1) Look, it's one semi-meaningless game out of 82 semi-meanngless games. It doesn't mean Miami will beat Boston in the playoffs, and it doesn't mean they won't. But, in a season filled with tough losses - and when everyone makes every game a referendum on the future of your franchise, any loss is annoying - this was NOT a loss...IN FACT, IT WAS A BLOWOUT WIN!!! SUCK IT, CELTICS! M.Minutos said it best: "Today, all I cared about was beating them." Mission accomplished. Two more games, and then the playoffs start. So let's go, and go, and go, and go - since that's how we did it to the Celtics today!
2) The best thing that Miami can do against Boston is turn the game into a scramble. Make the game go fast, run Ray Allen off the three point line, contest without fouling, and then REBOUND! The first three times these two teams met, Miami got walked into a big deficit, before finding energy and charging late. Today Miami got down 9 quickly (again), before righting itself and playing a discliplined, but highly energetic, defensive game. Never let Boston get comfortable in their offensive sets for long stretches. Boston's four quarters, offensively: 22, 18, 19 18. And most importantly, Miami allowed only 3 offensive rebounds all day, while getting 15 of their own. Dwyane Wade only had 14 points on 12 shots, but he had 8 assists, and kept Ray Allen under control all day, including one chase-down transition block that essentially ended the game. LeBron was rock solid with 27, 7, and 5, and you could see him gaining confidence as the day went on. The Celtics' final numbers looked better than their performance on the court: they ended up at 45% (compared to Miami's 51%), but they looked outquicked, and out of sorts, all day.
3) So LeBron was super-solid, but Dwyane was quiet offensively; Bosh was efficient, but Mike Bibby only made 2-10, and Mike Miller missed the second half with another injury (sprained left thumb). So someone must have picked up the slack, someone must have stepped forward and made an impact. And some-one d-id: Jo-el An-th-ony!!! 7 points and 10 boards for Jo-el, along with about a dozen strong, strong shot contests at the rim. There may have been some (even more) meaningless game in Toronto on a Wednesday night at some point when he played better, but in games of any consequence, this was his best Heat performance. It helps that this verson of Boston is much smaller than other recent versions of Boston. With Kendrick Perkins being traded out of town, and Shaquille O'Neal on the Mike Miller injury schedule, Boston is no longer big up front, and that allows Jo-el to play. He can't shove with Shaq, or Perkins, but he can affect Baby Davis, Jermaine O'Neal (more on him in a second), and Jeff Green with his length and athleticism...I'm not going to lie to you and tell you Jo-el was the best player on the court today - that would be untrue. It was LeBron. And he probably wasn't better than Wade, and, actually, Pierce shot the ball pretty effectively. But then, after those guys, yes, Jo-el was the best player on the court!
4) Oh, Jermaino! No one defended your Heat career more than this blog, even after you took multiple "vacations" each season, even if you rebounded with all the effectiveness of Jermaino Jackson, even when you didn't show up - either year - in the playoffs. And now this: with the Heat starting to pull away from Boston in the second quarter, and LeBron in transition, Jermaino came across the court to try to catch him, but instead of trying to contest his shot, he unexpectedly lowered his shoulder and delivered a full-on body check to LeBron, which one Heat fan referred to as the Celtics reverting to their "Doucheball" game. It was a bizarrely inappropriate basketball play, probably ejectable, although Jermaino only received a flagrant one, and in fairness, it barely affected LeBron, who absorbed the blow, then threw the ball at Jermaino who had gotten knocked over the baseline by the impact. Also led to a mild skirmish between Wade and Pierce, and some seriously chippy play over the next several minutes. It was quite a way to thank this blog for the way we coddled you, Jermaino...But you know what? I just can't quit you - I forgive you, Jermaino! Although, you know who is NOT going to forgive you? Our reader Snets, who essentially emailed me on Friday to say, "I hate Jermaine O'Neal," to which I replied, essentially, "Why," to which he responded, essentially, "Because he is a punk and he never showed up big here!" Wish I saved those emails - I get a lot of emails...
5) Play of the game: Well, there were several exciting dunks, including perhaps the first-ever successful alley-oop thrown by Mario Chalmers, and there were monster blocks by both Dwyane and LeBron. But, if you know this blog at all, you know by far the best play of the game came late in the fourth quarter, with the outcome no longer in doubt, when Paul Pierce, the unabashed master of the okey-doke, okey-doked Chris Bosh into the air on a shot fake, let Bosh fly by him, realized Bosh was now behind him, and turned around, jumped in to Bosh, and shot the ball towards his own basket, trying to get a foul call!!! The ball went about a foot into the air, right to Bosh, who, stunned, caught it and turned up court. In fairness, it might have been a foul, although it would have been a tough call to make because Pierce was shooting the ball in the wrong direction!!! Sometimes you think you have seen everything, but you haven't. Not even close!
6) New owner of the Detroit Pistons, Tom Gores:
Heyyy, quite a mane, fella!!! Yes, I would like to get "coffee" some time!!!
Okay, turnaround road game in Atlanta tomorrow night, so we can lose the # 2 seed right back to Boston. If you need me during the day tomorrow, I'll be having, ahhhh, coffee, with Tom Gores. C u l8ter!
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