6 Thoughts
1) "Guys, the Heat are running us out of the gym. We can't stop their transition game at all. Here's what we are going to do for this fourth quarter: sit back in a zone, dare them to shoot from outside, and then go down and stick contested triples on the other end. There is no way the Heat can combat that, especially not rookie point guard Norris Cole, playing in only his second NBA game. As Dwyane Wade and LeBron stand around and look bored, there is absolutely no way Norris Cole will step up in crunch time, make big jumper after big jumper, draw a key charge on a 2 on 1 break, and salt the game away with 14 fourth quarter points. Ready? 'Celtics' on 3: 1, 2, 3, Celtics!" ... "Uh-oh."
2) Mario Chalmers, somehow, jammed 5 steals and 6 turnovers into 19 minutes. Fortunately, four of the turnovers were on four consecutive possessions to start the third quarter. Not sure I've ever seen that before. So Coach Spo went with Cole for most of the second half, and all of crunch time. Twenty-nine minutes for the kid, 20 points on 8-16, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. Made all the big plays down the stretch while Dwyane and LeBron stood paralyzed on the perimeter in some kind of post-traumatic Finals syndrome when the Celtics went zone. I haven't checked Twitter yet, but I'm sure it is about to catch on fire with When-Is-Coach-Spo-Going-To-Start-Norris-Cole tweets. It doesn't really matter who starts - right now, two games in, it is fun to watch the kid play. Super-quick and savvy - good combination. And unfazed. Mario Chalmers? Fazed. Definitely fazed.
3) Someone asked me yesterday: Why didn't you kill Chris Bosh after his lackluster effort in the season opener against Dallas? Why? Mostly because we won by like 50 points. Tonight Bosh, continuing the latter games of the spring's playoff against Boston, took Kevin Garnett apart. 18 on 8-11 for Bosh, with 11 rebounds - kept running sharp cuts and beating Garnett to the rim. Also did a good job being mobile and showing on shooters defensively. He's never going to be a physical, aggressive defender, but he defends the pick-and-roll well because he is quick, and bright, and generally always positions himself correctly. Garnett, as per usual, spent forty percent of the game arguing with the opponent's point guards, and had a quiet 12 points and 5 rebounds.
4) O. Minutos, halfway through the third quarter: "I wonder how old Juwan Howard is?" Fifty. He's fifty. Got a layup in the second quarter when he ran down the court in transition, hid on the block behind Shane Battier, Kevin Garnett couldn't find him, and stepped in to the lane, received a pass, and finished. Veteran move!
5) Play of the game: Obviously when Norris Cole (who else?) streaked down the court at ninety miles an hour with the ball and dropped a perfect pass on a charging Chris Bosh, who caught the ball, elevated to dunk, dropped the ball out of bounds, lightly bumped into an indifferent Jermaine O'Neal, who was jogging by in the general vicinity of the play, and eighty-eight year old referee Dick Bavetta, in his thirty-seventh year in the league, the last twenty of which have been completely incompetent, blew his whistle and called a foul on O'Neal awarding Bosh two shots. It was right in front of the Celtics bench, which went absolutely mental - LeBron and Wade were running down the court dunking everything in sight to that point. All the Celtics needed was for the Heat to somehow finally screw up a fast break, especially on a play which didn't involve Mario Chalmers, and then for Dick Bavetta to somehow call a foul anyways. During the ensuing argument, Bavetta's crew chief Danny Crawford (Bavetta was finally demoted this year), looked mortified. He knew the call was brutal - it was unmissable - there was nobody near Chris Bosh! As Bosh shot the free throws, Bavetta sidled over to the Celtics bench and seemed to tell them, "Yeah, I think I missed that one." Ya think? This is what I hate about NBA refs - it's like La Cosa Nostra (whatever that is - why did I write that, I don't even know what it is - is it the Mafia?) - they can't ever admit a mistake and make the call right. If Danny Crawford knew the call was wrong, and Bavetta knew the call was wrong, why did Bosh still get two free throws? A few minutes later, Bavetta jammed up a block-charge call under the Heat hoop (again, in the Heat's favor - the only consistent thing about Dick Bavetta is that he loves the appreciative roar of the home crowd - he's always messing up the call that way!). Danny Crawford had finally had enough, he was like, "Fuck it, this is a real game, I'm changing the call." I applaud you, Danny Crawford, even if the call went against Miami.
5a) Just noticed this - Jermaino: 22 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound. I'm not even mad, that's kind of impressive. Oh, Jermaino...
6) Movie Review: Drive. Tried to watch Drive last night, at long last. Put the boys to bed, poured myself a glass of red wine, settled down on the couch...M. Minutos may have been there, too - not too sure. For twenty minutes, it was the greatest night of my life. The seedier parts of Los Angeles, all burnt orange-y with splashes of icy cool blue, and ominous, synth-y, hipster music. Ryan Gosling with a vintage, short Newman-esque haircut, with sad eyes searching for meaning in life. Thennn, the screener DVD that my friend MCM gave me got janky, and I had to turn it off after twenty minutes. Whew. Don't blue ball me, MCM and Ryan Gosling. Don't blue ball me. You think it was over when I had to turn off the janky DVD last night? It's still not over!!!
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Back tomorrow night, I think we play Charlotte. If you need me before then, I'll be squinting off in to the distance, answering questions with one syllable, and driving my Prius at ninety miles an hour down Dixie Highway. See you tomorrow!
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