Three months of hype for this?
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Thank you, ESPN, for getting us all worked up for nothing.
After three months of nauseating hype since LeBron took his “talents” to South Beach, and all we got from Miami’s “Big 3” last night was 3 minutes, 13 seconds of fundamentally-sound basketball sandwiched between two halves of schoolyard horseplay from a team that looked it just met five minutes before the opening tipoff.
At the risk of sounding like a Monday-morning quarterback, I wasn’t all that surprised the Celtics beat the Heat in Tuesday’s NBA season opener, though I must admit I expected a little more from both sides – particular Miami, which entered last night’s game with lofty expectations after assembling a “Dream Team” of James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade during the offseason.
Neither team looked sharp, but at least the Celtics resembled an actual team for the majority of the night, not just a collection of misfits incapable of making a single important stop or perfecting the concept of defensive rotations. Just about every jumper by a Celtic was accompanied by a Miami defender lunging in front of the shooter five seconds too late – clearly an indication that the Heat have yet to figure out how this orgy of talent is going to mesh.
Shortly after Boston’s 88-80 victory, TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager asked Celtics’ guard Rajon Rondo if Miami was the team to beat – a question more obnoxious than Sager’s mismatched sportcoats and neckties. At no point did Miami take the reigns as the proverbial “team to beat.” Until someone dethrones Boston from its perch atop the Eastern Conference, the Celtics are still the team everyone else is gunning for, no matter how talented Miami is or will be over the course of the season. And let's not lose sight of the fact that outside of King James, Rondo was the second-best player on the floor last night, finishing with a game-high 17 assists. The ball movement Rondo initiates is what Miami lacks right now.
The Heat have a long way to go before they show their full potential. Wade was awful last night, firing jumpers off the side of the background and running the break like a wounded rhinoceros. Bosh wasn’t much better, shooting a woeful 3-of-11 from the field. LeBron “got his,” finishing with 31 points, but we all knew that would happen. What stood out to me were the contributions from Miami’s role players, such as Udonis Haslem (8 points, 11 rebounds) and Eddie House (8 points off the bench in 26 minutes).
The reality is the Heat will only go as far as their supporting cast takes them, because the Celtics can match them star-for-star. And while Miami's bench did its part, so did Boston's reserves. The Celtics' bench chipped in with 26 points. Glen Davis was a force in the paint, allowing head coach Doc Rivers to limit Shaquille O'Neal's minutes, and Marquis Daniels chipped in with 8 points. Even Nate Robinson produced. Miami can ride its "Big 3" all season because James, Wade and Bosh are still relatively young. Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce aren't, so it's imperative Davis, Shaq and Jermaine O'Neal contribute off the bench. Last night was an encouraging start.
The irony in all this is Tuesday’s opener was the game everyone wanted to see, held on the eve of the World Series no one cares to watch (sorry, but Rangers vs. Giants is a snooze-fest). And all we got was one blistering run by the Heat in the closing minutes in which they shaved 10 points off Boston’s lead, only to have Allen ice the game with a clutch 3-pointer, prompting TNT’s 1,567th cutaway to Allen’s momma hootin’ and hollerin’ from the stands in her sequined jersey.
History tells us no one team put on such a ridiculous pedestal ever lives up the billing right away. The 1998 New York Yankees started 0-3 before finishing with a league-high 114 wins. I’m sure ESPN will throw a fan poll on its Website today asking if Heat fans should be worried, and I’m sure I’ll respond by throwing my Hewlett Packard off the top of the Providence Place Mall, but only a dunce would panic at this point, and only a fool would gloat. The Heat will win a ton of games against teams ranging from lousy to mediocre and they'll also steal a few against the NBA's elite. We'll be laughing about this primetime disaster by the time spring rears its ugly head.
For now, Celtics’ fans should be happy. This is what they – and most of the NBA’s casual fans who loathe greatness – wanted. Heat fans should just chill out. And the rest of us should be pissed, since all we got was a big, fat letdown following a summer’s worth of unrivaled anticipation.
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