think the way he had to, you know, grind
it out with Tony Parker and then step up big
in Game six and knocked down some big shots twenty points.
You know, it's I had to go with with Mario
Chalmers in that and then fourteen in game seven. So
(39:04):
he is my guy that stepped up big time when
you needed him. You know, I'm gonna be completely honest
with you this. This is one of those moments where
in the moment you may have convinced me because heading
you're like heading into the conversation, I was like, Yeah,
if there's a if there's their best role player in
this series, it definitely has to be Danny Green. But
I I kind of feel I kind of feel, you know,
the point that you just gave those last two games,
(39:26):
they kind of they took him out of the running
for me. And and even though you know, I I
want to honor you know that he played a great
series and then you and obviously you know he did
all that he could. I'm gonna go with Rio as well.
So I'm right there with you. Oh cool, you know,
because sometimes we look at points way too much in
this game, and defense is a critical key in this game,
(39:46):
and as you see, he got better and better as
he played Tony Parker in each and every game. All right,
we got two more. I'm actually going to jump you
jump the final one, and let's do the coaching matchup.
You kind of already gave the answer. But who's the
coaching matchup winner. It's almost like the time when we
had co Rookies of the Year. It's like you want
to give them both awards. But the scratch part is
(40:08):
you gotta give it to you know, Spoister because it
could win in either way. But the final outcome is
the Miami Heat won the series. So you have to,
you know, side with Spoister. Even though Pop made a
lot of great movements on his chest, he like, he
made a lot of good movements here where you know,
he went with a small up. He think about it,
(40:29):
Mino Genoboli is not playing well, you know what I'm
gonna do. I mean, insert him into the lineup, and
what does Mino do? He comes out with his best
performance in the series. He has a great game. So
to me, that's a great coaching move. But at the
end of the day, it's about winning a series, and
so I would have to give it to Spoilster because
he won the series, but pop was right there neck
and neck with him. When you have two all time grades,
(40:50):
and you know, we we we've spoken about that on
the for the on the court product a lot throughout
this conversation. When you have two all time grades, which
I absolutely believe Spolster and Popovich are, you know, you
really can't go wrong. But I actually, you know, I
actually lean right there with you. You know, if if
it's close, you go with the winner, Ty goes to
the runner exactly. All right, Look, I've been waiting for
(41:13):
this one. This is my this is this is my
favorite award of all time. Let me hear it, the
big Shot Bob Award, which let's be real, it's the
best clutch performer. But you know, you might think I'm
gonna go with ray Allen because of the shot he made.
But I can't go with ray Alan. I'm gonna have
to go with Lebron James. And because this is the
(41:35):
reason he had to put this team on his back,
he had to knock down some key shots. Thinking about that,
he missed the three, he almost air ball to three
in this game. Six gets it back and knocks down
the three. You know, a lot of times guys were
shot away from a shot out that he just missed
a shot, but not Lebron James. That's set up the
three for Ray Allen to sit in the ot. So
(41:58):
there's little moments like that. As a as a player,
you look as oh, that was big. People always look
at the shot that was at the end of the game,
but they're shots within the game that are big shots too.
You're right, and it's gonna be the only time I
disagree with you. I mean, and I mean no disrespect whatsoever.
Could look Lebron. Look, I'm not gonna take anything away
from Lebron. You're exactly right. All of those shots along
(42:19):
the way those count two, especially especially down the stretch
when you consider that he clanked the couple, but then
you got it right back and was willing to fire
it right back up and knocked them down. But honestly,
I'm biased because the cat the cats out of the bag.
I already told you I think that's the greatest final
shot of all time. So for me, you know, for me,
it ends up being Ray. But you know, I I
(42:40):
completely understand in that situation we can be co big
Shot Bible Award winners, so you can have ray I
take a Lebron. So basically bois down and you've been
Jason Kidd and I am grant hell on this and
so we both win. We're both winners, right, I'm gonna
tell you like this, I appreciate how gracious you are
robbed because the better and you just like nah the
award is named after me. We are going to go
(43:02):
with the guy that I stated, you know, we win
this thing together, man, so we can call it we
code they this is our first and probably the last,
you know. Co alright, fair enough, fair enough champs, alright, alright.
You know, as we stated throughout, this was a fantastic series,
which was a great time breaking it down and discussing
it with you. I really appreciate you, know, your insight
(43:25):
as well as your analysis with this. Uh any final
thoughts on the series? For me, this is one of
the better series, um, throughout the NBA Finals history. Um,
you had three guys on one team that were great,
three guys on another team that was great, a lot
of Hall of famers on the court at one time,
back and forth. Any time a series you can watch
with one team wins and the next team wins, and
(43:47):
then we'll show you why home court is so important.
Because think about the Miami Heat went home down three
to two in this series. If that was another way around,
you don't win this series in San Antonio. That shows
you the importance of home court advantage. They go home,
they win two in a row, and nowaday NBA World Champions,
(44:08):
all time, grade finals, all time, great players and coaches
all all around. Can't ask for anything better. We definitely
appreciate each of you for listening to our debut episodes
of NBA Finals File, but make sure you stick with
us each week because Rob and I will be back
to break down the best final series and matchups of
NBA history. Jabari and Big Shot are the best at
(44:28):
doing this. Oh yeah,
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