Miami 95, San Antonio 125 // 51-11 // 1st in the West
Best. First. Quarter. Ever.
After that, the game was surprisingly even, though we made a little run bridging the 3rd and 4th quarters (capped off by Bonner’s 6th made 3 of the night) that effectively forced the Heat to throw in the towel, and it was garbage time the rest of the way (garbage time in which we still couldn’t miss a shot). I remember Doug Collins saying once that the NBA was in fact a 1st quarter game because leads and tones can be set that can carry through the remaining 3 quarters. Or, as another tired adage goes: you can’t win a game in the first quarter, but you can certainly lose it.
I was watching Around the Horn on ESPN today, and they were discussing the Magic’s surprising comeback against the Heat last night and how the Heat were basically giving up uncontested 3 after uncontested 3, and I remembered thinking: “huh, that certainly bodes well for the Spurs”. 17-28 later, it certainly did. The scary thing is that not one three was forced or out of the rhythm of the offense. Everything came within the flow and structure of the offense and amazing ball movement, and every look was wide open. Tony Parker had his Willis Reed-ish moment and proved (yet again) why he is so valuable to this team, making the offense hum with ruthless efficiency.
That’s all the analysis for tonight. Some games are just meant to be watched, loved, and yelled at with every made 3. That’s 17 outbursts of spontaneous 3-ball joy. My voice is tired, and I can’t stop smiling.
