NBA Title Series: Lebron's Cramps Detract from Game One

I got to watch most of the first half of  Thursday's opening game in the NBA Championship Series between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs.  For the most part, the game was very exciting and evenly played...until with a little more than four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, that is.  For then, Heat MVP Lebron James went down with severe leg cramps and had to sit out the remainder of the game.  San Antonio was able to capitalize on James being out and go on a late-game run, winning going away by 15 points.

I like both the Spurs and the Heat, and have some trouble deciding whom to pull for in this series.  But regardless, I want for the star players on both teams to be healthy and playing at their peak level.  Before last night's game, there was concern that Spurs guard Tony Parker, although set to play in it, was recovering from a sprained ankle.  But as it turned out, if he was feeling any pain from that injury during the game, he did a good job of hiding it.  That's not taking anything away from Lebron James, though.  Once you're down with that kind of leg cramp (which I'm personally familiar with), you are incapacitated, period.  James has shown this problem in the past, though, and some are expressing concerns that he hasn't been attentive enough to keeping his body hydrated.  The air-conditioning in the San Antonio arena went out during the game and temperatures soared, becoming a possible factor in his cramps. 

Hopefully, this will be the last time in this series that we see an important player on either team being sidelined like that.  To me, it detracted from the hard-fought and well-deserved victory that San Antonio achieved Thursday night, giving some Heat fans the opportunity to use their superstar's physical woes as an excuse for Miami's loss.  For even had James not suffered leg cramps, the Spurs were still surging at the end of that game.  I just want to see the best playing the best and then see what happens...