1) Ohhhh, I'm not even going to lie, that one hurt. Miami looked atrocious early, Boston didn't miss a shot, and for most of the first three quarters, the Celtics were leading by double digits, and as many as 18. I'm not even sure what exactly happened - but somehow Miami clawed back into the game, only to have it slip away at the very end, despite numerous opportunities to win. Killer. On the other hand, special guest at Casa Dos watching the game tonight: M.Minutos' best friend T.Minutos. It was a pleasure having her! But if I am ever going to have to sit through another game where the Heat get down 18, I give up, we claw back into it, then lose anyways, please don't come back. Let us go...
2) Missed opportunities: three stand out in my mind, and will haunt me, maybe for the rest of my life, or at least until Tuesday when we play Game 5 (not including the cluster-f which was Miami's last play of regulation - we'll get to that in #4). First, in regulation with under 4 minutes to go, up 2, Miami came down and Wade stroked a triple from the top that went halfway down and came out. Everything was going their way - get up 5, man, and I like our chances. How did that ball not go in? Second, Battier had an open corner triple in overtime down 1 with a couple of minutes to go - he shot it true, but it kicked off the back iron. Finally, on the last play of the game, Dwyane Wade took the ball one-on-one against Marquis Daniels, okey-doked him into the air, leaned to the right and launched a triple to win the game. I'm definitely cool with a three in that spot - since KJ James had fouled out (I know, I know, we'll get to that in #3), playing another overtime was pretty much unthinkable. I really would have preferred Dwyane drive hard into the lane and try to kick it to a shooter - Battier, James Jones, and Almario Vernard Chalmers were all on the court - but whatever. As it was, his shot was off-balance, but, like Battier's, had a true flight - just came up half an inch short. What can you do? Oh - one thing you can do is complain about the officiating! Let's do that in #3.
3) I'm actually not really going to complain about the officiating. I suppose on the whole it was fine, for a playoff game on the road - this is what you get, this is what you expect. You have to fight through it. You would expect back in Miami on Tuesday that an extra 50-50 call or two will go Miami's way. But KJ James fouled out on two of the tougher calls you will see - I think. I mean, yes, I'm totally and completely biased, but they didn't seem like fouls on KJ. The 5th, with 5:30 to go in regulation, came when he fronted Kevin Garnett in the midpost, and Garnett tried to swim up around him, hooked him with an arm, and discarded him to the floor. The referee, Bill Kennedy, I believe, called a double-foul: fouls on both Garnett and KJ. I'm still not sure what he was saying KJ did. KJ, yes, he was off-balance, so when Garnett hooked him and pushed, he fell - but that doesn't make it a foul on him. GFOB Plumber, a Nets fan, offered that the call reminded him of the scene in Beverly Hills Cop when Eddie Murphy gets thrown through a window, then arrested, and he tells the po-lice "Where do you guys get off arresting somebody for getting thrown out of a window?" KJ got thrown down - not sure how that's a foul on him...The sixth foul was more damaging, not even because he had to the leave the game, but because it potentially cost the Heat a bucket with 2 minutes to go in overtime. KJ ran out in transition, down 1, got Mickael Pietrus on his back, tried to back him down, then while the pass was in the air, Pietrus wrapped his arm across KJ's chest. Do I think KJ then grabbed his arm? Yes, I think he pinned his arm in there a little. It caused Pietrus to fall off-balance, and Pietrus knowing if he fell back, KJ was going to catch the ball and get a layup, dragged him down. Joey Crawford, probably looking for a fight, called a foul on KJ - said he grabbed the arm. But he grabbed the arm, I would contend, that was already fouling him. Whatever - what I'm saying is, one, that's playoff basketball - in Miami, that probably goes Miami's way (and I will concede - just like the Rondo call in Game 2 would probably have gone Boston's way in Boston). More damaging, it was an empty possession in an overtime where Miami only scored 2 points. By the way, this was the first time KJ has ever fouled out of a game playing for the Heat. Brutal time for it.
4) This is hard to believe, but my cable momentarily conked out with 1 minute to go in regulation, so I missed the KJ three from the wing that tied the game (saw it on the replays when it came right back on). But I did see the last play of regulation, in a tie game, where Miami had the ball with seconds to go, Dwyane Wade dribbled the clock down, never really advanced the ball, flipped it to KJ James on the left wing, and then KJ drove it right towards the elbow. I've only seen it once or twice - but I think someone else on the Heat also kind of ran into that general vicinity - I think it might have been Almario Vernard Chalmers. In any case, KJ ended up surrounded by Celtics with about 4 seconds to go. Instead of rising up to try a difficult fallway, he decided to try to throw it back across his body to Udonis Haslem on the left wing. UD was open, but a Celtic tipped the pass from behind, and UD had to run to catch it, and heave a bad shot under duress. Man, honestly, I wish KJ had just held the ball and shot the step-back from the left wing. Maybe it was the right "basketball play," but the pass was really too late, I thought. And I'm not sure if that was the design of the play - it looked like it broke down somehow. It will be interesting to see what they all say about it in the post-game comments. It was a disheartening moment - just want to see the KJ rise up and stick one with buzzer going off one of these times. He's done it before - tonight would have been a good night for it.
5) Doucheball report: uncharacteristically quiet night from Kevin Garnett. Really didn't get into much of anything with anybody. When he threw down KJ and KJ got his fifth foul, T.Minutos' husband B.Minutos texted in a timely "Doucheball," but if that's the sum total of douche-work for KG in a game, we all got off light. Fortunately, Rajon Rondo picked up the slack. Tried to kick Shane Battier in the first half while they were both lying on the court, first in the groin, then in the face, because Battier had drawn a charge on him: "How dare you draw a charge on me - here's a swift kick to the chops!" After getting a technical foul for that, he then, in his halftime on-court interview with Doris Burke, claimed that what was working for the Celtics was that "the Heat are complaining and whining in transition every play" (we didn't see that in Casa Dos, by the way, read it on twitter - you'll see why in #6). How dare you Rajon Rondo? That's only Dwyane Wade complaining and whining in transition on every play, not our whole team! And this coming from a player who plays for a coach who has the general in-game demeanor of the dude who wanted everyone to get off Britney Spears' back. Regardless - it's the kind of classless comment that identifies Rondo as a social deviant. There's a reason that as good as he is, the Celtics are constantly trying to trade him. Odd kid.
6) Well, we didn't see Rondo's halftime comments because as soon as that horn went off, T.Minutos, M.Minutos, and I quickly changed the channel over to the Miss USA contest to check in! First of all, it was hosted by Bravo's Andy Cohen. I think I have said it in this blog before, but I love this gentleman. He's openly and proudly gay (while I am sort of still in the closet, and truthfully, pretty much straight), and he's got a winning smile, and an intoxicating joie de vivre! Secondly, as soon as we turned it on, someone described one of the contestant's dresses as a "party bowl of confetti!" (I later pointed out I felt the same way about Rajon Rondo's headband, and T.Minutos pointed out that it accentuates his elf ears - that's because he's an alien, by the way) Thirdly, one of the judges was a very, very strung-out looking Arsenio Hall. The circles under his eyes were as dark as Wesley Snipes' skin. Not sure what Arsenio's been up to. But most importantly, T.Minutos, one of the Greatest Friends of the Blog ever, and one of the longest, learned something she didn't know about me. And by the way, there's not much she doesn't know about me already - she and I went to the tattoo parlor together years ago when she got inked, and I got my nipples pierced (I mean, she would have gone with me when I went to get my nipples pierced, if I ever had gotten my nipples pierced, which of course I didn't, since that would be absurd). Also, I assume she and M.Minutos do girl-giggle fests where they tell each other everything about their men - probably not that much to tell about B.Minutos, he's super-solid, but I may have a skeleton or two in the closet. But she didn't know this: I love big eyebrows! Super-sexy. I mean really thick eyebrows, au naturel, like old-school Jody Whatley!
Hellz yeahhh! Bushy eyebrows - that's pure sex, dude! I'm so worked up now just thinking about it, I don't know what I'm going to do after I finish writing this!...Oh, oh - anyways, so in the Miss USA contest, guess who won? The girl with the bushiest eyebrows, Miss Rhode Island!
Yeah, she might be shaping them a little too much, but in between those contests, I bet those babies grow out like a kudzu plant. And guess what? My family has a house in Rhode Island - I could be there tomorrow! Big eyebrows are back! The Heat may have lost tonight, but I feel like a big, big winner!
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Game 5 in Miami on Tuesday. Do or die time again - they had one last series against Indiana, down 2-1, and this is another. This game got to be got. At this juncture, not much point hoping Bosh makes it back - even if he did, it's hard to see how he would be ready to step into this intense of a series after this much time away. We'll see. If you need me before then, I'll be watching eyebrow porn. Have a good Monday!
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