Finals Game 4. Nobody in NBA history has ever came out winning a series after being down 3-1 in a series. That is surely a big void that Miami wanted to avoid, and it showed in their play. LeBron, Dwyane and Bosh were on attack mode all night long. What surprises me is the Spurs resolve to counter these three early on, especially before the half. Miami by then was already threatening to blow the game wide open San Antonio tied it before half (Bosh failed to beat the clock when he launched to what could have been an impressive dunk that could potentially have given them the lead). The Heat defense produced 7 blocks and forced 19 Spurs turnovers. That while being bolstered by the renewed energy from their leaders prompting the ever quotable Gregg Popovich to say: "When those guys are playing like that, you better be playing a perfect game". Those 19 turnovers produced 23 transition points. Wade performance came in as a surprise though, hobbled by knee injury the whole post season Wade was Wade of old. The MVP candidate an that kind of energized LeBron as well after a lethargic 3 games, James explodes for 33 points. Stopping one is already a pain in the ass, how about a three headed monster? I think Wade is the X-Factor in this series, if he continues to play this well? They might just pull this off. LeBron can score all he wants but if he gets no other help it will be for nut. The Spurs defense will just collapse on him. I think it's on Wade's shoulders fall to give LeBron the help, because Bosh is Bosh.
Now, it's a 3-game series, Let's now see who's the better of both teams the next game. I don't think anybody has an upperhand right now as both teams have been able to quiet the tide. These 3 games might be the most exciting games of these series, stay tuned.
Brooklyn Nets fire Avery Johnson: I do think Avery was a bit overrated but with Deron Williams again figuring with a coach firing? That's something. Remember days prior Deron grumbled being lost on Johnson's offense. There certainly is some trend going on with Deron...
Amare Stoudamire on the verge of return: It can be make or break, Knicks have been doing fine without him. If he screws he'd be dealt for sure. Remember in the off-season he was almost dealt for free according to some rumors...
Lakers winning again thanks to Steve Nash return: Good news to Laker fans! It's a great Christmas gift when Lakers won against New York on Christmas day they are back to .500. Bad news? They lost to Denver the next day. I just hope they become more consistent this season.
Marc J. Spears of yahoo sports reports KG doesn't care of accolades: Don't all players say that?
Monta Ellis claiming that the only thing that separates him and D-Wade are a couple of championship and some winning: Monta is a great player, but c'mon D-Wade is in another level man, the guy is shooting .511 this year and if he continues this he'll have done it twice in his career. He averages more points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks career wise and thought he guy is far removed from his 2008-09 MVP-like season the guy is still consistent, plus the guy thrived through difficult times when the 2006 championship team was dissolved and still kept Miami winning. Monta, after B-Diddy deserted them, never lifted GS to the play-offs again. I think claiming that much is too much.
Pop threatens to bench his top guys again: I respect Pops decision, if the NBA have problems with that then they should suck it. I don't think it's detrimental to anybody that a team play as good as anybody even without their top guys. It only shows the quality of guys on a team, it just shows the kind of coaching a team has and the trust a coach can put into his guys. That's basketball.
In what could be a preview of the next Eastern Conference finals, the Bulls fell short. Derrick Rose fell short. Inexplicably shooting well from the Freethrow line the reigning MVP choked on 2 shots that could have gotten Chicago the lead and put some pressure on the Heat to counter. Instead the ball bounced out of the rim two times.
Funnier still LeBron did the same trick on the next incident. Trying to finish off the Bulls James stepped off the 15 ft. line and bricked.
“I couldn’t believe he missed both,” Wade said of Rose. “I couldn’t believe LeBron missed both, either. Averaged itself out, I guess.”
After LeBron's 2nd miss there was a scramble. Confusion rushed in when an inadvertent whistle was heard. Officials of the game ruled it jump ball. James—who talked Bosh out of taking the tap himself—outleaped Taj Gibson, gave the ball up to Mario Chalmers, who was fouled and eventually got a free throw in for a two-point lead. Bulls finally had possession.
9.9 seconds left, an eternity in basketball, Bulls had a great idea of putting the ball in Rose's hand, Derrick cut the defense and a crucial moment decided to shoot the ball against 2 defenders and it bricked. The shot was a floater that Rose has been making throughout the game. It was a bad break.
“This is so surreal right now knowing that I had a chance to win the game,” an emotional Rose said at his locker afterward. “And this time it didn’t work out.”
The Bulls trailed the whole game, Rose played significant big minutes in the absence of his chief reliever CJ Watson. Luol didn't play also nursing his own wrist injury.
Bulls lost, tough game with bad breaks (for the Bulls side), but this soon to be rivalry will carry on for years and it will be fun watching. So Heat fans, don't rub it in you maybe be better today but the Bulls will definitely comeback.
Sources (quotes): Yahoo! sports Picture: Available in web. No copyright infringement intended.
Miami Heat's projection for this season is easy. Overwhelm the league and win the championship. Never seemed so easy specially if you got 1/4 of team USA on your team. That was the promise these new Heat trio promised it's fans... Championships. But as they stand now the Heat are only 2 games above .500. What happened? What went wrong?
While other writers pan James out. I will point out what's obvious. This team lacks chemistry. "Him and D-Wade don't complement each other. They're somewhat the same type of players, 'Bron and D-Wade. ... Both of those guys need the ball, and they don't shoot the ball like Ray Allen. That's why they're having trouble scoring in the halfcourt, because they can't get a rhythm, because one of them is dominating the ball. That guy might be getting off, but the other guy [isn't]. That's why when they're on the court together, they're terrible. They're rhythm players that need the ball. I'm like that. I can't stand out there and catch and shoot. I've never been a guy that sits out there waiting for the ball to come to me." says T-Mac.
Nice observation because I predicted the same when this team was first assembled.
I remember questioning how Wade and LeBron can co-exist because they basically have the same skill set. They are not consistent jump shooters like Allen and they mostly attack the basket than take the jump. Compared to Boston who basically had a diverse big three (Garnett mans the post, Allen takes the jumpers, and Pierce is their main penetrator) the Heat have two guys playing the same game and they demand the ball in their hands big time. That's one problem I foresaw 5 months ago.
I also noticed the general make-up of this team. They have no steady point guards, and their centers are not the kind of bigs that wins championships (Well if you say Jordan did it even without a credible center then obviously these players ARE NOT Michael Jordan). Point guard can be easy to answer as both Wade and LeBron are no strangers in bringing in the ball and distributing, but the center thing is a different monster all together. Championships are mostly won by great big men (Again don't raise Chicago here because Jordan is a different beast). Lakers prove it in their long history. Celts did it in their dynasty days, recently on Garnett's steady intensity. Spurs obviously banked on Tim Duncan's exploits. Philly had one thanks to Moses. You don't expect to win with Zydrunas and Juwan, known softies, manning your post. Most credible threat Udonis is done for, Chris Bosh is uber-soft and will likely rely on his jumpshots than bang bodies inside. Obviously the Heat needs more than Jamaal Magloire and Joel Anthony and I doubt Dampier fits the role perfectly.
A few days ago I was analyzing what went wrong for this team when it struck me that the Miami thrice never played with another all-star player in their prime. Bosh had Marion on his downside. James and Wade had Shaq on his downside. James had Mo but Mo isn't in the same level of a Wade, an elite all-star. Mo Williams is just an actor on the LeBron direction in Cleveland. They had Antawn but he came in too late to really blend with his new team. Miami Thrice are prized players on their respective clubs and they run the show... All of the sudden you bend the tradition and try to share the spotlight. Knowing how big the egos are that's a tough spot to cover.
As I said media is panning-out James but not with lack of reason. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports did a great job of the story: "Meticulous in his preparation, Spoelstra spoke with several past coaches, and league sources said a clear and unequivocal picture appeared on how to proceed: End the cycle of enabling with James and hold him accountable. And surprise, surprise: LeBron James has responded with a test of his own organizational strength, pushing to see how far the Heat will bend to his will. This season, James is hearing a word seldom uttered to him in Cleveland: “No.” And it keeps coming out of the coach’s mouth, keeps getting between the King and what he wants. Can I stay overnight to party in New Orleans after a preseason game? Can I play the clown in practice? Can I get out of playing point guard? No. No. No. Wait, what? No, LeBron. No. Even within a month of the season’s sideways 9-8 start, the NBA witnessed a predictable play out of the James-Maverick Carter playbook on Monday morning. They planted a story and exposed themselves again as jokers of the highest order. They care so little about anyone but themselves. Still, no one’s surprised that they’d stoop so low, so fast into this supposed historic 73-victory season and NBA Finals sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers. They want Spoelstra – and Pat Riley – to bend to them, to bow to the King the way everyone has before them."full story. Such machinations don't work out in the professional level. Larry Brown always says "Play the right Way". If this Heat wants to win they have to let people do their jobs like Spoelstra is doing. Interestingly, instead of righting this insane wrong Wade joins team LeBron: “I’m not going to say he’s ‘my guy,’ but he’s my coach,” Wade said. Well done tuning your coach out is another page for disaster.
And that's where the Heat finds themselves in: A disaster.
