6 Thoughts
1) Atlanta came in tonight, on the road, desperately needing a win to avoid going down 3-1...and played awful...However, a mind-bendingly terrible performance by Miami allowed the Hawks to win easily. Four games in the series so far, not one of them remotely close. That is an anomaly for the playoffs.
2) Five or six times a year even Dwyane Wade is going to play poorly, for whatever reason. Tonight, he was obviously laboring with something physically wrong - had no explosion whatsoever on the way to a shockingly bad 9-26 performance. After the game he, and Coach Spo, acknowledged his back tightened up prior to game time and never loosened. It was too much for such a young team to overcome - when Wade doesn't play well in a playoff game, Miami has a McCain's chance in hell of winning.
3) Best player on the court tonight: Hawks backup center Zaza Pachulia. 12 points and 18 physical rebounds. That's why they call him Zaza. Also sporting an impressive shiner under the right eye. It is even money for how he acquired the shiner: a run-in with Heat big man Jamal Magloire, or any other possibility on earth.
4) Second best player on the court: Jermaine O'Neal. Third straight fabulous game for Jermaino. 20 points on 7-11, 6 boards, was a major defensive factor in the paint. Again, it wasn't like the Hawks played well: Joe Johnson was 5-12, Josh Smith was 4-14, and Al Horford 1-5. Jermaino shut down the paint. He has been the best big man in the series, and it's not even close.
5) Dos Minutos whipping boy James Jones singlehandedly lifted the Heat back into the game from a 21 point deficit in the second quarter when he made 4 point plays on consecutive trips. That's 8 points in about 10 seconds for JJ. Not sure I have ever seen that in a game. Besides Jermaino, he was the one good Heat player tonight, 19 points on 4-5, and 8-9 from the line.
6) New summer goal: obtain a travel visa to Cuba, go to Cuba. Got to get to Cuba before this Obama dude ruins it by opening travel there to everyone...
Game 5 - Wednesday night.
Extra note: Also Wednesday night, M.Minutos is being inducted into the Florida Atlantic University Hall of Fame - we think. It was hard to tell from the invitation. We'll be there, though, to find out for sure. She definitely is getting some kind of award. We at Dos are proud of her, of course. Not too sure who else is in there - Howard Schnellenberger? Seems like a good time to mention that her fourth novel, Save Me drops in July, with another due next summer. Details at africafine.com, probably. No matter what kind of book you enjoy, you will love Save Me, and even if you don't, I have two kids who want to go to college, and I can't totally rely on the Lenny Kravitz Scholarship to pay for their Ivy League education...although it seems like a reasonably safe bet...
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