1) Listen - I've taken a lot of credit for Miami's playoff run this season, and maybe some of it was unwarranted. So let's give some of the credit for this win where it belongs--to my friend Thor!!! Attending his first basketball game in America, or as he likes to call it, "Enemy Territory!" The Australian Reverse-Jinx is in FULL EFFECT!!! More on this down in #4. As for the game itself, well, it probably wasn't quite as exciting as Thor's reverse-jinx. Both teams got off to a grinding start, LeBron James and Mario Chalmers (!) made just enough jump shots to keep Miami in it for three quarters, and Miami pulled away for a fairly comfortable win down the stretch powered by a still-apparently-slowed Dwyane Wade, who managed to emerge from a seven-straight half slumber to pour in 15 in the second half, make several defensive plays, and grab a bunch of rebounds. Game One had to be got - it got got. Let's Go!!!
2) Sometimes, in the playoffs, when the defense is tough, and easy opportunities are difficult to come by, it just comes down to this: When you really, really need it, can you make enough plays over the top? Just create a little space, jump up, under duress, shot clock down, and drill a jump shot? LeBron and Wade are not the best pure shooters in basketball. But both of them can make plays over the top. LeBron made his first four triples to keep Miami hanging around when the offense was struggling, including a ridiculous, fall away three with a defender all over him at the third quarter buzzer to put Miami up 4. He finished 9-15 for 24 points, many of them jumpers, with 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Wade finished 9-19 for 22, and made the two biggest shots of the game: a pull up jumper over Jason Kidd with 4 minutes to go to put Miami up 7 - their biggest lead to that point - then a block on Shawn Marion and a triple up over the top of Kidd again with 3 minutes to go to push the lead to 9, effectively ending it. Dallas jammed the paint all night, and has big, physical defenders. But to contain LeBron and Wade, eventually a defender has to give ground, and give up jumpers - Miami made enough of those tonight to win.
3) UD: struggled early in the game with his shot - he still has no legs after six months off - but fought back to make two second half jumpers of his own, and a sneaky pretend-I'm-running-a-baseline-cut-then-pop-back-in-front-of-Dirk-Nowitzki-to-receive-a-pass-and-finish-a-layup-and-three-point-play in the fourth quarter. You can't say he "slowed" Dirk - he still finished with 27 points, but UD battled him for 30 minutes, his longest stretch since coming back from injury. Man, I never thought UD was coming back this season - I can't believe we are back in the Finals and UD is playing...nothing warms my heart more! Love that boy!
4) Okay, so Thor called me late in the day to tell me he had been invited to the game. Super-exciting! He wanted tips on how he should behave. The building was loud, so I don't know if he remembered to scream "Yabba-Dabba-Do" on LeBron's late dunk, as I advised him to. With about 20 seconds left in the game, and Dwyane Wade dribbling the clock out, something flew out of the crowd on to the court in celebration of the victory - OH, NO - I FORGOT TO TELL THOR NOT TO THROW SOMETHING ON TO THE COURT IN CELEBRATION OF THE VICTORY WHILE THE GAME IS STILL GOING ON AND DWYANE WADE IS DRIBBLING OUT THE CLOCK!!! I HOPE HE DIDN'T GET ARRESTED - HE DIDN'T KNOW - HE IS NOT FROM HERE!!!!!!
5) Look, it's cool to make special gear for The Finals. But when someone at the NBA store came up with the idea for this t-shirt, I might have given it a little more consideration before I printed it. Holy LeDirk! Goodness gracious, DiBron!
6) TV Review: Campus PD. Stumbled across this program by accident last night while chilling out with M.Minutos. Basically, campus po-licemen drive around hassling poor college kids who are just trying to have a good time. I HATED THIS SHOW! As one 18 year old freshman hosting a busted-up party complains to the police, "What's the big deal - this is college; this is what you are supposed to do." Exactly--I couldn't agree more. And there was absolutely no need for the po-lice to comment, as dude after dude filed out of the party: "What a sausage hang..." I don't know what exactly is funny, or entertaining, about bothering good, fun-loving, young Americans - if I were the FCC, or whoever controls tv, I would ban this show, and file criminal charges against the producers. Also, I didn't appreciate that, when I texted Plumber to alert him of this atrocity, he immediately asked if there were any scenes in which an out-of-control old jalopy thundered across campus (not on the roads - the actual campus, you know, the grass and stuff) late one night during Senior Week with the po-lice in hot pursuit. A couple of things: one, it wasn't just me in the car, it was also our other roommate AJ, and two girls; two, I wasn't driving, AJ was; three, yes, it was bad decision-making, but in our defense, we were super-drunk, so cut us some slack...Kids don't try this at home; also, never watch Campus PD, unless you want to have a serious case of the night terrors.
Game Two will be Thursday night, again in Miami. If you need me before then, I be will out having a car wash, a lemonade stand, and selling candy bars door-to-door, trying to raise money to send Thor to Game Two! By the way, today is M.Minutos' birthday! I love her, and she is still as lovely as a spring flower, although living with me for another year can't have helped...See you Thursday!
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