My Sincere Congratulations To…

I can't get enough of this picture.

The NBA.  Congratulations NBA and commissioner David Stern.  You got what you wanted, LeBron James has his ring.  The Heat deserved this game, LeBron had an outstanding triple double with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists.  The Heat won the series 4-1, stealing at least 2 games from the Oklahoma City Thunder with the help of the officiating.  The Heat absolutely routed the Thunder, winning with authority 121-106.  Durant put up 32 points and 11 rebounds for his team, but it was not enough. Harden and Westbrook also put up 19 points each, but all Heat starters were in double-digit scoring with an incredible 23 point performance from Mike Miller off the bench.  

Don't cry.

This is exactly what the NBA wanted.  A heroic performance coming back from injury in Game 4 to take Game 5 at home.  And seriously, is the 2-3-2 playoff home system flawed or what?  They should change to 2-2-1-1-1.  That’s the way the NHL does it – and I think it’s fairer.  I’m not going to sit and complain though.  Well-played David Stern.  Well-played NBA officials.  Well played every ESPN analyst (other than Skip Bayless). LeBron James is your heroic hero who finally got his ring.  I’m sure they’ll be filming a Michael-Jordan-esque commercial commemorating this historic and triumphant ‘victory.’

I know this isn’t very insightful about the game or anything, but to be honest I was picking up a friend in Boston last night and I only watched the first and fourth quarters.  Sorry folks, I do have a personal life.

To my Boston fans… I hope this brings you some closure. 

SCAL

This guy has the same amount of rings as LeBron James.  Hope that makes you smile despite recent events. 

LeBron, you played well… But you should’ve been knocked out by the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.  The officials were the MVPs for the Heat.  Hope you’re all happy.  

Is This Real Life…? NBA Game 4 Blog

NBA, the new WWE

Thunder 98     Heat 104

Listen, I’m not going to go all broken-record on all of you and complain about the refereeing. We have all seen that this series is not real life.  The Heat will always get the calls and the Thunder never will.  This series should honestly be at least tied 2-2, if not 3-1 in favor of OKC.  But I’ve already said too much about the refereeing; see my game 1, game 2 and game 3 blogs.  The same stuff is happening.

Is the NBA the new WWE?  Honestly. “LeBron overcomes incredible odds and injuries to defeat the Thunder with an unheard of 26 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds.”  I mean… Rajon Rondo practically averaged a triple double during the postseason.  Did anyone hear about that? Of course not.  You want to know why?  Because he’s not worth nearly as much as LeBron James.  

OKC made good adjustments at the start of the game and had the lead going into the second half, but Russell Westbrook couldn’t continue to carry the team on his own.  Despite his 43 points, 5 assists and 7 rebounds, there wasn’t much secondary scoring other than Kevin Durant’s 28.  James Harden had another terrible night shooting 2-10 from the field with 8 points.  He was getting wide-open looks all night and could not cash in on ANY of them.  He might’ve been the Heat’s most valuable player on the floor last night (along with the refs, of course).  Wake up Harden! You’re a part of the “Big 3” you need to start playing like it! 4-20 in the last two games is unacceptable.

And how does Russell Westbrook, who assaulted the hoop last night, only draw 3 fouls!? It is actually insane and ludicrous to think about. It seems like whenever LeBron drives to the basket he’s either ‘fouled’ or everyone gets out of the way for fear of drawing a foul.  Jeff Van Gundy was at it again, calling out the referees left and right last night.  Could it be that their ears were clogged with the payoff money from David Stern?  

I'm not the only one who thinks this is a complete joke.

And the whole LeBron injury thing… I’m skeptical he was actually hurt to be honest. He was limping around after he made shots, but when he missed he would sprint back to the defensive side of the court and then fumble around as if he were in pain. It’s just a great story line to increase the ratings and make more money.  I’m sorry people; I honestly think this is the truth behind these crazy playoffs.  I have exposed this madness for what it really is.  Hopefully after all of this is said and done the NBA or someone will investigate these finals, like the Pacqiao and Bradley fight.  The fix is in.  As soon as the game is tied, LeBron fakes an injury and breathes new life into his fellow Heat players.  The NBA is the new WWE.

I Hate Joey Crawford, NBA Finals Game 3 Blog

Thunder 85              Heat 91

Yeah you, I hate you.

The Oklahoma City Heat lost because of two things.  First, OKC could not hit free throws.  They were 15-24 (.625) from the free throw line.  The Heat, on the other hand, were shooting nearly 90% from the free thrown line going 31-35.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, more than a third of the Heat’s points last night came from free throws.  This leads me to my second reason why OKC lost.  The refereeing was terrible.  Like, Game 2 ECF bad.  I’ve been frantically searching for LeBron’s throw in off the back of the backboard, which led to a bucket last night, but so far no luck.  Maybe David Stern personally made sure that any videos or pictures of the play were taken off the internet.  The play was clearly out of bounds.  It was just that kind of night for OKC.

At least 1 ESPN analyst isn't stupid.

The Heat big 3 scored 64 of the Heat’s 91 points, lead by a great LeBron James performance in which he scored 29 points and added 14 rebounds.  So, 64 points for the big 3 and 35 free throw attempts… I guess that’s the whole plan for the Heat. 

The Thunder big 3 had 53 of the team’s 85 points, led by Durant’s 25.  Harden only had 9 points, and he will absolutely need to step up in game 4 if OKC wants to get back into this series.  Kendrick Perkins did his best to make a positive impact for the Thunder with 10 points and 12 rebounds.  I would make the argument that he was actually the most important player on the floor other than Durant/Westbrook last night.  That kind of play can absolutely be the difference in close games later on in the series. 

This is a charge, not a blocking foul.

One mistake that the Thunder made, in my opinion, was using Harden and Durant to defend James as opposed to Sefolosha.  I keep reiterating that Sefolosha’s defense and ability to keep OKC’s big 3 on the floor is the key to OKC’s success.  Am I the only one who can see that, or am I missing something?

When Oklahoma City had a 60-54 lead in the third quarter, both Durant and Westbrook were forced out of the game because of foul trouble.  Durant’s fourth foul, by the way, was absolutely ridiculous.  And his first foul was also a horrible call… it pisses me right off.  OKC actually shot better from the field than the Heat did, going 33-77 (.429).  But in today’s NBA, you don’t have to shoot well!  All you need is David Stern’s blessing.

How does Joey Crawford miss that out of bounds call when LeBron threw the ball off the back of the backboard?  How does that happen? Like earlier in the game when the Heat actually deflected it out and Thunder got called for it.  The call was eventually reversed, but coach Scott Brooks got a technical foul for lobbying for the right call.  HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?  How do these stupid fouls and missed calls happen and why are they always in favor of the Heat?  Something is wrong here. 

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen.  Although it was awfully close and the Thunder actually shot better than the Heat, foul trouble (again) and free throw shooting led to the demise of the Thunder in game 3.  Durant gets 5 fouls (at least 3 bad calls) and Harden gets 4.  Some of the fouls were absolutely ridiculous calls that made me hate Joey Crawford just as much as David Stern.  Also, off the back of the backboard is in bounds for the Heat.  Oh, and if the refs make a wrong call and anyone says anything about it, they’ll hand out technical fouls… unless it’s someone from the Heat organization.  Are there NBA gods?  For some reason I’m beginning to doubt it.  The Miami Heat lead the series 2-1 going into game 4 on Tuesday.  

I Hate David Stern, NBA Finals Game 2 Blog

 Heat 100         Thunder 96

Okay so last night was Game 2 of the finals and it honestly pained me to watch it.  Not just because the Heat won and LeBron had success, but Oklahoma City did not make the defensive adjustments they needed to make in order to win.  I’m absolutely talking about leaving Durant to cover LeBron James.  When I blogged about Game 1 one of the things I reiterated was how successful Thabo Sefolosha was in limiting LeBron James in the field and holding him to a mere 29% shooting.  I guess, for whatever reason, Thunder coach Scott Brooks felt it would be fine to keep Durant on James from the start of the game.  In my opinion this decision led to the loss. 

For those of you who haven’t been religiously watching Heat basketball, you might not know that LeBron James is the untouchable man of the NBA.  Part of the reason for his success, and I’d like to think I’m not exaggerating here, can be attributed to the fact that defenders are afraid to make any contact with him for fear of foul trouble.  That’s exactly what happened to Kevin Durant.  LeBron James drew 2 Durant fouls in the first quarter, forcing him to sit in the beginning of the second quarter where the Heat were able to build a substantial lead over the Thunder.  NBA referees are not afraid to call fouls for any contact they see LeBron James take.  This has been established during the regular season and even more so in the postseason.  The Heat went on to carry a 15-point lead into the second half while Westbrook and Durant's minutes were more limited due to foul trouble. 

I’m not going to go ahead and say the only reason that the Heat won was because of foul trouble.  LeBron had a good night, 32 points with 8 rebounds and 5 assists.  Dwayne Wade finally showed up to play with 24 points.  The Boshtrich had 16 points and 15 rebounds.  And I think the most surprising story for the Heat, on the offensive end, was Shane Battier with 17 points.  He went 6/8 from the field, including 5/7 from 3-point range. 

Cue the Evil Empire Music

The big 3 from OKC scored 80 points, led by Kevin Durant’s 32 points.  However, the role-player contributions were not nearly as good as they were in Game 1.  Nick Collison and Old Man Fisher were nonfactors.  Collison had no points and only 3 defensive rebounds while Fisher went 1/5 from the field, including 0/4 from 3-point range.  Ibaka was also quiet, only putting up 7 points and 4 rebounds in 30 minutes of play.

 

Yeah the Heat played well, and yeah the Thunder didn’t play as well as they did in Game 1.  Do I still blame David Stern a little? Absolutely.  When Jeff Van Gundy keeps looking at the replays and continues to say, “Well, from that angle that foul looks a little iffy,” or “That was absolutely a foul on LeBron James,” you know something’s up.  I could go on and on about the stupid calls on the Thunder or the non-calls for the Heat, but what really sticks out in my mind was Kevin Durant’s pull-up jumper in the last 10 seconds of regulation time.  If you didn’t watch it, LeBron CLEARLY fouls Durant's potentially game tying play at least 4 times.  Those calls would’ve gone LeBron’s way if he were on the receiving end of the contact for sure.  After all, he is the golden boy that David Stern needs to protect.  TV ratings have been doing exceptionally well this year for LeBron James and the Heat.  Ever since he made a villain out of himself by leaving Cleveland, LeBron James has attracted record-breaking television ratings.  Those ratings are fat paychecks for the Commish.

Let's play a little game called, "Can You Spot The Foul?" This isn’t the crazed Boston fan in me speaking – but just take a look:

Call me crazy…

No Call?

Where’s the call here?  This could’ve tied the game up for OKC and led to an overtime period where the Thunder had the momentum!  This stuff makes me sick.  I hope the Basketball Gods, (and refs) are just in Game 3.  We can all see this, Commissioner Stern.  This is worse than the Pacquiao decision.  This pisses me right off.