Frontrunners, No heart, bad teammates, mentally weak, sore losers, quitters, whiners, not clutch, choke artists and Hollywood as Hell are just a few of the adjectives that were thrown around about the Heat after their Game 5 loss at home to the Boston Celtics.
You can tell a lot of media and fans have been waiting for this moment and they have come out guns blazing.
It is much more fun to watch the Villain lose than the Hero win.
It is the reason people love it when Yankees or Duke lose. The only difference between those teams and this current version of the Heat are those teams have won championships and The Heat have not.
Even though they haven’t won anything they are still the team that moves the needle the most.
A lot of that has to do with how they came together, but the majority of it has to do with Lebron James. Fairly or unfairly when he utter that phrase “I am taking my talents to South Beach” he became by default the biggest Villain in the NBA.
He doesn’t want to be a villain and honestly he hasn’t done anything to warrant such venom from media and fans, but uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.
Lebron has been excellent these entire playoffs and contrary to the lunacy that it Skip Bayless, it has been Lebron not Dwyane Wade who has been the clear leader and best player on the Heat.
It was Lebron that kept the Heat afloat during the Pacers series until Wade got his act together, but when you are the consensus best player in the world, the expectations are you have to be great all the time.
In Game 5, Lebron had a great 1st half, but in the 2nd half when he should have forcefully taken the ball from D Wade, he was hesitant and it cost the Heat.
D Wade is still a great player and capable in spurts of amazing play, be he isn’t consistent and he isn’t the best player on the floor, that is Lebron and until Coach Spo and Wade recognize that, what happened in Game 5 will continue to happen.
But right now it isn’t about execution it is about desire.
The Celtics aren’t playing beautiful basketball, but to use a boxing comparison they are Bernard Hopkins. They are stalking their opponent, hanging around, using all of their tricks and mentally breaking down the Heat.
I use the cornbread saying from the movie “LIFE” not just because it is funny, but because it is grounded in something that I truly believe in.
When someone punches you in the mouth you are either going to fold or you are going to punch back.
The Heat had a lot of fun at the Mavs expense last year when they were in control of the series. Remember them making fun of Dirk’s “fake cough”, but as soon as the Mavs punched them in the mouth they took their ball and went home.
The Celtics are smacking them around, the media is smacking them around, fans are smacking them around and social media are smacking them around.
The Eastern conference is the weakest it has been in awhile, they are being beat by a Boston team with someone named Greg Stiemsma getting heavy minutes.
They have ZERO excuses.
Good Job, Good Effort, isn’t enough when you are the South Beach NWO. When you guarantee not 5, not 6, no 7 and etc championships you can’t lose to a team who is using Keyon Dooling off the bench.
The Heat are fully capable of winning Game 6, regardless of what anyone says. It won’t be easy, but the Celtics are not a juggernaut, the Sixers took them to Game 7, this isn’t the 96 Bulls we are talking about. But, the Heat have to show they aren’t as mentally weak as they appear to be and take the game by the throat.
I know Dwyane Wade cares, but he has a ring, so if the Heat loses all the blame will go on Lebron, which once again forces him to make a decision.
Will he go out guns blazing or will he pass his plate?
If he chooses the latter, he will continue to be starved for a ring.
H/T @aarontheartist for pic.