1) Tough loss. Besides King James James (Hubiesm), no one on Miami could make a shot all night long - not a triple, not a layup, not a free throw. Then, just when James willed them into the game, and Chris Bosh hit a huge triple (someone made a shot!) to give Miami a little cushion, Dwyane Wade made four horrific decisions down the stretch, and the Heat unraveled to the point where the game ended with mindless back-to-back James turnovers. The bright side? Time to wash the Mario Chalmers Shirt! Let's get through it...
2) When Bosh hit a three from the left wing to give Miami a 4 point lead with 6 minutes to go, it looked like King James had held the fort jussttt long enough for the cavalry to arrive. But wide open triple misses by Bosh and Ray Allen sandwiched a Lance Stephenson three pointer (2 great shooters miss, 1 bad shooter makes - ugh), and then Dwyane Wade put it on tilt. On an offensive rebound, instead of catching it he tried to bat it back out towards the perimeter, and it got intercepted. Then he came down in transition with numbers, had a free run at Hibbert, stopped on the block, didn't find any of the shooters spotting up, then panicked and threw the ball away again. Then came pushing down the middle with the ball on a 3 on 2 break with James sprinting the right wing, but instead of giving it to him, he slowed the pace, and fed Chalmers for an open three from the wing, which did not go in. It was a good shot, but a James dunk probably would have been the higher percentage play. Finally, in a tie game with a minute to go, he waved everybody, including James, off, and took a bizarre run-floater over a strong contest that missed badly. Such damaging decisions, all of them. Physical mistakes? Okay. Mental mistakes? Tough to live with. Dwyane finished with 14 points on 6-14 with 6 rebounds and 5 assists. He's obviously limited physically, just as he was in the playoffs last year. That's fine, Miami can live with that. Gotta play smarter, though.
3) KJ James was unbelievably good (36 points on 20 shots). You could write 6 paragraphs listing all the plays he made - what did you like better, when he tomahawked Roy Hibbert's layup, or when he took a crucial bump-and-finish over Paul George? When he drove left then twisted and threw a 28 foot bullet one-handed back across his body for a Mike Mil-lar three, or when he made the 30 footer to end the third quarter? That's why the last two turnovers were so disheartening. He's going to feel terrible. The first one, a set play for a Ray Allen three was fluky, David West just blindly threw his arms into the air and the ball randomly hit them - that ball misses his arm, and its a terrible play by West, who should have been closing out to Allen. The second one was a rare bad decision by KJ - had Bosh open in the short corner for a three, just didn't pitch it to him, and got stuck with the ball. But realistically, KJ was the only Heat player who really played well. The shooters are brutal right now. Shane Battier was 0-3, and Coach Spo finally yanked him after 14 minutes when Battier lost confidence and stopped shooting open shots. He can't do that - for their offense to work, he must shoot open shots. Ray Allen was 2-5, but missed both his threes and 2 technical free throws. He's playing terrible right now, he's not even close on his jumpers. He and Battier look old - they need to liven it up a little. Bosh made the big three pointer, but only 6-14 overall. Emcee Chalmers and Norris Cole were a combined 3-12. It got so bad that Coach Spo finally inserted Mike Miller late in the second quarter, who instantly made that KJ-assisted corner triple at the buzzer, only to apparently break a rib while doing so, and never came back in. Good grief. Last year Miami won the title when James dominated play, and the shooters - Bosh, Battier, Chalmers, Miller - made shots, and an injured Dwyane Wade did a little bit of everything. In this series James is dominating, but isn't getting any help. That ball needs to go in.
4) Cheap shots. There were two huge ones, one by each team, both by the guy on his squad most likely to get nasty: David West, who knocked Mario Chalmers out of Game 1 with a cheap shot illegal screen, sought Chalmers out again away from the ball where the officials wouldn't be looking, and hammered Emcee in the shoulder again with an intentional elbow. That's what I don't like about West - he's not "being physical," he's trying to injure people out there. That really shouldn't be part of basketball. West is the dirtiest player in the league unless you count Ron Artest, which I do not, because in my mind, Artest's behavior is so aberrant he shouldn't be allowed in the NBA at all. West's not far behind. He's not going to get suspended, but I am sure he will get fined. He's not going to stop doing it until the league sits him for a while, though...But, to be fair, Dwyane Wade has always had more than a bit of nasty in him as well, and during his fourth quarter mental meltdown, after one of his turnovers he sprinted back down the court, saw Lance Stephenson in his way, jumped into the air like 1980s vintage Cobra Kai, and belted Stephenson in the ear with a flying elbow. It appeared to be insane, it seemed clearly intentional. I don't see how the league doesn't suspend him for Game 3, frankly. Miami is playing the dirtiest team in the NBA, without question. I don't think that even the Pacers would deny that. But it doesn't give Miami the right to sink to that level. And if you are going to do it, Dwyane, do it to David West, cuz he's asking for it.
5) Speaking of cheap shots, in Game 1, Shane Battier drove to the basket, Roy Hibbert met him at the rim, and as they began to collide, Battier lifted his leg and, well, I guess he pretty much karate-kicked Hibbert in the privates, just as Hibbert smashed down on Battier's head with his arms. They called a foul on Battier, which seemed like the right call - Hibbert could make a pretty credible case that when he got woofed in the groin, it caused him to keel over into Battier. Fair enough. Then Hibbert spent the last two days whining about the play on Twitter, which was funny, that's pretty much the best part of Twitter, when guys wig out on it. Maybe Battier did it on purpose; maybe he didn't. I don't know. What I do know? Hibbert's nuts are the only thing Battier has hit all playoffs!
6)
Umm, you know what? I think I'm gonna pass on the Kia Rondo. I found the steering irritable, and the brakes unpredictable. It was fairly decent for short drives, but on anything longer, I often found myself gyroscoping way, way off target. Also, the floors were littered with dirty fingernail clippings. I'm going to hang on to my Nissan Chalmers for now. True, the navigation system is shot, so I often get lost, and I spend a lot of time politely bumping into things, but in tight spots, like high speed highway merging, it usually comes through and, as a bonus, the interior smells like a giant turkey leg.
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Again, last year, we were in this same spot, and we lost Game 3 in Indiana. Listen, there's not much to it. A couple of the Heat's shooters are going to start knocking down some shots to support KJ and the Heat are going to win the series; or, they won't, and they won't. Game 3 is Sunday in Indiannapolis. If you need me before then, I'll be out four-wheeling in my new Chevy Ibaka. Have a great start to your long weekend!
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