The Miami cHeat: Over at
ESPN's Heat Index, Brian Windhorst wrote: "The Bulls didn't do anything special in their 103-82 victory -- they did exactly what the scouting report said they would. They rebounded and played defense. The Heat reacted to it not like the surging favorites they had been tagged following their five-game takedown of the Boston Celtics in the previous round, but instead like the junior varsity."
With all due respect to Windhorst...saying the Bulls "didn't do anything special" makes me wonder whether he was watching the game with a potato sack on his head. Did he miss Dywane Wade isolating against Joakim Noah and getting his shot swatted? Or LeBron James isolating against Taj Gibson and getting
his attempt deflected? Or Kyle Korver -- trapped in a one-on-one situation -- knocking the basketball away from Wade? Korver ended up deflecting the ball out of bounds, giving the ball back to the Heat, but come on.
The Bulls were playing inspired basketball. And it was pretty special.
Now let's talk stats. The Bulls scored 22 points off 16 forced turnovers, went 10-for-21 from downtown, and outrebounded Miami 45-33. Furthermore, Chicago's Bench Mob outscored their Heat counterparts 28-15.
Those are impressive numbers.
Even more impressive was the fact that the Bulls held James and Wade to a combined 11 points in the second half. In fact, both James (15 points, 5-for-15, -14) and Wade (18 points, 7-for-17, -22) looked pretty mortal. They each finished with only four free throw attempts and a co-game-high 4 turnovers each.
Miami advanced past the Celtics by repeatedly isolating their two superstars. None of the Boston players -- individually or as a group -- could stay between those men and the basket. That didn't work against the Chicago D. Not in Game 1 anyway. With the Bulls keeping James and Wade out of the paint, and shutting down Miami's fast break, the cHeat mustered only 34 points in the second half.
Now for the absurd numbers. Chicago had a 19-6 edge in offensive rebounds that led to an unbelievable 31-8 advantage in second chance points. The cHeat could not protect their defensive glass. Noah had 8 offensive rebounds. Carlos Boozer had 4. Gibson had 3. Heck, even C.J. Watson had 2.
The Bulls didn't shoot all that well -- 43.7 percent as a team -- but they had an insane offensive rebounding percentage of 41.3. When a team rebounds four out of every 10 missed shots, that gives them a pretty distince advantage.
Said LeBron: "You play defense hard and the shot goes up and they get an offensive rebound, kick it out for a three or get a layup or a dunk. Those are demoralizing for a defensive team."
Added Coach Spo: "It really deflated us and we lost our concentration. The offensive rebounding really affected us."
Wait, wait, wait. These are
professional basketball players, right? LeBron has won two MVP awards. Wade was the Finals MVP of a championship team. The cHeat have two of the best five players on the planet and Chris Bosh had a 30-point night. But...their team got demoralized? Maybe they should have just boxed out instead.
Obviously, this is a one-game sample, and people shouldn't get too excited about Chicago's chances or too down about Miami's. Still, last night's game was like a war of attrition. The cHeat got worn down. Remember: They depend on big games from Bosh, James and Wade every night. Those guys played almost 40 MPG during the season and are logging 40 or 40+ during the postseason. They aren't getting anything from their bench. At some point, that's got to have an effect, right?
Dwyane Wade, quote machine: "I don't even remember shooting in the fourth quarter. We were throwing up some Hail Marys."
Dwyane Wade, one-on-one machine: After a five-game fun fest of breaking ankles against the Celtics, let's just say Dwyane and the Heat found it a little bit more difficult to tap dance past the Bulls.
Dwyane Wade, poster boy: Taj Gibson fed Pookie a Spalding Burger with an extra side of "YEEEEAAAAAARRRGGHHH!!!"
Dwyane Wade, quote machine: "That was a good one. First time I got dunked on all year. I'll take my 90-to-1 blocks to dunked on ratio. It was a very athletic play. I knew I didn't have a chance."
Joakim Noah, quote machine: "It was unbelievable. The one on Wade was crazy and the one at the end of the game was crazy, too. I've been calling him 'Light Feet' for a long time. That's his nickname around here...he's got a few nicknames, but 'Light Feet' is one of them."
Taj Gibson, quote machine: Believe it or not, Gibson's posterization of Wade was only his second favorite dunk of the night. This was the first:
"That just shows that no matter what the score is, no matter how much time is left in the game, you never stop playing. You want to keep playing til the clock runs out and that's Thibs' motto: Play 48 minutes. And tonight we wanted to go out there and show that we can play 48 minutes of tough basketball."
Erik Spoelstra, unintentionally dirty quote machine: "We took it on the chin."
The Memphis Grizzlies: I'm only giving the Care Bears an entry because they lost. They kept their composure and fought to the end, but they couldn't contain Kevin Durant down the stretch. They don't have anything to be ashamed of. To be honest, I knew after they dropped the triple OT game they were going to lose the series...that they couldn't win another one in Oklahoma City.
I'm pretty interested to see what happens with this team next season. Assumina Rudy Game returns from injury and can be successfully re-integrated, and also assuming they re-sign Marc Gasol, the Griz -- behind Zach Randolph -- could become a power.
No. Really. It could happen.
With that, I leave you with Z-Bo's theme song.
Chris' Playoff Lacktion Report:Grizzlies-Thunder: Ishmael Smith sailed into the sunset on an eight-bit sea after a 15-second Mario, while Daequan Cook baked a celebratory cake comprised of FOUR bricks from...uh...Bricktown and a turnover in 10:54 for a +5!!!
El (Oh El) Heat-Bulls: Ahhh...South Beach repped itself well today, judging from Udonis Haslem's +1 suck differential in 4:12 via brick, Eddie House's +2 in 2:14 via brick and turnover, and Juwan Howard's 2.2 trillion (2:14).
Labels: Miami Heat, Taj Gibson, Worst of the Weekend
Heat fans, if you're still confused as to why the average basketball fan hates this team, please read the above. Has LeBron's inability to 'get it' infected Wade now? Maybe it's just a case of how you define "First" ...
Of course, this is no different than ESPN hiring Adande (to get in with Kobe Byrant), and it's not nearly as disgusting as Tim McMahon of ESPN Dallas accusing Dan Crawford of being "corrupt" (since Mavs were 2-18 when Crawford was the ref in their playoff games). But it will be very easy to dismiss whatever Windhorst (and on the flip side, Mike Wilbon) has to say concerning this series, his loyalties are very clear.
Also, I woke up this morning to a link on the Windows Messenger frontpage with an article titled,"NBA executive comes out" . And what I thought was some deep conspiracy shit was actually a big letdown. Oh well.
Is it really a big surprise if anyone says they're gay anymore? This isn't the 60's.
"That was a good one. First time I got dunked on all year. I'll take my 90-to-1 blocks to dunked on ratio."
"Heat fans, if you're still confused as to why the average basketball fan hates this team, please read the above. Has LeBron's inability to 'get it' infected Wade now? Maybe it's just a case of how you define "First" ..."
What's to get? Would you be happier if he said "yeah he dunked the ever living shit out of me. I wish Mario Chalmers didn't suck so bad that his turnover led me to a 3 on 1 in no mans land. Boy I should have just moved." That dunk hurt his pride I imagine. He's gonna downplay it.
Funny that those are eerily close to the numbers they actually put up.
Oh, and did my eyes and ears deceive me, or did LeBron say, regarding the Bulls having the best record in the league "As a competitor, you want to go out and compete against the best" without a hint of irony?
Heat fans, if you're still confused as to why the average basketball fan hates this team, please read the above.
And if they're still confused after that they should probably just look in the mirror. That 90-1 ratio Wade was talking about sounds just about right when it comes to obnoxious bandwagon frontrunners, "LeBron fans" and stat worshipers versus actual Miami Heat basketball fans.
BTW, the fact that the Bulls represent the antithesis of all of the above makes it that much sweeter to watch them take it to the Heat. This isn't just basketball, it's a fight for the soul of basketball.
@Karc - What's the excuse of the other Heat Index groupies like Tom "Heat Losses Don't Matter" Haberstroh? I actually think Windhorst isn't so bad for a lifelong LeBronite (at least he turned it into something beneficial to himself, like a suckerfish riding a shark). Same with Adande, in that they'll actually write about when the team fails, not just write excuses and shit like it's not fair or the better team lost, etc. McMahon, on the other hand, is a horrible homer that should be writing a blog for Mavs.com, not "covering" the team for ESPN.
I would be happier if he said nothing at all, or just acknowledged he got beat without having to brag about himself. This is just another example of the indefensible arrogance of this team (at least until they win something more than a round 2 series).
Tweets of the day:
@dwadeofficial I had 2 laugh at ths..I was playing my oldest son Zaire on his nerf rim & he dunked & said Gibson while screaming..L2MS Kids u gotta luv em
@ShannonBrown Ok let me put a end to this right now before it goes any further. I DID NOT SLEEP WITH @paugasol woman!!! First and last time addressing it!
Taj Gibson and other Bullies brought championship energy. Phenomenal! But they didn't play out of their heads; they played within their system, hustled, helped, rotated, moved their feet, contested shots. And one assumes that they'll eventually stop biting on Wade and Bron shot fakes.
Still, you ain't winning a series until you've won on the road. Fortunately, the Bulls have home court. But I guarantee that the Heat come out stronger. Their Celtics series and the first quarter may have made them complacent and over-confident.
@Nightbringer: "Is it really a big surprise if anyone says they're gay anymore? This isn't the 60's."
Yes, in men's sports it is. Look, I can see why you might think that. But there have been very few, and most of those already retired (e.g. Amaechi). Wanna name all of the active athletes in major macho men's sports who have come out? Y'know, football, baseball, basketball, hockey? List 'em. Yeah, I thought so.
Granted, this is just an executive. But even that matters. In fact, that an executive's coming out is news is an indication of the problem, right? This isn't like Anne Heche or Kevin Spacey coming out. Major men's sports are VERY homophobic. For the most part the pro athletes we watch don't want to be in the same room with a gay man. It was a big deal recently when a hockey player came out in support of gay marriage. That's right, it's front page news when a major male athlete says "yeah, it's OK if gays want to marry" in an ad.
Imagine, if you will, if the same were true about mixed race marriage. Hooooh-boy, imagine the fireworks!
So yeah, this is news. It's always relative, right?
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=granderson/091008
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w240/smacklt/Chalmers-1-1.jpg
http://www.the-ghetto.org/Miscellaneous/mariochalmers100.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w240/smacklt/Jordan1-1.jpg
See, even D. Wade's kid doesn't like the Heat.
@ShannonBrown Ok let me put a end to this right now before it goes any further. I DID NOT SLEEP WITH @paugasol woman!!! First and last time addressing it!
Way to put an end to it, Shannon, I'm sure Pau appreciates it. Also, good to know your basketball IQ isn't underachieving relative to your general IQ.
Hooooh-boy, imagine the fireworks!
Hooooh-boy, probably want to stay away from "Hooooh-boy" when discussing a serious topic. Good for him though, and I'm sure this won't be used by pundits as an excuse to rehash the Kobe slur episode...
Stolen outright from a commenter on By The Horns.
Captcha: sclamor. Clamoring for Scal.
"That was a good one. First time I got dunked on all year. I'll take my 90-to-1 blocks to dunked on ratio."
What he should have said...
"That was a good one"
By Crom, I think the poster of Gibson's dunk on Wade is actually better than seeing it in motion, and more devastating to Wade's ego long-term.
"The King is most vexed, Wade, how could you allow that Peasant Gibson to dunk on you like that?!"
Wade, now in a throne of his own, though not as mighty as that of the King's (and also a step down on the dais) eys Lebron with scorn, "Riiiiight, so this is my fault, might I remind you my ratio of blocks to dunked---"
"THE KING HAS NO NEED FOR EXCUSES!" Lebron thunders, and in a calmer voice, "The important thing to remember here is that your failure was in no way related to The Lebron. Obviously, The Lebron's supporting cast failed him again and he must rise above it with his usual grace."
From his place at the foot of Lebron's throne, Chris Bosh sobs, "BUT I HAD 30 POINTS!!!!!" And flees the room in tears.
I just watch the games, and come here for the funny jokes. Trying to do much else would cause my head to explode.
Thib completely outcoached Spoelstra and he had role players step up nicely. Heat have plenty of big bodies, all these guys have to do is keep Noah off the offensive glass. Those one-dimensional players are starting to look like zero-dimensional players.
If the Bulls hit half time and are on 7+ offensive boards, Riley is storming into the locker room, sacking Spo and taking over himself.
I was about to make a point that you should foul Noah, but then I found out he is a 71% career FT shooter - how is that possible with that horrible technique?
On the Suns exec coming out: I think this is fantastic. There is clearly more than one gay guy in the NBA. It's utterly ridiculous that people can't just be themselves these days. It's true in pro sports internationally too, not many famous soccer players have ever come out. People like Welts are role-models and far more deserving of admiration than the over-paid, under-performing millionaires who work for their organizations.
you put way too much thought and effort into your Heat hate. Let it go.
That being said, I hate Kobe Bryant and the Lakers and I'm glad they got swept. Thank you.
Also, never forget the invisible hand of David Stern. The Heat are the new Lakers. He VERY much wants them to win. Guaranteed Wade gets a 15 foul shot game. And for those who ask why Wade wasn't at the line? Did you notice him getting unduly roughed up? Or does he get little cheap ass touch foul calls all year long? It's playoff basketball. No way in hell should you should go to the line for a hand on your hip while you're driving.
Better than putting too little thought and effort into my Heat hate.
playing 3 on 5 because you have 3 good players and a bunch of lacktators is not "good basketball", in fact its bad basketball, most def not the "right way to play"
Dedicated to Taj Gibson, from Taj Mahal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mVWWmIXKxk