The Heat got in front of their home crowd, Dwyane Wade had 42 points and 13 boards, David Stern threatened to fire any official who made a call against Shaq, Gary Payton, of all people, made a clutch jumper … and the Heat needed a major comeback to squeak out a win against the Mavs and get back in the series.
J.E. Skeets at The Basketball Jones has been telling anyone who would listen that Wade was going to do that last night. And lo, he did. And I really think that’s the only hope Miami had of a winning a game in this series. It happened, and they did. The good news for the Heat is that they have the next two games in their own building as well, for some completely absurd reason.
Dwyane Wade’s incredible… and, you know, he does a lot of things that are otherwordly, but I’m particularly impressed with some of his shot blocks. He gets up there, and he does so quickly and with a purpose. I don’t know if there’s ever been another guard quite like that, at least at that size. I have a theory that Dwyane Wade could start at center for a lot of NBA teams and be an upgrade. He just knows how to protect the rim. That last-second play that the Mavs ran? Almost a brilliant play for the Mavs, but Dwyane was there. He did what it took. Very few other guards in the league would’ve made that play, and the ones who would have are all 6’5″ or taller.
And for those of you concerned about Antoine Walker’s shot count… it was a healthy 17. I guess that’s the other good thing for the Heat… Antoine is happy and getting his looks. I think that’s important. You’ve got to feed your stars. He took just 9 fewer shots than Dwyane Wade, and Wade outscored him by 30. And third on the shot list for the Heat was Jason Williams with 11, which I think is a little too low. I really wish he and Antoine would take over some more games… Pat Riley needs the ball in the hands of the Heat’s most important two guys: Antoine Walker and Jason Williams.
lopey
fuck, i went to sleep with 8 minutes left. terrific timing on my part.
June 14, 2006 at 8:39 am
Dave's Football Blog
Miami Heat fans are CREEPY. They look like Team Scientology with all those white shirts in the stands. I can’t go for that.
June 14, 2006 at 10:28 am
E
topey, I feel your pain, I fell asleep a minute of two into the 4th quarter. I wonder how many people on the east coast saw the 4th quarter, which will probably wind up being the best quarter of the series. I’m a pretty big basketball fan and I know its the finals, but think about the situation: Mavs up 2-0, up 9 going into the 4th qtr and completely dominating to this point. 4th qtr starts at 11:30 pm EST. I tried to watch but with fading interest couldn’t stay up. What a joke.
June 14, 2006 at 11:11 am
fredwilo
At least Williams and Walker make up for their shot selection with terrific defensive skills. I think that was it for the Heat — I don’t see them winning another game….
June 14, 2006 at 1:40 pm
The Dude
A perfect post, MJD. No one else is talking about D-Wade’s shot blocking abilities. That play at the end (pictured above) was brilliant and saved the game. Just another dimention to his awesome talents. Thanks for pointing it out. And yes, we do need to get our most important players involved. Toine and J-Will need their touches goddammit!!
And I agree with Dave that we look like a creepy space cult all dressed in white. But hey — they gave out t-shirts at the entrance, so I was all, sure, I’ll drink the Kool-Aid. Free stuff is cool.
June 14, 2006 at 6:01 pm
Rex
The earliest the NBA has started their games in recent years (and I mean dating back to the 80s) was 8:30 back in 2003. The 2003 Finals ended up with the lowest ratings ever, so I’d guess that the NBA is sticking with 9:00 starts deep into the next century.
June 14, 2006 at 8:25 pm
alex
the thing with walker isnt just that he takes a lot of shots, he takes them at un-be-lie-vably dumb times. i can’t remember ever seeing a player who would jack up threes like that right at the beginning of a fresh 24…there must have been three times in the fourth quarter last night where the heat got a loose ball or an offensive rebound, and antoine just outright bricked a three before the shot clock hit 20 instead of working the ball around to wade or i dont know, working it in to fuckin SHAQUILLE O’NEAL maybe.
when he plays smart he’s capable…still painful to watch but he gets it done. unfortunately he plays smart like 1/10 of the time. it’s too bad they dont have him playing like he did when he got traded back to the C’s…he was playing the post and rebounding like hell and making smart passes and playing solid D. he plays like that, he’s a (very) poor man’s charles barkley. playing like he is now, he’s a taller, chubbier damon jones.
anyway i hope the rest of the series is as good as last night’s game was. fuckin sweet game.
June 14, 2006 at 9:38 pm