6 Thoughts
1) Sometimes, you get down 8 points at halftime on the road in a playoff game, you're already down 2 games to 1, your only competent big man is injured against a huge team, your second best player is struggling with a bad knee and started 1-8, you've been annihilated in the past two third quarters, and you're ready to let go of the rope. Just slip down into the dark, icy waters of, ummm, Indianapolis, get blown out, go back to Miami on Tuesday, no show, and start your offseason. The excuses are there: you really only have three really good NBA players, and one isn't there, and one is hobbling...Then, other times, faced with that same scenario, KJ James and Dwyane Wade score 38 points in a row for your squad, outscore the other team in the second half by themselves (43-39), then the all-time most beloved player in franchise history, Udonis Haslem, left for dead after the past few games, and who hasn't made a jumpshot in, essentially, two years, makes four jumpers in a row in the fourth quarter and you win going away down the stretch. I guess you never really can tell which one is going to happen! This is a series again: 2-2 and headed back to Miami! Let's go!
2) We're going to get to Dwyane and UD in a minute. But right now, man, let's talk about KJ James. He was great in the first three games of this series, the only person keeping Miami even reasonably competitive. And then today, with the Heat in dire straits, he took it to a whole 'nother level: 40 points on only 27 shots; 18 - eighteen - rebounds (6 - six - offensive); 9 assists; 2 steals; and 2 blocks, including a key chasedown block on Leandro Barbosa as the Heat was pulling away. He played 44 minutes. No one in the last 25 years of playoff basketball (according to ESPN's Tom Haberstroh) has posted a 40-18-9. In the last 10 years, only one player - Dwight Howard - has had a 40-18, and he had 1 assist in that game. Before the game, when you thought about how Miami, this banged up, might claw their way back into the series, you might have said, "Well, if KJ plays virtually the entire game, and dominates in every aspect of basketball on offense and defense, maybe we have a chance." And that's what he did! Today's game was one of the best all-around performances I've ever seen a player have - he dominated the scoring; he dominated the glass; he dominated the defensive end. He played a few possession without a headband when it got knocked off his head (no foul, of course - welcome to KJ's life). And, after the game, icing his knees in front of his locker, what did the Heat beat writers report that KJ was doing? Reading The Hunger Games. Doing! It! All!
3) Dwyane Wade is clearly laboring on his knee - if anything, I thought he moved less well today then he did in the first three games of the series. The difference today? He moved more. He got off to a slow 1-8 start again, and the series seemed fairly certain to go Indiana's way. But then he, and Coach Spo, adjusted. Miami stopped isolating and posting Wade against Paul George - healthy, yes, that's a total mismatch, Wade is going to go around him over and over, and create offense. But with his knee limiting him, he has been unable to generate his usual burst. So, instead, he started running the baseline, off the ball, as KJ went to work out top - KJ hit him on a backdoor baseline cut for his second hoop, and then Wade started to weave in and out of the defense, and KJ continued to find him for easy hoops. He started the third quarter by making his first 6 shots, the last a triple that put them up 1 with 5 minutes to go, then made back to back drives, including a finish around Roy Hibbert, that propelled Miami to a 6 point lead after three quarters. When you have Dwyane Wade and KJ James on your team, there aren't a lot of situations in which you are going to be allowed to be considered "gritty." But this was a gritty performance by Dwyane...
4) ...and an even grittier performance by his running mate and long-time friend UD Haslem (Hubie was in the house! - his main thing this series is to call Pacer forward Louie Amundson, which is pronounced like, "almond-son," without the L, "a-MUND-son," which couldn't be more incorrect! ). Let's face it: Udonis has been terrible all season long. We all - me, you, Dwyane, KJ, Coach Spo - we've all defended him whenever we can. We say, "oh, he defends," we say, "oh, he rebounds," we say, "he's a warrior." But at a certain point, a guy can do all those things, but he still has to get the ball in the basket when nobody is guarding him - and that exact issue, no one helping KJ and Dwyane score, has been Miami's biggest problem in this series. After playing a combined 19 minutes in the last two games, which was about 18 minutes and 59 seconds too long, today UD played 25 minutes. His two free throws with 1:30 to go in the third quarter broke the KJ-Wade 38 point streak. Then, after starting the fourth quarter by drawing an offensive foul when the aforementioned A-mund-son drilled him in the eye with an elbow (8 postgame stitches), with blood streaming all over his face, he made 4 huge jumpers in a row in the fourth quarter, including 2 under duress with the shot clock down, to put the game away. Not sure I've ever been happier for a player to knock a few shots down to win a game. What? No - that wasn't a tear in my eye after UD won the game, not at all. It's hot and humid in Florida - that was pure sweat. Ahhh, UD - love you forever, boy.
5) Let's check in on the studio gangsters, Danny Granger and David West, shall we? They were a combined 11-26 from the floor, and grabbed 11 rebounds, which is only 7 less than KJ got by himself. Pretty good. In the second quarter, Dwyane got wrapped up by Roy Hibbert on a drive. Hibbert held on a second too long - in fairness, I think he was trying to make sure Dwyane didn't fall (unlike Granger and West, I like Hibbert more than I did before the series - plays hard, but within his limitations, productive, gentleman - good dude). Wade, aggravated at being grabbed around the arms, and then held, kind of flung Hibbert's hands off him and walked away. Fine, neither guy had a problem with that, let's shoot the free throws. Except, you know who did have a big problem with that? Of course: Studio Gangster Danny Granger! Granger, who is getting eviscerated by KJ James in this series, obviously sprinted in from the perimeter, ran into Wade's chest, and started jawing at him nose-to-nose. That totally makes sense. Why wouldn't you do that? The look on Dwyane Wade's face was fifty percent boredom, fifty percent, "here's this douchebag again," and he just stood there without responding, which, somehow, made Granger look even stupider. Even Granger's teammates looked embarrassed for him. I mean, again, Danny Granger clearly only wants to fake fight - if he wanted to real fight, Dwyane Wade was standing right there in front of him - take a poke at him, Mr. Yappy! He was interviewed at halftime leaving the court, and his analysis of the incident was "it's getting chippy out there." ??? Dude - you're the only one getting chippy! You're the only who keeps getting technical fouls for needlessly getting in peoples' faces every game. You're the only one involved in every incident. Look around, dude - you're the lowest common denominator! This kid is unbelievable - really one of the least likable personalities in the league. He's always had that rep, but to see it four games in a row (so far) is fascinating. Must be tough to be a teammate of his. Oh - check that - one other Pacer didn't look embarrassed. David West! He took a first quarter cheap shot shove off the ball at KJ's back, which made KJ whirl around - when he realized who it was, he just laughed. Also swung a hard elbow after the whistle at Battier in the third quarter during Miami's run, which also made Battier laugh. Best of all - late in the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter, during Miami's run, the Pacers kept trying to trap Wade and KJ up high on screen-and-rolls. Luckily, it turns out for Miami that David West has no idea how to trap a screen-and-roll up high - he kept stepping out too slowly, and Dwyane and KJ kept going around him to the outside, getting into the lane, and creating numbers mismatches - it was West who was getting lost on UD's jumpers, because he couldn't contain the ball. That won the game for Miami. Can't say I was sorry to see it. Hard to find two guys less likable on the same team (but not impossible: Kobe and Artest! Garnett and Rondo! See, it can be done!).
6) So the Publix (grocery store) near my house is closing and moving across the street sometime in the next month. It's a small, old store, but it is only about a mile from my house, and I don't have to leave our neighborhood to reach it - it's a quiet, internal road, and easy to walk to, or ride my bike. So convenient. It's only moving across one street, like, .25 miles away, but it's a major street, so it's going to be tough to ride a bike there, and even driving will require me to go out into "real" traffic. For months since we found out about the move, everyone in my neighborhood has been complaining. We're all like, "ohh - soooo inconvenient, now we have to drive a mile and a quarter instead of a mile - it's going to take foreverrrr!" We live in South Florida- we aren't exactly tough. Saturday, though, I got gas in the new Publix plaza across the street, and I drove out past the new Publix, just to see how close it was getting. You know something? Ummm, those palm trees out in front of the new building looked kinda nice. Store looked a lot bigger, too. And a lot newer. Parking lot seems a little bigger, and the sidewalk leading into the store wider and safer. Seemed like more lights in the parking lot, maybe a little easier to see at night. Really liked the paint job. And is it me, or did the sun seem a little brighter over there? And, I'm not completely sure, but I think the air might have smelled a little fresher. You know what? I might be, kind of, just a little bit, sort of, looking forward to the new Publix (shhh - don't tell my neighbors). The moral of this story? I WILL DEFINITELY THROW ANYTHING, OR ANYONE, UNDER THE BUS IF I THINK IT WILL BENEFIT ME! The end.
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Well, we have a series again. We will be back in Miami on Tuesday for Game 5. Don't know if Dwyane's knees will hold out long enough for us to have a chance in this series - we shall see. If you need me before then, I'll be clearing out my pantry - anticipating some really nice, new foods at the new Publix - not the stinky, tired crap at my current location. Bon Appetit!
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