1) I really don't like the Pacers. I think they lack class, from the head coach down to the dudes on the end of the bench. Coach talks; his players will talk. Coach whines; his players will whine. Coach is a poor sport; his players will act like poor sports. That's the Pacers. They try to goad you into confrontations, instead of playing ball, and they talk like they've ever won anything. Even this season, they're fifth in the East. They made shots tonight; all credit to them, they won the game, the Heat played hard, but the Pacers made too many jumpers, something they normally do not do. They played very well tonight, but it doesn't mean I have to like them, or respect them. I hate the Celtics (#Doucheball), but I respect them. Also, they won a title. Ahhh, I'm lying, I don't even hate them that much! The Celtics are kind of fun! But the Pacers are jerks. Let's do it!
2) A bad matchup tone got set for the Heat early - David West kept posting Udonis Haslem, and literally just launching into UD with the dribble, shoulder-first. No offensive fouls, the refs were letting him bash his way down the lane. But when UD would try to hold his ground and body up, instantly two fouls were called. Same thing happened to Bosh. This blog rarely really gets on the refs - it is what it is: KJ James gets no calls, and Dwyane Wade gets every call. We've acknowledged that a million times. And I'm not saying the refs were "cheating" or that they hate the Heat. That's silly. But sometimes a game gets called a certain way that gives one side or the another an edge. The three refs tonight let the Pacers be over-physical on offense. West knocks you back; Roy Hibbert knocks you back; Tyler Hansbrough knocks you back - all with the dribble, or establishing postup position. That's fine, but when the Heat tried to stand their ground, that was a foul. That's a bad matchup for the Heat - they don't have big post players who back down hard with the dribble, so they couldn't take the advantage on the other end. It made the Heat defense indecisive. They were taking blows, but couldn't deliver blows back - tough to guard that way. That's how a bad offensive team like Indiana scores 102 on 56% shooting. If this group of refs, Tom Washington, Zach Zarba, and Olandis Poole, reffed every Indiana game, they'd never lose, they'd be first in the East, not fifth. Team vs team matchups matter; but sometimes, so do refs vs teams matchups. Bad ref matchup for the Heat tonight It all comes out in the wash, it isn't going to stop you from winning a title, or anything - you have to accept that inconsistency, that is part of the league...
3) ...Except you know who did not accept that tonight? Everyone on the Heat! They lost their collective cool a bunch of times, they were super-frustrated (understandably - they weren't really allowed to compete in this game). They got four technical fouls - can't remember the last time that happened, they are actually an incredibly even-keeled bunch overall. And it was some of the most mild-mannered guy getting t'd up. Shane Battier, of all people, got into an altercation with David West and got one! David West is on the short list of dirtiest players in the league. He's over-physical to begin with - if the refs let him push, like they did tonight, he keeps pressing out to the edge of the envelope, seeing how hard he can hit you before they call a foul. He's also a guy who walks through your chest after the whistle, who gets an elbow up in your face for no reason, who knocks you down when a ref's back is turned, which is what he did to Battier - tossed him down, stood over him, then when Battier tried to get up (and was already incensed), West went high with the elbows, and Batt went at him. West is what Udonis famously called a "Studio Gangster." He acts like he want to fight, but if he really wanted to fight Shane Battier, I mean, for goodness sake, Shane Battier is standing right there - hit him. He doesn't really want to fight - just wants to act tough. You can see that the Heat players loathe him and his act. He couldn't play down here, he wouldn't fit in the locker room, I think the Heat players would be embarrassed by him. He pulled this crap for two weeks during the Heat's evisceration of them in the second round of the playoffs last year. Punks always jump up to get beat down...UD got a technical for protesting a touch foul - when you let the game get too physical, then it gets out of control and edgy, then you try to dial it back by calling every bump, players get upset - refs let it get out of control too early...Even Chris Bosh got a t, then a few minutes later he drove, Hibbert hit him in the face, there was no call, and Coach Spo sprung off the bench and got his own! I thought Spo was going to get ejected, he would have been well within his rights to do so, his team was really challenged by the whistle in this game - don't think that's happened yet, don't think he's been kicked out...Crew chief Tom Washington, he's always terrible - he consistently makes odd calls, like a kick ball call on Bosh on a play where the ball was waist-level and he flicked it out with his hand - it would have been anatomically impossible for him to kick it. The only referring bright spot was 3 seconds later when Indiana went to inbound the ball and Zach Zarba, who apparently had had enough of Washington, gave Miami the ball back for a phantom illegal screen on Indiana that he called before anyone had even moved! Haaa! Even Zach Zarba hates Tom Washington! Oh - and Olandis Poole seems super-nice, but I think he's slow. He just stands out there and watches the games and never calls anything. For a physical team like the Pacers, that's a significant advantage.
4) Okay, that's enough incoherent complaining. It's a random road loss to a mid-level team in the East (no matter how much Indiana will talk about it - they're behind New Jersey and Chicago without Derrick Rose!). You know what was great about this game? The Birdman! It started in pre-game when KJ James pointed out that the Heat have been rebounding a little better, especially now playing more big lineups "with The Bird." Haaa! But it's no joke - big dudes who can help you do not fall out of trees, or in this case, out of a tattoo parlor. But one just did - this kid is going to help them. He's only been playing competitive basketball again for about two weeks after many months off, so he's still getting his legs, but tonight he showed many of the things that a Birdman brings, and what a Birdman does (as he likes to put it). He sets big, wide, solid screens...and then rolled down the lane hard, caught passes, and dunked (4-4, 9 points). He took one pass, stepped hard to the rim, saw Tyler Hansbrough flying across to the lane to deliver one of his patented cheap shots, delivered his shoulder harder to Hansbrough than Hansbrough's foul, sent him sprawling, and finished for the 'and one!' He attacked the glass with verve - 3 boards in 12 minutes, but that doesn't include his most impressive effort - KJ got middle on a drive, shot a floater, missed it, but Anderson, who started four feet outside the lane, sprinted around Ian Mahinmi and beat him to the rim, forcing Mahinmi to grab his arm and pull him down, drawing the foul. Look, Bosh isn't going to try to get a rebound until late May. UD tries, but he's too little. Joel Anthony is too little, and can't catch the ball even if he gets there. Already Chris Anderson is their best rebounder - he's a legitimate energy big. He always was. It was unclear that he would still have his legs at 34, after almost a year off, but it appears he does. Free player - no team may get a better free player off the scrap heap this season. And Miami already won the championship last year, they don't need him to do a whole lot, just help a little, and so far, he looks very capable - good get...And finally, from the very earnest Heat beat writer Ethan J. Skolnick comes this tweet:
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Mario Chalmers, for what it's worth, has already perfected the "cawing!" sound whenever Andersen comes in the locker room
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Emcee Chalmers: doing. it. all.
5) I don't even remember mentioning this in the blog, but a couple people recently asked: "you don't really have a Ray Allen vintage Milwaukee Bucks bobblehead, do you?" Ummm, yes?
Stud Doogie, are you with me!!!
6) Which reminds me: also got a few questions this week that boiled down to: "Who is Stud Doogie?" What? You mean everyone who reads this blog isn't intimately familiar with Brand Nubian rapper Grand Puba's solo, classic, good-time, happy-flow, mid-tempo rap album "Reel to Reel" from 1992? Wow, you people are slippp-ping. Stud Doogie - that's Puba's man, that's the posse, it basically boils down to Grand Puba, Stud Doogie and A La Mode. People, don't you know that what goes around always comes back around again? Stud Doogie, are you with me!!!
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Okay, big game Sunday in Toronto. If the Heat win, Spo is an All-Star. If the Heat lose, it could well be Mike Woodson from the Knicks. Aren't the Knicks supposed to be losing by now? Damn...Kind of have a feeling Spo doesn't want to go. For one thing, he said last week that he'd rather have the weekend off. But it's an easy game for him to coach: Kevin Garnett would be on his side! What player "plays to his identity," one of the best Spo-isms, more than Kevin Garnett?!!! #Doucheball do what #Doucheball do! You need to tell fire to be hot, or water to be wet, or David West to be a jackass? Come on, Spo - be an All-Star! Do it for Spo, boys! As for me, Super Bowl Sunday, last year it was pork butt fajitas, this year: lamb fajitas! Another notch! If you need me before then, I'll in the vintage t-shirt shop with Thor trying to find a Philly Blunt print in a large. Stud Doogie, are you with me!!!
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