6 Thoughts
1) Don't stop, get it, get it! GET IT! On the second night of a back-to-back, with Dwyane Wade clearly laboring on sore wheels, and Chris Bosh getting tossed around like a rag doll by the OKC frontline, this came down to being tough, staying the course...and KJ James. KJ James for MVP! Just a solid, scrappy win against an outstanding team. Let's go, let's get it! I thought I told you that we won't stop - maybe you thought I said we would stop, but no, I clearly said we won't stop! Come on!
2) KD vs. KJ...for MVP!!! Billed as a showdown between the two leading MVP candidates this season, this matchup pretty much lived up to the hype. Man, Kevin Durant is such a great scorer, and a great all-around player (and, seemingly, a pretty nice kid, unlike his completely jackwad-y sidekick Russell Westbrook), but tonight KJ James was just a little bit better. Both scored the ball: 30 points for KD on 11-21; 34 for KJ on 10-20. But KJ also had 10 assists, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals; KD had only 3 assists and 4 rebounds. More importantly, KJ was able to play KD all by himself - Miami didn't trap Durant, didn't run extra guys at him. KJ played him straight up all night, limited his looks, mostly kept him off the free throw line (only 6 fts for KD; 13 for KJ), and hounded him into 9 - nine - turnovers! It was a pretty incredible effort by KJ against the best scorer in the league. And, again - Miami was on the second night of a back-to-back. Physical freak. Meanwhile, after a white hot first half for KJ - 23 points, including a long jumper at the buzzer to put Miami up 1 at the break - OKC did not let Durant play James straight up in the second half. They showed KJ a second defender almost every possession, and forced him to be a facilitator - it's no coincidence that some of the biggest buckets of the game came off of what Coach Spo likes to call "triggers" - KJ causing movement in the defense, and then finding open shooters (more on that in #3 and #4). Getting to the secondary options in a possession, moving off the ball, following your spacing and ball-moving assignments - triggers. Look, no one wants to vote for KJ for MVP, and that's fine. Vote for Durant if you must. But if you watched tonight's game, and you understand basketball, you would have been able to see what separates the two, if only slightly - to some degree, KJ can handle KD by himself; KD can't do the same thing with KJ. That's of value....
3) Second and third biggest baskets of the game: Shane Battioke's back-to-back triples midway through the fourth quarter, with Miami struggling to score and having gone from 9 up to 1 down. KJ accepted high traps off screens, probed through them drawing an additional defender, and then lasered consecutive strikes to Battioke, who made both shots to put Miami back on top by 5, and they would never trail again. Triggers: make the defense move, organize your players off the ball, make solid passes. That's how you have to play against excellent defensive teams like OKC.
4) Biggest basket of the game: goodness gracious, it was Chris Bosh, of all people. He spent the better part of 31 minutes getting tossed around like a rag doll by Serge Ibaka (5 frightening blocks), and doucheballer extraordinaire Kendrick Perkins (one vicious flagrant foul to Dwyane Wade's head, plus several other plays that you would describe as "over the line" - hey, he studied at the feet of the master in Boston). With a minute to go, and Miami holding a one point lead, Chris was 3-13, looked completely overmatched, and the team had played its best basketball with him off the floor. Dwyane and KJ started to run a pick-and-roll on the left elbow, with KJ half-setting a screen and half-posting for Dwyane. Perkins left Udonis Haslem at the right elbow, and rotated down to the left block to outnumber Dwyane and KJ with an extra defender. Trigger!!! Bosh, down on the right block guarded by Ibaka, immediately popped up to the high right wing, as UD downscreened Ibaka. Wade zipped a pass to Bosh - with Perkins gone, Miami outnumbered OKC on the right side of the court 3-2. With Battier down in the corner already having hit two huge triples, James Harden decided not to rotate up to Bosh, who caught the ball, squared quickly, and drilled a 20 footer. When Kevin Durant was hounded into an airball triple by James on the following possession, it was ballgame. One, Bosh was terrible all night long - I absolutely think this is the biggest obstacle to Miami winning a title. If he could even play decently, it would be a huge help. Two, that's a lot of loyalty and trust by Coach Spo to keep him out there for the biggest possessions of the game. Three, that's a lot of loyalty and trust by Dwyane to throw him the ball on the biggest play of the game. Four, it's pretty ballsy of Chris to play that badly, and still rip that last shot (have to give him the credit for that). Five, KJ went right over to him when the game ended and gave him a long (hopefully encouraging) heart-to-heart. Six, TRIGGERS!!!
5) Late in the game, M.Minutos noted that she likes a Friday night game - she's relaxed, it starts her weekend off the right way, it reminds her of the old days when we had no kids, no money, an apartment in Palm Beach Gardens, and great lives, and we would get wings from Swampgrass Willie's for the game, and then walk over to Publix to get ice cream if we won. "Oh, no - I hate Friday games," I immediately pointed out, "I'm too hyped for the weekend, then the game starts and I'm all jacked up, then I am crashing down halfway through the second quarter." M.Minutos noted that I also detest Sunday games (ruins God's day), Saturday games (ruins any potential Saturday night plans), and Thursday games (always national TNT games with awful announcing and tough opponents). And I have to be honest: I'm not that fond of Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday games, either. I really, really don't like the games. So time consuming, and so stressful. I really just like making fun of Elton Brand.
6) Okay, I have a new plan, but tell me if you think this is weird. So everyone knows I love beards - I couldn't grow one at all until I was like 30, and even then, the one time I really tried to grow it out, it was a patchy, multi-colored reddish affair that made me look even dorkier (although, against all odds, my Grandmother E.Minutos loved it). It only lasted about a month. Very itchy - I don't know how you cool dudes do it. I am a huge, huge fan of the Troubled White Man beard - if you are a white dude, and you are feeling troubled, you left everyone know by not shaving for a long time (Dylan on 90210; Ryan Gosling in "The Notebook;" Al Gore after losing the election). But I even just love regular beards - several GFOBs have them, and they are my smartest (and most handsome) friends. Even The Captain grew one out last year, and he's never looked more attractive. At the same time, many people say that I don't really have feelings like a normal person - my therapist says that's okay, who cares, I don't have to - but a lot of people really seem to want me to take a genuine interest in their lives, or their well-being, or whatever. So I think I am going to try to combine those two agendas, make them work together. Like, when I see a guy with a beard, I am really going to compliment him on it, I'm just going to go right up to guys, whether I know them or not, and be, like, "Hey, man, I really appreciate that beard, you really look quite swashbuckling," or something like that. Maybe not "swashbuckling," I don't know - I'm not going to script it ahead of time, I'll just wing it when I see one. How do you feel about that? Do you feel like that is a good idea? It's not weird, right? I think guys will really like this...
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Next game is on Friday against a very good Memphis squad. One time my inlaws wanted to meet us in Memphis for Thanksgiving, and I thought something about that seemed cool, but we never did it. Man, I wish I had that holiday season back...If you need me before Friday, I'll be trolling the men's grooming supply section at Target down on Congress and Old Boynton looking for dudes buying trimmers. So sexy!
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