6 Thoughts
1) When Mike Bibby drilled a huge triple to put the Knicks up 3 with 1:30 to go in this game, I've never received so many angry texts and emails implying that I had something to do with him knocking down that shot. Listen, I know Mike Bibby is great - I didn't lose him down in the corner, Dwyane Wade did! I would have been all over Mike Bibby to make sure that didn't happen. And, another thing, if you are going to blame me for losing this game because I love Mike Bibby, get a grip - if we can't win because Mike Bibby makes one big shot (and two in the whole game), we don't deserve to compete for a title. I think there were a lot of factors a lot bigger than Mike Bibby's jumper in this loss (but none as slick and satisfying - shhhhhh!)...Let's go, even though we don't want to.
2) Melo and Amare were both great. Melo poured in 41 on 15-29, and he pounded the paint all night - he ended up with Battier covering him more than KJ, because the Knicks went big late as Miami went small, and that's a better matchup for Melo, which he exploited. He made a huge contested triple from the top with the shot clock running down and a minute to go, then shot another one from the right wing on which it looked like Battier touched his elbow. Tough call, but Melo only made one of the three free throws, anyways, which gave Miami a last chance. Knicks fans are giving Melo crud right now, as in like, "sure, now he does it, when they're down 0-3," but give the kid a break. He kept your season alive. Stoudamire, playing with what appeared to be a balloon taped around his left hand after he punched a fire extinguisher in Miami, dropped a 20-10, and biggest of all, successfully warded off Dwyane Wade defensively on the game's last play. Miami down 2, with 13 seconds to go, ran a screen and roll with Wade and Bosh, got a switch of Stoudamire onto Wade. Wade took him middle, was going to shoot the little runner, but lost control of the ball. By the time he got it back, the moment was gone, and he had to veer back outside and launch a bad three that came up short as time expired. Give Melo and Amare credit - they played very well.
3) You know who didn't play well? KJ James. It was clear that he and Dwyane were going to try to pace themselves, hang around, and then try to put on a rush at the end and finish the series. But when Miami crept ahead by 11 early in the second half, almost in spite of themselves, it seemed like that was the time to go for the kill. But, instead, KJ continued to play passively, and never really got into attack mode. After living in the paint in Miami, he was much more passive in New York. He had an incredible drive-and-finish on Tyson Chandler to cut the lead to 1 under 20 seconds to go, but that play and his numbers (27,4,4) tend to paper over the reality that he wasn't aggressive. Is it a big deal? No, it isn't a big deal - but you worry when he plays like this. It was Miami's downfall against Dallas last year in the Finals.
4) Dwyane Wade was 4-11 from the free throw line. He played well down the stretch, and I really believed his last three would go in (I always believe all his shots will go in), but when you go 4-11 from the line, that's hurtful. Miami missed 11 free throws as a team. That wouldn't be soooo bad, if...
5) ...they also hadn't shot 3-19 from the three point line. KJ James was 2-5, but everyone else was 1-14. Mike Mil-lar was 1-5, and the 4 he missed were all wide-open, easy looks...To recap: Melo and Amare, good. KJ James and Miami's shooting, bad. None of this will matter if we win Wednesday, it will be a tiny blip on the radar which no one will ever remember, except for me, because I love Mike Bibby. Also, looking at the bright side: one more game for Eric, Tony, Jax, and, hopefully, Johanna Gomez! They're done after the first round; second round and beyond is national tv only (some Knick fans might not know that - its been awhile). We're coming home, Jax! See you Wednesday!
6) Usually we do something non-basketball related down here in 6, but we ran out of room (and we had nothing anyways). Been meaning to mention this for several years. The Heat's pre and post game show host on the radio is named Jonathan Zaslow. He also hosts a nighttime radio show on one of the local sports stations. He's solid enough at his job, I guess. I'm never really listening to the radio when he's on, but on occasion I'll hear him - he kind of does an "angry Heat fan" kind of thing - with the ire projected outward, I mean. The Heat have never done anything wrong, in his mind. If you call in and complain about Dwyane Wade's 4-11 from the line, he yells at you. It's fairly entertaining. The main place I follow his work, though, and where he excels, is on Twitter (@ZaslowShow). He's the best tweeter ever, mainly because he makes very little effort to maintain what you would consider appropriate decorum for an employee of two large, professional corporations. You want to see what I mean? This is from after today's game:
@J_6D: This series is over, but should we really trust Spo in the finals? Lots of questionable coaching today.
@ZaslowShow: Just barfed on your tweet.
Haaaa! Love that kid!
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Well, this is just like last year's first round: had we won on a Sunday in Philly up 3-0 last year, we would have had a whole week off. Instead, we had to finish them off on Wednesday in Miami. Same scenario this season. Oh - I'm not worried about the Heat getting rest; I'm worried about me getting rest! If you need me before then, I'll be tweeting Zaslow, asking him when he's going to have ESPN analyst, notorious Heat hater, and Zaslow "favorite," Ric Bucher on his show (presumptive answer: "when you stab me in the heart with a butter knife and kill me"). See you then!
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