Miami Heat forward Shane Battier predicted last nights explosive game 7 a few weeks ago, when he tried to explain what being bench against the Pacers felt like.
Battier, who had his minutes against the Pacers reduced because of matchups, compared being benched against Indiana to “eating a turd sandwich.”
As I explained in that article, Battier was being humble about the benching, knowing that when he succeeded again, it would be much sweeter.
Battier hit six of eight three-pointers and contributed 18 points in 29 minutes to be the difference for the Heat in a 95-88 championship clinching victory vs. the San Antonio Spurs.
Battier said he was relieved to be able to start helping his team again, and as he explained to USA Today, the basketball gods owed me.
“I believe in the basketball gods,” Battier said. “I felt that they owed me big time. I had a bunch of shots in San Antonio that went in and out. So when that banker went in, I said you know what, they owe me. It was the start of a pretty good streak there.
“Honestly, I felt good the last couple of games. And I made a couple of threes last game, and so I felt really confident tonight. I knew that our starters were going to be pretty tired after Game 6. It was an emotionally and physically draining game. I only played 12 minutes so I felt great.”
