JUST like what pop icon Michael Jackson titled for a comeback world concert tour that was aborted following his sudden death from drug intoxication in June 2009, the four-tier National Basketball Association playoffs have reached the “This Is it” stage – the Finals, a best-of-seven confrontation between the Eastern Conference champion and the Western Conference titlist with a comebacking 2-2-1-1-1 (home-road-home-road-home) format (replacing the old 2-3-2 scheme that was utilized in 1985 and lasted until last year).
The protagonists: The two-time reigning NBA champion Miami Heat and the Father Time-defying San Antonio Spurs. By virtue of a better win-loss record during the regular season, the Spurs (62-20) will enjoy homecourt advantage against the Heat (54-28).
The title series opener will be held on Friday, June 6 (Manila time), at the AT&T Center in Texas. Game Two will also be played on the Spurs’ home floor next Monday, June 9 (MT), before the championship duel shifts to South Florida where Miami will play host to Games Three and Four at the AmericanAirlines Arena.
The two teams split their two-game head-to-hear regular duel, with each winning on its home floor – Miami (113-101) and San Antonio (111-87).
The Heat overcame homecourt disadvantage in finishing off the Indiana Pacers in six games for the East crown while the Spurs knocked out the Oklahoma City Thunder, also in six games, to cop the West diadem.
San Antonio will enjoy homecourt advantage against the Heat and the 2-2-1-1-1 format tends to favor the Alamo City squad (unlike last year, under the 2-3-2- format, the Spurs were up 3-2 after five games but dropped the sixth and seventh games in Miami to hand the Heat their second consecutive crown).
However, the Spurs enter the Finals with some injury issues. Their top playoff scorer, playmaker de luxe Tony Parker, has left ankle soreness and sat out the second half and overtime period of the West final series-clinching Game Six against the Thunder.
Only after the four-day break will San Antonio be able to find out if the cerebral French guard is ready to go full throttle.
Great players don’t like to make excuses if their teams lose in the playoffs – not due to player injuries or even poor officiating.
Then again, every NBA fan worth his salt knows that if Miami is decimated by an injury to do-it-all LeBron James, the Heat’s performance undoubtedly will be affected immensely.
That’s why Parker’s inability to play at a high level or even show up in the Finals will be a major factor in the Spurs’ title quest.
I believe the Spurs need to preserve “home serve” by taking the first two games if they are to make the Finals competitive. A split can be fatal as Miami is 8-0 on its home floor in the ongoing playoffs.
My fearful forecast: Miami over San Antonio in six games for a title “three-peat” that the NBA has not seen since the Los Angeles Lakers turned in the trick from 2000 to 2002.
The 2014 NBA Finals mark the 13th time in league history that the same two teams will be disputing the Larry O’Brien championship in consecutive years – and the first since Chicago and Utah, powered by Hall of Fame-bound stars Michael Jordan and Karl Malone, respectively, clashed in the 1997 and 1998 title duels.
The 2014 Finals schedule (all Manila times): Game 1 at San Antonio, June 6 (Friday, 9 a.m.); Game 2 at San Antonio, June 9 (Monday, 8 a.m.); Game 3 at Miami, June 11 (Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.); Game 4 at Miami, June 13 (Friday, 9 a.m.); Game 5 at San Antonio, if necessary, June 16 (Monday, 8 a.m.); Game 6 at Miami, if necessary, June 18 (Wednesday, 9 a.m.); and Game 7 at San Antonio, if necessary, June 21 (Saturday, 9 a.m.).
Miami is back in the NBA Finals for the fourth year in a row – the first team to do so in 27 years and only the third franchise in league history to accomplish the feat.
The Boston Celtics were the first franchise to make at least four consecutive trips to the Finals and the Hub City squad did it twice. They reached the Finals for 10 straight years from 1957 to 1966 during the Bill Russell era, collecting nine championships along the way.
Boston again earned a Finals ticket for four consecutive years from 1984 to 1987, this time behind the triumvirate of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, with the Green emerging victorious in 1984 and 1986.
Before that, the Los Angeles Lakers also got into the Finals for four years in a row from 1982 to 1985, winning it all in 1982 and 1985.