Sheridan Hoops Radio

My pick all along has been Spurs in 7. Do I think they will lose by 7 points or more to the Heat tonight in Miami? Not so sure about that, but Vegas has set 7 as the line.  Miami radio host Sid Rosenberg, a Knicks fan and thus a Heat hater, also likes Spurs in 7, but he and I have a differing opinion on how big of an impact this will have on LeBron James' legacy. He still has plenty of time to catch Michael Jordan's six championships, or Kobe Bryant's five, before it is all said and done. But in order for LeBron to have a chance at his second, he needs to snap out of his funk tonight. Yes, he had a brilliant Game 4. But in the rest of the series he has been in a funk without a doubt. For more on Game 6 and Game 7, give a listen to the podcast from 640-AM WMEN in Miami from this morning.

Danny Green has made 26 3-pointers in the NBA Finals, breaking Ray Allen's record. And he still has one or two more games to pad his record. That makes him the MVP, right? Well, the Spurs still have to win one more game, and nothing is over until it is over, as the saying goes. More on the NBA Finals, the Celtics/Clippers coaching situation and other chatter from around the NBA in this podcast with Michael Grady and Joy Staysniak on ESPN 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis.

The Miami Heat have been a bounce back team for two straight postseasons. They did it twice in this series against the San Antonio Spurs -- and they did it with flair. They did it last year against Oklahoma City after losing Game 1, and they did it against Rajon Rondo and the Boston Celtics when they trailed 3-2 in the Eastern Conference finals. Do they have another one in them that'll push this year's series to 7 games? Give a listen to this podcast with Eric Hasseltine of ESPN 92.9 in MEmphis for my prediction.

LeBron James has guaranteed that he'll play better in Game 4 of the NBA Finals than he did in Game 3? What does that mean? For starters, he has to keep Kawhi Leonard off the offensive boards. As James pointed out, the Spurs were the second-worst rebounding team in the NBA this season, yet Leonard has grabbed 13 offensive boards. One thing that was left uinaid was whether James need to "go Cleveland" again and take over the game by being aggressive offensively -- even if that means taking a bunch of 3-pointrs if that is all the Spurs' defense is going to allow him. Will he deliver? I think so -- but that does not guarantee a win for the Heat. More in this interview with Bickley and MJ of FIX Sports 910 KGME in Phoenix.

It's time for LeBron James to take the 20-foot jumpers the San Antonio Spurs are giving him.  James has yet to score 20 points in the NBA Finals, and with his teammates struggling, he has to assume more of the offense if the Miami Heat are going to even the series.  James' offensive approach and Tony Parker's hamstring injury are among the topics discussed by Chris Bernucca of Sheridan Hoops with Yahoo Sports Radio. 

If the San Antonio Spurs win Game 2 in Miami, will the Heat be mental midgets for the quick turnaround to Game 3? No one has referred to them as mental midgets for about 53 weeks now. Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops discusses that factor and several other Game 1 breakdowns on this podcast from the Bob Valvano Show on ESPN 680 in Louisville.

We are now in that weird phase of the NBA Finals where everything stops for two days, and we become obsessed with Game 1 for an extra day before looking ahead til Game 2, which doesn't tip until Sunday night. On the bright side, that gives us time to further admire Tony Parker's 23.99-second solo act, LeBron James meaningless triple-double and the rest of the going-on in a Game 1 that stunned many people who were probably too dismissive of the San Antonio Spurs.

Who will go down as the better player: LeBron James or Michael Jordan? That is a debate that will evolve over the next decade, but James was certainly Jordanesque with his third-quarter performance and his expletive-filled speech to his teammates coming out of halftime. I discuss with WJFK in Washington, D.C.

After the Miami Heat dismantled the Indiana Pacres in Game 3, playing their best offensive game of the postseason, it now appears inevitable we will have a Miami-San Antonio NBA Finals.

Nobody in Miami will be rooting harder for the Indiana Pacers than Sid Rosenberg. It is not that Sid is a Pacers fan, because he bleeds orange and blue for his New York Knicks. And when you are a Knicks fan, you are pre-disposed to dislike the Heat. Joining Sid on 640-AM in Miami this morning, site contributor Brian Geltzeiler previewed the Eastern Conference finals.  

The Memphis Grizzlies lost Game 1 for the third straight time in the 2013 NBA playoffs. They showed bounce-back ability against the Clippers and Thunder, but can they do the same against a time-tested San Antonio Spurs team? I discuss on the Bob Valvano show in Louisville.

Carmelo Anthony had an empty 39 points -- empty because he disappeared for a long stretch of the fourth quarter as the Knicks' season ended with a Game 6 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night.

Once upon a time, ESPN killed a story about Dwight Howard hitting 189 of 200 free throws. The full story in this podcast. 

You could make that argument, and we'll know more after the next two games are played in Memphis. But all around the NBA, with every second-round series tied 1-01, thre are a number of factors that can swing the momentum big time. I discuss with Eric Haselltine on ESPN Radio in Memphis.

With the second round of the NBA playoffs now underway, Chris Sheridan and Bob Valvano discuss the most important factors and developments involving the eight remaining teams ... along with the many coaching vacancies throughout the league.