HES BACK BECAUSE HE FINISHED FILMING JURASSIC PARK 4

LAYERS OF DRAMA PILE UP FOR HEAT http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012 [...] -for-heat/

The Miami Heat didn’t add an All-Star power forward to their varied and formidable weapons Tuesday night. They added another layer of drama.

With Chris Bosh returning from his abdominal strain and playing for the Heat for the first time since Game 1 of the conference semifinals vs. Indiana, it was only a matter of time before that became an issue, somehow, some way. Barring consecutive blowout victories of Boston in Games 5 and 6 of this series to bull into The Finals, followed by a cruise over whomever the West champions wind up being, the decision to use Bosh – vs. not use Bosh vs. use Bosh a little vs. use Bosh too much – was certain to incite controversy.

Because what, with this team, doesn’t?

The Heat are in predicament now, heading to Boston for a game that could make or break not just their postseason but this whole fascinating, excessive experiment of superstars cubed. A team that prides itself on its defense got progressively worse in Game 5 at AmericanAirlines Arena, holding the Celtics to 16 points in the first quarter, then losing them and yielding 30 in the fourth.

Coach Erik Spoelstra was hearing it in his home arena and from the talking heads on national TV, that he’s getting outcoached by Doc Rivers, that he’s not adjusting to the Celtics’ adjustments, that he’s tinkering too much with his lineup and rotations, that his team isn’t focused enough in timeouts and, yes, that he didn’t play Bosh enough.

The thinking on that one: Bosh came back from a nine-game absence in the playoffs and actually was light on rust and helpful offensively (nine points, six rebounds off the bench in 11 first-half minutes. But he only played three more in the third quarter and none in the fourth, and thus could do nothing to make things difficult when the Celtics went back to Kevin Garnett down the stretch the way they had so effectively in Boston.

“I didn’t think it would necessarily be fair to him to throw him in with three minutes to go,” Spoelstra said.

Just a guess: The first concern of Heat fans late Tuesday was not the fairness to Bosh.

The Celtics’ defensive changes, from man-to-man to zone and back, weren’t always effective but they did seem to stymie Miami in stretches. For instance, the 15-1 run with which Boston closed out the third quarter, turning a 59-50 deficit into a 65-60 lead. The middle of the fourth quarter, too, when the Heat scored only three points in almost three minutes as their offense degenerated into isolation and standing.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade both had long cold spells in the game, but they did finish with 57 points on a combined 47 shots, hitting 21 (44.6 percent). Everybody else on their team went 11-for-35 (31.4 percent). Miami had 15 turnovers and just 13 assists; Rajon Rondo had that many by himself for Boston. It scored eight fast-break points.

Then there was Spoelstra hitting the postgame media session with the sort of stuff that, if he’s using it in the Miami locker room, might explain plenty. “It’s a loss and that’s all it is,” he said. “Our focus … is to fight any kind of noise from the outside or any human condition, and to collectively come together strong to prepare for the next game.”

The earnest Heat coach also mentioned “collective character” and “energies” – as opposed to, y’know, energy singular – and seemed more like a morale officer than a coach in his review of what had just happened on the court.

The Miami Heat are headed to Boston for Game 6, where James played in a Game 6 two years ago that basically triggered his departure from Cleveland. If they don’t beat the Celtics, the crowd at TD Garden and whatever else ails them right now – internal confusion, offensive stagnation, defensive napping, whatever – to force a Game 7, the players and their coach could be in for the noisiest offseason of this or any other human condition.

HEAT BURY THEMSELVES WITH FOURTH QUARTER MISTAKES http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012 [...] -mistakes/

A BIG FAT BAGEL IN MIAMI? COULD BE... http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012 [...] -could-be/

Is it possible that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in their prime could somehow end up without an NBA title for Miami?

Surely that can’t happen. The Heat were just a few baskets away from winning a title last year, after all. In their first season together. Even in these playoffs, minus an injured Bosh and with whispers of Wade getting his knee drained regularly, they are still an excellent bet to make The Finals and cut the nets.

And yet … what is it about the Heat, with two of the best players in the NBA now and forever, that they continue to have such difficulties executing in late-game situations? Something is broken. If the definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over and expecting a different result … well, Miami needs to be committed.

Listen to Wade’s take on his missed 3-pointer at the buzzer in overtime: “That’s a 50-50 shot when it goes up,” he said. “I’d do it all over again.”
You would? You’d wait until the last second to take a shot, despite getting the ball with 14 seconds left to play and your team trailing by two? That kind of decision making (and approach to decision making), that failure to learn from past mistakes does not sound like a sound path to a title.

And what of LeBron’s miss at the end of regulation? It’s hard to knock a guy for passing out of a quadruple team to get an open look for a teammate. No matter his intentions, the result of the play was an airball, and a rushed airball at that.

Back to the point at hand, though. Everyone likes to clown LeBron and his teammates for their proclamation from the outset as to how many championships they could win in Miami. Perhaps they were shooting a bit high to think they could reach seven or eight.

But one … they have to be able to get at least one, right?

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