I thought it should have been LaMarcus. In fact, I was thinking the last play of the game was a pretty damn bad one. It went away from everything that had been successful up until that point. It's not real surprising that it failed.
I hate to quote Sheed, but both teams played hard. It was a good game that Portland had a chance to win, and I think that's all we should expect against that team.
Respect to Portland for the great effort, that was amazing by them. LeBron just gets more motivated on the road, it has to do with the Boos. In Miami he's more relaxed. But what a game by the Blazers, I'm glad to see they still have a respectable team.
They have a harder time stopping small quick point guards who can shoot versus post up point guards to can't shoot. That doesn't mean they automatically loose when they play a team with a small quick point guard who can shoot. It does mean that a team who wants to maximize their chances against the Heat would want to have such a player on the floor as much as is possible.
And during that stretch they have been burned by a fast PG who can shoot many times. It seems to me you are talking about one thing, when the point was obviously another. Just because a team is winning, doesn't mean there aren't some holes in their game. Lamarcus also showed a big hole in their game. The paint. Orlando is going to give that team a run in the east, because they are built to beat them. Howard will control the paint. Arenas will provide a fast attacking PG. Turkoglu will provide a playmaker roll he did a few years back.
I know it was the Heat and I know the Blazers played competitive . . . but this loss hurt more than any other loss this year (and there have been some painful ones).