6 Thoughts
1) When you are playing at the end of a season against teams that have already been eliminated from the playoffs, it can be tougher than it would seem. The bad teams play differently than playoff contenders do: they are looser, take more playground-style shots, and have a lot of guys auditioning for jobs in the league. A team like Miami is working on its discipline and its sets, and if you are playing, say, another playoff team like Orlando, they are willing to go along with that, while working on their own sets. But you get in against a Cleveland, like last night, or a Washington tonight, those teams have different agendas. And one of the things on their agendas? Fighting! Live, from Washington D.C.'s Verizon Center, let's get ready to rummmmbbbbllllllllllle!!!
2) One night after Ryan Hollins and other Cavs got tough with Miami, the Washington Wizards, who were eliminated from the playoffs sometime around (when did the season start? October?) October, cranked it up another level. Early in the second quarter, Miami cadaver, I mean, center, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, caught a pass at the elbow, got slapped at by slender Wizard rookie guard John Wall, responded with a look away, medium-soft elbow to Wall's chin, whereupon Wall responded with a short right hook to Z's ribs! That's smart, go to the body early, try to take the bigger guy's legs! Z responded by grabbing Wall, then he himself got grabbed from behind by Wizards big man JaVale McGee, the proverbial third man in to the fight, only McGee suddenly was out of the fight when Juwan Howard came flying in from the side with a fairly cheap (but somewhat defensible, since McGee was grabbing Z from behind) body-check to McGee. That was ejections for Wall (for sure), Ilgauskas (highly questionable), Howard (reasonable), and a technical for McGee. Listen, John Wall is the Wizards' best player so that was great for Miami; and if you think I am going to complain that Ilguaskas and Juwan Howard also got ejected, you're crazy. I was hoping they would also eject James Jones and Eddie House, even though they weren't even in the game at the time, I don't think. In any case, the game stayed highly contentious, and competitive until the final few minutes, when Miami pulled away. Give the Wizards credit: they had nothing to lose, but played hard, and when you are a playoff team coming down the stretch, you have to expect that, and do the best you can to match their energy, even if it is hard to feel that way. Last night Miami couldn't do it. Tonight, just barely, they could.
3) For the second straight night, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James were utterly gassed by the end of the game. With Chalmers out for the last couple of weeks, and Mike Miller out for the last two nights, on top of Udonis Haslem's near season-long absence, the bench is positively atrocious right now. A typical second quarter lineup these days features LeBron James with Zydrunas Ilguaskas, Juwan Howard, James Jones, and Edward House. That's the best player in the league, plus four guys who should probably not be on a roster. One of the biggest problems is that Chalmers and Miller are, at a minimum, productive defenders, and the guys replacing them are not - so not only do Wade and LeBron have to shoulder the heaviest part of the offensive load, but also play the other's team best scorers defensively. That's a pain in the butt for those guys, it's annoying, and it's exhausting. Both Dwyane and LeBron had good offensive nights: 33 for Wade on 17 shots, with 9 assists, and 35 for LeBron on 16 shots, with 8 assists, 8 rebounds, and 5 steals - but they looked exhausted by having to play both ends, trying to muster energy against a bad team playing irrationally hard, and from carrying Chris Bosh, whose 26 and 8 had to be one of the worst 26 and 8s in league history, and was mostly a function of the Wizards paying so much attention to Dwyane and LeBron. It feels like we are right back to where we started with the Maitre d' - he isn't playing with force, he isn't finishing plays in traffic, he is standing with his head under the rim and his hands outstretched like a coat hanger while guys offensive rebound next to him and lay the ball back in...Isn't there any way he could have gotten ejected? I never thought I would ever - ever - ask this question, but: When is Mario Chalmers coming back? For the love of God, we need Emcee Chalmers!!!
4) Just when I thought we were out of the woods, just when notorious Heat killa Jamal Crawford is getting a little older, slowing down, and not killing the Heat, allowing all to breathe easier, then - here comes JORDAN Crawford!!!!! The Wizards rookie guard, who once famously dunked on LeBron in a summer pickup game which prompted LeBron's people to steal the video of it and kill all witnesses, pumped in 39 points on 24 shots, including 5-8 triples!!! Oh, no - a new Heat killa!!! Has the most questionable shot selection since- well, since Jamal Crawford, but just like Jamal, against Miami, he can't miss. I have a feeling I'm not going to enjoy this guy's work over the next decade...
5) During one early third quarter dead ball break in the action, the Verizon Center piped in - no joke - polka music on to the floor through its speaker system. Polka - progressive!!! Man, they don't call D.C. "The Chocolate City" for nothing, and that community absolutely loves its polka. Great job, sound-guy-at-the-Verizon-Center, way to have your finger on the pulse of America's most citi-fied game. A lot of people think basketball fans love hip hop, but nahhh, that's just a dumb stereotype - the Verizon Center knows how we get down!
6) Sticking to the "urban" theme, we have a race-related question from our boy Snets. As always, very smart move bringing it here:
I have a question though – and your vantage point on race makes you a good person to ask – why is it that when a black guy goes down in a basketball game – you think he’s dead – triage comes out from the bench – a hush falls over the crowd – but when a white guy gets his arm cut off he just makes a tourniquet out of the nearest ascot and goes on playing like nothing happened – this is especially noticeable in football but bball is not far behind.
Ummm, probably because white guys generally suck at basketball and have to do stuff like that to stay on the team? I mean, BESIDES MIKE BIBBY!!! Wait- what? He's black? Who cares - HE'S STILL AWESOME, AND THIS BLOG IS COLORBLIND!!! THE END!
Our next game is Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves! Our old friend Mikey Beasley!!! You know it will be the same story in that game (and Sunday against the Nets) - woeful teams playing annoyingly hard and loose (we need a name for those games - any suggestions?). Add to that the fact that it is a classic "I hate what they did to me" opponent (because Mike most definitely hates what we did to him), and you can understand why, in his post-game interview, Spo called it "another big game," which is certainly the first time anyone has used that phrase in the same sentence with "Minnesota Timberwolves" this season. Until then, I'll be at the game, putting in work on the heavy bag, just in case the T-Wolves pull a John Wall and try to get physical with me!
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