Saturday, April 24, 2010

SOS

This is why I said forget upsetting the basketball gods... we will have a hard time upsetting the Boston Celtics. We were 0-3 against them in the regular season, but could have easily have won the series 2-1 with a few extra clutch plays. The same can be said about this playoff series. Which is exactly why our coach should have been more worried about what he sees when he studies tape than some mythical gods that would frown upon playing the percentages.

Still, I gave this team a pretty good chance of taking this series, but knew Boston would have to cooperate. So far they haven't. I also predicted we would have to win two games in Boston to pull it off and that is exactly how many we will have to take.

The odds are incredibly stacked and I do not think it is a feat that has ever been accomplished at this level, but call me a gambler, because I can see a game 4 victory followed by a game 5 upset to make this thing interesting. Miami has to stretch this series out to feel good about themselves. In all likelihood this season is over, but Michael Beasley and Dorell Wright showed enough promise to believe the team can avoid the misery of a sweep. Miami can get back into the series, but it obviously has to start on Sunday before we can even start to dream about a road upset. One game at a time.

If JO fails to make an impact on Sunday and we get swept, he deserves to be jeered. If he matches his pedestrian season averages, we could be up 2-1. Nobody expected him to live up to his contract, but this is beyond ridiculous. He is easily the biggest playoff choker in Heat history, which says a lot.



10 comments:

  1. Great write Cyrus. Really great. Dude I promise I can feel the sad vibe you had as you wrote this. I dont think I have ever read anything and felt that somber as I read it. lol. That was a slow and painful read. Great write my man.

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  2. "He is easily the biggest playoff choker in Heat history, which says a lot."

    Damn. That is saying a lot..lol

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  3. Cyrus, I hope you keep this up post series. Although I can easily see this blog going into hibernation. The saddest thing is, besides the stupid, pointless and damming win over NJ, I doubt much comes out of this loss in terms of rethinking the problems all of us have seen throughout the season: Failure to integrate Beasley as a key contributor down the stretch, failure to implement a dynamic and diversified offense (note that the C's scoring has been about the same while the game in which we were most competitive was also the one in which we scored the most), failure to find a real PG, failure to have a coach who makes the right adjustments - in game or in overall strategy (until it is WAY too late).

    I hate hating on Spoelstra, but someone (Rogue?) on Ira's blog was condemning the way the Heat sold out it's development of youth plan for wins at all costs. To get what? a first round sweep after a mild feel-good 47 win reg season - who cares now??? Spoelstra got the guys scrapping to play more often than not, but failed to run an offense - relying too much on Wade's brilliance. He may prepare well, practice well and have a good plan in place, but he doesn't maximize the talent (rather, tries to force-fit the players to the system) and he does not coach with a feel for the game, making the necessary changes based on how the opposition adjusts. YES, you foul Pierce! Riley is stubborn, but he has other gifts; you do not have to be his talking puppet. OH, and lose the energy bus...

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  4. I'm gonna keep writing my thoughts during free agency. It will take a collective effort to keep this place from going into hibernation, but you can count on me to do my part.

    By the way, even in my somber state I pointed out that "I can see a game 4 victory followed by a game 5 upset to make this thing interesting".

    Boston's talent is pretty ridiculous, so JO needs to wake up from his hibernation. The odds are still incredibly stacked, but with each Miami victory the more pressure Boston will feel. They missed 5/6 free throws and a wide open layup with the game on the line.

    I'm not sure how personal Wade took Paul Pierce's celebrating on his home court, but expect Wade to do everything in his power to get a chance to get the last laugh in Pierce's house in a Game 7.

    Boston has some Dallasness to them, leave it to Wade to find a way to expose it. You have to believe we could be in the midst of history in the making. That is how great the leader of this team is and his supporting cast is starting to live in the moment. No pressure from here on out, just a golden opportunity to be heroes.

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  5. I have to admit, I'm still a Beasley homer. Something about his potential and the fact that he was OUR draft pick. Same feeling for Wright. I want them to succeed and will make excuses for them - so be it. But, damm. The Cs are just stacked compared to us. Nice to see our boys step up - Chalmers even. But they are still flawed and fall short too often. Can Wade keep up the super heroics???

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  6. time to get a picture of wade dunking on KG

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  7. http://www.hardwoodparoxysm.com/2010/04/24/nba-playoffs-celtics-heat-game-3-seriously-you-didnt-see-this-coming/

    somebody posted this on Ira's board... Spo bashing, don't really wanna get caught up on it, but it was a good piece.

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  8. I'm back on the Beasley bandwagon... he just needs to show Wade that he can be a #2 or #3 option and we will have a bright future 2010 and beyond. Wright would be an amazing payoff... DaeQuan too. Mario, Joel, UD... these guys have only played for Miami, so it would be really neat if we could add a couple more dudes to that core.

    If we don't make the Marion-JO trade we would have had enough cap space to bring in Lamar... we just would have had to figure out another way to rid ourselves of Banks. Boozer was also an option for less than the max, but that would have made Beasley the SF.

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  9. I just wish this team hadn't fucked up the youngin's so much.

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  10. http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/04/06/top-50-2010-nba-free-agents/

    I don't completely agree with the rankings... but a pretty good list.

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