The question resonates: Did one team win it or did one team lose it?

Okay, if you get on a bus out of the arena about 1:30 a.m. and then find refs to sit and tell stories with at Mike’s until the bright lights go on just after 3 and then there’s more stories to be told for half an hour with some of the cronies, it’s awfully hard to get usual fare done by the usual time.

Forgive me?

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Okay, wonder if Gregg Popovich gets any free passes today because he’s the lovable curmudgeon?

I doubt it, at least not from all corners, because as much as you’d like to think the Heat won that Game 6 last night, I think you can make the point that the Spurs lost it and a lot of it had to do with decisions Popovich made late in that brilliant game.

But you know what?

He stayed true to his philosophies and you can’t blame a guy for that, can you?

He took Tim Duncan out on defence because he switches everything on inevitable screen-roll and doesn’t think Duncan can get out to cover shooters. Yes, it cost him dearly with the two Heat offensive rebounds but that’s what he does.

And he didn’t have the Spurs foul when they were up three in the final 10 seconds because that’s not what he does. Yes, it cost him dearly with the Ray Allen three but that’s what he does.

Sound coaching?

I’d say yes, to tell you the truth.

You stick with what you do and you live with the results, I think I’d rather have a guy who stays true to himself than someone who vacillitates and changes one game to the next.

The players didn’t seem to care that much, each one that came to the podium after the game were asked about and each of them – Duncan, Parker and Ginobilii – were fine with what went.

I know, it’d be shocking if they said publicly that they weren’t but you can tell be inflection and mannerisms and tone that they had no problem at all.

But it does get to the original point and I suppose it goes to the basics of fandom:

Did the Heat win?

Did the Spurs lose?

Not that it really matters, I guess, it is a bit of semantics but I do think in this situation it’s far more a case of one team losing rather than one team winning.

Missed free throws, Manu’s Festival of Turnovers, Pop’s decisions. All on the Spurs.

And yes, Allen’s shot was incredible under crazy stressful circumstances and LeBron at the start of the fourth quarter was otherworldly but that was, in many ways, a gift of a game.

Now I’ve got all today to figure out Game 7 and what might happen, as impossible as that will be.

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Okay, need a report.

Heard Joni Mitchell was in Toronto last night. Was it good?

As good as this?

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I still find it entirely odd that two of the four “retired” numbers hanging from the rafters of the American Airlines Arena are Dan Marino’s No. 13 and Michael Jordan’s No. 23.

(The others are Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway and that makes sense; honouring players from other teams and other sports is just weird)

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You know, the more I think of it – and this runs counter to oft-stated impressions – I think the Raptors need a D League team of their own.

Maybe in Mississauga? Maybe at Ricoh? Maybe in Hamilton? They need one because I had this chat with Sean Marks some day during the final – and I don’t recall what day it was since they all run together – and he made some excellent points.

If you own a team you can do with it as you please, you can staff the front office with your own basketball people and run the team the same way you run the big club.

It can a proving ground for executives, maybe coaches, front office people of all kinds.

Sure, you’re still limited in the number your own signed players you can assign there but you would have control over the rest of the roster as well, stocking it with players who might – might – eventually grown into end-of-the-rotation guys who are familiar with the way you run things.

Now, I don’t know about the financial investment that would be needed but if you’re Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment it’s either (a) an investment in the future of your basketball operation or (b) a way to get another city to ante up to help them out.

But, mostly, it’s (a).

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Okay, let’s start. Mail, please. It’s askdoug@thestar.ca and since it’s been fun the last couple of weeks and I have the time, we’ll do a question and answer session here tomorrow at noon if you’d like to stop by.

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For all the reasons I’d like to be home, and I know in your minds you can figure out what they are, there’s one that you might not think of:

Seeing an Argo game at Varsity Stadium.

Yeah, it’s only pre-season and it’s more a smaller, bastardized version of Varsity Stadium but an outdoor game in the heart of the city would be really cool, wouldn’t it?

I know it’s not plausible and to think someone is going to drop a 20,000-seat stadium somewhere downtown is ridiculous but how good would it be if that team playing outdoors in a small park could be a constant?

You know I think the Argos should be more relevant than they are because of their history and the good stories that abound and if they could create a buzz by having something unique about them, it’d be a big step towards that goal.

Hope it’s a good night and a big success for them. And the fans.

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Okay, as much as I’d like this to be a day where I did nothing but sit by the pool sipping margaritas it can’t be.

Flights to book, practices to go to, stories to manufacture and I’m pretty sure a nice dinner before Fellowship Hours at Mike’s awaits.

Anyone want to join me?

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NBA Finals, Game 6: One for the ages sets up more drama

Please read this instead of the disjointed gamer that’s in the paper.

And I plan to perhaps stop by Mike’s when I’m done here; the regular fare might not be there ‘til 9 or so.

What an epic night.

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MIAMI – It’s perfect. It really is.

One game, winner-take-all, legacies and a championship on the line, a game that will have to be indescribably good in order to surpass the one that set it up.

The Miami Heat, abundantly talented and infuriatingly inconsistent at times, got up off the canvass in Game 6 of the NBA final, scoring a 103-100 overtime win over the San Antonio Spurs in what turned into the most dramatic game at the most dramatic of times, setting up a Game 7 Thursday to wrap up the series.

“You know, they're the best two words in team sports,” said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra.

“Game 7".

A series of shockingly big shots – a Ray Allen game-tying corner three with five seconds to go in regulation, a LeBron James three that set it up – and a series of mind-numbing Spurs mistakes turned the final minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime into one of the most compelling stretches of basketball in a big game in recent history.

James simply willed his way into the game after scuffling through three quarters. He had 14 points going into the fourth quarter and finished with 32 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, answering doubters that were ready to pounce.

“This is the best game I’ve ever been part of,” said James.

And he was central to it, as one would expect.

He was isolated continually on various defenders through the fourth quarter and attacked them relentlessly. He wanted the ball, the shots, the attention.

And the responsibility.

He took the ball, made the shots, relished in the attention.

And accepted the responsibility.

“The ups and downs, the roller coaster, the emotions, good and bad throughout the whole game, to be a part of something like this is something you would never be able to recreate once you're done playing the game,” said James.

“And I'm blessed to be a part of something like this. And I'm happy about the way we dug down and was able to get a win. It didn't look like we could muster up at some point in the game.”

But the Heat needed a break just to get to the overtime.

The Allen game-tying shot came when the Spurs couldn’t corral a James miss, Chris Bosh grabbed the loose ball and found Allen in the corner for yet another huge shot by the most prolific three-point shooter in NBA history.

“If it's not me taking the shot, I have no problem with Ray take that shot, man,” said James. “He's got ice water in his veins.

“Ray can be 0-for-99 in a game and if he get an open look late in the game, it's going down.

That's just the confidence he have in himself. It's the preparation that he prepares for every game. It's the confidence that we have in him. We seen it before.”

The Spurs have to be kicking themselves for letting the game get away in a series of moments.

Kawhi Leonard, his team up two with less than 14 seconds to go, missed one of two free throws to set up Allen’s game-tying shot.

Manu Ginobili, so good in Game 5, so bad in Game 6, committed two horrific turnovers in the overtime.

And even the seemingly unshakable Gregg Popovich will come in for some criticism for not having his team foul before the Allen game-tying shot.

It will cause second-guessing, second-thoughts and angst.

“I have no clue how we're going to be re-energized,” said Ginobili, who had eight turnovers in the game. “I'm devastated. But we have to. There's no Game 8 afterwards.

“We're going to have to play our best game, even better than today. Shoot better, better defence, less turnovers in my case, but, yeah, there's no secret recipe for bouncing back.”

The loss spoiled a marellous throwback performance by 37-year-old Spurs elder statesman Tim Duncan, who had 30 points in a brilliant outing as he chases his fifth championship ring.

But the help he so desperately needed did not come, Ginobili reverted to his early-series form and had just nine points and Danny Green, whose three-point shooting brilliance had carried the Spurs, had only three points. The series deserves the drama of a seventh game, though.

No team has won two in a row in the first six, there have been a series of lopsided results, great games by a handful of individuals and having it come down to one night is a perfect end.

It will either be the fifth championship for Duncan and the Spurs since 1999 or the second in three years for the so-called Big Three of the Heat – James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

 

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The Goods On The Game, Spurs at Heat

Hey, folks.

What's up?

Great games don't necessarily have to be close games

Well here we are, Game 6 in what has to be the most confounding NBA final of any of the 12 or so that I’ve seen at least part of.

Four games you’d probably consider blowouts in the first five – although when Game 5 got to a one-point game I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on – and I’m trying to figure out precisely why.

And can’t really.

I guess you could chalk it up to the relative talents of each of the teams, the case can be made that they are two superb clubs and when they get operating at full power, even the best opponent can’t slow them down.

You look at what Miami did when the Big Three were all rolling in that Game 4, they were unstoppable, despite a very good San Antonio defence.

And when the Spurs got Tim Duncan and Tony Parker going early in Game 5 and Manu Ginobili joined the fray, finally, they were at times otherworldly. Toss in the Danny Green phenomenon and it’s a no-brainer who wins.

But for drama?

The only drama we’ve had is wondering which team is going to go on some mind-numbing, game-winning run and when; outside of that Parker circus shot with five seconds left in Game 1, there hasn’t been any of the drama that would make you consider this series a classic.

Yet it is.

We can say with the utmost confidence that when we look back on this series, we’re going to call it one of the best we’ve seen and remember it for its greatness.

Why?

Because you don’t need last second heroics for something to become memorable, you don’t need transcendent individual efforts to make something stick in your mind, you don’t need high drama every night out for something to live with you for a long time.

You need two teams with great players operating at top efficiency most of the time.

In those games that haven’t been close, it’s not that one team played horribly, there were still moments when each side was at its very best, it’s just that the winning team went – as the boring, somewhat meaningless cliché goes – to another level.

The Spurs and Heat have each won every game, it’s not that the other team lost it.

It’s not been a classic series in the classic mold, but it has been classic and despite being out on the road for two weeks, I wouldn’t at all mind it coming down to one game Thursday night now.

It’s been too good to end.

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I get home to reclaim the car that the newly-licensed Super Son seems to have made his own – and that’s not going to happen too often – and not only is there half a tank of gas like when I left it but this dude’s CD is on the seat.

And if you got a 16-year-old who can’t wait to see Trombone Shorty at the jazz festival, it’s not a bad little life.

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Things you hate about travel:

Making a long trek from San Antonio to Toronto through Detroit because you can’t get here from there; blowing off a 2 1-2 layover by writing and bugging people and all of a sudden having to sit for another hour on a plane for some reason known only to the Delta pilots who kept us entirely in the dark until they announced the “little” problem had been solved and we could go.

End of rant.

Now, if Air Canada screws me over this morning, we’re going to have some issues.

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Hey, do you think it’s a coincidence that the TOD is rolling since I’ve been paying scant attention?

And you wonder why all of a sudden the pitchers can pitch and the hitters can hit and guys with the gloves can catch the ball.

And you think, hey, maybe the long, long baseball season isn’t quite over; we’re not at July yet and there’s every reason to think they’ll climb legitimately back into some kind of race.

It is the fun of the game, isn’t it? A long season of ups and downs and the one thing you need more than anything is patience.

Fans don’t have nearly enough of it and I wonder how many are now tuning back in after swearing them off in the middle of May.

Fans’ passion is a wonderful thing even if sometimes over-reaction is the norm.

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So, Miami.

When we were there last week it rained at least once a day, and I mean torrential downpours and not light showers and I fully expect that to happen again.

But someone with the meteorological mind that I don’t possess, please explain this to me:

If it’s about 30-plus and sticky and humid and a thunderstorm blows through, why is it even more sticky and humid after it’s gone.

I just don’t get it but that’s exactly what it’s like in Miami every single day at this time of year.

Weird.

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One more from the finals.

A bunch of us were talking the other night at the hospitality suite because that’s what we do and we figure whoever wins will have beaten its best opponent in any of its appearances in the championship series.

Absolutely true, right?

San Antonio has beaten the Knicks as an eight seed, a so-so Nets team, a pretty good Detroit team and an over-matched Cleveland team; Miami in this run has lost to Dallas and beaten a young Oklahoma City team.

Whoever wins this one – and while I still have Spurs in six, I have a feeling we get a Game 7 – will have truly beaten a very good team.

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All right, close to boarding time here, gotta run.

Back to see comments this afternoon, don’t stress if they don’t show until then.

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Raptors making moves, cut ties with Alvin Williams

Well, if Tim Leiweke wanted to make significant changes to get away from the Raptors past, he’s picked the right guy to fire.

In what I think is a terribly short-sighted move that will rankle as many people as anything he does, Leiweke has told Alvin Williams that his services are no longer required.

Yep, the chief executive officer of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment – on the job for less than a month – has jettisoned one of the great guys ever associated with the franchise and a man who wanted nothing more than to spend his entire career with the organization in some way, shape or form.

Alvin had spent last season scouting for the team, based out of Philadelphia, but he was far, far more than just an employee picking up a cheque.

He loved the organization and the city, he was a link to some of the best times the team has ever had, he is a great guy who’d show up every now and then and sooth some antsy players, offer a unique perspective and be a valued confidant to many.

Fired. Not by the general manager who never spoke to him, but by a CEO who seems hellbent on getting his fingers in every decision at some level.

It sucks.

Look, we all know that keeping people around this team forever is hard; there has been too much change, too many people discarded.

I’d say that if you’ve got someone the fans love, the players trust, the coaches appreciate and who wants to be part of it, you don’t cast him adrift.

You keep him around somehow, let him keep scouting, let him keep coming around every month or so, let him do his job.

It’s not like Alvin was going to demand a seven figure salary and a say in all major personnel decisions. He wanted just to keep working, to be part of the Raptors.

There aren’t a lot of that kind of guy around, I cannot see the harm in keeping him, if for no other reason that what he represents.

Everyone knows how hard he played, what he gave to the team – hell, I bet he cut his career two years short by playing through bad knees because he wanted to win and for the franchise to flourish.

As messages go, they just sent a crappy one.

And people will notice.

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Good way to end a San Antonio trip, no?

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A week in San Antonio can be a long, long time.

Things we like

Rosario’s

For Tex-Mex, try the three-taco combo with chicken, beef and pork and the Dos Equis draft, please.

The Riverwalk

Good people watching and the Irish pub across the river and around the corner from the hotel.

St. Arnold’s summer pilsner

Don’t know that I’ll have it again, but it’s a tasty delight should try.

Things we didn’t like

Torrential rain

On five of the seven days, always in the late afternoon, early evening, the skies opened. And I’m not talking sprinkles or showers, I’m talking deluge.

Post-game traffic

Know how the Leaves People clog Yonge Street? Well, double it, cut a lane off the width of the road and you’ve got it. Sat in the bus after Game 3 dead stopped for about 15 minutes before we all finally got out and walked the final five blocks or so. Beat the bus by 20 minutes.

The heat

No, not the Heat, the heat. Was mid-30s every day and as some of you might have realized, I’m not built for mid-30s. Mid-20s, maybe.

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So, is this the week?

Remember how everyone waited for some resolution to the Colangelo situation with the HOTH?

Well, we’re in the same holding pattern with respect to the coaching staff and I’m hearing from a couple of spots that this has to be the week they decide on who’ll work with Dwane Casey next year.

I do know that Casey and Masai have met and talked several times over the last few days as they try to figure out just what they’re going to do with the staff and with the summer league coming up quickly.

I don’t know if the changes will be wholesale but I do think a couple of Johnny Davis, Micah Nori, Tom Sterner and Scott Roth will be gone.

Why?

No particular reason – it’s not like they did bad jobs, or anything like that – except maybe it’s time for some new voices for Dwane and the players.

And that’s just it, new, not necessarily better, just maybe a couple different personality types are needed.

I’m sure, as I’ve said, they’ll look for an ex-player and I would think teaching ability, enthusiasm and knowledge would be at the top of the attributes list.

Who will these new guys be?

Well, the only names I’ve heard were Popeye Jones, Tyron Lue and Chris Finch but that was so long ago – pre-Masai – that I’m not sure they’re still in the mix.

But I’m sure whatever happens will happen when I’m on an airplane some day this week so we’ll be playing catch up.

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I hadn’t had a grilled fish taco in years and gobbled down a handful of them at two dinners on the Texas leg of this never-ending journey and they would go high on the list of good stuff I don’t have often enough.

Now I’m thinking first long day on the Casa Doug Deck will be topped off with a little fish taco buffet. Sound good?

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Missed this entirely last week and sorry about that.

The Canadian cadet men’s team – under-16 – finished third on the weekend in the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament and qualified for the 2014 world championships.

And the developmental team that Jay’s got over in China is rolling through a long Four Nations Tournament, rattling off seven straight wins, including three over the United States.

That team is basically the group that will play at the world university games later this summer in Russia and they’ve certainly set a high standard.

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