NBA rules state that in order for any team to win a championship, they must win 16 games. The Miami Heat have only won eight, which would put them half way there. With that being said, the celebrations that took place last night after defeating the Boston Celtics in five games seemed pre-mature for a team that hasn’t even made it to the NBA Finals yet. As Lebron James mentioned during his post-game interview last night, “The Celtics set the blueprint. I couldn’t beat them by myself in Cleveland. They are the reason we [James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh] got together.” This wasn’t Lebron’s sole defense to explain his actions of screaming like he conquered the Persian army and overzealous hugging of teammates on the court after the Game 5 win, but is there really any justification to explain his and other's actions?
Any individual that has followed the game of basketball in the NBA in the past five years would agree of the significance of the last night’s game as Wade and James finally accomplished defeating a team that sent them packing home early numerous times in the playoffs. The only thing is it was only the Conference Semifinals, not the Finals. The Heat still have two more rounds to play if they would like stand on a platform and take the official title of “NBA Champions.” When and if they do this, then those celebrations would be called for.
As the Heat finally jumped the hurdle and beat the No. 3 seeded Celtics, there are a multitude of concerns for arguably America's most hated team as they enter the Eastern Conference Championship. The biggest of these issues is which Big 3 is going to show up. Will it be the struggling regular season trio that failed to close out games and share the ball or will it be the explosive and exciting triad that has cruised their way to the Eastern Conference and showed team chemistry as if they’ve been playing for several years together? It will be interesting to see which group shows up because the Heat can only rely on their bench so much.
This brings me to my next point which is the Heat’s bench production. To say that the Heat have no type of supporting cast shows complete ignorance. Their role players currently just have not shown up on a consistent basis. Remind you it’s also unfair to criticize any member outside of Big 3 on the Heat because they aren’t making shots. Wade, Bosh and James all have had their share of struggles during the regular season(alot if I may add), so what makes anyone think that anyone other than them can’t struggle. Mario Chalmers and Mike Bibby both are good offensive point guards who are just having trouble with knocking down their shots. This could also come from them being out of rhythm and being unsure of when to shoot or pass. In addition to shooters, you can’t ask for a better one than James Jones. His primary job is to shoot jump shots and can provide a spark for the team if he plays similar to how he played in Game 1 against Boston by scoring 25 points.
The last question that is posed to this organization is who takes the last shot; who is the top sheriff in town? Though Lebron scored the final 10 points last night during the fourth-quarter run away against Boston, it is obvious who played better throughout the whole game: Wade. Wade easily slashed apart the Celtics defense throughout the game, but it was King James who held the rock in the final minutes. It looks as if Lebron is going to get his regardless and fails to acknowledge who’s county[Wade County] it is. I have no problem with the shots he took last night as he was in the zone, but the shot selection in closing seconds still seems to be a controversy. Just keep an eye out for it next round as superstar duo of James and Wade may bump heads especially if they’re both not playing well. Who will shot the ball then? Bosh?
At the end of the day, the Heat still have two rounds left to play and this championship won’t be given to them just because they beat Boston. Their win over the Celtics was important, but not more important than getting to the Finals. The joy that was shown may have been a little out of line, so I pose this question to my readers: What if the Dallas Mavericks celebrated like this after sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers? Would it be okay, or this not a good analogy? The Lakers were the defending champions and voted most likely to win the championship this year…Hmmmmmm. I think Dirk Nowitzki should of dougied and cat daddied (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWZwLCKyR1Q) in center court on the Mavericks’ logo during the Game 4 win.
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