All of the ESPN folks keep saying that Miami is lost or wasnt giving effort

[Employee8]

i agree that the celtics beat the heat because the celtics were the better team last night. they outplayed the heat, and the heat did try hard to win.

but....

it took a near perfect effort by the celtics to beat the heat at home. i am encouraged since the celtics did win in miami. 

but it also took great shooting from pierce, kg, and rondo to do so. i dont know how many nights we can expect the celtics to shoot like they did last night.

if, when, the celtics and the heat meet in the playoffs it will be a tough, tough series for both teams. miami will have to play really hard and well to beat the celtics. look for labron and wade to regularly play close to 40 minutes a game.

unless the celtics are super-good, ala last night, it will be a tough, tough series for them to win. the key will be for the celtics to win one of the first two games in miami. if the celtics do that, and they can, they have a good shot to win the series.

ha, ha....when i look at the celtics 3 weeks ago, i dont think i would have been able to write a post like this one. the celtics really are playing well right now.

if they continue like this in the playoffs, they have a legitimate shot at winning it all. 

True, but I like our chances against Miami still.  The regular season and the playoff games are different in how players approach this game.  Both teams probably circled yesterday's date and as much as they say it's just another regular season game, it does hold a bit more meaning to them.  It's what happens when two proud teams play each other.  Now with the Heat coming off an ugly loss, you had to expect them to regroup and put on a full effort and so we absolutely needed a perfect night to beat them.

But in the playoffs, when it becomes a grind- I believe we have the mental fortitude to wear them out.  I believe we can still keep going at their throats.  We might lose a couple games or three but eventually, we can wear them down and game 7 at Miami is probably winnable with less than our absolute best effort.

[SHAQATTACK]

SOunds like alot of excuse making and crying to me.

Both teams showed up both games with 5 players on each side , and the HEAT got destroyed one game and man handled the next.

Basically , Other than Wade and LBJ , Boston's team is better . Bosh sucks , he is a sissy, poor shot and not much of a "BIG", and way over rated.

Heat relies on Hero Ball form WAde and LBJ to get their 40 points and 20 boards a game for them to win.

Spo is a sucky coach as well, the players like him because he lets them get away with being lazy.  Wade doesn't like to be yelled at and won't play for a tuff coach.... what a jerk.

Heat need to trade Wade for DH..

[alajet]

We will need our absolute best effort, come round the play-offs. No play-off game is winnable without absolute best effort.
Of course, absolute best effort doesn't come to shooting 60% or better. It is about hustle, fighting for every ball and never letting your head down.
Now it's not that tough to see the reasoning behind Doc's harsh comments after the most recent Chicago loss. No team with players wandering around on court is going to have it cut. Miami got it when they were trashed in Garden. They played better basketball, but James and Wade (to some degree) won't win it all without getting next to nothing contribution from their supporting cast.
LBJ may be the strongest non-center player ever in the NBA history and no matter what kind of odd comments he makes, I still have respect for Dwyane Wade and his all around game. But I do not respect Chris Bosh, not even when he goes for 30+ plus, because that guy is simply not a professional.
Any kind of on-court flaw is acceptable in my book as long as a player finds other ways to contribute, but that doesn't go as far as watching a player with no heart running the court up and down.
So, if someone is lost or wasn't giving effort, it's Bosh, not the entire Miami team, which is sad, considering ALL of his teammates tried to win while he watched aside with his trademark "I couldn't care less about you" look on his face.
No complaints, though. I hope we will meet Miami in the post-season only to see KG manhandling Bosh once again. Yes, I like our chances, as long as we bring along our intensity, rather than step back and watch LBJ and Wade do their show.
 

[wdleehi]

If Miami figures out how to get Bosh going again against Boston, Boston is in trouble.



If he continues to play small against the Celtics, Miami is in trouble. 

[scaryjerry]

i like how the play of the night was the stupid fastbreak between lebron and d-wade. they lose but they get the play of the night? the same play you've seen about 90 times this season?

To be fair, watching KG nail a mid-range J isn't much of a highlight.

there was a nice KG reverse layup looked like timberwolves KG out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpd0JaTYuI8

I keep hearing this...while its cute its far from the truth...its more like 07 KG...KG with the timberwolves powefully dunks that over the defender

[fairweatherfan]

I know things must be going well when people are starting "why won't the media respect us??" topics.  Good times.   

I don't watch SportCenter or any of that stuff but I did notice the focus on Miami at halftime of the Bulls game.  Give Wilbon credit though - he was more than happy to talk about the Celtics.  He flat-out said "We learned a lot about Boston tonight.  Boston can win the East." 

As for highlights, who cares?  The Heat can have all the highlight plays they want.  Our highlights are big green Ws on the schedule.

[Fafnir]

I kind of agree but at the same time the heat really hustled tonight. Much more effort than the game earlier this month. You could tell they really wanted this one, and they still couldnt pull it off, which is a credit to the Cs.

Yes they did, much much better effort from the Heat. They wouldn't go away even as the C's shredded their defense from the second half of the first quarter onward.

Spolestra also was tinkering, so much small ball trying to figure out how best to match up with the C's. They continued to hard trap Pierce off the pick and roll everytime.

If the second to last game matters for seeding for either team that game should be an interesting night as far as how both teams will play each other.

[pearljammer10]

Oh well, I enjoy being the underdog and then everybody being shocked when we win and jumping on the bandwagon and making excuse to try to cover up their "expertness"...it makes me giggle.

[Fafnir]

If Miami figures out how to get Bosh going again against Boston, Boston is in trouble.



If he continues to play small against the Celtics, Miami is in trouble.  

Their small lineup with Bosh at center and LBJ at the PF slot did well against the C's. Scored on them in runs and played as well defensively as any of their lineups did.

Now when Haslem played the C position it was a disaster, and similarly a traditional line up of Turiaf and Bosh/Haslem were bad.

Against the C's they might just be best having Bosh at C and let LBJ check Bass as long as Battier does a respectable job on Pierce.

The C's did a decent job of attacking Wade/Miller whenever they got caught on Pierce, that'd be one of the primary methods of going after that sort of lineup.

[jpd985]

If Miami figures out how to get Bosh going again against Boston, Boston is in trouble.



If he continues to play small against the Celtics, Miami is in trouble. 

Their small lineup with Bosh at center and LBJ at the PF slot did well against the C's. Scored on them in runs and played as well defensively as any of their lineups did.

Now when Haslem played the C position it was a disaster, and similarly a traditional line up of Turiaf and Bosh/Haslem were bad.

Against the C's they might just be best having Bosh at C and let LBJ check Bass as long as Battier does a respectable job on Pierce.

When Pietrus comes back we will be able to counter that.

[Fafnir]

When Pietrus comes back we will be able to counter that.

I'd rather we not, our defensive rotations don't look good with only a single big out there. With KG it isn't too terrible but its a disaster with Bass at the 5 (and would be bad with Greg too)

Bass did a respectable job covering Battier for stretches, and KG did alright on Battier/Miller as well. The only issue I had with how KG/Bass played that is that KG was too quick to switch on screens Battier/Miller set for LBJ. KG versus LBJ at the top of the key with 4 shooters on the floor is a layup more often than anything.

[Bahku]

Even Mike and Mike making every excuse imaginable for the Heat this morning ... honestly, the way the league, officials and the press stroke these guys is a bit nauseating at times.

I understand the impetus behind it, but come on, they just plain got out-played by a better defensive, (and last night offensive), team.

[Who]

I don't understand how they can say Miami didn't give effort.

I thought they played very hard last night ... they just weren't good enough to get the win.

[cman88]

The media has pumped up the heat so long..that they feel obligated to make excuses for them when they lose.

Fact is that the heat have 2 weakness...center and pointguard...luckily the cs have 2 allstars at those positions. The heat have no answer for them

[fairweatherfan]

I don't understand how they can say Miami didn't give effort.

I thought they played very hard last night ... they just weren't good enough to get the win.

Ironically, arguing that the Heat didn't give effort is a low-effort way of analyzing the game.  They played plenty hard, they just couldn't stop us on D.