6 Thoughts
1) I spent all weekend feeling like Miami was out of the series after the brutal Game 2 gack-up - I'm not saying that it made any sense; that's how I felt. If I was a player, I would have quit sometime around Saturday afternoon, because I would have assumed we were going to get blown out. Never forget - I have no heart. Instead, the Heat showed up in Dallas, controlled play most of the night, endured a parade of free throws - even in the last 3 minutes - for Dallas all night long, and survived a last second fallaway jumper try from Dirk Nowitzki. Miami rarely wins games when they get outshot at the line 27-15 - getting to the line is Miami's whole raison d'etre - and they were frustrated at the officiating all night long...Unbelievable gut check win - Miami is back in the fight. Let's Go!
2) Dwyane Wade was just ridiculous from start to finish. His numbers - 29 points and 11 rebounds - were great, but just as good was a defensive play with 30 seconds to go and Miami up a deuce. Nowitzki had the ball around the free throw line and started to spin to shoot his fallaway. Dwyane, anticipating the move, came sprinting off Shawn Marion on the wing, and elevated to block the shot, causing Nowitzki to pull the ball down and try to fling out late to the wing to Marion, who had vacated the spot. Ball out of bounds to Miami. Huge, genius, instinctive defensive play to create a turnover in a one possession game with 30 seconds to go. He seized control of this game early, and was the best player on both ends of the floor again.
3) Chris Bosh was weak again most of the night - only 3 rebounds - but he had two huge buckets down the stretch, including a 20 foot baseline jumper with under a minute to go (off a ridiculously sharp pass by LeBron) to give Miami its last lead. In fairness to Chris, a first quarter eye gouge by Jason Kidd left him laying on the floor for a good two minutes (with somehow - incredibly - unbelievably - no foul called), and he returned with his eye swollen half-shut all night. Half an hour after the game, after a shower, and dressing, his eye was still looking bad, and tearing up. "You're still having a big problem with that eye - it still hurts, doesn't it?" sympathized interviewer Hannah Storm. "Yes," said Chris. Okay, good interview! Again - there was no foul called! On the other hand, somehow, you have to believe that almost anyone else wouldn't have swelled up as badly...
4) Point guards! First, from the "I thought I told you that we won't stop" category: Emcee Chalmers! For the second game in a row, he was huge, making 4-6 triples, including a running 40 footer at the first quarter buzzer to put Miami up 7. Miami had the ball side out of bounds, deep in its own corner, with about 4 seconds to go, up 4. Dallas came up to press, and I told M.Minutos: "We should just eat it - LeBron is terrible at these halfcourt shots anyways. Just catch it and don't turn it over in our own end." "No, no," protested M.Minutos, "Chalmers is in - he's a good trick shot guy." Miami inbounded the ball to Udonis Haslem, who took two tentative dribbles over halfcourt, flipped an awkward looking pass back to a flying Chalmers, who caught it, maybe in the backcourt, maybe travelled, then drilled a running one hander. "I told you!' thundered M.Minutos, "You know he spends all his time practicing things like that!" Second, from the "Play of the Game" category: Mike Bibby. On the very first possession of the game, wily and physical Dallas point guard Jason Kidd, who is two inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than Bibbs, tried to post up hard on the left block. Kidd elevated for a little leaner, and Bibbs went up and politely, but sternly, slapped the ball out of the air for (another) blocked shot. Lesson? HOW DARE YOU TRY TO POST UP MIKE BIBBY ON THE GAME'S FIRST PLAY! I LOVE AND RESPECT YOU, JASON KIDD, BUT YOU GOT WHAT YOU DESERVED!
5) Why I Hate Replay, example # 655: Late in the second quarter, Jason Kidd, who had apparently learned his lesson about trying to post up Mike Bibby, went out to the perimeter to try his luck. As he caught the ball wide open in space behind the three point line, he saw Dwyane Wade closing on him hard. Kidd stepped in to the shot with a little bunny hop, upfaked Wade into the air, then took about three more steps to make sure Wade would crash into him as he jumped to shoot. It was a blatant travel - on the other hand, about 70 percent of three pointers follow some kind of travel, and it's a tough play to call full speed, so I'm fine with giving him a couple of free throws (he had stepped on the line during the travel). Except, the referees decided to go look at the replay to see whether Kidd had stepped on the line or not, to see whether he should receive two or three free throws. First problem: back in the day, a referee might just watch the guy's feet to see where they were, and then make the correct call. It couldn't have been any more clear that Kidd had stepped on the line, even live-speed. Second problem: now the referees are going to huddle around the replay monitor, watch Jason Kidd take four steps before shooting the ball, and then pretend that it didn't happen! I mean, the purpose of replay, I think, is to "get the call right." But on this play, and on many plays, we still don't end up with the correct call! So what is the point of stopping the game for 6 minutes - Finals games are already four and a half hours long with the extended timeouts and halftime. Jeff Van Gundy, on ABC's broadcast, made the exact same point as I made it to M.Minutos. Either let the referees make the actual correct call after watching the replay, or just don't have it. Humans lived on earth for, at least, dozens of years before replay was invented... I don't understand how a replay system this badly flawed is even defensible.
6) TV Review: "River Monsters." Great, great show! Rahm Emmanuel, feigning some kind of Irish or English or Australian accent (if they are, indeed, different, as Thor claims), travels around the world fishing in remote rivers to try to catch giant, killer fishes. Beautiful cinematography, awesome native dugout canoes, and bizarre cheesy re-creations of killer fishes attacking the indigenous people. Tonight, in Papua New Guinea, he was chasing a cousin of the piranha, named the pacu, WHO HAD BIT THE GENATALIA OFF OF A NATIVE GUY WHO LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE LEBRON JAMES' PAPUA NEW GUNINNEISH UNCLE! HOLY MOLY! Emmanuel claimed that he was in a remote, mostly untouched part of Papua New Guinea, but one of the first old dudes in the village they talked to spoke good English and was wearing an Imax ballcap. Probably not a lot of eyeglasses out there, so they need those big screens to be able to see what the hell the movie is about. Best of all, in every episode, including tonight, Emmanuel finally catches the big, killer fish - and then releases it back into the river so that it can continue to terrorize the native people! LOOK OUT LEBRON'S UNCLE! Anyways, obviously this is a show that is great for the whole family, although P.Minutos is certainly going to have nightmares about killer fish now. Still, it's a clear 9.5 out of 10, only because it isn't quite as good as "Deadliest Catch."
We're back Tuesday night for the second of three from Dallas. If you need me before then, I'll be out fishing in the canal behind our street, but wearing goggles to protect the detached retina Jason Kidd gave me. See you Tuesday!
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