6 Thoughts
1) When you win the first two games of a playoff series at home, then go on the road to the other team's building, that's a gut check. You're going to get everything the other team has, the crowd is going to be jacked up, the refs are going to get excited, your own role players seem to shrink in big moments - can you stay the course for 48 minutes and win, and do you let it go? Tonight, Miami got all of that: a quick 9-0 jump out from Philly; a crowd going bananas; refs who allowed the Sixers to zone up and get physical on drivers; and a weak game from the Bibby/Chalmers backcourt combo. Good heavens - they even got a 9-15, 21 point 11 rebound night from Elton Brand's cadaver! But they hung in, and hung in, and hung in, and down the stretch it was too much Dwyane, and too much LeBron, and the Heat eased away to win somewhat comfortably in the last three minutes. Have a nice drive home, grouchy Philly people! Rocky is a loser!
2) At times during the regular season, the Big Three sometimes appeared a little "too cool for school." Sometimes a little disinterested in getting on the floor for loose balls, or defending hard every possession, or running the offensive sets all the way to the end. That they won 58 games is a testament to how good they are - they certainly didn't kill themselves. But there is none of that right now. LeBron, the main offender during the regular season, promised on the eve of the playoffs that he had another level: "You'll see," he said. He wasn't lying: 24 points and 15 rebounds tonight, with 10 free throws on charges to the basket. His main cover, Andre Iguodala had his third straight tough shooting night: 3-10. He also shifted to the 4 at times, and helped plant a 1-8 on Thaddeus Young. Made one huge layup down the stretch on, of all things, an off the ball hard cut and a delivery from Dwyane. He was big, he was physical, he played 44 hard minutes. Dwyane added 10 rebounds himself, to go with 32 points and 8 assists - he played hard, and was brilliant. Even Chris Bosh, who has often let slow starts take him completely out of games, started 1-7, but fought back to hit 7 of his last 12, including two huge baskets at the beginning of the fourth quarter to finally put Miami ahead for good, one of them an extra-effort, third-try tip in, in traffic, while being assaulted by Elton Brand. We can say for sure now: they had at least one more level of effort saved - we'll see if there's any more as the competition gets tougher.
3) Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 8 offensive rebounds, tying a Miami Heat playoff record. A good six of them were his own tips that he missed, and tipped the ball again, but it's still a record. Thirty years from now, some kid is going to be watching Sunsports, see LeBron James Jr. break Z's three decade-old playoff offensive rebounding record, and think to himself: "What an athlete that guy must have been! Zydrunas? Black guy, right?"
4) Coach Spo loves to stay the course. When Miami got down 9-0 early, he didn't change the rotation. When Bosh struggled mightily, he didn't reduce his playing time. Miami crawled back to down 2 by half, then scored the first 6 of the second half to go up 4, prompting an instant timeout from ultra-panicky Sixers coach Doug Collins. Except his timeout worked: the Sixers reeled off the next 12 to go back up 8, frustrating someone in Casa Dos, who may or may not have screamed, "Damn, Spo, this is the playoffs, you're allowed to use your timeouts to stop runs!" It wasn't M.Minutos, by the way...To get down 9-0, struggle all the way back, go up 4, then instantly be back down 8, felt like bad news. But you know what Spo did? Nothing. He stayed the course; it's a process!!! He stuck with his guys, didn't change his rotation, and was rewarded when Bosh scored the aforementioned huge hoops, and down the stretch, when Dwyane Wade, after getting most of his normal late third/early fourth quarter rest, was as fresh as a daisy and...
5) ...took the game over, including the game's biggest and best play, a monster one-handed tip slam off a missed LeBron jumper that pushed Miami's lead to 8 with 3:20 to go!!! Six offensive rebounds for Dwyane - that one was the loudest. He's won a lot of different playoff games in a lot of different ways: this might the first one he's won with a monster one-handed tip slam! Put it in the scrapbook!
6) Yo, what's the best opening to a television show ever? It's not close, and here it is:
Six Million Dollar Man - Intro (Opening Theme) by STARDUST72
When I was a little kid, this was the most exciting minute and twenty-five seconds of my life every time. "I can't hold altitude! I can't hold it, I can't hold it - she's breaking up!" The show itself sucked - I knew that even as a kid. But the opening still gives me chills, boy. I've watched it sixty-five times in the last two weeks after unsuccessfully trying to interest O. and P. Minutos in it. When I was in second grade at Lloyd H. Bugbee Elementary School in the rough neighborhood of West Hartford, Connecticut, this nerdy kid named Eric Levine steadfastly maintained that he, too, was bionic. Then someone at lunch would always be, like, "Prove it: break this table." Then he'd be, like, "I'm not allowed to show my powers." Then someone would shove him to the cafeteria floor, and be, like, "See - you're not bionic," but he wouldn't give it up, he'd just be like, "I could kill you if I wanted to, but I'm not allowed to use my powers in that way." Then someone else would drop pudding on him, and we'd all laugh, and laugh. We knew that motherfucker wasn't bionic! Then a whole bunch of us would get sent to the principal's office, then they'd call our moms, and then our moms would come pick us up in their Volvo station wagons. I imagine the principal figured our moms would punish us, but they didn't - it was a small town, everyone knew that kid was a putz...
Game 4 is Sunday. That's a big day because not only is it the day that our Lord the Savior Christ rose from his grave (I got that right, didn't I?), but it is also my birthday. Almost positive that this is the first time this has ever happened, and it's long overdue. I'm not Jesus - I'm not even bionic - but I do alright for myself. If you need me before then I'll be making O. and P. Minutos watch the opening to Fantasy Island on youtube over and over - something from the 70s will eventually stick..
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