1) NoooooooCooooooooo!!! LET IT FLY, FLAT-TOP HEAD!!!
2) Norris Cole was unbelievable for the second straight game. He came in early and revved up a sluggish Heat attack with 11 first half points. Then played the entire fourth quarter and made huuugggeee plays down the stretch - a shot-clock-drive-and-finish past Boozer, and a monster shot-clock triple over the defense to put the game away with a minute and a half to go. Norris made all three of his triples, 6-7 from the floor, and scored 18 points in 24 minutes. He was the best player on the court in his minutes, and it wasn't even close. That's an odd thing to write. King James was weirdly disengaged - just never got any rhythm going, but he hit a clutch shot-clock three down the stretch, then a drive-and-finish over Carlos Boozer to ice it. Seriously, Carlos Boozer? That's the one play you are going to contest (weakly)? A thundering KJ James one inch from the basket? Next time don't bother! James finished with 25 points on 6-17 and 8 boards and 7 assists. Don't know why he couldn't get it revved up until the final moments...
3) The Bulls lost their collective cool for the second straight game. Late in the first quarter, Nate Robinson went middle, Chris Anderson spiked his shot, and landed on him. It was a foul - it was a little bit "little-hitting-biggish" (KJ would not get the same call), but whatever. As Bird rolled off him, Joakim Noah came sprinting over and shoved Bird backwards to the floor, then wisely retreated as Bird scrambled to get up (but was intercepted by teammates, referees, the po-lice,and I think a few Green Berets). That's the height of studio-gangsterism - you think Jo Noah is gonna shove Chris Anderson during a pop-a-shot game at Boomer's after a few soda pops on a Friday night? I doubt it. Noah got t'd up...Then, a few minutes later, as KJ James pushed the ball up the court in transition, Bulls backup big man Nazr Mohammed ran him down from behind, karate chopped him 40 feet from the basket, and wrapped him up. Not even sure why. James spun and did fling Mohammed off him to the floor - I guess you have to call that a technical on James, which Joey Crawford did, but I'm not sure what James is supposed to do. Just take it? I guess so. Anyways, as James started to protest his technical, Mohammed stepped back towards James and shoved him in the chest, hard, sending James to the floor - it was absurd. It was unsportmanlike - I mean, for goodness sake, you instigated the whole encounter. He was, of course, ejected - and somehow seemed to think he was wronged! I'd suspend him a game, too, there's really no need for that in a basketball game. Aggressive play is cool - pushing people when they aren't looking at you - that deserves a suspension. Not that he matters in the series. In retrospect, he was probably trying to goad KJ into taking a swing and getting himself ejected - that's pretty much as low as you can sink on a basketball court - but KJ just sat on the floor calmly, as everyone on the Heat, again, rushed to get to the Birdman to prevent him from stepping in!...After the game, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, whom I love, embarrassed himself in his press conference. He accused the Heat of being over-physical, and chippy, and most ridiculously, claimed James flopped on the Mohammed push. That's a joke, and it's classless - man up, and admit when you make a mistake. Even if he did flop, what kind of defense is that? "My guy ran someone down, took a dirty foul, then, after the whistle, when the other guy wasn't looking, he shoved him hard in the chest - and that guy flopped!" Man, I did not look at it that way! The Bulls were wronged! Thibs is hard-core and I love him, but he looked like an absolute putz blaming Miami for the Bulls' lack of composure...Carlos Boozer was even sillier - claimed Mohammed was "defending himself!" Yes - it was very dangerous out there playing against KJ James - all he does is go out of his way to fight people! Haaaa! Boozer is a space shot - I love that kid! I actually do not think the Bulls are a dirty team - the Pacers are a dirty team, they are trying to hurt you. But the Bulls are having a really tough time controlling their emotions so far in this series. Meanwhile, Miami goes about its business with a (at times too) detached cool. Weird dynamic.
4) Noah wasn't even done - he lost his cool even more down the stretch. In the third quarter, he injected himself into a Chris Bosh and Mario Chalmers argument, and stood two feet away from them during a dead ball, clapping wildly and screaming "yeahhhhh!" at them. If he hadn't already received a t, he would have been rung again for that - instead, he just made himself look like a total bleep-hole. Like a bigger total bleep-hole....Then, after taking a horrific foul by gratuitously grabbing Birmanderson's arm 85 feet from the basket with 1 second to go in the third quarter, which gave Bird 2 free throws, he went on tilt in the fourth quarter. As Miami started to pull away, he committed two more back-to-back offensive rebounding fouls 90 feet from the hoop, which gave Bosh four free throws, and then, for no real reason, fouled out on purpose with 15 seconds to go when nobody else was playing, by repeatedly slapping KJ James. Horrible, over-emotional basketball. And, by the way, I love Noah, he's one of my favorite players - but he definitely needs to grow up a little. I mean, he's 28 years old, not 9...Immature in this series, he looks stupid. Bosh played great, he scored 20 points, and outrebounded Noah and Boozer combined, 19-15! Nice to see you jump again, Chris Bosh! I totally remembered that from the playoffs last year!
5) (Shhh, Dwyane Wade was absolutely pitiful. He couldn't guard anyone and he kept throwing bizarre passes to the other team. His knee has to be hurt, very hurt - he's borderline unplayable right now...Shhhhhh...)
6) The Jesus Car! In the parking lot at my Publix grocery store! Yeahhhh, the Jesus Car!!!
Which way am I going? Great question, Jesus Car, I'm wearing my Mario Chalmers shirt and it's 2-0, so I guess I'm going straight up! MARIO CHALMERS SHIRT POWER!!! By the way, are those the flames of Hell licking at the bottom of the car? That's going to be awful for the undercarriage, I don't think even the MVP service at the Motor City Car Wash on Hypoluxo is going to be able to get all the soot off...
-----
Yo, Dr. Jack, come on, dude. Fight this off. Everybody loves you so much! All this we are doing now? You are part of it!...Next game is Monday in Chicago again, ahhhh, weekend off! If you need me before then, I'll be drag-racing against the Jesus Car in my Chalmersmobile!!! Also, I'm going to go back to the Publix around the corner, and push one of the bag boys to the ground when he isn't looking! See you, Monday!
-----
