6 Thoughts
1) White Out in Miami! That's how we get down! White Out! It was a White Out, and it was over fast!!! Welcome to M.Minutos' life! White Out!!!
2) This game was over when LeBron James decided to come to Miami over the summer, because he took Andre Iguodala, the Sixers best player, a-part. 29 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists with 0 turnovers for LeBron; 5 points on 2-8 with 5 turnovers for Iguodala. Although, to be fair, it still doesn't seem like LeBron is really "one of us." He still feels like a bit of an interloper, and we're all just waiting for him to go back where he belongs, to Cleveland. Someone - can't remember who - made the point last week: he'll feel like one of us when we go through some "moments" together. You have to suffer together, have to bleed together - that's when the bond gets formed...Until then, we're left to pick apart whether LeBron is or is not raising his headband higher and higher on his head to cover his receding hairline, a trend that M.Minutos has been tracking closely all season. She says she is, and I think she has finally talked me into it. She also has noticed that LeBron has a new playoff mouthpiece, emblazoned with his "6" on it...M.Minutos, very in tune with all things LeBron - maybe she has lived through one or two too many White Outs in her day, and she is starting to look around a little. And by "lived through one or two too many White Outs," I mean, of course, that "she enjoyed herself immensely and completely..."
3) Look, first there was Tilt Jermaino. That was Jermaine O'Neal's alter-ego, a high-energy, shot-blocking menace, who only emerged on the periodic occasions where Jermaino would take a whack or two to the face, usually from Dwight Howard. Now we have a new character: Playoff James Jones, or as M.Minutos calls him, P.J.J!!! Followed up his unusually active Game One with an even more unusually active Game Two. He came off a curl, caught the ball on the move and made a jumper! He went right off the dribble and made a step-back 18 footer with the shot clock expiring! He went middle, collapsed the defense, spit it to the wing, stepped back out beyond the arc up top, received a pass back against an over-rotated defense and dropped a triple! He grabbed 3 rebounds! He blocked a shot, a clear out against Iguodala which he slapped out of the air!!! Just think: it took Mike Miller breaking both his thumbs to unleash Playoff James Jones! Who even knew he existed?
4) A Tale of Two Announcers: When Joel Anthony stepped to the line in the second quarter, for the second straight game, the fans delighted in starting up an "M.V.P!" chant for him. As much crud as Miami fans take - most of it fair and deserved - this is creative, funny, and oddly supportive. Joel plays hard, and seems like a super guy, and something always - always - is going to happen when he is in the game. The chant is a joke - but it is a joke that Joel is in on, which makes it okay...unnnnless you are Heat play-by-play announcer Eric Reid. When Joel again stepped to the line later, with game having been decided (seemingly) hours earlier, the crowd broke out the chant again. Tony Fiorentino pointed it out, and Eric - in a game Joel played well in - in a playoff game that Miami ended halfway through the second quarter - grouched "I'm not sure I follow that." He was derisive! My heavens! Does everything always have to make sense in a literal manner? Can't we have some fun, too? Jeez...On the other hand, you know who is always fun? Heat sideline reporter-sidekick Johanna Gomez, who is spirited, delightful, informative, and always on top of her game, as I pointed out to M.Minutos throughout the season, and again tonight. "You didn't even hear what she said..." "She was talking?" Johanna Gomez - do you like White Outs? Because I- ahhh, never mind...
5) Well, it's that time of the blog when we criticize Elton Brand. For the second straight game he got destroyed by Chris Bosh - and that's saying something. That's 21 points on 9-13 with 11 rebounds for Chris (and 3 steals - most of them when Andre Iguodala threw the ball directly to him just to get it out of his hands before LeBron took it away from him); annnnnd, 3 points on 1-5 from Elton, along with 7 rebounds that he managed to grab when he was able to push enough guys over the baseline that he was the only player left in the paint. He, again, took several absurd fouls, two on Wade, one when he turned his back on Dwyane and tried to bump him over the sideline, except they were about 15 feet from the sideline so he had to keep riding him for like 4 seconds (after the whistle had blown); and another when Dwyane blew by him at the top of the key, and started to elevate, whereupon Brand just grabbed his arm and spun him completely around. It would be hard to call either of those "a basketball play." My new working theory is that he must be a super-nice and gracious guy both on and off the court, because he does a minimum of four things a night which, if done by anyone else in basketball, would generally start a bench-clearing brawl. He's super-dirty; but he's polite, and super-dirty!
6) Often at this time of year, people will be like, "So, what is Passover again?" And, being half-Jewish, I will usually try to answer. I know it has something to do with when someone painted blood '"x's" on somebody's door - one of the two groups almost assuredly were Jews - and then God would "pass over" those doors, or, maybe, the doors that didn't have "x's" painted on them. Also, not certain that the "x's" were painted in blood. And, also, not at all sure what they were getting passed over for, whether it was good or bad, but it was probably very significant one way or the other. This year, I'm just going to admit it: I have no idea what the holiday is. I do know that I like a peanut butter and jelly on matzoh sandwich, and that I long considered this a "healthy" meal, until my mom pointed out a couple of years ago that it is really not very healthy at all. Then again: she's not Jewish! I also know that when I would go to my Jewish grandparents' house for this holiday, all the kids would try to find a hidden piece of matzoh for a cash prize, and that on at least two occasions, I blatantly cheated. Listen, I'm no Alan Dershowitz-SuperJew , but I have my own little heritage going on...
Well, we're off until Thursday, when Miami plays in Philly for Game 3. Pat Riley often says that a playoff series doesn't truly start until the road team wins a game - let's hope we get one up there...Until then, if you need me - I'll be at home: WHITE OUT!!!
-----
