caulfield12

Seven years after their most recent championship, long after we figured they were through, the Spurs sprinted to the finish. By the time the clock hit zero on their 104-87 victory in Game 5, the Spurs had outscored the Heat by 70 points over the course of the series, the biggest point differential in NBA Finals history. So which team was the superteam again? It sure seemed like the Boston Celtics and then the Heat had found the formula in the years since the Spurs last won it in 2007. Quickly assemble a team of established veterans, grab all the magazine covers, then pop the champagne. The Spurs struck a blow for scouting and development. And patience. Most of all, patience. They've kept the core together for more than a decade. "The alternative wasn't any better," Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said. "These guys have been a part of our organization. They'll determine when they're done here, I would hope." Notice how neither the agonizing seven-game loss to the Heat last season nor the stunning first-round upset by the Memphis Grizzlies in 2011 caused a massive upheaval in the Spurs. Three years later they still have half of that 2011 team. And one of the departures, George Hill, was traded for the guy who won the Bill Russell Award as the 2014 Finals MVP, Kawhi Leonard. Definite upgrade. The fact that the Finals MVP was open to debate until the moment Mr. Russell himself came on stage to hand out his namesake trophy speaks to the Spurs' balance. It could have been Boris Diaw (whom they picked up as an overweight castoff from the Charlotte Bobcats in 2012, by the way) even though he never had a double-digit scoring game in the series. It could have been Duncan, who happened to notch his NBA record 158th playoff double-double during the Finals. But it was Leonard who went for 20-plus in each of the final three games, who provided the athleticism the Spurs needed, who had Duncan gushing "I'm honored to be on this team right now" as if Leonard, not himself, was the franchise cornerstone. Trying to pick the MVP of the 104-87 Game 5 clincher was almost as tough as choosing a Spur for the series. Leonard had 22 and 10 rebounds. Patty Mills hit five 3-pointers, scored 17 points and made a strong bid for the honorary Tyronn Lue Award, which goes to the upcoming free agent who earns the biggest contract with his play during the NBA Finals. But this game really belonged to Ginobili, who resurrected the Spurs after they fell behind by 16 points at the outset. At one point, when the Heat looked like they were going to make this a game and quite possibly a series again, Ginobili came in and quickly produced two of the Spurs' first three baskets. The second, a 3-pointer, resulted in a Spurs' timeout and a big Ginobili fist pump. The Spurs were on their way back. www.espn.com/adande

It's going to take more than Carmelo Anthony to fix their roster problem/s, fwiw. How could the loaded, athletic two-time champion Heat be so completely, utterly dismantled by a team with a 38-year-old center, an overweight point forward and a shooting guard with a bald spot? And how could that happen, as LeBron James would say in, “not one, not two, not three …” but four games in a series so lopsided the Heat should be thankful those consecutive missed San Antonio free throws in Game 2 separated them from a sweep. These NBA Finals, over now that San Antonio delivered a 104-87 exclamation point Sunday night, was a revelation on many levels. First, the Spurs are simply a better team. “They played exquisite basketball, and they’re the better team,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “No other way to say it.” Well there are other ways because there are other things. This series strongly suggests — if not outright proves — Miami’s formula for winning titles worked quite well for the past two years and even made the Heat relevant for four consecutive years, but that same formula is aging poorly. We know that if the Heat is going to continue relying on the Big 3, Chris Bosh needs to actually live up to being part of the group, and Wade needs to somehow find himself again because the guy we saw in these Finals was merely a Wade shadow. We know that the Heat have one amazing player in James and 14 other role players — none of whom is on the ascent. “Look, you really have to credit San Antonio and their defense,” Spoelstra said. “It wasn’t Dwyane. It was pretty much everybody except for LeBron. We never got our rhythm.” We know now if the Heat is going to come back better in 2015, it has to, well, get better. This roster isn’t going to do it. This roster, good enough to get the Heat here out of the weakened Eastern Conference, isn’t championship caliber. Don’t believe it? Consider that Spoelstra came into this game trying to pull multiple magic rabbits out of his hat. Trick one was hoping Udonis Haslem could play the character card and will the Heat to victory. Well, Tim Duncan ate up Haslem on three consecutive trips in the third quarter. Trick two involved having Michael Beasley active. Really? Trick three was benching Mario Chalmers and not even letting him be the first point guard off the bench. Chalmers, in a terrible playoffs funk, played himself out of the lineup and perhaps out of Miami. The Heat was grasping but could offer no real answers. Time to rebuild, Pat Riley. Down 98-80 with 3:13 to play, Wade, James and Bosh left this game for good. It was a white flag for a game long over. It was also a sign the Heat has been exposed. Players on this team spent the days, hours, and minutes leading up to this game making bold statements about what was to come. They promised things for this night they’d failed to deliver in three previous games. Bosh predicted the team would win. Wade promised a different approach to his game. Spoelstra offered Spoisms about how wonderful it is to test one’s character. “I love being in the trenches with this group when they’re in situations like this. You reveal your character,” Spoelstra said. “You reveal what you’re made out of when you’re facing adversity. “Everybody can be in the situation that the Spurs are in right now. It’s much more revealing when you’re in a situation like this. I love being with those guys in these situations.” James looked around a huddle of those guys just before they took the court and implored them to “follow my lead.” And then James delivered a stellar first quarter in which he scored 17 points, snatched six rebounds and blocked two shots. But at the end of that quarter James must have felt like John Belushi in Animal House after delivering the “Germans bombed Pearl Harbor” speech to his frat brothers. No one followed. No one seemed capable. James finished with 31 points. The rest of the starting lineup had 32 points. The Heat opened with a stirring 8-0 run. It included an emphatic put-back dunk by James. It forced San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich to call timeout. And while the Spurs took five minutes to score their first field goal of the game the Heat built a 16-point lead, their largest of the series. But that was all. It was all a mirage. It was unsustainable. Wade had only two points in the opening quarter and finished with only 11. The block by Splitter, who last year was abused around the rim by the Heat, was a sign. It showed Wade’s diminished hops. It showed Flash has long since passed into memory, and Wade has to find other ways to not only compete but succeed at a championship level. Then came those consecutive possessions in which Ginobili drove to the basket past one defender and dunked — dunked! — over two other Heat players. And seconds later when Ginobili connected on a three-point shot taken from Buenos Aires. Yes, the Heat was in trouble. The game hadn’t reached halftime and Miami’s lone run had already come and gone. Kind of like the time for this roster has come and gone. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/16/4181...l#storylink=cpy

http://www.csnchicago.com/cubs/beating-phi...&ocid=yahoo Part of the Cubs' plan coming together with Rizzo, Castro, Wood, Ramirez, etc.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 09:22 PM) Much day off needed for this team. Regroup and get ready for the ...lol Giants Exactly what our sputtering offense needs.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 06:51 PM) Viciedo is a huge huge bust. Let him try and get it together for another team. Flowers is a AAA catcher, a lifer on the AAA level. Beckham has been a bust for 4 years now and he's viewed by some as part of the future still. Obviously, in his last 50-100 at-bats, he's looked terrible. He needs to hit 20+ homers per season to be valuable. He's going to get the remainder of this year, regardless of how he's doing now. Unless you want to play Taylor/Danks/Sierra/Tuiasasopo with DeAza and Eaton.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 07:51 PM) Again, this business of retooling/rebuilding/going young is difficult business. You can't view it the sme way you do with trading for veterans. You're essentially getting into the speculating business, and so there are going to be misses...probably more misses than hits...but you're hoping for a few big hits. So far, the big hit has been Abreu. The book is still out on Eaton and Avisail. Things do not look good for Davidson, but by no means is that a done deal. IMO, we need Rodon to be a big hit, and we need one of Avisail/Eaton/Davidson to be above-average and another one to be solid. Then we need to make something of Alexei/Beckham/Danks before they're gone... That means Montas or Beck need to stick at the back of the rotation, or they're simply going to get rid of one "bad" veteran pitching contract to add another if they're not careful.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 04:08 PM) There have been rumors Posey isn't going to be catching much longer. Then we could trade for Brandon Belt.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jun 13, 2014 -> 07:45 AM) Maybe Salvatore Perez and Yan Gomes as well. Unless he joined the Corleone family, Salvador. Don't worry, Rienzo will help him to pad his offensive credentials.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 06:20 PM) That Messi goal though. Geez. It's remarkable he didn't get knocked down by that tackle flying at him, but he's so used to 3-4 players hounding him and flying all over the place that it's just second nature to hop over by instinct. I think Messi's dealing with the LeBron syndrome. So much hype, that it's becoming impossible to live up to it. For example, in the Argentine press, they've opined that if Argentina doesn't win the World Cup, he will be forgotten in 20 years and only Maradona will still be remember. Hard to live up to those expectations, and hard to control the talent/quality of your teammates as well when you play on a national team, not to mention the coaching problems/controversy in 2010.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 07:06 PM) The 3rd baseman. Unfortunately the guy they got is hitting .180 in AAA and has fanned more than Tyler Flowers. And as a defender, he supposedly had a great bat. He in no way is the 3rd baseman you are describing.BTW the Sox are paying Bellisario $2.5 million more than they would have paid Reed this year and he is also 1st year arb eligible next season. So who would you have traded for instead? We've gone through this dance over and over again about Sergio Santos as well, although that one can't be blamed on Rick Hahn. If you want to criticize Hahn, you have to look at the organization as Hahn inherited the reigns. Signing Sale and Quintana to extensions, bringing in Jose Abreu, Adam Eaton, Avisail Garcia, Montas, Putnam and Noesi, improving the Latin American operations (including Adolfo)...that outweighs the bad of Keppinger, Downs, Paulino and whatever happens with Matt Davidson eventually. And time will tell with the Tim Anderson and Rodon/Adams selections. Would you really be happy if we had Jimenez or Santana now? At this point, we'd be talking about selling them off too, just like Peavy...because of the lowered attendance/lost revenues from sponsorships. Finally, do you blame Hahn for Erik Johnson completely falling apart with no reasonable explanation?

Which is more important, a 3B who will hit 25 homers for 6 years, cost-controlled...or an average MLB closer who will start earning a lot more money than he's worth beginning in 2015?

Argentina giving up a late goal there to make things a BIT interesting. Shouldn't have been that close.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 05:03 PM) Reed does allow homeruns, many solo ones. But he also has only allowed 13 earned runs and 4 walks in 29 innings. His replacement , Belisario, making big bucks now has allowed 18 earned runs. Reed is only 25 so maybe he gets better. Belisario is 32. The majority of those runs were in the first 2-3 weeks of the season. He hasn't been a great closer, but he was very good in the 8th inning after Putnam and before Lindstrom before Matt got hurt. Belisario was never signed by the closer, anyway, the idea was always Jones, Lindstrom and maybe Webb.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 01:17 PM) At the ballpark and that sounded like it was completely crushed. Wind.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 01:11 PM) The Sox need a lot more pitching. They know it. It is why they were drafting pitchers in the first few rounds. If they were planning to compete this season, they would have kept Peavy. And it's not like he has lit Boston on fire, either. Would we be better off with Jake Peavy right now? Then we'd be buying 2 outfielders in the free agent market instead. With all the TJ surgeries around MLB, you're going to see a lot more "speculative" signings like Paulino and fewer and fewer 3-8 year contracts.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 01:13 PM) I didn't look beyond MLB.com's top 10 prospects for them, so I missed their second base guy. Panik? Yeah, well, maybe not "top" prospect, but someone who's playing very well at least. And it always seems like every season the Giants figure out curious ways to get offense from unexpected sources.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 12:48 PM) Do you mean people have/buy guns with the general intention of protecting their families, or that there are actual occurrences everyday where people protect themselves or their families with guns? Not jerking your chain, legitimately curious. And if it's the latter, can you give me some examples of what you mean? I'm just imagining bad guys bursting in the door and there's a gun-wielding homeowner standing in the way, and that seems far-fetched, at least to happen frequently. There was one example in the news last week, the one where the 2 perpetrators were using a kid as a human hostage...I think both the man and wife fired at them, and it sounds like the woman didn't even come close with her shots.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 01:09 PM) Maybe the Sox could try to acquire Giants prospect Andrew Susac. He is stuck behind Posey and pretty much ML-ready right now. The Giants do not have a real MLB second baseman. Their starter most of the year is batting (Hicks) is batting .177 though with 8 HRs but also has an insane 32% K-rate. So a swap of Beckham for Susac would benefit both teams. Plus, the Giants do not have a top prospect at second base. MLB.com's prospect report on him. Granted, it's the Pacific Coast League, but he is batting .288, .388 OPB and an .892 OPS. The Giants have a top 2B prospect behind Hicks...they're not going to trade for Beckham and bring him to a new league unless their lead over the Dodgers falls to 3-5 games. They're not being threatened right now.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 01:07 PM) Rizzo and Johnson have been huge disappointments. It has become quite obvious the Sox are going to have to spend good money to upgrade the rotation this offseason. I'm sure you meant Rienzo. They might as well throw Hanson out there for a few starts, Beck's not ready and sending Johnson out there again would be suicide. Or gasp, Carroll. Heath or Surkamp would be more interesting than that option.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 01:02 PM) no one in the Sox bullpen is going to net you a prospect you can confidently say will help you. And if you don't think pitching is a concern moving forward wow. The way they drop and lack of major league ready starters in the Sox system is a bid red flag. How could we have confidently said Marte or Thornton would help us, or Noesi and Putnam? C'mon. Of course, pitching is a concern...but I'm talking about Rodon and his development, because right now the back end of the rotation is rearranging Titanic deck chairs for Hahn. Do we really want to go back to arguing about Santana and Jimenez again today? With either of those guys, we're still basically a .500 team but with more limited financial flexibility for the future.

Where's Greg775 with his betting advice "told you so" right now? Not sure the White Sox can keep the over/under at 8, though.

Error pace for Anderson mid 60's...hopefully he improves enough in the 2nd half to end up under 55 AND/OR is promoted to Birmingham.

Where were all these Rick Hahn attacks 3-4 days ago? Sigh.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 12:45 PM) Why on one hand trading Reed for Davidson was a no brainer because Reed was only a reliever but now the relievers on the 26th ranked pitching staff are good trade chips? Because they're two different issues. And it's the same reason we were trying to trade Crain and Thornton last year. What good does Addison Reed do with all those homers surrendered and a decent save conversation rate but so-so peripherals do for the White Sox in 2015 or 2016? He's going to get a higher salary by the year...and does anyone honestly want Addison Reed out there again down the stretch against the Tigers? And I don't know where you got 26th ranked, I'm guessing by ERA...which has more to do with the likes of Leesman, Carroll and Rienzo and the first couple of weeks for the bullpen than Sale/Quintana/Danks. And what's the point of comparing AL and NL pitching staffs, when there's a 0.5 point ERA spread between the 2 leagues? We have more problems offensively right now, other than Abreu. Sure, Rienzo isn't that good. Nobody thought he was. If Sale/Quintana/Danks/Rodon compile the 26th ERA in the majors in 2016 and 2017, then it's time to worry.

Hawkins now 2/3. Hasn't had many 2+ hit games recently. Keenyn Walker's doing his best Tyler Flowers impression down there. Piwnica-Worms one of the more interesting last names in A ball.