The Miami Heat are in their third straight NBA Finals, and looking for their second straight title in the LeBron James era. Tonight, at 9:00 p.m., the Heat will battle the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 on ABC, which can be live streamed here. Heat fans can catch the radio broadcast on WQAM 560, while Spurs fans can do the same by tuning in to 1200 WOAI.
For San Antonio, the key will be how they handle James. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has been vexed by this dilemma before, back in 2007 when San Antonio wiped out LeBron's Cleveland Cavaliers. Now, though, James is a completely different player. "He'll be a lot more of a problem than he was in '07, that's for sure," Popovich said.
Popovich went on to describe the changes in LeBron since that 2007 NBA Finals defeat. "That was like ancient history. He was basically a neophyte at the time, wondering how all this stuff worked and how it's put together. We were very fortunate at that time to get him so early. But at this point he's grown."
LeBron can do anything on a basketball court. He's a proven passer, good rebounder, elite defender, and he made 56.5 percent of his shots this season. The key for San Antonio will be to stop him from doing all of them in the same game.
James is not the only player who has grown up since his first trip to the Finals. Spurs point guard Tony Parker was also not the player in his first trip that he has become in 2013. Once a promising young guard, Parker is now the Spurs' engine.
"When I was 21 and I won my first one, it was kind of fast and we think it's going to happen every year. We think it's easy. But after a lot of years in the league, you realize it's really hard to go to the finals," Parker said. "Now we take nothing for granted. We appreciate every moment, and we'll see what happens."
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