NBA Finals: Spurs vs. Heat

The San Antonio Spurs are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2007, when they swept the Cleveland Cavaliers en route to their fourth championship in nine years. LeBron James was only in his fourth year in the Association when he led a young Cavs team up against a seasoned and superior Spurs squad.

It has been a widespread sentiment over the last few seasons that the San Antonio Spurs are getting too old and are slowing down. The pillar of the franchise, Tim Duncan, is now 37 years old, while versatile swingman, Manu Ginobili is 35. Despite having two of their most productive players heading into the twilight of their careers, the Spurs' front office have down a masterful job of surrounding the vets with young talent. Second year man, Kawhi Leonard, has enjoyed a fabulous sophomore season, averaging 11.9 ppg and 6.0 rpg. Center Tiago Splitter has also been a productive presence for the Spurs, averaging 10.3 ppg to go along with 6.4 rpg. Although Ginobili has not produced at the level he once did, he has hit some massive shots this postseason. Tim Duncan has played like the Duncan of old, averaging 17.8 ppg and 9.2 rpg during the Spurs playoff run.

Point guard Tony Parker has been arguably the Spurs most valuable player since their '07 championship, when he won Finals MVP honours. Parker averaged 20.3 ppg and 7.6 apg this season, his highest ppg total since the '08-'09 campaign. He was very much in the MVP discussion before catching the injury bug late in the season. Parker has developed into a prolific scorer in the paint, always being among the league leaders. His quickness is second to none in the NBA and he will be relied heavily on by Popovich in this year's finals.

A constant for the Spurs over the last 17 seasons has been their coach, Gregg Popovich. "Pop" has been nothing less than an anchor for the Spurs since he took the helm in the '96-'97 season. His no-nonsense approach paired with his surprisingly caring attitude towards his players has accounted for much of the success of the San Antonio Spurs franchise.

A lot has changed for LeBron James since his last encounter with the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. The cast surrounding James is much different this time around. The Heat took care of the Thunder in five games in last year's Finals which "got the monkey off the backs" of the big three. The Miami Heat continued to ride that momentum into this season and were the best team in the NBA, boasting a 66-16 mark. Since the infamous, "I've decided to take my talents to South Beach" announcement, James and the Heat have placed a self-proclaimed target on their backs. The confident (or arrogant) claim of the big three that they would win, "not one, not two, not three... not seven..." championships has heaped a huge amount of pressure on the Heat in the coming seasons. Time will tell if they are up to the challenge. James, Wade, and Bosh enjoy the services of a formidable supporting cast in Chalmers, Haslem, Anderson, Battier, Miller, and one of the best sharpshooters of all time in Ray Allen. The Heat won an astounding 27 consecutive games this season, and so should never be overlooked or counted out.

LeBron collected his fourth League MVP award in five years this season, joining Wilt Chamberlain with four MVP's. What is even more remarkable is that James has already been in the league nine years and is only 28 years old. James only has Bill Russell, Michael Jordan (5 MVP's each) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6 MVP's) ahead of him on the career MVP ladder. James is undoubtedly the most dominant player in the game today and has averaged an incredible 27.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg, and 6.9 apg for his career!

Despite having the best player on the planet in James and an NBA scoring champ, Finals MVP, and two-time NBA champion in Dwayne Wade, the Heat do have an achilles heal. The lack of a genuine "big man" was exposed during a hard fought seven game series with the Indiana Pacers. Roy Hibbert and David West were able to score the ball at will for moments during the series. Chris Bosh is far from a true center in this league, and is in fact a power forward who doesn't like to bang around too much. The Heat will definitely need the Dwayne Wade that showed up in game seven against the Pacers if they are to knock off the Spurs.

San Antonio are a more complete team than Miami. However, when playing as a unit, the Heat are the more explosive team. Gregg Popovich (.681 career winning percentage) knows how to get the best out of his team, and will lean heavily on Duncan and Parker for leadership with the Spurs' young guns. Erik Spoelstra will need "the big three" to play like they can if Miami is going to repeat as NBA champions. LeBron is going to get his but the Heat's success in this series will depend on the contributions from D-Wade and Chris Bosh. The x-factors on both teams may in fact be Manu Ginobili and Ray Allen. Whoever can shoot the ball more consistently from beyond the arc throughout the series will give their team the boost off the bench that may mean the difference between winning and losing.

This series is one that promises to be a classic, and in the opinion of this fan, will go the distance. The Heat have played well in spurts this postseason, but they had to expend a lot of energy in their seven game series with the Pacers. The Spurs have been playing some fantastic basketball this postseason, sweeping the Lakers, beating the upstart Warriors in six games, and dispatching of the rugged Grizzlies in four games. The long layover between the Western Conference Finals and the NBA Finals might mean a slow start in game 1 for San Antonio. However, over the seven game series, the ageless Spurs will play more as a team than the Heat and therefore, I predict that the San Antonio Spurs will win the 2013 NBA Championship in seven gruelling games. Miami will enjoy home court in game seven but the leadership and experience of Popovich, Duncan, and Parker will prove to be the difference in a intense game seven victory. Tony Parker will outplay counterpart Mario Chalmers and will win his second Finals MVP award.

There's no doubt in my mind that the Miami Heat will be back to the finals in the near future. They have far too much talent and too many weapons to not contend for the championship each and every year. However, this year will belong to the best "team," that being the San Antonio Spurs.

If the Spurs can defeat the Heat, it will be their fifth championship under Gregg Popovich. It will be Tim Duncan's fifth ring and Parker and Ginobili's fourth. Without question this will place the San Antonio Spurs in that rare category of a dynasty team. With a fifth title, this Spurs team under coach Popovich will certainly have to be considered as one of the all-time great teams in NBA history.