Lebron James beat the Celtics by himself last night. He dropped 45 points, had 15 boards, and five dimes. He had 30 at the half and the heat had at least a 10 point lead all the way. Dude was unconscious from the floor hitting 19-26. That’s 73% shooting. He made it look easy at times and also hit a bunch of difficult shots, which he also made look easy. Going into the game there was chatter (again!) that Lebron isn’t clutch which Lebron responded to with one of his greatest games ever. The haters and Boston Celtics fans were quieted. For one day. If the Heat lose game 7 Lebron will hear it all over again. These people are stupid and don’t matter. Haters are saying that Lebron’s performance wasn’t truly clutch because it wasn’t a close game or the stakes weren’t high enough. Stupid.
Zach Lowe goes into detail here about Lebron’s Clutchness. He remembers the 2009 conference Finals between the Heat and Magic. Lebron was amazing in that series averaging 40, 10, and 10. No body remembers this because the Cavs lost. The bottom line in the column: sometimes Lebron is clutch, and sometimes he isn’t. Yo, it’s actually true of a lot of great players. Take Kobe for instance. Sometimes Kobe is clutch and sometimes he isn’t. Lebrn failed miserably in the Finals last year. Kobe failed miserably in the Finals in 2004 except no body remembers. That’s what happens when you have five championships. That’s what Lebron is trying to do right now. The best part about game 6 was Lebron’s demeanor. He was all business and didn’t get caught up in any bullshit. Lebron wants to win for his own sake, not for validation from a bunch of stupid people. He knows that if the heat lose in game 7 or in the Finals people will be on his ass. But those people don’t matter to him.
Lebron was amazing in game 6, but we can’t expect him to do that every time. There are some other positives from game 6 for the Heat. As John Hollinger of ESPN writes, The Heat held the Celtics to only 79 points. Unlike earlier in the series they got back on defense and stopped Rajon Rondo from going crazy on them. Chris Bosh played 28 minutes and was rusty again. But Kevin Garnett was only 6-14 form the field and scored only 12 points. Some of that could be Chris bosh because Bosh, unlike the other Heat players is tall enough to bother KG’s shot. Dwayne Wade was a no show for the first half again and when he started playing well in the fourth quarter the Heat ran away with the game. D Wade looked slow for the first three quarters and then got aggressive late. I think were 100% sure he’s not 100%. But did D Wade get better as the game went on or was his performance by design? A part of me thinks he was saving his burst and energy for when it mattered and with Lebron killing it early D Wade rode the wave and waited to aggressive later in the game. In game 7, the Heat would like to get more help for Lebron but I think the defense will be the key and if they can get stops consistently they’ll win game 7.
Against the Thunder, Lebron is gonna need some real help. He may have a game or two that he dominates so severely that the Heat roll easily, but OKC has scores like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden. People will focus on the math up between Durant and Lebron, but at this point Kevin Durant has more support. And then the real question for the Heat becomes the health of D Wade and Chris Bosh.
Its Monday night and the Thunder just beat the Spurs in one of the more exciting playoffs games so far. They now have a 3-2 game advantage over the Spurs who have lost three in a row after winning 20 in a row. Most people have buried The Spurs and have the Thunder in the Finals. Me? Nah,not yet. The Thunder do appear to have hit another gear playing out of their minds for the past three games. Steve Kerr claimed that this is another passing of the torch, or conch, or cliché like the Laker/Thunder series was (it wasn’t, neither is this series). The Thunder if they advance still have another torch to be passed to them from the Celtics, Heat (do they even have any torches? They’d have to right? They’re the HEAT), or maybe Moses. Maybe that’s why James Hardengrew the beard out, to look like Moses.
GINOBILI!
What was great about game 5 and great about this series is the FIGHT shown from both teams. The Spurs fought in this game. First they were down big in the first half and fought to get the lead under ten. Then Manu Ginobili went GINOBILI! in the third quarter to briefly give the Spurs the lead. Then the Thunder fought back to get a decent sized lead going into the fourth. Kevin Durant woke up and he and James Harden gave the Thunder a big 101-88 lead midway through the fourth. At that point The TNT guys had the game over. But Ginobili, Tony Parker, and Tim Duncan(back from the dead!) fought back again to make it a two point game with a minute left. The Thunder at the time looked ready to self-destruct minutes after every one had anointed them as the Chosen Ones. Then The Thunder had an-almost really bad possession where they completely ignored Durant only to be bailed out by a dagger three pointer from Harden. Russell Westbrook was the Thunder player most excited by that three because if the Thunder had lost he would have unfairly taken much of the blame. Russ had a few bad plays down the stretch but Kevin Durant needs to work harder to get open in those spots too. After all that the Spurs still kind of had a shot at tying the game when Thabo Sefalsho lost the ball out-of-bounds when Leonard stripped (actually, fouled) him. Duncan had the same exact look from 3 he had against the Suns in 2008( I think, or was it 2007?) and passed it to Ginobili who got a semi-open look that was a little bit too far away IMO. He missed. Damn. Great series. Neither team has backed down all series and I expect San Antonio to bring everything they have in game 6. The Thunder’s three stars played well tonight, AND their role player continued their hot shooting from game 4. Game 6 will be in The Thunder’s building and they have ALL the momentum. But I’m not gonna count out the Spurs, who have been the best team in the league and in the playoffs up until the last three games. Tony Parker was off his game tonight and in game 4, at some point he’s gonna step up. Ginobili was amazing all game but it wasn’t enough. AND actually, it should have been. 103 points is enough to win in the NBA. The problem for the Spurs is slowing down the Thunder. The Thunder’s key to success, the production from their role players. Daequan Cook hit three big 3s in the first half. Ibaka continued to hit from the floor, Nick Collisont oo. Derek Fisher was less of a disaster than usual. This, besides the Spurs resolve, talent, and heart is why I think the Spurs can come back and win this series. As well as the Thunder’s stars are playing, their other dudes are playing over their heads a bit. We rightfully hyped Durant for going OFF in the fourth quarter of game 4, but The Thunder might have lost that game if Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka didn’t play so well offensively. Ibaka got a lot of hype which he deserved, but whenever Perkins makes any baskets, it’s a minor miracle. 7 minor miracles happened in game 4. If the Thunder win the series, it’ll be because of game 4.
Harden’s Dagger
That other series, the one for second place has ben just as entertaining as the Western Conference NBA Finals. On Sunday The Celtics beat The Heat in OT to tie the series at 2. Rajon Rondo had 10 assists in the first half and the Celtics scored 61 points to take a commanding lead. LeBron James and The Heat roared back in the second half and Lebron tied the game up with a three near the end the send the game into OT. Lebron then fouled out immediately. Paul Pierce fouled out a little while earlier and the Heat out-sucked The Celtics in overtime to secure the Celtic win ( the Celtics scored 4 points, which was twice as much as the Lebron-less Heat scored). A lot of questionable foul calls but Boston did enough to win the game. Ray Allen showed some life and Kevin Garnett was Kevin Garnett. It looks like Dwayne Wade is off a bit. He may be hurting still from all of those injuries but seems to be pacing himself a bit out there. A D Wade led team should be able to score more than 2 points in five minutes of NBA basketball. The Heat at times look like the Lebron-led Cavs out there which isn’t a great sign. They also may be working Lebron a bit too much. He has been great this series mostly but defensively The Heat were bad against Boston in that first half. 61 points for one of the worst offenses in the league. That’s when they lost the game. They fixed their D up in the second half and almost won the game, and that’s why I still feel like it’s the Heat’s series to lose. I can’t see the Celtics continuing to play this well on offense. Rondo has been amazing and looks like one of the very best players in the NBA this series. But then he kind of disappeared in the second half of game 4. If the Celtics are gonna win this series Rondo has to continue to play out of his damn mind. There’s also The Chris Bosh factor. Word is he may go in game 5, which may or may not help the Heat. If Bosh isn’t close to 100% or 80% at least I don’t see him being much of a factor but if he is, than Miami becomes much more dangerous. Bosh can match up with KG, space the floor for Lebron and D Wade and give the Heat more scoring. Lebron can guard Rondo as well. The Heat are at home tomorrow I feel like they win. Bosh may be rusty but if the Heat will need him in the Finals so it’s a good idea to try to get him going in this series. Hell, the Heat need Bosh right now. I’ve said previously that The winner of the Western Conference Finals will win the NBA Finals. I still think that’s true, but I also thought that the Spurs would win the West and they’re losing. I’d give a healthy Heat team a shot though. Against the Thunder I feel like D Wade and Lebron in particular can take their game to places that the The Thunder’s stars can’t match. Their defense might be able to slow the Thunder down enough. The Celtics have great D too, but as previously said I think the Celtics will only go as far as Rondo takes them on offense. The Thunder as we have seen all playoffs, don’t scare. If the Spurs somehow get by The Thunder and go to the Finals I think they’re beatable for the Heat. The Heat like the Thunder have the young Gs who can ball and don’t scare. Lebron even has motivation from the Cavs loss to The Spurs in 2007 to work with. There’s a lot to work with in these playoffs, and there still a lot more to come.
Last night the Lakers and Denver had a really good game 7. This morning we’ll get another potential good-great game in what has been a great series so far between The Clippers and the Grizzlies. I wonder, though if injuries have hurt this series or helped the series continue. Game 6 was an entertaining game the whole way through. Memphis continued to put the ball in Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph‘s hand, with great results again. The Clippers fell behind but hung in there and even were up early in the fourth before faltering down the stretch. The Clippers stars Blake Griffin and Chris Paul gutted out the game but they just didn’t seem to have IT down the stretch. I kept waiting for Chris Paul to take over the game down the stretch but it never happened. Blake played well but he seemed more cautious the usual. Yeah, maybe they were just having off games, but if the injuries were a factor then Memphis escaped because the Chris Paul that I know would have shut them down in the fourth. He’s done it multiple times this series and we’re so accustomed to it that it seemed like he might have been limited physically. Going into game 7 Memphis has the momentum and the home-court advantage. The Clipper have the best 2 players in the series and in Chris Paul the best clutch player in the game. Hopefully their stars are able transcend their injuries rather than just gut them out. That’s what basketball and Clipper fans deserve. Memphis and the Clippers are neck and neck but I still believe a healthy Chris Paul doing Chris Paul things trumps everything in the end.
Miami plays their first game in the second round against the Pacers tomorrow. I feel like Miami will win this series in 5 or maybe 6 games. A few days I put up links to other NBA writers who feel that The Pacers might be a tough out for the Heat. The Heat have an easy path to the finals on paper as they no longer have to worry about Chicago. But they are still real thin behind their big three and other teams like say, Boston aren’t afraid of them. Boston would need Rajon Rondo to kill the Heat if that series were to materialize. Rondo hit a bunch of jumpers in the Celtics game 1 win over Philly and posted his 8th career triple double. he might have to average a triple double to beat the heat. I personally think that challenges will help the Heat more than breezing to the Finals. They need all of the reps and experience with adversity they can get after last year’s disappointment in the finals cuz whoever they play whiter it’s the Spurs, OKC or Lakers they’ll need to play with some fire, Lebron James especially.
Rhianna’s cool and everything…
But I’m feeling Elle Varner just as much if not more…
But then Im’m feeling my girlfriend more than both of them combined…
I’m the other, less attractive person in the above photo.
4 HOOPS HEADS 