6 Thoughts
1) The playoffs are all about adjustments. After going exclusively with a Chalmers t-shirt since Game 2 of the Chicago series, tonight, with my - I mean the Heat's - backs against the wall, I went Chalmers t-shirt, underneath a King James James orange "Witness" t-shirt! Booyah, Finals! "Booyah" is still hip, right? Still, I don't take any joy in the Pacers losing. And by "I don't take any joy in the Pacers losing," obviously, I mean, "I've never been happier to see a classless group of hacks fail to take advantage of a team whose second and third best players can barely walk, and get out-toughed and humiliated in a Game 7!" Back where we belong. Back where we belong. C'MON, BURN ALL THE BOATS, BON VOYAGE, FRANKHOLE, ONE TIME: LET!!! IT!!! FLY!!!
2) It wasn't pretty. He still looked hurt. But Dwyane Wade attacked the rim, and went to the glass. Scored 21 points on 7-16, and all 7 free throws, and hit a floater on an iso to give Miami a 15 point halftime lead. He had more offensive rebounds (6) than Roy Hibbert and David West combined (5). He out rebounded both of them overall: his 9 led everyone. He set the tone, and everyone followed. A few months ago, when the Heat played Chicago in the playoffs, Derrick Rose opted not to play on a healthy knee; Dwyane just went out there and gutted out 9 Game 7 rebounds against the biggest front line in basketball on one leg. The biggest play of the game came halfway through the third quarter, with Indiana off to a decent start, when Wade posted George Hill, missed a little turnaround floater, and somehow, on the bad knee, out-efforted himself around Hill back to the ball, and finished while getting hammered - made the free throw also to put Miami back up 15 with 5 minutes to go. It was a classic I'm-coming-all-night-basket: "you may stop me a time or two, but I'm coming back again, over and over. Try to keep stopping me." It wasn't his best game, but someday, when he's done, don't totally forget about this one - he earned what he got tonight...By the way, admittedly, this strategy worked way less well for Chris Bosh, who kept driving at Hibbert...annnd getting the ball tattooed back into his teeth. Oh well. He did hit back to back jumpers over David West to give Miami a 10 point lead in the second quarter, and had 8 first half rebounds, although his most memorable glass-effort was an uncontested sitter that he somehow batted off his own shins for a turnover. Whoopsies!...Back to Dwyane: check tha resume! Resume looks good, even better than before tonight: fourth Finals in ten years! LOVE THAT BOY!
3) Lotta people these last couple of weeks comparing KJ James and Paul George. Tonight, with all the money on the line, with all the chips on the table, for all the marbles, wit- yup, yup, okay: James, 32 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists; George, 2-9, 7 points. Ooooh, that spotlight is hot! King James lit him up and shut him down. Paul George is a good young player, but he's not even the best player on his own team - that would be the virulently homophobic and crass Roy Hibbert. Indiana can get by without George on the court, but they can't survive without Hibbert - Hibbert's inability to mind-melt the refs into ignoring every foul he committed tonight (only most of them) was the biggest factor in the game. George is young, and he will be back, but for tonight, I enjoyed his vintage "get me the f- out of here" performance in the fourth quarter, when he bailed on his teammates in the middle of a blowout by, in rapid succession: tackling Mike Miller or Bird Anderson 85 feet from the basket on a rebound (forget which one - one of the white guys); tackling KJ James on a drive; and two-hand-in-back-shoving the B-Man 12 feet out of the way on another rebound, to foul out with 8 minutes still left in the game! "Yeah, I've had enough."
4) Besides Dwyane's gutty performance, and James' usual brilliance, I will also fondly remember this game as "The David West Throw Up Game." Yikes, did this kid ever get the yips in the biggest game of his career. His "highlights" included: shooting a 12 foot wing pull-up clear over the backboard; committing 6 turnovers; trying to back down the B-Man, getting the chair pulled on him, falling down and losing the ball; then, the next trip, trying to wheel off Bird with a shoulder to shoot a turnaround, only Bird saw it coming and met the blow, causing a 15 footer to come up 2 feet short; getting back-to-back Bosh jumpers dropped in his grill, the second a triple to give Miami its first double digit lead; getting out rebounded by each of the Big Three individually; then, with the blowout on, Bosh ran down the court and benignly started to set up at the elbow, West reached out with two hands and shoved him, the refs called a foul, and West turned around with that scrunched up sourpuss and starting screaming at the ref "he fouled me - he fouled me!" Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! I have zero respect for how that dude handles himself on a basketball court. He has a fake tough guy act because he knows nobody can swing on him in a, you know, basketball game. He argues every single call. He repeatedly shows up his teammates - he has to be incredibly unpopular in that locker room. He intentionally tries to hit people with elbows - he's dirty, he's trying to injure people out there, that's not cool. And he shrinks in big moments. He's a free agent, he's getting older, and he hasn't shown a lot of ability to maintain his composure and perform when his team needs him most. If I'm Indiana, I think long and hard before making a big dollar commitment for multiple years on that dude...
5) ...Unlike Hibbert (who is already locked up). He was fantastic in this series on the court, but an embarrassment to himself, the Pacers organization, and humanity, off it. He scored approximately every time he touched the ball, and on the possessions he didn't touch it, he just got the miss and put it back in anyways. Miami could never stop him. Even tonight, plagued by foul trouble (finally - got his thirteenth foul late in the second quarter - what? only his third? Jesus, it seemed like way more than that), he still dropped 18 and 8 on 7-11 shooting. And, listen, he doesn't decide what is and isn't a foul at the basket - if they are never going to call it a foul, why shouldn't he keep smashing into guys at the rim while feigning a clean contest by holding his hands up high? It's a modified form of the Bosh Statue, only far, far more effective since, you know, you are actually trying to prevent the other team from scoring. On the other hand, his behavior throughout the series was positively aberrant, it was like he was raised by wild dogs, or the John Thompson family. He spent the entire series spouting defiant f-u b.s. like the world owed him something. Then, like that wasn't enough, after Game 6 cursed out reporters for not voting him Defensive Player of the Year, and then, to prove how totally hard he is, slandered homosexuals. I mean, if you're a homophobe, that's fine, that's your own backwards opinion and, absolutely, a nationally-televised postgame press conference of a playoff game that you won is obviously the correct platform from which to espouse these views. If you aren't going to spread hate-think in a situation like that, when are you going to do it? Tonight, he backed up his classless series-long extracurricular activity by leaving the court and storming to the locker room before the game ended (aka "The Rondo!"). Even David West and Paul George, both of whom were humiliated in the game, stayed out there to congratulate the Heat. Even Frank Vogel took the time to wish all the Heat well, although I am sure all his compliments were lies: he doesn't wish you luck, KJ! Don't believe his lies! Classy dude, this Roy Hibbert. Good God, what is wrong with that kid?
6) I wish I was David Beckham so bad. Damn. I even like that Tarty Spice, or whatever her name is. Beckham is the Ryan Gosling of soccer. Football. Whatever, WHO CARES, I JUST WANT TO BE BECKHAM!!!
-----
Finals start Thursday. Chalmers shirt? "Witness" shirt? No shirt? (Hibbert would be very uncomfortable with that, I am sure) We shall see. If you need me before then, I'll be imagining me...and Beckham...and Tarty...and Hibbert...and...ewwwww!!! See you Thursday - FI-NALS!!!
-----
