Posts Tagged ‘Chris Bosh’

Game 2 Heat at Bulls: A Must Win for the Heat?

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

By Brandon Pemberton

One of Taj Gibson's TWO highlight reel dunks in Game 1

The Miami Heat came out flat in game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Bulls and the play along with the final score showed.  Lebron James (15 points, 5-15 from the field) and Dwyane Wade (18 points 7-17 from the field) were flat out brutal, while Chris Bosh carried the team with 30 points and 9 rebounds.  When I watched James after the game 7 win against the Celtics on the ground resembling a player who had just won an NBA title, I thought to myself, “he is acting like the season is over and they’ve won it all”.  And he and his team’s play was a disgrace on Sunday night.

Yeah we all noticed that James and Wade played badly, but there was plenty of blame to go around.  The Bulls were the more physical team on both ends of the court and the Heat allowed Chicago to grab 19 offensive rebounds, which lead to 31 second chance points.  The Bulls also forced the Heat into 16 turnovers and held them to only 10 fast-break points.

The Bulls’ bench clearly outplayed Miami’s, outscoring them 28-15, providing solid defense and mistake-free basketball.  Taj Gibson scored 9 points off the bench, including two highlight reel dunks, one of them on Dwyane Wade.  Ronnie Brewer gave the Bulls some good minutes, drawing the assignments of James and Wade.

Look, I know it’s a seven game series and all, but the last thing you want to do is go down 2-0 and leave yourself in a spot where you have to win four out of the next five games.  I expect Lebron and D-Wade both to come out more aggressive and assertive, looking to go to the rack more and get the Bulls into foul trouble. There were too many occasions where they settled for jump shots instead of putting pressure on the defense by driving the ball.  It would help if the Heat could get some scoring from the bench, but at this point I don’t know if it’s really possible.  Mike Bibby, Mario Chalmers, and James Jones would help out greatly if they can hit the open shots available to them.

I’m looking at the Vegas line on this game and it has the Bulls (-2) as the home favorite.  That’s a Miami line if you ask me so I will take the Heat minus the 2 to cover and win the game.  If they don’t…they are screwed and the Lebron hate will be all over the place.

Brandon Pemberton, Writer for War Room Sports

The Miami Heat Are Officially a Problem: How Does It Feel?

Monday, May 16th, 2011

By Roy Burton

 

This one is for the haters.

For the people who hate LeBron James, despite the fact that he’s one of the best basketball players that you’ve ever seen.  For those who hate Dwyane Wade, who is pretty much just guilty by association at this point.  And even for those who hate Chris Bosh, who swears he’s tough, but in reality comes across as a man who – as Ghostface Killah would say – is softer than baby thighs.

For whatever reason, you may not like Miami’s “Big 3”, and you have every right to do so.  But deep down inside, tucked away in one of those places that you don’t want to talk about, you know the truth.

The Miami Heat are officially a problem.

To all of the haters, doubters and naysayers out there: How does it feel?

How does it feel to know that they’ve finally figured it out?  It took far longer than they (and some of us) expected, despite what they may have said at various points during the season.

But you can’t deny that they’ve turned it up another level this postseason, especially during their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Boston Celtics. 

A team that was routinely criticized as not being clutch came through when they needed to, outscoring the Celtics 55-31 during the 4th quarter and overtime periods of the final two games of the series.

The Miami Heat weren’t passed the torch of Eastern Conference supremacy last week – they ripped it from the Celtics’ old, dead hands.

Most of you don’t want to admit it. Maybe you still have some lingering resentment over “The Decision” (sponsored by Vitamin Water).

We can all agree that it was a poorly managed affair, spearheaded in part by Maverick Carter, who appears to have learned everything he knows about sports management from watching the first two seasons of “Arli$$” on DVD.

But who can blame LeBron for jumping at the chance to go to Miami? As a 26-year-old man, he gets paid an obscene amount of money to work with his friends during the day, and spend his down time enjoying the pleasures of South Beach.  If that’s not the American Dream, then it’s pretty darn close.

That being said, the situation this summer could have been handled better.  10 months later, James realized the error of his ways and apologized for the debacle that was “The Decision” (sponsored by Vitamin Water).  By that time, Cavs’ owner Dan Gilbert was done penning missives in Comic Sans font, and busy sifting through the wreckage of a 19-63 season.

Perhaps you’re one of those still upset at the welcoming party/concert announcing the formation of the so-called “3 Kings.”  Shortly after signing the contracts that made their partnership official, James and Wade and Bosh proceeded to pose and preen and peacock their way through the American Airlines arena as they were greeted like rock stars by thousands of adoring Heat fans.

After the laser show ended and the last of the confetti fell from the ceiling, LeBron James made his now infamous “not one, not two, not three…” championship boast, predicting untold success for his new team.

Cocky?  Maybe a little.  But if their recent success is any indication, James might not have been too far off. 

And that bothers you.

It bothers you because your favorite squad probably can’t go the “superteam” route.  I’ve since reconciled the fact that barring an Act of God, my team of choice – the Philadelphia 76ers – can’t come close to a title in the foreseeable future.  I’ve accepted the Sixers’ place in the hierarchy of the NBA and have since moved on.

It might be hard for some people to come to grips with, but the reality is this: for the next few years, the fate of the Eastern Conference – and perhaps the entire NBA – lies in the hands of the Miami Heat.

Back in March, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra mentioned that a couple of his players were crying after the team lost its fourth game in a row.

It’s likely that this summer – and for several summers to come – there will be tears shed in the Miami locker room for an entirely different reason. This time, those tears will be dried with a T-shirt declaring the Miami Heat as the champions of the NBA.

Be mad.

***************

Roy Burton of The Broad Street Line, for War Room Sports

Roy Burton is one of the hosts of “The Broad Street Line”, a weekly sports podcast on Blog Talk Radio (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/broadstreet).  He also serves as a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, and is a contributing writer for several other websites as well.  You can follow him on Twitter at @thebsline.

“He’s the best player in the world, and he may not even be the best player on his team!”
– Dan LeBatard on LeBron James

 

Lebron Scores 10 Straight to Close Out the Celtics: Is That Clutch Enough for You?

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

By Brandon Pemberton

All throughout the regular season, people have questioned the Miami Heat’s ability to close out games and they had a legitimate case.  At one point during the season the Heat had one of the bottom 5 records in the league in games decided by five points or less.  Countless times they were unable to hold leads in the fourth quarter and down the stretch most of the shots were taken by Lebron James.

When the Heat decided to bring the trio of Dwyane Wade, Lebron James, and Chris Bosh together, everyone fed into the instant hype and said they would threaten the Bulls 72-win season from the 95-96 campaign.  I knew they had talent but it would take time to mesh and I really didn’t like their bench on paper.  They had a problem early in the season winning games against the top teams in the league and even had a moment after a tough loss where Head Coach Erik Spoelstra said “there were plenty of emotions in the locker room, and some crying”.

Well it’s the playoffs and they are playing their best basketball at the right time and have won their first two rounds of the playoffs each in five games.  D-Wade has taken his fair share of shots down the stretch and has closed games, and James has made some timely shots to close games as well.  At this point of the season the Heat clearly have it figured out and with the Lakers knocked out of the playoffs, Miami is the clear favorite to win the whole thing, in my eyes.

In games four and five, Lebron James hit shots in the clutch that finished the Celtics off.  In game four, Lebron scored 11 straight points for his team to send the game into overtime.  And in the series clinching game five with the scored tied at 87-87 with 2:33 left to play, James scored his team’s final ten points and sent Boston home for the summer.

Lebron James and the Heat are now four games away from playing in the NBA Finals and four more away from hanging a banner in the rafters.  There is plenty of Lebron and Heat hate going around, but Ray Charles could see that they are clearly the favorite to win it all and the excellent play of Lebron James is the reason why.  People, put the hate to the side and just watch this man play.  Prospectively, there is nothing he can’t do on the court and it’s not hard for me to say that he is now the best player in the league.

Brandon Pemberton, Blogger for War Room Sports

Not everyone dislikes the NBA trend of “Superteaming”

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

“Superteamin”

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

Since we spoke about the business side of sports on the October 14th episode of  The War Room (the best Marshall Faulkin sports show on the web PERIOD), I figured I’d address something that I believe will be very bad for NBA business in the coming years.  We all know about the drama and eventual backlash from Lebron’s “decision” this summer.  But “punk move” aside, I think this move will start a trend that will ultimately prove cancerous for NBA business.  Here’s how most people I’ve talked to look at this…”This is great for the NBA because people are talking about the league during the offseason and eagerly anticipating the season”, blah, blah, blah.  That is such a shortsighted view.  Here’s how I see it…Many teams in the NBA, and players for that matter, are already unwatchable.  The league needs to be contracted and not continually expanded, as it has been for the past two decades.  In a 24 hour span, Chris Bosh and Lebron James effectively and instantly made two more NBA teams completely unwatchable.  Cleveland WILL…not might, but WILL end a streak of Quicken Loans Arena sell-outs maintained during the Lebron James era.  Toronto on the other hand, wasn’t the most watchable team in the league to begin with, but the only reason we may have had to ever tune in to a Raptors game is now gone.

Because of the recent “Heat wave” in Miami, we already have other superstars such as Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, and maybe Amare Stoudemire contemplating “superteaming” up to form their own version of Voltron in New York.  This will certainly put the pressure on other superstars to follow suit in order to compete.  Where would this leave a league already in need of contraction?…already filled with sub-NBA-quality talent?…already full of teams and players that NOBODY wants to watch?  With all of the league’s FEW superstars eventually ending up on 3 or 4 teams, what does that do to even the POSSIBILITY of parity in the NBA?  With Lebron and Bosh bolting now, and CP3 and Melo’s escape from self-perceived “purgatory” most likely on the horizon for next year (if they don’t force trades THIS YEAR), how will Cleveland, Toronto, Denver, and New Orleans even come close to filling their buildings?  The only chance that a VERY high percentage of NBA teams have of selling out their arenas this year and in years moving forward, is when the Lakers, Heat, Celtics, and MAYBE Magic and Thunder come to town.  What MANY fans and even some NBA officials fail to understand is that a huge buzz for this NBA season isn’t a great buzz if people are only buzzing about two teams.

In conclusion, with players having the absolute right to “superteam” up if they so choose, there is really nothing that can be done about this budding trend.  All we can hope…those of us who care of course…is that the REST OF the cream of the NBA crop would develop a higher level of pride than that shown from the “best player on the planet”.     

 

 Devin “Dev” McMillan of The War Room, for War Room Sports