6 Thoughts
1) What the hell was that? I mean, really, what the hell was that? That was like a wrestling match. The Bucks are limited offensively, I know they have to try to win the games on the defensive end, but that seemed kind of beyond what one would normally expect in a basketball game. There was clutching. There was grabbing. There was clutching AND grabbing. There was elbowing, there was arguing, there was pushing. I mean, that was incredibly, incredibly annoying. The Bucks won - it's good for them, it will be the best win they get all season, I assume - but I think, honestly, we are all losers for having to sit through that. How bad was it?
2) It was so bad that even Mario Chalmers lost his cool. We've seen a lot of wacky things from Emcee over the years, and tonight was not one of his better nights - somehow he kept ending up with the ball late in the shot clock, and made poor decision after poor decision. But one thing you can say about him is that he always keeps a level head - or, at least, whatever passes for level in his cranium. I'm not totally sure what's going on up there. Tonight, late, with the game having pretty much slipped away, Emcee, twice got thrown to the ground in scrums without a foul being called. The second one, a look-away cheap shot by Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings, sent Emcee over the edge. He jumped up off the floor, chased Jennings across the court, and then body-checked him into the crowd. Flagrant foul. And well-deserved.
3) It was so bad, that in the span of 90 seconds in the second quarter, after a series of Carlos Delfino and Ersan Ilyasova tackles on LeBron James, the Heat lost their collective crap. Mike Miller and Joel Anthony got back-to-back technicals arguing fouls and then the Heat bench, and specfically Ron Rothstein got a technical for, I believe, pointing out that Andrew Bogut had pitched a tent under his defensive rim, making it extremely tough to run offense. As a referee, you have to be out of control to t up Miller, Butter, and the bench back-to-back-to-back. It was a young crew: the crew chief Mark Davis isn't one of the more competent refs, and he's got two kids with him (Kane Fizgerald and Josh Tiven). And in fairness to those guys, the Bucks are incredibly difficult to officiate - they zone up in the paint, daring you to call illegal defense, and they contest every bounce of the ball with a bump, or a swipe, or a push. The game is either going to take four hours to play if you call every foul, or it is going to be a rugby match. Or, like, tonight, both! Nice job, kids!
4) How bad was it? No, really, you want to know how bad it was? Heat sideline reporter extraordinaire, Jason Jackson, took a subtle backhanded shot at Bogut and the Bucks in his postgame interview with the affable (off the court) Aussie! He asked Bogut, who had fouled out on a vicious forearm to LeBron's face - should have been a flagrant as well - something like "It's never fun to foul out - was it hard to get a rhythm going with all the fouling out there?" To Bogut's credit, he seemed to be somewhat in on the joke: "We know we are a defensive team." I'll say. I like Bogut, I think if he could escape this depressing, hellhole of a franchise, people would understand how good he is. He isn't, like, "make the Milwaukee Bucks a viable franchise" good, but he could be a starting center on a championship level team, no doubt.
5) Eddy Curry checked in early in the first quarter. He didn't play too well, but he produced a highlight nontheless when Tony Fiorentino, while listing his positive qualities, called him a "space eater." "Space heater?" asked M.Minutos, who must have been distracted by Carlos Delfino's constant tackling of LeBron, "What does that mean?" Haaaa! Eddy Curry, the Space Heater! Cuz he heats up on offense! Cuz he's too hot to touch! Cuz he warms up your cooold winter nights, and makes you feel all warm and cozy in bed!!!
6) Ok, whatever, the Heat lost one game after a supergood week, and I probably jinxed them by going out of town and missing last night's game. I was in Gainesville for the first time, and it is totally, totally awesome. It is a beautiful part of the state, with Spanish moss-y trees everywhere, and hills, and lakes, and a classic college campus, and everyone we met was incredibly friendly. Also, former stomping grounds of Mike Mil-lar and UD! We ate fancy pizza late at night, we snuck on to the football field, we took hokey pictures with the giant Tebow statue, and we watched the UF basketball team beat LSU, even sans Miller and UD! If you ever have a chance to go there, definitely, definitely go. Especially if you are an artist dude who knows who to make giant allligator sculptures - if you know how to do that, this town is for you, you can make a million dollars...
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We're off just one night, back on Tuesday for Cleveland. Oh, no, not Cleveland - a whole franchise "hates-what-they-did-to-me" game! If you need me before then, I'll be up in Gainesville - I've got an interview, I'm trying to get accepted for the Class of 2017! Go Gators!
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