TONY PARKER WINS IT FOR SPURS IN GAME ONE
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 08 Jun 2013
Tony Parker is the engine behind everything that gives San Antonio the win and the homecourt advantage. He scored 10 of his team high 21 points in the fourth quarter including that clock-beater against the tight defense of LeBron James in the dying seconds of the game to secure the first win, 92-88.
It was a 24-second action-filled move to the basket by the French court general to comfortably lead the four-time champions and the victory. He almost lost the ball four times, stumbled, faked, the ball hit the board and the rim and finally sank to the basket before the thousands of stunned Heat fans in the American Airlines Arena.
It was less than tenth of a second remaining in the 24-second clock when he released the historic basket. The officials reviewed the video of the shot many times and decided the ball was released before the expiration of the shot clock.
San Antonio outsourced Miami 23-16 in the last quarter and did not commit a single turnover. The Heat only scored 27 percent and committed five of their nine turnovers in the fourth quarter.
Parker averaged 22 .6 points and 7.3 assists and a 38.1 percent shooting in the 3-point range in the playoffs. Against the Heat yesterday, he sank 9 baskets of 18 attempts. Not even assigning the league's four-time MVP and five-time All-Defensive First Team member to guard him in the fourth quarter could stop the slippery Spurs point guard.
The headache of the defending champions is how to contain the 2007 Finals MVP in game two and the successive games. Parker played 40 minutes in game one. And there's Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. They may be aged but not playing old. Then there's Kawhi Leonard who is very young at 21.
James could not win it alone. He needs the backup of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh who were anemic in the first game of the Finals. In his first Finals stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, James and company were swept by the Spurs in 2007. His teammates should step up for James to exact revenge on their Finals opponents.
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