1) The Miami Heat now 1-0 in the Finals when Mike Miller starts. Told you so. C'MON, BOYZZZZ, LET IT FLYYY!!!
2) Can't even really describe that. Dwyane Wade. Dwyane Wade? The hurt, playing-on-one-leg, bleary-eyed-from-pain Dwyane Wade? That Dwyane Wade? Yup - that one! I mean, it was alright, I mean 32 points (on 14-25), 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 6 steals, and a block at the rim on 7 foot Tiago Splitter, that's a fairly decent game with the franchise that you built (along with my dad, Pat Riley) playing for its championship life. Oh yeah: on the road. Oh yeah: took over down the stretch, and blew the Spurs out of their own building, with King James James on the bench!...Whole lotta people who don't watch a whole lotta Heat games during the year talking a lot - a lot - of "Dwyane Wade is too old" mess. This is how he played all season before he got hurt. He's not too old - he's too hurt. It's crazy how uninformed people feel so, umm, informed. Oops. Tonight he looked like he felt a little better - still didn't have any lift, but seemed to think the game out a little better: better choices on rim runs, and made sure to take his time and balance up on jumpers, even if he didn't have lift. He still messed up several fast breaks, but also Euro-stepped through Gary Neal and dunked during the fourth quarter run that also saw him knock down a couple jumpers, find Bosh repeatedly on pick and rolls for hoops, steal an entry pass from on the ball, and drive and finish over Tim Duncan to salt the game away. His knee isn't going to allow him to play well every night. But when he does, they're easily the best team in the league. James is (almost) always great (33 points on 15-25, 11 boards, to bounce back from a rare non-great performance), and when Wade is the second best player on the floor - and healthy, most nights he is - it allows all the role players to settle in and do what they do, instead of asking them to overextend themselves. He may not hold up, and the Heat may lose the series because of it, but Dwyane Wade is iconic. Always.
3) Bosh. Jesus. Late in the first half, I was back at that point with him: "Spoooooo - sit! him! down!" I just couldn't take it anymore, I couldn't take the soft jumpers spinning out, all the polite tipping of rebounds into the air only for a Spur to snatch it, the hesitation around the rim - any of it, I just couldn't take any of it. Earlier in the day I told The Captain "I knew we should have traded him for Pau Gasol last summer after the title - knew it!" And then he comes out in the first half and was even worse. What the hell happened at halftime? It's like someone said to him, "hey, how about playing like you did last year in the Finals against OKC, when you contained every pick and roll, started swatting shots out of the sky like a condor, knocking down open jumpers, and rolling down the lane for finishes," and he was, like, "oh, okay - why didn't you say so? No problem." He dominated the paint in the second half - flattened out every driver, contested multiple plays at the rim, blocked shots, rebounded the ball, then knocked down a jumper or two, then started screening for Dwyane, rolling down the lane, and finishing - politely, though - at the rim. The coup de grace was with 4 minutes to go and Miami up 15, when the Heat knocked the ball loose on a Spur possession, it started rolling towards the sidelines, and Bosh sprinted out there, dove on the floor, slid, and called a timeout from his side to get the Heat a stop. Finished with 20 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. And you know what? I'm madder! WHAT THE HELL??? WHY DON'T YOU JUST DO THAT EVERY GAME, THEN WE COULD WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP AGAIN!!! WHERE IS PAU GASOL??? DAMN YOU, BOSHHHHHH!!!
4) How good was Miami tonight? The Big Three scored 85 - the Spurs scored 93. The Spurs got a classic home whistle - Heat lived in the paint all night, but Spurs shot 31 free throws to Miami's 17 (that was the only thing that kept them around in 2nd and 3rd quarters) - and the Spurs knocked down triples like crazy again: 8-16, Danny Green and Gary Neal a combined 6-9. And the Heat still pulled away down the stretch. Can the Heat get two more games out of Wade and steal this title even with him hobbled? It doesn't feel like they can - but here they are, hanging around, tied 2-2. The longer you let them hang around...
5) Wait, what? Doc Rivers desperately wants out of Boston to coach the Clippers? HAAAAAA!!!!!!! You have to be kidding me - you mean, the instant Ray Allen left the team, it became unbearable to spend time around the likes of Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce? Nooo - that can't be right, that just can't be!!! Even still: the Clippers? Exactly how low has the Celtic franchise fallen in prestige? I knew it was low...but nothing like this...Why the Clippers? The Nets have too prestigious a franchise, wanted to set your sights even lower? Didn't think Spo would consider you for an assistant job in the offseason? The head job at Fordham wasn't open? We always need more middle school teachers...Good grief - the Clippers?...
6) GFOB Web wrote to correct an error we made last post. By the way, Web is a Celtics fan, but he's actually super-cool. Believe me, deep down he knows Rondo and Garnett are social deviants, and he feels terrible about it. Anyways, he points out that we had the wrong, washed-up, old-timey crooner as Anthony Kiedis' dad. It's not Paul Simon at all:
HAAAAAA!!!! I got youuuu to hold me tight (with those disgustingly long talons), Rajon Rondo!!!!!!!!
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I'm off to Mexico tomorrow. I'm gonna sit with my toes in the ocean, sip something very alcoholic, watch the Mexican sun go down, and daydream about Dwyane Wade's gutsy courage to play through pain for me. Game 5 is Sunday. Blog should still be rolling - maybe a little delayed. If you need me before then, you will have to call M.Minutos, because I forgot to buy myself an international phone and data plan, but she did not. Only call if it's important, like if the girls volleyball coaching job opens up at Santaluces High School across the street from my house - I would want to notify Doc Rivers right away. Hasta la vista, kids!!!
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