6 Thoughts
1) Look, this is how the NBA goes: if you get ahead 2-0 in a playoff series by winning the first two on your home floor, you aren't winning Game 3. You just aren't. Your energy is going to be a touch down. The other team's energy is going to be sky high - their whole season is on the line. The NBA's going to give you an inexperienced refereeing crew that's more likely than not to be swayed by the home crowd, and the other team's head coach is going to complain about the officiating publicly in between games. In this case, the unbelievably whiny Doctor Rivers has been complaining about Dwyane Wade and KJ James getting "star treatment!" Your team has Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, and Paul Pierce, and you are complaining about Miami getting "star treatment" - really? That's the most plausible theory you can come up with? None of this is new, none of this is a complaint - the Heat have benefitted from this plenty of times, too. And nobody is immune to it - the Spurs hadn't lost a game since, like, the Eisenhower administration, beat OKC the first two games of their series in San Antonio, then lost Game 3 in OKC last night by like 100 points. It is what it is. All you can do is get your mind right, bring it for Game 4 - by then you're a little more acclimated (hopefully), you can sort of recalibrate your energy level, and adjust for the home calls the other side is going to get. This is what makes it good, this is why the playoffs are exciting - nothing's easy. This game could have spoiled M.Minutos' 40th birthday, but she's been around a minute, she knew what to expect, she shrugged it right off...Let's go...
2) The Heat were down 24 in this game in the fourth quarter. Just one of those nights. I would have waived the white flag, but not Coach Spo. He went ultra-small (Chalmers, Battier, Wade, Mil-lar, KJ James) and tried to fight back into the game. Mil-lar made back-to-back triples, James (16-26 for 34 points) and Wade (9-20 for 18) got to the rim a little, and Miami pulled to within 8 with 2 minutes to go. Wade okey-doked someone into the air, jumped into him, took the contact, and missed the jumper - no foul. The Celtics got a layup at the other end - ballgame, Was it a foul? Maybe. Would it be called a foul in Miami? Yep. Did Paul Pierce get that exact call twice on KJ James tonight? Yep. Dwyane Wade shot zero free throws tonight in 42 minutes - do you think that happens very often? Nope. KJ James shot only 5. That's how it goes. It's not unfair - in the NBA, the home team almost always gets the benefit of the doubt, especially in the playoffs. Miami got a big non-call on a Rondo drive in Game 2. Your choice is to, one, overcome the calls; or, two, lose. No easy way out.
3) Even more damaging than the home-to-road refereeing adjustment was the Heat's lack of defensive intensity, and their continued inability to make free throws. Boston's not a great offensive team - they are a great defensive team. But tonight they dropped 30-25-30 in the first three quarters. That's not good defending Too many layups - they ended up shooting 50% from the floor...But even with the refereeing and even with the poor defense, look, if Miami made any free throws, they still may have been right there. They missed 16 in Game 2 and escaped. Tonight they made only 10-20: KJ made only 1-5, Almario Vernard Chalmers, who was otherwise solid, 3-6. After a flurry of early misses, you know who finally stepped up and drilled two? Joel Anthony! Butter! He greased that ball up and slipped it right into that net, boy!
4) Kevin Garnett was great. He's a freak, he's like 50 years old and still incredibly spry. He's finally figured out two things. First, with Chris Bosh out, he's 5" taller than anyone Miami puts out on the floor. He set up shop near the rim, caught the ball, and flipped it in: 24 on 10-16 for KG. He also realized that without Bosh, he doesn't need to guard Joel Anthony or Ronny Turiaf, so he's ignoring them and standing down in the lane deterring Wade and James from getting to the rim - that's a big reason why they only shot 5 free throws between them. Nowhere to go in there. Against Indiana, Roy Hibbert utilized the same strategy as Garnett, but it wasn't nearly as effective, which is mostly attributable to the fact that he is Roy Hibbert. Save Bosh coming back, I'm not sure how Miami counters that - when they played KJ at center in the 4th quarter they made a huge run, but I'm not sure they can play that way the whole game. The easiest answer is that Bosh suddenly gets healthy, but we don't know how close that is...Garnett did also break out the doucheball a little tonight, although, to be honest, he's been fairly restrained in this area thus far in the series. He sent Almario Vernard Chalmers flying on a blatantly illegal screen on the baseline early in the second half, and then, later, drilled him up high with an intentional elbow, drawing a technical foul. You think KG gives an f about a technical foul? KG laughs at technical fouls! He eats technical fouls for breakfast! He takes a technical foul, ties it to the bedposts, slaps it around, teases it, then leaves it there tied up and goes out for a sandwich. Technical foul - Ha!
5) During the games, we are getting this one ad for the Rand Eye institute in Miami - lasik surgery. It's odd because I assume it is a local ad, but it's on ESPN. I guess they are selling local ad slots, but I never remember that being the case before. Maybe national advertisers are wary of being linked to doucheball. Anyways, it also odd because the testimony in the ad comes from a young man named Errol - not Errol Flynn, a young Errol dude - and he tells us halfway through the ad, "I got the custom lasik." Really? You sprung for the custom treatment? Big spender! I would probably try to save a little cash by just going generic. "Yeah, my eyes are kind of round and hazel-colored, but I'll take whatever you've got, I'll take the brown squinty eyes, sure. I'll take a bit of a lazy eye if you give me a 15% discount." ... GFOB Thor just got lasik and he's never been more eagle-eyed. I spent Memorial Day at his house and he was reading a list of most highly-compensated celebrities from a magazine to me - didn't stumble once while reading, it was like he had x-ray vision. He probably paid for the custom surgery...
6) It's M.Minutos' 40th birthday today (June 1). I played hooky from work and we went out to lunch at a cool spot called Brule in Pineapple Grove. They have a small but eclectic beer list. Mostly German beers. I'm part-English, part-Jewish - do you think I'm going to drink a German beer? Oh, hell no. I went with an English beer named Fullers. It was bright and delicious - a little bit of a party wine, frankly...We had a nice dinner at a Cuban restaurant with O. and P. Minutos, opened some presents, and there may or may not be some secret festivities planned for tomorrow. Best of all, for her, she doesn't know this yet, but as soon I as finish up spell-checking this sucker, I'm going to in there to give her a present that she won't believe. Un-wrapped! Ewwwwww!!!!!
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We'll be back at this Sunday for Game 4. If you need me before then, I'll be squinting it up all over town with my crappy 20-2,000 vision. When is Obama putting in free lasik for everyone? See you Sunday, Happy Birthday, M.Minutos, I love you!
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