Glad Battier got a ring. He contributed to the championship and I am very happy for him. Congrats champ!
This. Getting traded and biding his time Battier finally got his NBA Title. Good for him, because we got a ways to go before we're ready.
Last year without Shane, the Heat choked and lost the finals 4-2 against a team with one star. Last year with Shane, the Memphis Grizzlies took down the #1 seed Spurs in the first round despite not having Rudy Gay. This year with Shane, the Heat were clutch and won the finals 4-1 against a team most pegged at superior talent. This year without Shane, the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the #5 seed Clippers despite having Rudy Gay. Maybe there are some intangibles to Shane after all. Too bad he had to suck in the one series where the Rockets had T-Mac and Yao both healthy and in their prime(the Jazz series where we lost 3-4).
This has been the case since much earlier: From 2003-2006, the Memphis Grizzlies had Shane Battier and made the playoffs each year, even when Pau Gasol only played 59 games in the 2004-2005 season. In 2006-2007, the Grizzlies traded Shane Battier for Rudy Gay. Pau Gasol played 56 games and the Grizzlies went 22-60. In 2005-2006, the Rockets went 34-48 due to games missed by Yao and McGrady. They did not have Battier. From 2006 to 2009, the Rockets won 50+ games each year even though Yao and McGrady continued to miss substantial numbers of games.
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="391px" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://socialcam.com/videos/pqwbS4v7/embed?utm_campaign=web&utm_source=embed" width="520px"></iframe> Batty knows how to get it poppin'
