Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Trust us: Harden’s series-changing sixth foul doesn’t hold a candle to this

Oklahoma City guard James Harden fouled out with 4:34 remaining in the fourth quarter of Monday’s Game 4 of the Western Conference finals against Dallas. His team was safely ahead by 11 points with a change at a series split an almost foregone conclusion.

But his absence was too much for the Thunder couldn’t overcome — even with the big late lead.   

The young Thunder collapsed one of their top offensive threats as Dallas clamped down on Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and escaped with a wild 112-105 overtime victory over the Thunder.

But it wasn’t the only thing that happened to Harden Monday night.

Oklahoma City fan Meghan Dailey took her devotion for Harden to great lengths, wearing a wedding dress with the second-year forward’s cutout face stenciled into the pleat of her dress below the knee.

She also carried a cutout head of Harden with “Harden My Heart” scrawled below it. For good measure, her veil was constructed of basketball netting.

Needless to say, Dailey caught a lot of attention, both outside the Oklahoma City Arena and inside it once the game began about her favorite player. It even got her some national television time during Monday’s game broadcast on ESPN.

Her picture has already on dozens of blog sites, although I haven’t read any comments specifically from her about her upcoming nuptuals. 

Or if she was merely advertising to marry Harden.  

But after last night, it might appear that there is a curse involving teams whose fans wear wedding dresses to the game that far outreaches not wearing something borrowed or blue in a wedding ceremony.

The Thunder never trailed when Harden was in the lineup. As soon as he fouled out, the Thunder collapsed as Dallas claimed a series-changing victory in one of the most remarkable comebacks in NBA playoff history.

We can only hope that similar problems don’t follow Dailey if and when she ever walks down the ais

Oklahoma City fan Meghan Dailey walks into the Oklahoma City Arena before Monday’s playoff game against Dallas. (Photo by Getty Images).

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Buck Harvey: Blurry, but Bosh still finds his way

DALLAS — Chris Bosh told them it was coming. He told them he could see the Mavericks’ body language, and what would happen when the Heat ran the play.

Bosh even told Udonis Haslem which Maverick to screen.

And when it all happened?

When Bosh got the pass and made the biggest shot of his basketball life?

“It feels good,” he said afterward, when it had to feel better than that.

Bosh had never won an NBA game in his hometown before. And early in his first Finals game in Dallas, he saw the trouble ahead.

He saw that through one eye. In the first quarter he took a finger to an eye and fell to the court. With Bosh on the ground, the Mavericks raced to score and built what would be their biggest lead of the game.

The moment summed up his image in Miami. Next to LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, he’s been the fraction in the “Two and a Half Men” show.

Game 2 was part of that. Then, he was asked to defend Dirk Nowitzki, and Nowitzki drove past him for the game-winning basket. Bosh shooting only 4 of 16 that night didn’t help, either.

Some in San Antonio might remember another Bosh ?? failure. In the 2001 Class 4A state championships, starring for Dallas Lincoln, he fouled out in a 2-point semifinal loss to Lanier.

But there’s another side to his life, and his next season at Lincoln showed that. Then, he led his high school to an undefeated season and the state championship. That was the first team from Texas to finish a season ranked No. 1 by USA Today, and that was also the last time Bosh said he was as happy as he has been this year.

“As far as camaraderie, working together and having fun on and off the court,” Bosh told the New York Times, “this has been the first time I’ve experienced anything like it.”

So he’s enjoyed this season, even when there were times he clearly struggled. That’s why Sunday, even with his vision blurred, he could see how everything fit together.

“We knew this was not going to be easy,” he said. “I think it’s just symbolic of our season .?.?. it was quite fitting I got poked in the eye. You just have to keep coming.”

Bosh was fortunate that Wade kept coming, with a performance similar to the one he put on against the Mavericks in 2006. Bosh was fortunate too, that Haslem defended Nowitzki on the last play this time.

“He stayed down,” Nowitzki said of Haslem, “and made me shoot a contested shot.”

The game before, Bosh didn’t.

Still, what happened with about 40 seconds left shored up Bosh’s reputation. Miami called time, and Bosh all but announced what would happen next.

Haslem talked about that in the locker room afterward. Bosh told him: Get the pin down on Nowitzki, and I’ll hit the shot.

“We run the play all the time,” Bosh said, “and I kind of saw Tyson’s (Chandler) body language, and I saw Dirk’s body language. You could kind of tell what they’re about to do, especially when Dwyane and LeBron are running screen-and-roll. They both turn their head, and I told (Haslem) who to hit .?.?. I knew I was going to have an open shot.”

That’s the Bosh who was in the National Honor Society at Lincoln, and who chooses to read a book before games to relax.

Yet even when everything happened as he thought it would, as James threw a smooth pass to him, Bosh needed to complete the play.

Any worries?

“That’s his sweet spot,” James said.

When Dallas had never been that before for him in the NBA.

bharvey@express-news.net

Blog brother lists the Spurs’ untouchables and others who could be swapped this summer

I always like new and different graphical ways of explaining stories.

B Diddy of Air Alamo.com had an intriguing look at the Spurs roster in terms of their .

Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tiago Splittler and yes, even Tony Parker were listed as near untouchables by Diddy on his graphic. DeJuan Blair, Matt Bonner and Richard Jefferson weren’t nearly as fortunate in their ratings.

It was an intriguing way of breaking down the Spurs’ roster heading into the summer. And it will be interesting to see how closely the strategies of Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford match Diddy’s approximations.

Here are a few other takes from across the blogosphere about the Spurs and a variety of NBA topics.

  • Eric Freeman of Yahoo.com’s Ball Don’t Lie Blog compliments  Ginobili’s toughness in .
  • Pounding the Rock.com’s Big 50 gives Popovich  and for his work during the season.   
  • All-around athlete Erin Rambo of Euclid, Ohio, tells the Cleveland Plain-Dealer that .
  • From the department of potential Spurs roster additions, Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution spells out the reasons why Josh Smith .
  • And Nick Underhill of the Springfield (Mass.) Republican wonders if the in Boston.
  • Alley Oop of Spurslocker.com predicts thatsome day.
  • Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer reports that VCU’s Jamie Skeen, a 6-foot-8 forward,during last week’s draft combine in Chicago.
  • Jeff Washburn of the Lafayette (Ind.) Journal and Courier reports that Dallas forward Brian Cardinal is attempting to become the fifth former Purdue player to play for an NBA champion. One of them is Glenn Robinson, .
  • B Diddy of Air Alamo.com haswith the 29th pick in his mock draft.
  • Ginobili picks in an interview with the Argentinian publication  translated by Jeff Garcia of Project Spurs.com. 
  • Spursfan4life of Spurs Dynasty.com has six reasons why he.
  • Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman liked the move by Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks of in the fourth quarter against Dallas in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.
  • Veteran San Diego Tribune columnist Nick Canepa isn’t including Dirk Nowitzki.