6 Thoughts
1) Welcome to late Sunday night, aka, "The End of the Best Weekend in the Minutos Household in the Last Half Dozen Years." On Saturday morning, our Under 10 soccer team scored our first goal seemingly since the Bush administration - O.Minutos scored it to tie the game at 1 midway through the second half. Yes, we lost on a disputed PK in the waning moments, but for a team that scores as easily as Joel Anthony, the goal itself was reward enough. The Minutos men spent Saturday evening at the beach having a picnic and swimming in the ocean as the sun set - nothing like that to make you feel good. Late Saturday night, I saw, easily, the greatest movie of all-time. More on that down in #6. Sunday morning brought the annual O. and P. Minutos birthday gala at Big Park. Then Sunday afternoon saw O.Minutos make two free throws with five seconds to go to clinch a championship for his basketball team. He was the best player on the best team this year - a dad told me after the game that O.Minutos is his favorite basketball player. Not in this league. Ever! Okay - there's one dad who is taking it a little too seriously! Finally, the Heat capped the weekend with a wire-to-wire solid performance to beat Chicago for the second straight game and edge ahead in the series. Unlikely heroes in this one for both teams. Let Us Go!
2) You could make the case that the three best perimeter players in the league are in this series in Wade, LeBron, and Derrick Rose. So who were the dominant players in Game 3? Of course: Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer! Chris Bosh - it was just one of those nights. After fumbling the ball and missing a couple of shots early, he got it going. All of it. Jumper from the elbow. Okey dokes for free throws. Drives and finishes. Drives, spin moves, and slam dunk finishes. Drive, look away to the wing to pass, get caught up in the air, and throw in a 9 foot running scoop shot! 34 for Chris on 13-18. Don't look now, but he's got 74 points in three games in this series. Also, blocked a shot, had two to four girlish roars to the crowd, and for good measure defensively okey doked Joakim Noah into shooting the ball clear over the backboard from 3 feet away when Noah drove, and turned his body to the rim, expecting Bosh to come contest the play and foul him - because, you know, that's often what big guys do! Unfortunately for Noah, Chris was utilizing his "Statue Defense," where he contests plays around the rim by raising both arms straight into the air, closing his eyes, and not breathing until he hears a whistle. Noah got hung in the air, backwards, and just hurled the ball into the crowd...For his part, Carlos Boozer matched Bosh basket-for-basket for three and a half quarters, making midrange jumpers, and bludgeoning his way to the rim. 26 points and 17 rebounds for Booze! I recommend that both the Bosh and the Boozer families mark this game "Save Until I Delete" on their dvrs - I wouldn't expect this to happen too often.
3) LeBron was great. He was aggressive offensively, but in a way that created shots for others. He found gaps in the defense, drove authoritatively, drew defenders, and found the open shooters. By any measure, Chicago is the best defense in the NBA right now: tonight Miami shot 34-67, 50.7% from the floor, largely because LeBron made plays all night. Sometimes LeBron can be passive and still score a quiet 28. But tonight scored a loud 22 points, and added 10 impactful assists. His steal-and-runout, bulldozing-layup over Kyle Korver, and the foul, with five minutes to go, pretty much ended the game. LeBron has had flashier nights in a Heat uniform; but tonight he was deep.
4) How hard did Miami play? Midway through the fourth quarter, Dwyane Wade slid over in front of a Derrick Rose drive and, intentionally, drew an offensive foul. That's about three charges drawn in eight years for Dwyane. When Dwyane tries to draw charges, you know shit is getting serious...
5) Lot of guys in this series who are master arguers. Dwyane Wade, of course, argues that he got fouled every single time he goes to the basket whether he scores or not, as well as on thirty percent of the possessions when he never goes the basket at all. Also, ten percent of possessions when he isn't even in the game. He's probably arguing about a call he feels he didn't get right now, and the game's been over for an hour and a half, and the Heat won! Bulls star Derrick Rose, similarly, contests every single call that does not go his way all night long. He is less verbal than Dwyane when he thinks he got fouled on a drive - Dwyane loves to talk to the refs about it - Rose just stares the ref down, waits till he makes eye contact, then shakes his head disgustedly. Carlos Boozer loves to argue. Mario Chalmers' arguing is so bizarre that it isn't really offensive - he'll gyroscope around the court on a defensive possession, and end it by slamming into a guy releasing a 22 foot jumper, sending them both sprawling into the crowd, then get up and plead with the ref. But the king of the bizarre argument, at least in this series, is Bulls guard Kyle Korver. First of all, okay, he's at a defensive disadvantage athletically. He does not have quick feet, and has trouble staying in front of people off the dribble. Thus, generally, when someone starts to drive on him - and guys look to drive on him - he reacts by placing a forearm on the guy's hip, and shoving him. This gets called a foul approximately every time he does it, from what I can tell. Yet, somehow, in the face of an overwhelming sample size of data showing that every time he does that, the whistle blows and the ref calls a foul on him - he never, ever, thinks it is a foul. To be fair, he's not overly aggressive about the arguing, it's generally a mild protest in which he demonstrates sliding his feet with his hands in the air in a pantomime of what he should have done, but the consistency of his inability to recognize when he has fouled is impressive. It isn't annoying, I don't mind him doing it - I'm pro-Kyle Korver, in general. Actually, I enjoy when he does it! Gives me something to look forward to...
6) Okay, Saturday night, late (for me - 11pm!), went out to see Fast and Furious Five. Obviously, it's the best movie I've seen this year, or any year. Why? Because Vin Diesel is funnier than ever; The Rock is so jacked up, he looks like the one guy who maybe even has a slight chance to bring Vin Diesel to justice; and Paul Walker and, I suppose, Jordana Brewster, have never been sexier. There's not too much about this movie I can say that hasn't already been said - if you haven't seen it, you're a 'tard, because it is the best movie of all-time. But you know what isn't the best movie of all-time? Thor. I have a friend whose actual name is Thor. He is supercool; he is a genuinely decent person; he's from a foreign land; he loves good music and is one half of the "Old Guys at the Cool Concert" clique; he is spontaneous; and he loves Thai stick, and long walks on the beach. This Thor character in the movie seems like an overconfident putz, frankly. Hey, dude with the flowing blond locks: nobody knows who you are! What are you? You're not like Superman, or Aquaman - guys with definitive identities. Nobody cares, dude. You think you are cool because you have flowing blond locks? Really? You don't think Paul Walker could grow flowing blond locks if he wanted to? Believe me, he could. He just doesn't need to, because he's way sexier than you will ever be. Step off, dude. I'm sticking with the original Thor, who, by the way, could also grow flowing blond locks if he needed to (aside to Thor - I probably wouldn't try that, though)...
After a month between Game 2 and Game 3, we are switching to an every other day schedule starting Tuesday until this series is decided one way or another. Until then, if you need me, I'll be out running quarter miles in my Prius. I usually like to run out on 441, between Lantana and 10th Avenue, so if you're looking for a race, meet me there. You have to agree not to exceed the speed limit, though - I can't afford any more points my license...See you Tuesday!
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