6 Thoughts
1) When you are old, you are going to think back on your life as a Miami Heat basketball fan, and you are going to remember so many great games from Dwyane Wade, and King James James (Hubieism from Mike Breen tonight: "Dr. J Erving" - cuz that's what we call him!), and probably think about Zo Mourning (H-ism) and Tim Hardaway, and maybe even some Glen Rice, and once in a while, the Rex Chapman Game. But you are also going to remember Mario "Emcee" Chalmers. Oh - you gon' remember him! For better or worse! Tonight: for better. With Miami on the ropes a bit in the game, and with the series having a chance to slip away, for one eight minute stretch, he played about as well as he can play. Drove and finished a banker from the right side (+1). Pocket pass to KJ James for a layup (got hit twice as hard as Rio - no call, of course). Strip the ball in the lane defensively, pushed it ahead to James for a layup; came down in transition again with James pushing, spaced the floor behind the three point line, caught the ball, sighted the rim, then dropped a perfect pass on a trailing Walter Ray Allen for a triple. Went middle, was about to kick it to the wing, heard a whistle on a bump from Kawhi Leonard, reversed his momentum, threw the ball up and it went in, plus the free throw. Got middle again, jammed on the brakes, okey doked a defender by, and flipped it in. In all, with significant help from KJ James and the shooters, Emcee triggered a 33-5 run in 8 minutes, and in a game with at least 6 Hall of Famers playing significant minutes (7 if you count Mike Miller, which I do), he led all scorers with 19 points, and didn't commit any turnovers. He won Game 4 of the Finals last year; he just won Game 2 of the Finals this year. Miami may not win this series, but Mario Chalmers isn't going out like that - not like that, you know? Even when it's tough going, he's never afraid to try - that's why you will remember him. All Almario Vernard Chalmers do is what he do, and that's all he do - nothing more and nothing less...And, oh yeah: MIKE MILLER MADE 3-3 TRIPLES TONIGHT AND MADE A BACKWARDS, NO-LOOK, PINPOINT-PERFECT PASS TO KJ JAMES FOR A DUNK, SO I THINK YOU KNOW WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO LET IT FLYYYYY!!!
2) Not only is Wade badly injured, and Bosh a little gimpy, now it seems like KJ James is as well. Wore an ominous wrap on his knee - he never does that - and looked a little under-explosive for much of the game. To Dwyane and Christopher's credit, however, they sucked it up and got it done early. While the Spurs - specifically Danny Green - were bombing away in the first half without missing, Miami still scratched out a halftime lead due to Wade and Bosh getting middle and making plays. Wade still couldn't find any balance on his jumper, messed up a couple of transition plays, and was a turnstile defensively, but at least he was able to weave his way into the paint, make his little jump hook, and find people: 10 points and 4 assists for him in the half. And Bosh also got the ball moving towards the rim, most impressively one play when he took Splitter off the dribble and found a cutting Birdmandersen for a dunk (9 points 4 rebounds for Bird in 14 minutes of doing what a Birdman does, and what a Birdman brings). Bosh finished with 12 and 10 with 4 assists (!), and 3 steals (!), and helped keep Tim Duncan (only 9 points) off the rim a little. Best game Chris has played in a while. Both guys were on the bench for their normal rests during the decisive run in the second half - by the time it was over, neither guy was really needed anymore. Look, when Mario Chalmers salts the game away that early, we all get to rest!
3) Last game neither team shot the ball well from distance. Today, both teams did! Spurs made 10-20; the Heat 10-19. Even Shane Battier made one, in garbage time! The difference was turnovers - last game San Antonio only had 4. Miami switched up how they played the pick and roll pretty dramatically: they basically played Tony Parker the way the Spurs are playing KJ James. On screens and rolls they didn't try to trap him, or blitz him - they just flattened him out, and dared him to shoot 18 footers, and made their best effort to keep him out of the lane. This caused a lot of long Spurs possessions, and late in shot clocks Miami's athleticism got the better of San Antonio (at least on this night): 16 turnovers for the Spurs, and only 6 for Miami. KJ tried to combat the way the Spurs played him by screening, re-posting, and then finding shooters - his left block laser through Splitter's double to Mike Miller in the far corner for a triple (as I was saying, aloud, "he can't get it there") was one of the best passes I've ever seen. When you are Parker or James, and everyone is trying to keep you out of the lane, you have to make quick, decisive decisions, and live with the results. Today James won that battle a little bit. Funny how two games, between the same two teams, can have such a different result, in ways both large and small...
4) Can somebody please get Jason Terry's phone number for Tiago Splitter? Because I think they are gonna have something to talk about:
5) This series is such a pleasure to watch. Both these organizations ooze class, both on and off the court. So different than the obnoxious Bulls, or Pacers, or Knicks, or, worst of all, the Celtics. Coach Spo shook his head in amazement after the game when asked how the Heat limited Parker and Duncan in this game "I don't know, they are such great players." Coach Hop-on-Pop was equally complementary of the Heat: "We struggled, but it was mostly their defense - they played their asses off." The games are hotly contested on the court, too, but there are no bizarre flagrant fouls, there isn't any constant bitching from players about cheap shots, or the refereeing, and because both teams are playing basketball, and not trying to injure their opponents, they have a nicer flow to them. When Tim Duncan fell down making a tough baseline jumper after the third quarter buzzer, Emcee Chalmers (who else) skipped over to him, helped him up, and Duncan gave him a little "thank you" pat on the butt. You can be a fierce competitor without being a dirty jackwad, David West. Both teams only shot 14 free throws, and neither team could have made an argument with how the game was called. It also goes to show: if refs would simply call fouls when teams like the Bulls and Pacers are trying to muck the game up, you'd make them stop, the games would flow (and those teams would get killed). They can only keep doing it if the refs don't call it. Udonis Haslem scored a bump-and-one basket with a foul called on Tim Duncan that would have been no-called (was no-called) on Roy Hibbert 200 straight times in the Eastern Conference Finals. If the refs had called moderate intentional bodychecks at the rim fouls on Roy Hibbert in the ECF, he would have fouled out 10 minutes into every game, and the Heat would have wrapped up that series by halftime of Game 2, they just would have cancelled the rest of the games. Not sure why we all were made to endure that. In any case, it was a cleanly called game - a couple of weird, blown calls both ways, usually by Joey Crawford, which is bound to happen, and one confrontation between Crawford and the Spurs when the Spurs, by design, started running their inbounds set before the ball was handed to the inbounder. Again, this is by design, and totally legal. Crawford blew the whistle and made them wait until he gave the ball to the inbounder before they were allowed to move. "But it's totally legal." "I SAID STOP!"
6) Q: In general, who is worse than Russell Crowe? A: Nobody. Here are Russell Crowe's All-Time Top Ten Quotes, Either from a Movie or Real Life:
10) "It seems like people enjoy movies about the olden times, that's why I do them. I could care less, personally."
9) "You killed my family, and I am angry, and I wear a mask, and I stab people with a sword, and I'm called 'The Spaniard,' even though I have an Australian accent, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it. Now when's lunch?"
8) "I like to spray a shot of cologne 'down under,' if you know what I mean. Show a little love for the ladies, you know?"
7) "What do you mean Gatsby's a book, who cares? Why would I care about that, what are you, some kind of prick?"
6) "Hummus is for panty-sniffers."
5) "The funniest thing about that movie was that I don't even like math, I think it's stupid."
4) "That's not a knife; now that's a knife!"
3) "I'm a beefy, down-on-my-luck boxer with a bad American accent. Now where's my Oscar?"
2) "Who wants to see me make the new Superman movie more about me than Superman?"
1) "Are you not entertained, losers?"
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Quick turnaround, Game 3 is Tuesday in San Antonio. I'll be in Mexico on vacation for any games 5-7 - wonder if that's anywhere near San Antonio, maybe I can go to Game 5? Still not sure exactly where San Antonio is. If you need me before Tuesday, I'll be watching Gladiator...again (I watched it three times this weekend, it was raining, and I was totally mesmerized by Russell Crowe's boorishness, although I still can't figure out what is going on). I am entertained, sort of, just not in a good way! See you Tuesday!
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