fuck the heat!...but 5 min after the game was over it was back to "Fuck the Heat and the Mavs!" But really....Dirk was the freakin man these playoffs
Mark Cuban: "Our fans just punked the shit out of the Miami fans. I mean literally, that's the only way you can say it." Yeah, Mark, I think there probably is another way to say it, LOL.
The sycophants LeBron's surrounds himself with are already brainstorming to come up with reasons why it was someone else's fault the M'eat didn't win the title. My guess is the primary people he's going to blame are Spoelstra and Bosh.
"Our fans just punked the shit out of Heat fans" [video=youtube;IYnthoQM3EA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYnthoQM3EA&feature=youtu.be[/video]
What this DOES reinforce is that nothing is guaranteed--even when you bring 3 superstars together. By all rights, Miami should have won this thing hands down, but they were beaten by a better TEAM. Period. Who knows what will happen next year? One of their big 3 could get injured, or they could start squabbling over minutes. I don't necessarily see a dynasty in Miami yet.
I think the Heat were probably more talented, but throughout this series I couldn't help but notice that the Mavs were playing like winning this thing was more important to them than food, shelter or water, as if their lives depended on winning ... The Heat definitely looked like they "wanted" to win, but I never saw the desperation and effort in their play that it was going to take to match or exceed the Mavs. It's a little bit shocking to me to think that the Heat couldn't muster any more intensity.
My theory is that currently the Heat (and largely LeBron James) has focused too much on being a cultural icon. While he is an undoubtedly great player, the widespread acclaim as the greatest player on Earth has come "too easily." Jordan may have been the best player on the planet even before he won a title, but many people were saying that Magic and Bird were better, were winners, and Jordan would never touch them, he'd just be a great scorer. Jordan was driven to prove that he was more than just a stat machine and was in fact clearly the best player and driven to make sure no one eclipsed him. James doesn't seem to have that drive, right now. He "ascended" before he could use the drive to get there as fuel to dominate big games.
It was a pleasure watching him this year. One of these years, a Lebron team will steamroll the entire league and the talk of him being the greatest will begin again. Right now and his time in Cleveland will define his legacy to me. A true champion can not only deliver a punch, but also do it after taking the opponents best shot a couple of times.
That's what I saw too. It looked a lot like LeBron's last game with Cleveland. I guess we're all just used to the Lakers (Kobe) having that extra gear when they need it but Miami doesn't have that guy (I thought DWade had it but it didn't appear last night). I thought the end of the game was truly bizarre. They were down by 9 points (with about 40 seconds I think) but that's only 3 shots. They let like 17 seconds run off the clock before they fouled. While the chance of the Heat coming back was slim, Dallas had been missing some freethrows during the game and you never know. They just looked completely confused and the coach didn't help at all!
Good point, Spud. I thought it was really weird, too. I wonder if Spoelstra will be given another opportunity or if Riley will decide it's time for him to retake the reins.
I think Rick Adelman would be a good fit too. He's good a juggling the superstar egos (Yao and McGrady) and he's gone to the finals more than once.
Phil Jackson could fill the fingers of his third hand with rings if he decided to unretire and coach the Heat.
Exactly. I got a similar impression watching this series. As it went on, even in a win or go home game in Miami, this is what I saw: Miami makes a great play and their stars POSE. Photo op. everyone. Dallas makes a play - particularly some of the role players like Stevenson and Barrera - and they scowl and curse. You could almost hear them FEELING, "Fuck you bitches (the Heat), we are gonna tear your heart out in front of your lame-ass fans." Dallas beat the Heat with Attitude. Who woulda thunk it?
