6 Thoughts
1) Umm, I've seen better games. Wow. Let's go.
2) Okay, okay, everyone is going to talk about it, and it kind of summed up the whole game, so let's talk about it. With a few minutes to go and the game probably gone, King James James (Hubiesm - remember when Heat fans used to complain about Hubie Brown? - you'd kinda like to have him back now, wouldn't you, grass isn't always greener) started a drive from the top of the key, went straight down the lane, beat Roy Hibbert to the no charge semi-circle, they collided, and the refs called a foul on James. You can debate whether Hibbert leaned out a little and hit KJ first up high with his arms, or whether James got to his body first. What you can't dispute is the rule: if you drive the ball from the top, and a secondary defender contests a play, and there is a collision, it can't be inside the no-charge semi-circle. There's no judgement in the call - that's a rule. KJ didn't ward him off, or lead with a kick (DWade on KG!) - they were running at each other and collided. I don't think that can be an offensive foul, by rule. I guess you could no call it, if you wanted to. So it was an obvious blown call, the ref brain-farted it, it's fine in a vacuum, it happens. KJ was intensely frustrated for a million other reasons, so he turned around and sprinted back down the court. Was it obvious he was mad at the call? Sure, why wouldn't he be, it's a horrendous call - even the other two refs on the court knew it, I am sure. So just let the guy go, he's not in your face yelling, or anything. Instead, the refs rang him up for a technical from, literally, 80 feet away (and also tagged the Heat bench - no complaint on that, you don't know what was said). So those are the facts - it's just a blown call, in the moment the ref didn't think about the rule, and compounded it by getting embarrassed, and t'ing up the party that got raked in the first place. It happens. And the game was already over. So why was KJ so mad?
3) First of all, KJ was frustrated because the call was a microcosm of the game, and the whole series, to some degree. Hibbert is a fouling machine - look at the numbers, he always is in the top two or three in fouls committed. He hasn't been in foul trouble once in the series. He's played two games all year in which he had halves where he didn't commit a foul: tonight and Game 4. Worse, in this game Miami did not shoot a free throw (except one technical on Lance Stephenson for another dirty elbow) until there was 3:46 left to go...in the third quarter! Look, Hibbert's been great, and he's made a huge effort to get his hands straight up in the air, even when he bodychecks a guy, and that's the smart thing to do. You could argue that it isn't all that different from "flopping" - you are simulating that you aren't fouling when you are - but we'd have to check with flop-obsessed Pacer announcer Steve Kerr to see whether that is a fair comparison. But the most important thing is that Hibbert is in everyones heads: he's in KJ's head, he's in the refs' heads, he's in Heat fans' heads - the image of him contacting a driver with the body with his hands up in the air will be the enduring image of this series. Not saying it's fair or unfair - that's just what it is. As @byChrisJoseph wrote on Twitter: #WeareallLeBronsprintingdownthecourtinanger
4) But it can't just be the refs that are frustrating KJ. The Wade-Bosh-Coach Spo dynamic has to be getting to him, too. It has to, right? Dwyane and Chris are clearly hurt, they can't move at all, and they have no lift. It seemed like it was impossible to play worse than they have so far in this series, but somehow they did: a combined 4-19 in 65 minutes. Just as damaging: they can't get to 50-50 balls, they can't run their cuts through the offense at full speed, defenders sag off Dwyane into the paint. KJ knows they are hurt - I'm not saying he's frustrated at them, just that he has to be frustrated at the whole situation. He's human, who wouldn't be, it's an unbelievably annoying turn of events: I think we've learned that if Miami were healthy, they would annihilate this Indiana team. How is this series going to a Game 7? Hibbert, George, and West have been the second, third, and fourth best players in the series, easily. That's crazy. In any case, do you think KJ is annoyed at Spo for not changing the rotation? Who do you think should be making the Dwyane Wade call? Dwyane or Spo? Is it on Dwyane to say, "hey, I can't help," or is it on Spo to tell him that? Everyone has a right to their opinion, and we don't know the locker room dynamic. To me, though, it's Dwyane's decision. As much as anyone, this is a franchise that he built, and as one of its caretakers, I think it is incumbent on him to take a hard look at the situation. He should do what's best for the team. If he thinks it's sitting, he should sit. If he thinks our best chance is truly for him to play? Ride or Dwyie. Finally, Spo gave Mike Miller some burn to start the fourth quarter, and he instantly made two triples, dove on the floor to come up with a loose ball, ran hard cuts on offense, and swung the ball with purpose, and Miami made one (ultimately futile) run to get the lead down to 6. Wow - that just makes it more glaring, right? It's a tough one, there's no "right" or "wrong," there's only opinions and guesses. For me, watching almost every game Dwyane Wade has played in his career is the most fun I have ever had as a basketball fan. He's brought me so much joy. When he retires, I am going to smile the biggest smile ever, probably shed a tear, and then Miami Heat basketball will never mean as much to me again. We're already playing with house money - you, me, Dwyane and UD already have two titles together - so I'll live with Dwyane's decision for Game 7, right or wrong. He's earned that. Oh, Chris? That's on Spo, he's gotta yack him if he can't move. I can't take responsibility for that one, Spo's gotta make some decisions...
5) Remember when we all loved Joel Anthony, he was like the high energy, semi-hapless guy that was a fan favorite? Then, remember, we got Birdman, and Bird started stepping to the rim, catching passes, and dunking in traffic? And we were all, like, wait a minute: that's allowed? You can do that? And we all left Joel behind, and took up residence in The Aviary? That was cold. Joel was back tonight, in for a suspended Bird, and he actually played pretty well: was active defensively, shut down David West whenever he checked him, and did fine against Hibbert, for the most part, and even grabbed 8 rebounds in 29 minutes. He did butcher a couple of bunnies, but hey, you know, that's just his way of showing us love back.
6) You know what I love? The Judy Goldstein-Kyle from Rand Eye Institute commercial sandwich! If you aren't from South Florida, you aren't getting these ads, they are the local spots on TNT. This blowsey Judy Goldstein (or something) is a personal injury lawyer down here (apparently) and she is going heavy on advertising during the Heat playoffs. In the ads, she marches around her office suing people who got papercuts, and she barks at the camera, and she tells us we should be suing more people. Then, the next ad is always this Kyle, who got his vision corrected at the Rand Institute. That ad has been running all season. Last year it was a kid named Erol, but this year it's Kyle, and someone says to him, "hey, Kyle, what have you been doing this summer," and then there's a montage of what he's been doing, which includes jet skiing, running stadium stairs to stay fit, and chortling with his friends. The implication is clear: you want to chortle with friends? Get lasik! But then, oddly, we go right back to Judy Goldstein's ad, and she's right back suing people, getting loud, probably firing some secretaries - I mean, this Judy Goldstein's a brassy gal, you know what I mean? And why is she sandwiching Kyle? She's like a spurned lover, stalking Kyle. Do you think they were dating, she was like the "spirited" divorcee ("I took my ex to the cleaners!"), and he was like an inexperienced, chubby young dude with coke bottle specs, and he liked riding around in her Alimomercedes, and she liked that he was willing to, ummm, "go there"...and then he got the lasik, lost the specs, dropped 35 pounds going up and down the stadium steps, and now he dumped her and is chortling with friends, and she's stalking him by bracketing all his ads with her own bossy spots, just to haunt him? Did I mention it was a boring game? A lot of time to think...
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Well, Game 7 is Monday. It's kind of no-win for Miami: lose and they are done; win, and they get killed by the Spurs in the Finals. All I know is I'm on vacation soon! If you need me before Monday, I'll be hiring Judy Goldstein to file a class action suit against Roy Hibbert for emotional distress inflicted upon everyone associated with the Miami Heat. Except Kyle - he seems fine. See you Monday!
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