Scribbler's Highlight of the Week: Tony Parker's Improbable Dagger

In Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena, the Heat were starting to get some momentum back after the San Antonio Spurs reclaimed the lead in the middle of the fourth quarter for the first time since the first quarter.  After Manu Ginobili's ill-advised three-ball attempt from Jupiter and Danny Green's foul of Ray Allen beyond the three-point arc, Allen made three straight clutch free throws.  Although he took a few errant jump shots in the waning minutes of the game, LeBron James took the ball to the rim a few times to inch even closer.  In the last minute, they made sure that the Spurs couldn't get off any easy shots with swarming defense.  However, that didn't stop Tony Parker from exemplifying the age-old saying "nothing beats a failure but a try"...

With about 30 seconds left after the Heat scored to make it 90-88, Parker just kept driving and dribbling, looking for any opportunity.  With more than five seconds on the shot clock, he drove near the paint, hoping for a crack in the defense.  Backpedaled with over three seconds when he realized the lane was clogged and nearly lost the ball.  Fell down with about two seconds as he was backpedaling and nearly lost it again, but kept dribbling.  Had less than two seconds with the taller LeBron James in his face, who was executing the "keep your hands up" drill that altered Parker's shot.  Still, Parker took the shot milliseconds before the shot clock expired, banked it off the backboard and watched it bounce twice off the rim before going in to make it 92-88 with 5.2 seconds left in regulation.  Steve Buckhantz should've been calling this game.

I'm sure that this is not what LeBron envisioned when he wanted to exact revenge on the San Antonio Spurs.  The same team that swept him when he was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007.  The same team that celebrated their fourth NBA championship on his home floor.  Welp, he played the best defense he possibly could've played against arguably the best point guard in the NBA, but there's no answer for an unlikely bank and a couple of "lucky" bounces.  Once again, the Spurs celebrated on his home floor; this time, however, at least there's still the possibility of six games to make up for this heart-breaker.