NBA Playoffs: Where fundamentals happen....

In the beginning half of the season, it was pretty trendy to pick the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder to face off in the NBA Finals.  While that still is a possibility, the San Antonio Spurs have quietly steamrolled their way through the last month of basketball, including sweeps of the first two rounds of the playoffs.  By defeating the Clippers last night, the Spurs became the FOURTH TEAM IN THE CURRENT NBA PLAYOFF FORMAT TO SWEEP THE FIRST TWO ROUNDS.  While history might suggest otherwise, the Spurs now stand a pretty good chance at making it into the NBA Finals.  Interestingly enough, I have had ESPN on most of this morning and of course, they have been focusing on the Heat and The Thunder/Lakers (who didn't even play yesterday).  As always, the Spurs are flying under the radar of the media hype and I am sure they don't mind that one bit.  Of course by now, most hoops fans have taken notice of what the Spurs have done.  Tim Duncan is playing great basketball and the Spurs are all finally healthy for the first time in a couple years.  Top that off with Greg Poppovich's coaching and you have a legitimate title threat.   Having won their 8 games by just under 14 points a game, the Spurs might be able to rest a little bit if the Lakers can close a game out against the Thunder.  I still think the Lakers have a chance in this series, but it will take a gigantic comeback and a big collapse from the Thunder.  If they lose tonight, I think Pau Gasol will be gone but Mike Brown should be safe for another year or two.  All things considered, he has done a good job with keeping this team somewhat together this season. 

The haters will probably say it was only one game.  But it was one hell of a game, possibly the best playoff performance in my lifetime.  In a must win situation on enemy soil, LeBron James took his team on his back and they responded by helping him close out this game in the second half.  In what his fellow players referred to as " VIDEO GAME NUMBERS ," LeBron James put up a once in a lifetime performance yesterday.  Of course the one day I don't do a daily fantasy sports league too!  They will need Chris Bosh to win a title this season but this was definitely a momentum shifter with this series heading back to Miami.  LeBron and company now have a golden opportunity to make Lance Stephenson look like a complete idiot, although I am sure they have much bigger goals in mind.  If they are to move on to the next round and possibly the NBA Finals, LeBron will have to continue to have games like that.  It was refreshing to see Dwyane Wade finally have a good game as well.  HEARING WORD THAT WADE RECENTLY HAD HIS KNEE DRAINED puts his performance in this series into a better perspective I guess.  Hopefully, he will be able to knuckle up and help his team despite his banged up body.   Thanks to a lot of foul trouble for Indiana, Udonis Haslem chipped in for 14 points- his highest playoff output in three years.  Game 5 will be tomorrow night at 8PM, in what is a now a best of 3.  I think the Heat will be facing the Celtics in the Conference Finals, but nothing would really surprise me at this point.