sad nazgul 2

What a painful, winless weekend for the Super Friends of South Beach.

From ESPN Stats and Information:

One day after blowing a 24-point lead in a loss to the Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat were again embarrassed, this time in San Antonio. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and company lost 125-95 to the Spurs on Friday. It's the Heat's worst loss of the season and the second-most points they've allowed. The Spurs set a franchise record with 17 3-pointers en route to their 22nd straight home win.

Miami falls to 1-8 this season against the Bulls, Celtics, Lakers, Mavericks and Spurs. That one win came against the Lakers on Christmas Day, but there have been no presents since then against the league's top teams and the schedule doesn't get easier. The Heat play their next eight games against teams currently above .500.

The Heat entered the game with a 43-18 record. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it's the first time in almost two years that a team that many games over .500 lost a game by 30 or more points. Cleveland beat the [Kevin Garnett-less] Celtics by 31 points on April 12, 2009. Boston entered the game with a 60-19 record.
Also from ESPN Stats and Information:

If you watched SportsCenter, you probably heard the stat -- the Heat are now 1-for-18 this season in the final 10 seconds of regulation when trailing by three points or fewer. But that's not the only troublesome number to come out of this game.

The Bulls completely took away Miami’s isolation offense, holding the Heat to 1-for-7 shooting on plays where a potential shooter is isolated against his defender. The Heat typically score 13 points per game on such plays, according to video review, but the Bulls held them to just three points on Sunday.

And although Chris Bosh was 9-for-14 from the field, he struggled again against Joakim Noah. Bosh was 3-for-8 from the field when Noah was the primary defender against him. In the last two games against the Bulls, Bosh is 4-for-14 when Noah is guarding him.

One other nugget related to the Heat's 1-for-18 in "crunch time." James' former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, may not be having the best season, but they are 5-for-11 in similar situations in 2010-11.
And now the quotes:

Chris Bosh:

"When you put your heart and your soul, your blood, your sweat, your tears into something and you want something so bad and it just slips from you by one point, two points, three points, 30 points, just to come up short again and again, it hurts."
Dwyane Wade:

"Outside, the Miami Heat are exactly what everyone wanted, losing games. The world is better now since the Heat is losing."
LeBron James:

"I told my team, I'm not going to continue to fail late in games. I put a lot of blame on myself tonight. I told the guys that I just keep failing them late in games and I won't continue to do that."
Yeah, well, what about that "potential game-winning shot," LeBron? I mean, a running, left-handed, contested layup attempt flung over a seven-footer?

"I had a step on Joakim and I knew he was going to try to use his length to block the shot. I've made plenty of left-hand layups over bigs before."
I guess that makes it all okay then. But what about D-Wade? I mean, this was his team, right? Why are his crunch-time touches coming from offensive rebounds instead of plays featuring his number? What do you think, Dwyane?

"I'm used to coming down in the fourth, having the ball, making mistakes, getting a chance to make up for them, etc. You try to do your best. That's all you can do. That was one of the things we got to understand when we all decided to come together. That there were going to be sacrifices that have to be made. And you live with the consequences."
Interpret that as you will.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra:

"This is painful for every single one of us to go through this, there are couple of guys crying in the locker room right now, it is not a matter of want."
Crying? Crying?!

Okay. The crying thing may be true. And, honestly, it's not as shameful as some people are making it out to be. But you don't out your players for weeping because of a loss. Not after a regular season game in March. I think coach 'Spo knows that. Or he should have known it. I get what he was trying to show how much his players care about winning. But what he actually did was emasculate and embarrass them in from of the world.

From the Palm Beach Post Heat Zone blog:

Oh, that's not good. Players didn't seem thrilled that Spoelstra said this, especially when reporters began probing to learn the identities of the weepy. I understand what Spoelstra was trying to do, but it will just come off that his team is soft. For the record, Chris Bosh said he was close but didn't cry, and Dwyane Wade (who was more emotional than usual) took umbrage to the question.
From Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times:

After a loss to the Bulls on Sunday, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said "a couple of guys" were crying in the locker room.

For his sake, I hope it was the Big Three of the trainer, the ballboy and the physical therapist. If Spoelstra has players crying after a game in early March, I can't imagine what he’s going to encounter in the locker room when the Bulls beat the Heat in the playoffs.

Actually, yes, I can. It will look like an audience that just finished watching "The Notebook."

There is nothing wrong with crying. Speaker of the House John Boehner is an inveterate crier. People cry on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" all the time.

But NBA players after a loss in March? Really?

If so, the Bulls can cross the Heat off their to-do list. Now, if they can only figure out what activates the Celtics’ sprinkler system.
Now, in the interest of fairness, Rod Benson provides some much-needed perspective to the "crying" thing. A player's perspective.

These guys care. They care a lot, actually. Yes, they care what people think. They care that their legacies are on the line. They care about the city of Miami. They care about the NBA. They even care about you, their haters. How do I know they care? Because I know how much you have to care to cry after a loss.

Let's look at this as if The Decision had never happened, shall we? Three superstars are willing to each give up a part of their stardom, and give up a part of their money, in order to try to win a championship. This is pretty high on the basketball sacrifice scale. Then they have to each change their games and learn how to play with one another, taking a huge gamble in the process, in order to take their games to the next level. Each of them will have to do things they've never done before.

They took a risk and now, they're actually kind of successful. A contender? Not for me to call, but certainly not a group of bumbling idiots trying to learn to cope with themselves like the cast of "The Wizard of Oz."

LeBron James has to get courage, Dwyane Wade a brain, and Chris Bosh some heart? And this crying, especially by Bosh, is supposed to show that they're too weak for the task? All of this because they lost four games in a row?

Think about it like this: Jay Cutler showed no emotion when he was forced to sit out and watch his team lose in the NFC Championship. People chastised him for not caring. So why do the flip the script and treat these grown men like little girls for doing the opposite? Take your pick: either it's just a game, a job, a business, and it's devoid of emotion, or it's something more. It's something like love. When it's great, nothing can make you happier, and when it's bad nothing can be worse in the world. Don't you wish every athlete had that? There are a lot of guys who will never have it. Some of them are the best players on your favorite team right now. Sorry to break it to you. You have to at least give it to the Heat for that.
Whatever the case, something's wrong. After 63 games, the Heat are 43-20. Last year, the Cavaliers were 49-14 after 63 games. Back then, LeBron was teamed up with a bunch of bums, right? The team's failures weren't his fault. They were the fault of management for not supplying a better supporting cast. They were the fault of his teammates for not being good enough. Now he's got an MVP-level teammate and another All-Star getting his back.

So if the Cavaliers failed because LeBron didn't have better teammates -- specifically a secondary scorer to take the pressure off of him -- what's his excuse this time? Basketball's statocracy tell us King Crab is the best basketball player in the world. The numbers don't lie. They can't lie.

Why, then, can't the Heat beat good teams? Why can't they close games?

I don't feel entirely comfortable making player comparisons. But I imagine Larry Bird or Michael Jordan in similar circumstances. Sitting in the locker room in steely-eyed silence. Teammates avoiding their raptor-like gaze. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm suffering recall bias, but I don't remember K.C. Jones or Pat Riley ever say that the Celtics or Lakers were weeping after a big loss that wasn't a playoff elimination. I do remember Bird calling his teammates sissies and hearing that post-loss practices were so intense they bordered on hostile.

Machismo is overrated. It really is. But if you had to bet your chips on a team to come back from losing, would you bet on the team that gets pissed off and looks like they want to kill somebody (maybe even each other), or the team that's moping around, whining about the world being against them, and maybe crying? That's not a judgement. I'm asking an honest question.

Labels: ,

46 Comments:
Blogger chris said...
They care about the NBA.

Really, Rod?

They care about the Association?

Well, they care about the player's union, and their agents' take, but the fans of said Association are kinda far down that list, and ownership is the "bad guy" unless they orchestrate a Superfriends pairing.

Of which Chris Bosh isn't even worthy of being called "Wonder Dog."

Anonymous Adrian said...
For what it's worth, how about looking over at woj's post and seeing how James sort of blunders again even while trying to sort things out? "my team", he mentions.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Btw, if the anonymous commenter who supplied today's graphis is in the house, I'll give you a hat tip if you give me a name / alias.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
The way everyone is talking now, it seems like the bulls are a sure thing to kick miami's ass in the playoffs.
I don't know if i can agree with that yet...
Who else is not on the rose-bandwagon yet?

Blogger dearly anonymous said...
FYI, last season, Cleveland was 49-15 after 63 games (03/05/2010). You posted 49-4 which is 53 games.

Blogger stephanie g said...
Men are only allowed to show two emotions: anger and lust. Anything else and you may as well pull the string out.

As much fun as it is to hate on LeBron and Bosh, I'm actually disappointed in Wade. Maybe my expectations were off, but I thought he'd be the only real leader of the group behind the scenes. I thought LeBron was more of a buddy buddy kinda guy, what with all the pre-game rituals, dancing, laughing, and pantomiming, and that Wade would be the first to smack him in the face with a rolled up newspaper when he insisted on ISOing the crab or whatever he does out there. It's his team, afterall...but it seems like he totally abdicated his responsibilities. Or maybe it's management's decision, which is why he seems so aloof to me. He seems to have a "fuck it, whatever" attitude.

And I don't know if it's LeBron or physical decline, but Wade seems to be losing it on the court a lot too. Can't even finish layups. Sulks after not getting the call. Trots up the court. His jumper used to be really good and he'd finish with authority. Not anymore.

Also after this team blows up I want to read a tell all book. Why is their offense so godawful? Is it Spo? LeBron? Both? The fact that LeBron and Bosh's efficiency are down, and LeBron and Wade's turnovers are up despite less ballhandling responsibilities, and the fact their offense is predicated on ISOing all day does violence to basketball common sense!

Blogger Dan said...
http://www.cleveland.com/movies/index.ssf/2011/03/who_is_clevelands_ultimate_vil.html

Poll on who Cleveland's ultimate villain is. LeBron's only in second so far!

Blogger Paul said...
What was that Lebron tweet a while ago, "I'm taking notes" or something like that?

Today might be as good as day to remember our best Lebron quotes and tweets of the year, kinda like the Charlee Sheen post lol

BTW, I'm very curious to find out what team will be suckered into giving Z. Randolph a fat contract this or next season.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
FYI, last season, Cleveland was 49-15 after 63 games (03/05/2010). You posted 49-4 which is 53 games.

This is as good a time to mention that the "1" on my keyboard doesn't always work, which is why the "1" has been getting left off of some numbers lately. Should've been 49-14. Fixed now.

Anonymous Patrick said...
"...but certainly not a group of bumbling idiots trying to learn to cope with themselves like the cast of "The Wizard of Oz."

I'm guessing this *won't* be the new NBA promo: "Certainly not a bunch of bumbling idiots."

@ stephanie g: "Men are only allowed to show two emotions: anger and lust. Anything else and you may as well pull the string out."

Indeed - the trouble is, it leads first to an unhealthy amount of both, and next to an unhealthy lack of both. I think Spolestra is a real idiot for saying that to the press.

Its not machismo. MJ didn't prance around on stage with Scottie and Toni pronouncing how many titles the Bulls would win after they signed Dennis Rodman. Larry Joe was too busy working on his game to spend his free time becoming a 'global icon'.

Ball Don't Lie had an interesting column from the Sloan Conference about Jeff Van Gundy and Darryl Morey bemoaning how a lack of practice and focus led to the fall of Tracy McGrady. I recommend reading the full article so you too can get a hearty gut laugh when the author argues that Knee-Mac and Wince Carter are borderline Hall of Famers.

It does lead to a larger point, though: Like McGrady and Iverson, King Crab doesn't feel the need to work on the flaws in his game. If the team failed, it was because of Mike Brown or Danny Ferry or Eric Spoelstra or how he himself wasn't 'better' enough. After sleepwalking to the gold in Beijing, all he felt he needed was a couple of his wingmen to make titles fall from the sky. Not developing his offensive leadership beyond pounding a hole at the top of the key for twenty seconds, not working on his post game, not actively working to truly make his teammates better outside of no-look passes and drawing double-teams. Oh no. He's Lebron James, bitch, and his Momma and Dru Joyce gave him everything he needs to be the next MJ - just ask him.

And now he has a fellow believer in his cower forward. And after years of bitching to Riley that he never had any supporting cast of his own, Dwayne Wade can't watch the ending of Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory without calling Gene Wilder a damn dirty liar. Miami's King Crab's team now, and it should be no surprise that a team lead by a highly talented amateur is looking up in the standings to the dedicated professionals in Boston, Chicago, LA, and San Antonio.

@Dan: For all his faults, King Crab will never displace Art Modell as this city's greatest villain. The Cadavers are bad, but its still a lot better than having no Cadavers at all.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
And I don't know if it's LeBron or physical decline, but Wade seems to be losing it on the court a lot too. Can't even finish layups. Sulks after not getting the call. Trots up the court. His jumper used to be really good and he'd finish with authority. Not anymore.

Out of curiosity, I checked some of Wade's numbers on Hoopdata.

This Year versus Last Year:

At the rim: 64.5% versus 67.0%
3-9 Feet: 50.9% versus 47.1%
10-15 Feet: 43.3% versus 34.0%
16-23 Feet: 37.0% versus 36.0%
Threes: eFG% of 47.0 versus 44.9

So although he's converting fewer of his shots at the rim, but his jump shooting has actually improved.

Interestingly, his FT% has dropped from 76% to 73%. But that's not an athletic decline.

Additionally, his advanced metrics stayed pretty steady (his shooting percentages have risen slightly).

To be completely honest, I think what we're seeing is a change in mentality. This used to be His Team and he was The Man. When the going got tough, he took the ball and tried to ram it down the opposition's throat. Now he kind of hangs back. Sometimes defers, sometimes doesn't, never looks fully comfortable or 100 percent invested.

Look, the same thing happens in pickup. If you're the best guy on your team, you go at it harder. If you shoot up new teams and you have one or two guys as good as you are, or almost as good, you let down a little, don't push as hard, start looking for them 'cause you feel like you have to.

He doesn't have the same, "Now I've gotta go kill it" attitude he used to. Neither does LeBron. It happens in spurts. But it's not constant. Which is what they wanted, right? They joined forces because, frankly, they were tired of always laboring under the burden of being The Man. They still haven't adjusted to being a team in tougher situations. Obviously, against crummy teams, their talent is just too overwhelming.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Eh, ABC showed Heat were 1-14 before the end of yesterday's Chicago game, which of course turned into 1-16. They also had a sticky 1 key, saying the Rockets were 2-5 at 13%, so w/e.

Blogger The Sports Hayes said...
The fall of the Miami Heat should be a documentary for every little league basketball player in the world.

This is what happens when you stop practicing (was Iverson ever the same after that tirade?), never learn how to take responsibility for your own actions and when you fail in life.

I know baseball is the game of failure, but in any sport you are judged more by how you deal with failure.

Larry Bird got swept out of the 1983 playoffs and said he was going to work harder than ever, resulting in 3 straight MVP's and the 84 Finals MVP. Magic Johnson on the other side of the 84 Finals got pissed when the Celtics won, bettered himself and won the Finals the very next year.

If the Bulls or Celtics knock off the Heat, why do I see more finger pointing from the "big 3" instead of spending the entire summer and fall in the gym working on their game like Magic and Larry?

Anonymous The Nightbringer said...
Mr. Bawful-

At what address can we submit images to you or the other posters for use in your articles?

Blogger Lord Kerrance said...
As much as I am a Heat Hater, I can't help but feel it's a little early to be throwing phrases like "The Fall Of The Heat" around yet. What if a bunch of ring-chasing vets rotate into the support roles? What if the Heat's chemistry improves next year?

I can only hope I'm stat-cursing here, but I think this team is capable of winning a championship within 5 years.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Coach Spo probably tried to pull off a Phil Jackson by calling on the players in the public. What he doesn't realize is his players egos are much larger than their will to sacrifice and WIN. MJ and Kobe? They also have tremendously self-centric characters. But MJ tried to satisfy that by winning and doing whatever means necessary. Kobe, on the other hand, was smart enough to learn from his mistakes in mid 2000's and got to respect PJax. He eventually maintained the status of being "the Man", WHILE trying to be a part of the team.

Los Crabs on the other hand? Well, I agree with "Madre Hill,Superstar" completely. King Crab is a very gifted wannabe public icon who flounders to use big words, but can not have the balls it takes when the going gets tough. The games are won during team practices, not by pregame rituals, or ESPN 1h specials. Ditto the Posh. They are nothing but attention whores. If you call out people like these two sore losers in public, they will dig your grave behind you. They are the kind of players who hold grudges against their coaches if criticized. Especially when they think they are more valuable than the coach himself.

I really used to respect Wade. However, he lost his team now. It looks like he is on the band wagon, and doesn't give a fuck about who holds the reigns.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
KHayes666 - "If the Bulls or Celtics knock off the Heat, why do I see more finger pointing from the "big 3" instead of spending the entire summer and fall in the gym working on their game like Magic and Larry?"

Because of shit like this.

...and this too I guess.

Anonymous kazam92 said...
I pretty much agree with this post and the comments. A perplexing issue is about the coaching. Dwyane Wade and co do NOT want Pat Riley here to coach. When you go into "why" you realize, Riley had the most brutal practices. So is it that they don't "want it" that much? And I don't wanna say Spo is a good young coach, or a useless piece of shit with tired rhetoric that masks his inability to control his team. I just don't know with him anymore.


This team is sad man. They are mentally broken. To be fair, players 4-12 have been just awful the past 2 months. You wonder if it is in their heads moreso than the stars. Seeing shooter miss important wide open shots is just painful (sans Super Mario Chalmers surprisingly).

Heat's next 6 games are all playoff teams, and if they don't get their shit together, they are looking at a 10 game L streak. Unthinkable at one point. The LOLphins look more appealing to me and we may not even have football.

Blogger chris said...
I can only hope I'm stat-cursing here, but I think this team is capable of winning a championship within 5 years.

IF they don't win it this year, it already confirms at least one thing: This was not the instant-72-win-squad that so many media wags predicted them to be.

And that is a lifetime of satisfaction, IF it happens.

Whenever I hear the "THEY TAKE TIME TO BUILD CHEMISTRY" types of replies, I think, didn't the 2007-08 Celtics develop chemistry within seconds? Weren't they looking for rings too? What's different, other than competitive fire?

Blogger chris said...
AnacondaHL: AMAZING comment on the second link you posted -

When the heat said "Big 3" I didnt think it would be how many losses they would have to the Bulls.
thechad708 22 hours ago


:D

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
The difference in chemistry was starting with Rondo and Perkins instead of Beasley and Joel Anthony. In addition to all the other things obviously.

Blogger chris said...
Meanwhile...

A couple of good articles at SactownRoyalty providing small glimmers of hope:

Derailing Anaheim: A Flowchart

Warriors ownership opposes the move - despite the fact that they stand to gain extra TV territory if the Purple Paupers were to go south!

Blogger chris said...
The difference in chemistry was starting with Rondo and Perkins instead of Beasley and Joel Anthony. In addition to all the other things obviously.

It says a lot that "Not-quite-reached-his-potential-yet" Rondo is quite the improvement over Joel Anthony, Beasley, Bibby, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
"Hey, Shaq said that team partied like motherfuckers every night and still won a championship for Miami, we can too!"

Blogger Basketbawful said...
At what address can we submit images to you or the other posters for use in your articles?

basketbawful@yahoo.com

Anonymous Ian said...
The Heat are looking terrible right now, but really, no mention whatsoever of the Lakers absolutely bending the Spurs over? They showed them yesterday that when they use their size and actually play defense that nobody in the league can hang with LA. Bynum was having a monster night down there in boards.

Blogger chris said...
AnacondaHL: It's probably this kind of party.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
As a Laker fan and someone taking a perverse amount of glee in the Heat's struggles, I have to concur with the above poster who said it's too early to be talking about "the fall of the Heat".

If we learned anything from last year it's that the regular season is ultimately meaningless. The Celtics barely broke .500 over the last half of last season and the Lakers (quite literally looking at Kobe) limped in also. We all know what happened next. I'm not willing to write off the Heat for the next few years and I'm not even willing to write them off for THIS year. They should have won this game against the Bulls and they clearly should have won the game against Orlando.

They'll turn it around eventually. Probably won't be this year. Maybe not even next year. But Lebron has 3-4 peak years left. You gotta figure he'll cash at least one of those in.

Blogger Paul said...
@Kazam92
I can't really emphasize how much I wish the Heat organization were so down on themselves as you seem to be on them.
As much as I want to continue laughing about your team's failures it is still a fact that the heat is 43 and 20 this season and with just little luck and cooler heads we could be talking about a legitimate contender.

Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the tears, the drama the finger pointing, absolutely every fucking thing!
The thing is though, all of the Heat's struggles reside on very fixable issues.
Most championship caliber teams are able to work those kind of things in time for the play offs.

So here I'm hoping the Chemistry gap between James and Wade only widens as the season goes and that Spoelstra keeps making stupid statements about his players all the way to the end of the season.
It wont be until the Heat gets knocked off the first round of the play offs that I will be able to laugh comfortably.
Until then I will just watch calmly and so should you.

I hope that cheered you up a little.

Anonymous D. Highmore said...
Shit, if it's going to be that kind of party, I'm going to stick my dick in the mashed potato.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Beasley's not in miami btw :-P

Anonymous Stockton said...
Shaq, and Kobe were FA magnets!!!
I don't think LeBron qualifies as that... I don't see many guys WANTING to play for ElBron. Because, bottom line, is the issue: role players play for their leader. LeCrab is not a leader. Can he become one, is the question.

Blogger Unknown said...
This is probobly nitpicking to the point of should not be mentioned, but on that last play when Lebron drove against Noah - when the plays start he dribbles near the half court while his back is turned to the camera. It seems like there was a blatant double dribble/palming or something. It just seemed out of rhythm. Seem that way to anyone at all?

Blogger Math2 said...
I love the fact that I told many people where I live the Heat would fail, but no one believed me.

Anonymous Aaron said...
Couldn't the Heat players cry because they were so concerned about the backlash and criticism? Nothing to do with they care, nothing to do with they were upset about their loss, just that they can't deal with the pundits?

Blogger Basketbawful said...
The Heat are looking terrible right now, but really, no mention whatsoever of the Lakers absolutely bending the Spurs over? They showed them yesterday that when they use their size and actually play defense that nobody in the league can hang with LA. Bynum was having a monster night down there in boards.

Yeah. I started a Dishonorable Mention section for the Spurs and the Knicks (who are now 0-3 against the Cadavers this season) but ran outta time.

Blogger Paul said...
Yeah. I started a Dishonorable Mention section for the Spurs and the Knicks (who are now 0-3 against the Cadavers this season) but ran outta time.

Laker fan here, but I'm glad you didn't find the time to accommodate the Spurs into your post.
Every team is entitled to 1 or 2 very bad nights in a 82 game long season.
Plus, the Spurs -as opposed to the Heat- are not the kind of team that gets all hung about having their asses handed to them in early March. I'm sure Pop and his boys were already planning for the the next game mid way through the 2nd quarter of that Laker game.

I'm also hoping the Lakers aren't looking past Atlanta on Tuesday as they prepare for their Christmas day rematch with the Heat.

BTW, great week of basketball. Lakers, Magic, Bulls, Heat, Spurs all going through the roughest parts of their schedules and paying visits to one another.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Anon - "Beasley's not in miami btw :-P"

I hope you weren't trollin the Miami fans, because I obviously already knew this. You remember he was drafted 2nd overall behind Rose? And in front of Mayo, Love, Westbrook, Gallinari, Gordon, Augustin, B. Lopez; all except Joe Alexander in the top 10 of that draft turned out arguably better.

Meanwhile, the Celtics struck gold with their Rondo pick 2 years earlier at 21. So yes my point was, beyong chemistry and luck acquiring a big 3, the Celtics turned out well because their 4 and 5 and 6 turned out leagues better than Miami's, who had a lottery pick so bad they traded him for cap space.

Blogger Caleb Smith said...
My feelings about the Heat: I could not care any freaking less about the Heat.

I also have to say that I hate all the people patting themselves on the back saying they *knew* this was going to happen to the heat. No, you didn't. Even if you had... so what?

Anonymous Sam Steel said...
RonRon on superfriends:
"I think it is good to cry. I think it is good to let things out. In my psychology sessions sometimes I cry with my therapist. We cry and we hug each other. We hold each other and we talk."

Priceless.
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2011/03/07/20110307_artest_mia_cry.nba/

PS: Long time reader, first time poster. Great blog!

Anonymous Sam Steel said...
Later in the same video...
RonRon:
"I hope they hugged them, I would have hugged them, and get some icecream."

This like Santa in Disneyland on Vicodin. Love it!

Anonymous Marc d. said...
D. Highmore: Well played, sir

Anonymous Anonymous said...
I real feel like RonRon wasn't talking out his arse here. I can just picture, him and Kobe getting ice cream and exchanging hugs after every loss.

Blogger Wormboy said...
"Its not machismo. MJ didn't prance around on stage with Scottie and Toni pronouncing how many titles the Bulls would win after they signed Dennis Rodman. Larry Joe was too busy working on his game to spend his free time becoming a 'global icon'."

While I generally don't like the term or use it often, Fucking A.

Miami will get better in the future. But right now, because of all of their triumphalism, they deserve the trashing they are getting.

Oh, and we all know that "Coach Spo" is going to be the scapegoat, right?

And yeah, maybe it's premature to anoint the Bullies as the Heat slayers, but now they finally have a healthy lineup they look pretty awesome, don't they. Watching them a couple weeks back I was thinking how bad Luol Deng was as a franchise player three years ago, and how damned good he looks as a number 3 or 4 scoring option. This is a balanced and young Bulls team, but in spite of youth they've got some experience with tough and tight playoff series (Bulls-Celtics round 1 2008? The best playoff series ever that didn't matter?) If they stay healthy (read: if Booz stays away from luggage), the Bulls must be considered a contender. Maybe not this year, though they're clearly better than the Heat. But next year? Watch out.

Of course, I'm a peripatetic Bulls homer. It's nice to see them good again.