MIAMI The Miami Heat s connection to the Duke basketball program might one day help bring Mike Krzyzewski to the franchise to succeed Pat Riley as team president.
But for now, the Heat s close ties to Coach K s team have paid off with Shane Battier s strong play in the Finals.
Battier s defense and clutch three-point shooting in Game 2 Thursday night were critical as the Heat gained a split in Oklahoma City, with Miami looking to take a 2-1 series lead Sunday night when the Finals resume here.
Battier, the Heat s top free-agent acquisition last summer, played at Duke while Nick Arison, son of Miami owner Micky Arison, was a team manager. Nick Arison is now the Heat s chief executive officer.
While the talk of Krzyzewski landing in South Beach is premature, as Riley continues to show no signs that he is leaving his post anytime soon, there is no denying that Battier has made the kind of impact the Heat was looking for when Nick Arison took the lead in recruiting the veteran forward to Miami.
Battier made five of seven three-point shots in Miami s 100-96 victory in Game 2, banking in the last one from the top of the key with five minutes left to help the Heat withstand the Thunder s furious rally.
For the series, Battier has made nine of 13 three-point tries, while averaging 17 points and making 12 of 17 shots. Including Game 7 against Boston, he has made 13 of his last 22 shots from beyond the arc. Before that Game 7, he had only one game all season in which he made as many as four three-pointers.
Shane has been huge, LeBron James said. Going against him in my career, I understood how smart he was, how competitive he was, especially on the defensive end. I was very excited when we were able to sign him in the offseason. He s a big part of why we re here today and competing for a championship. He s meant a lot to me, being able to guard top scorers.
It started with the Knicks Carmelo Anthony and continued with Battier helping to shut down Indiana s David West and Boston s Paul Pierce during the Heat s run to its second straight Finals. But in this series, the job has gotten a lot tougher as the Heat has seen Kevin Durant score 36 and 32 points in the first two games, including two fourth-quarter outbursts in which the three-time scoring champ lit Miami up for 17 and 16 points, respectively.
In the most critical play of Game 2, James was on Durant and used a little force to stop him from hitting a short baseline jumper in the final nine seconds that would have tied the game. Durant was heard yelling at one of the refs, He fouled me, man! But afterward, at the podium, he refused to criticize the non-call, saying, It s a shot I shoot all the time. I just missed it.
No comments:
Post a Comment