Despite the triple double LeBron James notched last night in Miami’s Game 5 loss in the NBA Finals, many people are (justifiably) crucifying him for his play throughout the series. In my eyes, he played well, if not amazingly (for him) through the first three games before looking absolutely awful (for him) throughout Game 4. He just failed to assert his physical dominance and force the Mavs to stop him off the dribble in a game during which he scored only 8 points and too-willingly swung the ball around the perimeter.

Even he knows he played like trash.

“Eight points is definitely inexcusable to me. I hold myself to a higher standard than that,” James told reporters at a team press conference, according to the Palm Beach Post. “I didn’t play well. I know that. I was hard on myself all last night.”

Game 5 was somewhat of a different story.

He played better, putting up the aforementioned triple double and generally being more aggressive with the ball while playing excellent defense at times. This was by no means LeBron at his best, or perhaps even his typical (and he got inexcusably SMOKED by Jason Terry on perhaps the biggest play of the game … which came one possession after LeBron missed a long three). But it wasn’t the “no show” that so many people were calling his Game 4 display. He shot poorly but played fine overall. Not great, but fine. And you can’t validly tell me a player was “passive” throughout crunch time when he committed a powerful offensive foul at the rim with 150 seconds to play and took three other shots in the games’ final three minutes.

Although more active, he remained atypically unproductive late again, however — which continues his trend throughout this NBA Finals. And now, if Miami can’t win two in a row at home to come back and win the title, LeBron will be undoubtedly be hit with a tsunami of criticism larger than I can remember any athlete ever facing for his on-court failings.

That’s what I was thinking last night anyway.

Then, this morning, @bandwagonknick posted something that made me, not change that opinion, but reconsider it slightly. Apparently, back when I was in kindergarten, Magic Johnson was similarly ripped apart by the press for coming up short when the sport was supposed to matter the most.

Whatever hurt Johnson felt [when LA lost to Boston in the 1984 NBA Finals] was only to intensify as the summer went on. He was stunned at the way he was carved up by the press that had once doted on him. He was particularly wounded by the suggestions that, with the championship at stake, he had choked. “I sat back when it was over,” Johnson says, “and I thought, ‘Man, did we just lose one of the great playoff series of all time, or didn’t we?’ This was one of the greatest in history. Yet all you read was how bad I was.”

It’s funny how history and time (and, ya know, winning three of the next four NBA titles) changes things. Magic is now the beloved, happy-go-lucky, HIV-surviving, bafflingly uninsightful guy on my TV who most everyone believes could do no wrong on the basketball court. He and Larry Bird “saved the NBA” that Michael Jordan would soon own. He was Showtime. He is a fantastic citizen.

He couldn’t have ever been the guy the media would “carve up.”

But he was.

And we are about to see something similar — on hyperdrive given today’s media landscape — for the next (at least) 12 months if the Heat don’t win two more games this year. It will be an annoying thing to see play out, but unlike the scorn thrown at him last Summer for The Decision, this time, there will be a lot more legitimacy to it.

He is earning this.

LeBron hasn’t played well in the Finals.

For him.

Post-script … Oddly, I was listening to a mixtape by the hip hop super-group Slaugherhouse this morning and, right as I was reading the Magic story that @bandwagonknick tweeted, the Joe Budden diss track “Pain in His Life” came on. (It’s hard to keep track of Budden’s rap feuds but this joint is about Saigon. The two MCs later made up and recorded a track together that features Sai spitting one of the illest verses I’ve heard in years.)

The opening lyrics of that song are eerily descriptive of stuff you could say about LeBron right now:

“It’s like a lose/lose, already my rep ruined
How I beat dude we know will accept losing?
Under Achiever was a underachiever
Almost thought you would come with the Ether“

Rep ruined? Check.

Dude we know will accept losing? Check.

Underachiever? Check.

Almost thought he would come with the Ether (in Game 5)? All the checks.

On the New York Times’ Off the Dribble blog today, Rob Mahoney eloquently explained why depth is so important in the NBA playoffs. The triple-overtime Game 4 between Oklahoma City and Memphis showed this. The younger, fresher Thunder prevailed that night and blew out the Grizzlies in Game 5 as players like Zach Randolph, who played 56 minutes on Tuesday, looked a step slow.

And it’s not just fatigue. In a league of stars who sometimes cancel each other out, it is how the bench performs that can be the deciding factor, as Mahoney notes.

The Hawks have struggled in part because Marvin Williams, the eighth man in the rotation, hasn’t been able to provide quality minutes. The Bulls, on the other hand, played Omer Asik, Taj Gibson, and Ronnie Brewer together for the entire fourth quarter in Game 5, during which those reserves (along with Derrick Rose and Luol Deng) outscored the Hawks by 11 in a game the Bulls won by 12.

Along these lines, one of the most critical factors in every team’s in-game consistency is how it performs when its floor general heads to the bench. In a sport that’s played up above, high in the blue, the shortest guys are becoming increasingly vital. They dictate tempo — making basketball’s big men look like statues as they scurry around the court — control the pace and judge the flow. So in the playoffs, it’s the back-up point guards who’re responsible for either building on his team’s advantageous play or turning the ship around and surging a comeback.

Neither is an easy task — both are unglamorous — but these guys are the last backups standing. For the most part, they may not be as talented or physically capable of breaking down defenses as their team’s starter, but they have a commendable mindset not everybody is born with. Nobody wants to be a reserve piece (especially Big Baby). The position is allergic to endorsements, creates little national exposure and reeks of uncomfortable inferiority. But right now, at this time of year, whoever’s able to give his team the most quality minutes will end up with newfound respect, elevating themselves from blanketed aid to crucial puzzle piece.

Here is a breakdown of all the back-up point guards left in this year’s postseason.

Jamal Crawford

Jamal Crawford isn’t your prototypical point guard and back-up floor general isn’t his role. But due to Hinrich’s injury, he’s had more responsibility thrown on his lap. I won’t get into too much detail with Crawford because you’re probably well familiar with his resume and basketball makeup, but he’s Atlanta’s second best scorer and, apologies to Barea, the most capable backcourt bench player when it comes to creating his own opportunities. He likes to shoot a whole bunch, and when Teague’s on the bench the team’s solid cohesion melts. Still he is without a doubt the most talented player of the group — but also the least capable at running the point guard position. It just isn’t in his DNA.

JJ Barea

Apart from Dirk Nowitzki’s overall annihilation of Pau Gasol, an argument can be made that JJ Barea’s dominance of Steve Blake, and the Lakers as a team, was the key difference maker in the series. He penetrated at will, made the pick and roll look like a series of unanswerable questions from a quantum theory exam, and in the end, was the unfortunate victim of an Andrew Bynum forearm.

In a recent SI feature, Bynum was depicted as a person who loves solving mechanical problems from the inside out: Fixing computers, watches, and clocks by taking them apart and then rebuilding the parts from scratch. For four games the troublesome irritant that is Barea was unsolvable, so the Lakers center resorted to resolving things like a frustrated five-year-old, breaking the Mavericks energy source and walking away.

Both J.J. Barea and Blake both played this season alongside two guys  who’ll go down as top 20 all-time players, but Barea was the only one who acted like he’s worthy. He makes the smart decision, doesn’t play scared, and when the moment presents itself he beats it to a bloody pulp.

Barea is tiny—listed at a most charitable six feet—yet attempts most of his shots at the rim., like a less athletic, Puerto Rican Allen Iverson. Watching the unbelievable aspects of his game remind me of an outrageous sequence in a daring action movie. When he drives to the hoop holding neither fear nor hesitation, eyes go wide and thumbs immediately rewind their DVR.

Earlier this season in a game against Boston, Kevin Garnett got into a small skirmish with Barea. There was brief shoving before the two were separated, and after the game Celtics captain Paul Pierce said it wasn’t anything to overreact about; both guys were their team’s inspirational spark plugs. Pierce’s decision to compare Garnett (one of the greatest players of all time) with a Northeastern graduate who averages 20 minutes a game was an attestation to how much respect Barea has around the league. Defensively he’s so in-your-face feisty that opposing guards have no choice but to back him down in the post and take advantage of the sizeable advantage. This is usually combated with an egregious flop, forcing the referee to blow a whistle. Just like that, Barea has the ball back in his hands.

Mario Chalmers

A player best known for making a national championship saving three, Chalmers was likely given a single instruction after the Heat signed LeBron James and Chris Bosh: Work on your shot. Playing alongside a decision maker of James’ ability, Chalmers’ role isn’t that of a normal backup point guard. He doesn’t bring the ball up the floor or initiate the team’s offense, instead hovering around the three-point line and finding open space to catch and release.

In the Heat’s Game 3 loss, Chalmers had perhaps his finest statistical performance, going 7-9 from the floor (including 2-4 from deep) for 17 points. In the series clinching Game 6 win over Philadelphia, he attempted a season-high 12 long balls, making six of them and finishing with 20 points (another high for the year).

As a peripheral member of the most talked about team in basketball, Chalmers comes across as a figurative little sibling who yaps behind a chain fence of older, tougher brothers who’ve been around the block. When Chalmer’s shot isn’t falling he’s useless. When it is, Miami’s very difficult to beat.

Eric Maynor

When I was a student at the University of Delaware, the basketball team was an atrocious sight to see. Nobody cared how they did, knew when/where games were played, or could identify a single coach or player if they were standing behind them in a dining hall; the buzz they created hummed softer than a flickering mosquito zapper. Attention to the team was minimal…unless, of course, VCU’s Eric Maynor was in town.

Apart from the games that I covered for both the school and local paper, the only Fighting Blue Hen basketball games I took in were those memorable Maynor performances. He was the Colonial Athletic Association’s Chris Paul, dicing up opponents, throwing smooth yet innovative passes to teammates who weren’t ready to catch them, and launching his head coach into a higher paying job. Maynor was a sight to see in person, and ever since, I’ve respected and admired the way he runs a basketball team.

After being VCU’s go-to offensive option in college, he’s adjusted in the NBA, taking smart shots within the offense’s flow, rarely making the unnecessary highlight worthy pass, and accepting a role that offers just 15 minutes of action a night. In light of Westbrook’s increasing volatility, those minutes could, and probably should, increase since Maynor is the essentially the Cool Hand Luke yin to Russell Westbrook’s hot tempered, mercurial yang.

Greivis Vasquez

Before we get into Greivis, here’s a hypothetical, somewhat timely, relatable question for you: If you’re Memphis GM Chris Wallace, would you trade Vasquez and Marc Gasol to the Lakers for big brother Pau? Because that’s what that one-sided destructive deal from 2007 has become. Just curious.

On the court, Vasquez is an unafraid rookie who offers a change-of-pace scorer’s mentality whose audaciousness borders on stupidity when compared to Mike Conley’s sometime tentative approach to the position. As Kevin McHale repeats each time he calls a Memphis Grizzlies game, this is both good and bad news for Lionel Hollins. On one hand it’s nice to have a young, athletic player show a willingness to score baskets and create off the dribble, but on the other hand it must be excruciating to watch him play the game at such an unrestrained level in such important spots. Bad decision after bad decision will lower a player’s confidence, and while the big guys down low are Memphis’ clear strength and advantage, Vasquez’s contributions are imperative if the Grizzlies want to advance. (As was put on display during the triple overtime loss.)

So far in this postseason, Vasquez’s points, rebounds, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and assists per 36 minutes have been better than Conley’s. As mentioned earlier he’s 6’6”, which allows him to see the floor a little better than your average point guard. It’s up to Vasquez to take the information his eyes are transmitting to his brain and make the right choice. Memphis might depend on it.

C.J. Watson

By taking the league’s MVP out of the game each time he enters, Watson’s backup role is probably the hardest, and most internally confusing of any in the league. His job is to run the offense, make smart passes, keep his man in front of him, ease the tempo, and, more often than not, hold Chicago’s lead.

But sometimes Watson’s mind gets nostalgic, going back to his days as the D-League’s Derrick Rose when he held gross averages of 26, 5, and 5. Watson comes into each game after watching the real Rose writhe through complex defenses with an ease that would draw the envy of every point guard in the world. There’s no doubt Watson has moments where he asks himself, why not him? Why can’t he do it? And so he scampers away from his role, veers out of his lane, and flails in a desperate attempt to prove himself as a relative Derrick Rose equal. Who wouldn’t? And thanks to Carlos Boozer’s expected disappearing act, Chicago’s relying on Rose even more than they did in the regular season. The result is less time for Watson and less opportunity on the national stage.

When Watson was on the court during the regular season, he would look over towards the bench and through the corner of his eye notice Rose at the scorer’s table. His response a majority of the time would be to take a bad shot—a three-pointer with 18 seconds left on the shot clock or a head-down bull rush to the basket without initiating the offense—knowing he was about to get the hook. Watson’s career has been a constant wave of doubt.

His entrance into the league was a 22-day visit in Charlotte followed by a prompt dismissal. He then clung onto the Golden State Warriors for dear life with two 10-day contracts, playing well enough to stay on board. In his last four games Watson’s played 33 minutes of basketball. As far as normal rotation players go, Watson’s the Whitey Bulger of these playoffs; unseen, a man who’s vanished.

This headline could have gone in any number of ways. Dr. Richard Kimble-based. Def Leppard drummer/Hysteria pun-full. Perhaps even a Jim Abbott reference. But we’ll keep it simple — just like Rajon Rondo did with his post-game comments describing his grotesque elbow dislocation he suffered and subsequently returned from in the Celtics do-or-diesque Game 3 win over the Heat tonight. “I thought I could try to change the game’s momentum by getting to the ball defensively,” said Rondo. “I only need two legs for that.”

Well then.

If you haven’t seen the injury and want to, here is the brutality in image, GIF and video form.

Matt Moore does a good job expressing how we shouldn’t go overboard on asserting that Rondo’s return won this game for Boston. But this dude is tough as railroad spikes, and this will still be forever known as The Rondo Game. In a way, it’s a microcosm (in terms of importance/immortality) of Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals in which doubtful-to-play Willis Reed limped his way into the starting lineup and hit a few shots early to help propel his Knicks to the title. In reality, if you’re going to credit one man with New York’s 113-98 victory over the Lakers, it must be Clyde Frazier, who put up 36 points, 19 assists and 7 boards. As Clyde famously said, “Willis provided the inspiration while I provided the devastation.”

Sticking to that, tonight, Rondo brought the inspiration while KG most certainly brought the devastation. Garnett’s 28 points (on 20 shots) and 15 boards were a true flashback to his MVP days and, along with a great night for Paul Pierce, gave Celtics fans new hope that the old champs may be able to knock off the young upstarts yet.

Furthermore, more so than being like the Willis/Clyde game, this one may be closer to two memories in Celtics lore: the Larry Bird concussion game and the Cs 1973 Eastern Conference Finals during which John Havlicek separated his shoulder and played a few games essentially one-handed.

In any event, here are a few post-game thoughts from Kevin Garnett on Rondo’s effort.

• “Shorty’s a real tough dude and I seen him play through some hellafied* injuries. I saw his face and I knew he was beat up.”
• “I’m not going through the list of injuries that yall are unaware of … but I’ve seen him play through some horrific injuries.”
• “When he came in, I was just like ‘that’s typical Rondo.’”
• “I dunno what he’s gonna be like when he’s 35, but—for right now—he’s … showing a lot of heart. A lot of grit.”

True grit.

Who knows if he will play in Game 4, but even if he doesn’t and the Heat ultimately beat the Celtics, no one will ever forget this game.

Lastly, below is the most marquee play from Rajon after the injury: him picking Chris Bosh’s pocket with his left hand, something he barely used post-injury, and dunking with his right, the hand he used to snatch one-armed boards, drive to the hoop and throw cross-court bounce passes.

* I wasn’t sure whether this should be “hellafied” like “qualified” and “dignified” or “hella fide” like “bona fide.” AP Style Guide proved no help. Makes more sense with the former, but my first instinct was the latter.

Heat vs. Celtics, Evil vs.Good, free agency vs. the trading market, tampering vs. a little help from your friends, individual Rucker Park basketball vs. championship-level synergy.

Sunday afternoon, it begins — and all we have to do is sit back and watch, pens drawn, narratives abound.

That said, those of us who want to watch a basketball series and not the ultimate battle of clashing basketball philosophies that don’t clash at all are in for a treat as well. Seven All-Stars will take the court Sunday for the start of a four-to-seven-game series. At least 6 future Hall of Famers will play. And if we’re lucky, Hubie Brown will be in the announcing booth, pointing out every important thing we’re watching.

But what exactly do we need to be watching when they tip-off?

I’m glad you asked.

Who’s Guarding Lebron James?

I’ll let Tom Haberstroh take this one, because he’s much smarter than you, me, and everybody.

According to Newmann and Oliver, Pierce checked LeBron 69 percent of the time, with Rajon Rondo, Jeff Green and Marquis Daniels (no longer with the team) filling in the rest. But against Pierce, LeBron shot just 43 percent from the field and his efficiency plummeted to depths rarely seen from him. In fact, LeBron scored 75 points per 100 possessions with Pierce covering him, down from his 93 points per 100 possessions when guarded by all other Celtics defenders.

We’ve seen this going on in previous Lebron vs. Boston series. Though Boston guards Lebron in a team-wide manner, having Pierce spearhead the defensive effort is key – more than ever when the defensive monstrosity that is Jeff Green is the primary second option. Boston needs Pierce in prime shape, hoping that working on Lebron won’t take the same toll it has taken on his offensive game in the past.

Where’s Dwyane Wade?

In four games against Boston this year, Dwyane Wade is shooting 28% from the field. His true shooting percentage isn’t much better, at a disturbingly low 38%. He registered 21 turnovers to 21 assists, and got to the line only 5.8 times a game (after averaging 8.6 for the year). The narrative dictates that Wade is clutch and Lebron is not, that Wade shows up for the playoffs and that Lebron does not, and that Wade is a good person and Lebron is not, but with Lebron’s averages against Boston on par with his season numbers (29, 6.5, 6.5 on 56.2 TS%, albeit 5 turnovers), the onus to show up will be on the former Finals MVP.

Will Rajon Be Rajon?

In three wins against the Heat, Rajon Rondo had 43 assists. In one loss, he had 5. This is obviously a very cut-and-dry way to look at things, with millions of other factors going in to every one of those 4 regular season games, but the difference is simultaneously astonishing and extremely logical. When Rondo is at the top of his game, penetrating at will and finding his teammates, this Boston offense is a completely different beast. When Rondo is not well, the offense boggles down to a 9-7 March or a 4-4 April.

Who Plays Center?

Joel Anthony has risen from national punchline to cult hero, and with good reason. The handless +/- monster has had a strong effect during the regular season series between these two teams, playing fantastic defense on Kevin Garnett in Miami’s blowout April win. In fact, the Celtics have only scored 89.7 points per 100 possessions with Joel on the court, compared to 99.6 when Zydrunas Ilguaskas is out there.

The picture flips on offense. By replacing Joel’s dunk air-balling goodness with Z’s pick-and-pop acumen, the Heat’s offense vs. Boston jumps a staggering 14 points per 100 possessions. Balancing the two centers (perhaps occasionally playing centerless when Boston trots Garnett out to the pivot) will be key for the Heat.

(Just for kicks, in case one of you still thinks Erick Dampier is a valid NBA center: Miami has scored 54.4 points per 100 possessions against Boston with Damp on the floor. It should be noted that this took place for only 6 minutes all season, but hey, why take notice of sample sizes when making fun of Erick Dampier?)

The center position is just as important from Boston’s side as well, if only because of the increasingly unlikely scenario that Shaquille O’neal ever takes the court again. Shaq was a key part of Boston’s torrid start to the season, which included two closer-than-the-score-indicates wins over these same Heat. Miami has no one on it’s roster who can handle Shaq.

Sadly, it seems as if 39 years of humongousness have finally done the Diesel in.

The Supporting Casts

Miami is the big 3 and nobody else, while Boston is a TEAM. Right? Anybody?

This line of thinking should probably go down the drain at this point. Beyond Boston’s 4 all stars, the team has been absolutely atrocious. Adding on to the Jeff Green outlash is just plain cruel at this point, but Glen Davis hasn’t looked much better, and Jermaine O’neal looks about as creaky as the frequent and generic punchlines make him out to be. Delonte West is shooting 27% in these playoffs so far, and while this probably improves considerably, he’s hardly been the model of consistency these past few years. Boston’s fifth  best player might be Nenad Krstic at this point, which says a lot.

Meanwhile, Joel Anthony has been fantastic defensively, and the James Jones/Mario Chalmers combo are shooting a combined 39% from three. Hardly spectacular, but with rest between games and enabling Lebron, Wade and Bosh to play upwards of 40 minutes a game, the Heat don’t really need spectacular. All they need is to drag Boston’s supporting cast down with their’s, which at the moment, seems very plausible.

Who Shows Up?

A simplistic question, without much analytical standing.

Yet, this will decide the series.

Miami has shown a disturbing lack of urgency throughout this season. The reasons as to why now become completely irrelevant – from here on out, Miami runs the risk of it’s season ending. The urgency should accompany that prospect.

Similarly, we have no idea which Boston arrives. The Celtics aren’t as bad as their post all-star play indicates, but expecting them to flip the switch all the way back up, even if they did it last year, is an extreme leap of faith. And as impressive as they looked in the final 2 games against the Knicks, they were also very close to losing twice on their home floor, to the Knicks.

Prediction, Just Because It Has To Be Done

The Heat are not going to blow the Celtics out. Boston is too proud, the defense is too good, and Miami still lacks the cohesion to pull it off. And Boston is not going to blow Miami out, because Miami has the two best players in the series, in a sport where this sort of thing matters. (Don’t give me the “New York had the two best players in the series too!” bit, because we know better.) It will be a close series, with low scoring and high drama. But this Boston team needs too many things to go just right, and unlike last season, when everything did go just right, I don’t think Lebron skips Game 5.

Heat in 7.

As Christmas carolers soon sing oh noel
Amar’e was singing “Oh, no … Joel”
His streak of thirty ended ugly
Clanking free throws just like Chris Dudley

These are definitely Clyde Frazier’s favorite viral videos. You can see more videos from StentorianMusing here.

(AP Photo/Morry Gash)

I’m on record as being very pro-NBA Voltron. I really wanted to see LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh play on the same team. Not because I want them to succeed — or even care if they do — but just because I wanted to enjoy watching the moments of greatness that would be achieved by a team featuring two of the three best players in the world. Will they win a bunch of titles? It’s hard to believe they won’t take home a few based on skill alone, but I’m not even talking about that type of season-long, seven-game-series winning greatness. I just simply wanted to see several-minute-long stretches of amazing basketball being played.

My desire to see LeBron and Wade play together comes from purely selfish reasons. I love watching amazing basketball, and these two guys play it very often. Simple as that. Throw in Bosh and things could get historic at times. We might see some random, throwaway quarters and halves of basketball in December or February that rank among the best that have ever been played.

Never is this possibility more apparent than when these guys get out in the open court. LeBron on the break is the equivalent of Karl Malone times Latrell Sprewell with Shawn Kemp’s ability to finish. Dwyane is nearly as ruthless with the ball in the open court — just ask Anderson Varejao. Combine the two and the outcome can get just downright silly.

Well guess what? They are starting to run.

Looking at the data, the Heat stepped on the gas in Dallas after a series of sleepy games peppered with stagnant half court offense. Their transition rate (percentage of transition plays as part of their overall offense) over their last seven games has been above their seasonal average of 13.4 percent.

Thanks to their acceleration lately, the Heat now rank 12th in the NBA in transition rate which is still below where many think they should be. But if we believe their recent transition game is a permanent switch, then their 16.5 percent average over the past seven games would rank head and shoulders above the entire NBA; the Pacers and Bulls currently lead the league with 14.7 percent of their possessions in transition.

The writer of this piece, the excellent Tom Haberstroh, notes that as the run more, they are also improving at it. LeBron started out the season sloppy, turning the ball over too often on the break. “Maybe he was pressing in his new digs and trying to do too much for the fans,” writes Haberstroh. Perhaps. But whatever it is that made him turn the ball over a staggering 18 times in transition in Miami’s first 19 games seems to have been solved — he only has one giveaway in the open court in his last four outings.

And the players are starting to embrace the break. Look at the video below. A 2-on-1 break by LeBron and Wade after a made basket leads to an easy score.

That’s nuts.

Buckle your seat belts.

Perhaps most interestingly — and I use that word rather liberally here — Shaq said something about it. This whole “debate” really is silly, but Diesel quotes are always a good time so here goes.

“I’m anxious to see if he’s going to do the powder thing…. I’m anxious to see him do the powder s—. We have bets he won’t do it.”

Better still was an unprovoked shot at the Foot Locker employee formerly known as Lew Alcindor that this prompted from C-Webb.

“He better toss the powder. Did Jordan wag the tongue? Did Magic Johnson smile? Did Kareem just look at you and not say nothing?”

And obviously the best thing to come out of this is the below Photoshop from NBA Offseason.

Still, no matter how bad the basketball is, all is not for naught. The occasion spurred Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game, Hardwood Paroxysm, NYT’s Off the Dribble, NBC’s ProBasketballTalk, Voice on the Floor and probably soon the White House to create this epic video.

It’s the best thing you will find on the internet today and perhaps in your lifetime. (via Hardwood Paroxysm)

But while the whole world seems to be savoring this unanticipated opportunity to kick the big, bad, arrogant bully off his pedestal, the reality is that burying this team as a hollow contender right now is premature. Very premature.

The only thing less important than November basketball in the NBA is preseason basketball. So while we should continue to monitor Miami’s struggles, we should also remember these six reasons to not panic just yet.

1. They Haven’t Lost to a Bad Team Yet

The Heat obviously didn’t want to start off 6-4. But they have not lost to teams that are playing poorly. Their first and fourth loses came against the defending Eastern Conference champion Celtics, who are deeper than ever and look like they are going to actually try in the regular season this year. Their second loss came in New Orleans against a team that just suffered its first defeat last night. And their final loss came against Utah.

At the time, this looked like a monumental collapse by the Heat — and it was. But given that it took two three-pointers — and another jumper — from Paul Millsap in the final 12 seconds of regulation just to send the game into overtime, and considering that the Jazz have been causing a lot of other teams to “collapse” of late, this looks more like a tip of the cap for Utah than a wag of the finger for Miami.

2. They Have the Highest Scoring Margin in the NBA

Through 10 games, Miami’s average scoring differential is +9.4 ppg. They have definitely played a few cupcake teams (looking at you Minny and Jersey), but their strength of schedule as ranked by overall opponents’ winning percentage (.534) is actually the 10th hardest thus far. The 8-2 Lakers currently have the second-best scoring differential at +8.9 ppg while playing the 19th toughest schedule. (LA’s opponents are a collective .459 thus far.) The only other squads in the league that have even beaten other teams by an average of more than 5.5 ppg are New Orleans (+8.0 ppg), San Antonio (+7.78 ppg) and Orlando (+7.1 ppg). (And among those, only New Orleans has played a schedule with opponents that are over .500 collectively).

In many educated NBA circles, margin of victory is one of — if not the — best predictor of Playoff success. Part of this is the fact that very good teams regularly blow out the dregs of the Association. But it is also because good teams rarely themselves get smoked. That has so far been the case for the Heat.

Yes, the Heat lost to Boston by 8 points on opening night. But their other three loses have been by a combined 10 points (by 3 to NO, by 2 to Utah and by 5 to Boston the second time). Any loss is a bad loss, but we should probably reserve “the sky is falling” talk for those truly getting smacked around. Admittedly, the final score in both Boston games did not tell the whole story, as the Celtics thoroughly outplayed the Heat in both contests.

But importantly, even playing bad, they had chances to win both times.

3. Miami’s Preseason Was Unlike Boston’s in 2007

When Boston’s Big Three assembled like Voltron in the summer of 2007, there was a feeling of sudden, unexpected joy for Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and — especially — Kevin Garnett. They had all be languishing away their primes on mediocre-at-best squads and became caught up in a whirlwind Danny Ainge talent grab that shocked everyone. Then they met up before the season and headed off to enjoy a team-bonding preseason in Rome followed by another game in London. By all accounts, the three stars were able to kick back and dream on the upcoming season in a care-free European climate, soaking in the fact that they were now, on paper, the best team in the NBA. They also got to chill in Rome, which most people will agree is pretty relaxing.

The Heat’s assembly was almost the complete opposite.

There was no surprise. There was big unveil of The Decision, sure, but LeBron, Wade and Bosh all knew that the 2010 summer was their summer and that they very well might be playing with at least one of these two other guys. Then, after the paperwork was finalized, they faced perhaps unparalleled media coverage and scrutiny. Much of it they brought on themselves, no doubt. But it did happen, and they were never able to escape the cameras like Paul, Kevin and Ray were able to do when they flew across the pond to Italy.

Maybe most importantly, Dwyane got hurt in Miami’s first preseason game of the year. So the team never played together against NBA-level competition until the regular season began. You probably can’t find a person who thinks what happens in preseason is more meaningless than I do, but that has to matter. Rotations, offensive sets and just learning each other’s tendencies does require some time spent playing together — no matter how good the players are.

4. They Weren’t Supposed to Be Historically Good This Year

Forget what you have heard from the talking heads on TV and the new blogs that have been created solely to chart the 2010-11 Miami Heat season. When Pat Riley cleared his entire salary cap just to give nearly every dollar the league will allow him to pay in salary to three guys, it was a coup.

But it wasn’t a 2010-11 title-guaranteeing coup.

At the time, most NBA experts said “Wow. They might win three or four titles together.” Few thought they would be able to fill out the roster well enough to dominate the league and go take the title in year one. Just on talent alone, they might be able to “steal one” if the Celtics, Magic and Lakers came up with some bad injuries or just hit the skids for whatever reason. But there weren’t many who said “Dwyane, LeBron, CB4 and Chalmers? Champ-ion-ship.”

5. Mike Miller Is Injured

As noted above, depth was always going to be the Achilles’ heel of this team. One thing that actually made the case that a 2010-11 Heat title could become a reality was Pat Riley’s unexpected moves to acquire Mike Miller, Eddie House and Big Z while also retaining Udonis Haslem.

Initially, it looked like it would be LeBron, Dwyane, Bosh, Mario Chalmers, Joel Anthony, a few waaaay-past-their-prime guys willing to play for the minimum (looking at you, Juwan Howard and Jerry Stackhouse) and a roster filled out with D-League call-ups. By getting two very valuable role players in Miller and Haslem as well as LeBron’s very-shaky-but-serviceable-for-a-few-minutes-a-night former running mate from Cleveland, it started to look like this team could have an actual 7- or 8-man rotation.

Mike Miller was the guy that made it seem like the Heat could actually be a team rather than an incredible core surrounded by nothing. Without him, the team quickly reverts back to “this will be fun but I’ll start taking them seriously when I see who they can acqure next summer with the mid-level exceptions, minimum-salaries and the draft.”

6. The Struggles Are Strategic — Not Structural

Kevin Arnovitz knows a ton more about basketball than I do. Here, he poignantly breaks down three key flaws we have seen in Miami’s first 10 games: (1) an inability to stop the opponent’s second option in a half-court set on defense, (2) an inability to get easy buckets near the rim on offense, and (3) an inability to prevent points in transition.

These are major things indeed. Great teams don’t struggle with such fundamental concepts of high-caliber basketball. But they are not structural flaws based on the typical talking head rhetoric of things like “Chris Bosh is soft,” “LeBron is not an alpha dog, dawg” or “Wade and James cannot co-exist.”

Kevin’s conclusion on the nature of these strategic flaws must be remembered. “For Miami, each of these three shortcomings is imminently fixable.”

These are Xs and Os of basketball problems. And the fact that they are occurring to the degree that the are, while perhaps surprising, is not shocking. It’s a completely revamped roster featuring three of the best players on the planet trying to adjust their instincts (“it’s going to demand that Wade, James and Bosh each perform a little rewiring,” notes Arnovitz) and several guys who barely belong in the rotation of any NBA team. Yes, that includes the T-Wolves

None of this means that we will see a parade in Miami seven months from now. They very well might not win the title this year.

But this team is far from being a failure — not yet anyway.

So let’s just all calm down.

(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

I’ve been pretty baffled about why everyone has felt the need to make LeBron into some sort of monster this summer. He has been a bit of a naive douche of late, perhaps, but the whole “he ruined his legacy [at 25 years old],” “he’s scared to be the man” and “MJ or Kobe never would have played with Wade” stuff is just completely silly to me. Who cares? New era with new era players who want to win title with their friends.

Seriously, not a big deal.

And that’s what makes this Nike spot so brilliant. It acknowledges all the silly rhetoric that talking heads have been saying for months now and just exposes it all as being totally silly. By the end, the only thing a rational basketball fan can realistically see is, as Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm noted in an email, “a dude that switched jobs and did it in an obnoxious manner.”

That’s all the ever really happened. Calm down. (Cleveland fans can keep being pissed — I get that.)

Meanwhile, the “Hi Chuck” part is one of the best moments in any commercial ever and the kid actor voicing young LeBron who says “should I give you a history lesson?” sounds like Randy Wagstaff from The Wire.

(via The Daily What)

Let me start by saying I apologize if this piece is suddenly obsolete. In our 24/7 media world, I can only presume you have read your full share of Lebron stories with varying angles, from “THE HEATZ THEY BE ROLLING!” to “LEBRICK WILL NEVER BE KOBE!” But I found it necessary to slow down, take a look around and not let the whirlwind of it all lead me to reacting with half-baked opinions. I have no intention of waxing poetic on the same topic we’ve been hearing about non-stop over the past few days. No, you’ve seen enough of them. Think of this as a response to the general conception, as the way one man sees what we’ve all been hearing.

Public Response vs. My Response

Public Response 1

Lebron stabbed Cleveland in the back not in leaving, but in the way he did it.

Yes. Moving on.

Public Response 2

Because he left Cleveland, Lebron will never be Jordan.

Well, this one is true, but you can drop the “because he left Cleveland” part. It’s time we realize that NOBODY WILL EVER EVER EVER BE JORDAN. Let’s just stop having this contrived debate between Jordan and every dominant wing player that enters the league. It will make all of us much healthier.

Public Response 3

Because he left Cleveland, Lebron will never be Kobe.

*Screeching halt*

In no way can you make that statement right now. No freaking way. Kobe never left the Lakers? He damn well wanted to in 2007, requesting a trade after 3 years of going nowhere without Shaq. The request went so far that the Lakers actually had a deal in place with the Bulls, set to send Kobe to Chicago for a package revolving around then-promising youngster Luol Deng. Only Kobe vetoed it because, without Deng, the Bulls had so little talent that Kobe didn’t think he could contend with them. Kind of like Lebron chose Miami over all other options because he felt they gave him the best chance to contend.

Kobe never quit on his team in the playoffs? Why don’t you ask the 2006 Phoenix Suns how much easier Game 7 vs. LA was than Games 1 through 6. I guess it was much easier, with Kobe taking three shots the entire second half, making none. Or, if the 2006 Suns lack credibility in your book, ask the 2008 Boston Celtics how much easier Game 6 of the NBA finals was than Games 1 through 5.

Look, the great thing about NBA basketball is that we don’t know anything until it actually happens. Yes, Lebron has zero titles  seven seasons into his career, by which time Kobe had three. Also, Kobe took those three titles alongside arguably the most dominant player ever in his most dominant stretch ever. The best player to ever play alongside Lebron in the postseason was Daniel Gibson. So while Kobe’s career is thus far superior to Lebron’s in every which way, and anybody making an argument to the contrary is either blind or incredibly unintelligent, we must always remember that career comparisons come at the end of careers, not in the middle of them. Will Lebron ascend to Kobe’s level when all is said and done? Right now, it looks as if he doesn’t. Not when Kobe’s claim to fame is his unquenchable thirst to win and to improve, while Lebron wastes his summers on hour-long TV specials. But there is no possible way to say that he never will. Unless you can see the future. At which case I’d like to know next week’s lottery numbers.

Public Response 4

If he wanted to win, he would have gone to Chicago.

Ummm … what? How is an up-and-coming, All-Star point guard, an undersized All-Star power forward and a borderline All-Star defensive center better than a top two shooting guard and a much better, not undersized All-Star power forward? I’m sorry, but I just don’t get this line of thinking at all.

Role players excluded, Wade/Bosh is a much, much better combination than Rose/Boozer/Noah. It’s no contest defensively (yes, Noah is great, but Wade is an all-worlder in this regard, and while Bosh isn’t the best defender you’ve seen, he’s better than Booze). It’s even more of a no contest offensively, where Bosh is amongst the league’s best, and Wade is amongst history’s very best. And while Rose’s and Noah’s youth enable Lebron to grow old with them, it also means that they’re not as good as Wade and Bosh right now, which is when Lebron wants that ring. Not to mention, they will never be as good as Wade and Bosh. Both have tremendous upside (more so Rose), but this is out of their league.

The only place I see an advantage for Chicago over Miami is in depth. Rose/Boozer/Noah are three guys, Wade/Bosh are two. In addition, the Bulls have a Luol Deng/James Johnson/Taj Gibson supporting cast, while Miami has just Mario Chalmers. But that brings me to my next point, which is…

Public Response 5A

The Heat can’t win a title because they have no role players.

Let’s ignore for a second that Miami has traded Michael Beasley for nothing, which, combined with the new Superfriends all taking less money, enables signing Mike Miller. The Heat can now offer any free agent only a minimum contract … but this comes with the opportunity to play with a nearly unprecedented force in this league. Of course, some of these guys need money and won’t tag along, but plenty of others will. Ben Wallace played for a minimum deal last year, and his renaissance in Detroit would have been a huge story had the Pistons been relevant. You think he wouldn’t want to start at center for this team? What about Raja Bell, on the downside of his career? Eddie House, looking to taste that sweet victory champagne again after being let go by the Celtics? Every single bought-out guy in late February?

And even if the familiar faces choose not to join for whatever reason — we are coming off the best season ever for D-League talent. The Golden State Warriors featured Anthony Tolliver, Cartier Martin, Chris Hunter, CJ Watson and Reggie Williams as rotation players throughout the season — all D-League guys. Alonzo Gee broke into the scene in Washington. Sundiata Gaines rose to fame after making a game-winning shot against the Cavs.

The D-League is full of more of these NBA-level players just waiting to get a chance. The Miami Heat roster is full of empty spots waiting for contributors to step in. There is no reason why the marriage can’t work. The Heat have 82 games to filter through this pool of talent — a pool that we know, now more than ever, is overflowing — find the best guys and trot them out. And playing with some of the best players in the world, the chances of them finding absolutely nobody who can step up are minuscule. Add that to what the brilliant Mark Deeks of ShamSports calls “one of the best undrafted classes of recent years,” and Miami should have themselves a rotation in no time. Not to mention that Lebron made Daniel Gibson, JJ Hickson and Jawad Williams look like legit NBA contributors in Cleveland. With Wade and Bosh creating even more open looks for the other guys, that trend should continue.

Of course, there is another side to this coin that is being mentioned quite a bit …

Public Response 5B

Miami is an immediate title favorite.

Again, let’s slow down a bit.

Yes, the Heat now bolster a trio nearly unparalleled in the NBA. But basketball isn’t played three against five. And confident as I am in the Heat’s ability to fill out their roster (see 5A) there are still 29 other teams in the league that, until opening night, are tied with the Heat for the best record in the league and pose big questions.

How do the Heat stop the Dwight Howards and Pau Gasols of the world with no current defensive player in their frontcourt? How can they rival the depth of the Magic and Celtics? Even the pseudo-contenders of the East, a group that as of today consists of Chicago, Milwaukee and Atlanta in my eyes, probably have something to say to whoever is anointing Miami as Eastern Conference champs — let alone NBA champs. And we don’t even know how this trio will work on the court or in the locker room. Talk to me next April. Actually, make that June.

Public Response 6

Lebron has admitted he can’t win alone by going to be Dwyane’s sidekick.

This is probably the dumbest statement I’ve heard throughout this mess, and yet it is the most prevalent.

Yes, Lebron James failed to win a title as the leader of the Cleveland Cavaliers. But look at the rosters he had to work with over the years. NOBODY in NBA history won a title with a roster that bad. Nobody. The only All-Stars Lebron played with in their primes were Zydrunas Ilgauskas, whose skill diminished noticeably by the time Cleveland was a championship contender, and Mo Williams, who is as much of an All-Star as you and me.

And yet, he took that roster to the best record in the league for two consecutive years, carrying them night in, night out. He took them to the NBA Finals, behind one of the greatest playoff performances ever that we somehow allowed ourselves to forget. Yes, he choked against Boston. But it was his first playoff loss that was his fault, the first time in five years of overachieving that he didn’t do everything humanly possible in a playoff series. And least us not forget — Boston was the better team, and won not because Lebron was bad, but because the Cavs had nobody to guard Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett. Lebron simply didn’t do anything to counter that.

So now, when Lebron is taking less money to play on a better team — a potentially historically great team — we’re calling him out? We’re actually faulting this guy because he chose playing with an all-time great and an all-NBAer over playing with Anderson Varejao and Anthony Parker in his starting lineup? If everything is indeed about winning, and the main criticism on Lebron was that he doesn’t want to win as much as his peers, isn’t this the only move he could have considered?

As for the sidekick thing – give me a break. When Shaquille O’neal signed with the Lakers in 1996, it was Nick Van Exel and Cedric Ceballos’ team. Was Shaq the sidekick? When Tim Duncan came to the Spurs, it was David Robinson’s team. Was Timmy the sidekick? The fact of the matter is, Lebron James is still the best player in the league, and he will be the best player on the Heat even if they bring in Josh Boone in free agency. The “I was there first” argument works for standing in line at a pizzeria, not when discussing the pecking order on an NBA team. Even if the player who was there first is responsible for the team’s only title.

Besides, why do we need a sidekick anyway? Why do we need only one alpha male, only one player who takes the last shot? If the Charlotte Bobcats had a team consisting of Chris Paul, Brandon Roy, Carmelo Anthony, Dirk Nowitzki and Dwight Howard, you think that team wouldn’t win the title just because everybody would want the last shot? No, I’ll tell you what happens in the last possession: Chris Paul will handle the ball, because he’s the point guard; he will get a screen from Dwight, because he’s the best screener in the game; Dwight will roll to the basket; and from that point on, the team will move the ball to the open player, who will knock down the shot because he’s awesome.

Same here. This consensus that final possession basketball consists of an isolation play for clutch guy X is absurd. It works when you have said clutch guy, but why should it be the final option? If you have two or three guys that can all step up, why categorize them into “the guy with the ball” and “the guy who’s watching”? And why does it even matter if the team is good enough to win the game in the first 47 minutes?

The whole legacy discussion in sports is looked at the wrong way. We say titles matter the most, but players have to win the title in the predetermined mold, and each title carries different weight depending on the role said player had on the team. And that’s fine. Nobody thinks Robert Horry is better than Michael Jordan because seven is a bigger number than six. But this point of view comes with an undefined resolution. Jordan was the best guy on his title teams, and Kareem was the best guy on his, except Jordan had Pippen, and Kareem had Magic. Does this give Kareem more credit? Or Jordan? Shaq had young Kobe, old Kobe had Pau. Is Pau as good as young Kobe? Is old Kobe as good as Shaq? What about the coaches? What about the role players? We insist on pegging these guys into these rigid roles and use those roles to analyze the hell out of them. But what if we miss by just a bit? What if Pau is a tiny bit better than Manu Ginobili? Nope, they were both the number-two sidekick, so they’re the same. Please.

Besides, as much as I hate repeating this point, we have to remember that there is still plenty of basketball to be played. What if the Miami Heat win the title next year, only the finals feature Lebron averaging 40, 10 and 10 while shutting down Kobe, and Wade shoots 14%? What if Lebron is injured in the first round of the playoffs, but Wade leads the team to the title without him? What if the Heat never win a title because Kevin Durant turns into the Optimus Prime and doesn’t lose a playoff game until 2025? We don’t know what will happen, because it hasn’t happened yet. Just like in 2007, when Kobe was getting criticized by every punk with a keyboard, nobody imagined that the summer of 2010 would turn him into the guy everyone is rooting for to take down the Miami axis of evil.

I get the need to write some of the stuff that we’ve been reading. You don’t sell papers by telling people to wait for the games to play out. But the bottom line is that we’re discussing the sport of basketball, not the sport of offseason moves. And as such, legacies are built in the games themselves. Lebron James still has plenty of basketball to play. History shows he’s very good at it. That doesn’t change just because his jersey has different colors or because he’s no longer playing in a city that recognizes the concept of cold weather.

I’m not trying to defend Lebron. Though his decision to leave was perfectly legitimate, he handled the entire situation in the worst possible way, and I, too, hoped he would stay in Cleveland and prove he could win over there. But I do think that this backlash has been overdone.

Has Lebron shown that he’s a narcissistic human being with little to no awareness as to how his decisions affect the millions that idolize him? Yes. But this decision does nothing to diminish the fact that he is the best player in this league, that his MVP awards were blowouts of the 1992-Dream-team-against-Angola proportions, that he single-handedly carried the worst NBA Finals team ever within four wins of an NBA title or that, from a skills-only standpoint, he might be the greatest player to ever play basketball.

That much we know, because it’s in the past.

The future? It could go anywhere.

The true beauty of this league is that less than an hour after Lebron’s much-criticized Decision, the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors completed a trade that both teams hope will improve their chances at a title of their own. And less than a day after that, the Charlotte Bobcats re-signed Tyrus Thomas. And the Chicago Bulls signed Kyle Korver. And the New Jersey Nets signed Johan Petro. Each for their own reasons. (Tyrus has ridiculous upside, the Bulls need a shooter, and I have absolutely no idea) Each with their own dreams of success.

Good as the new-look Heat may be, we still have 29 teams — lead by the defending champions, least you forget — that want a title just as much. Who will win it? We have no idea.

Which is why, come late October, I will be watching.

(AP Photo/ESPN)

In related news, it seems like a good time to revisit this. I feel like Paul Pierce could be the next mayor of Cleveland if he made this his campaign ad. Maybe throw in a dramatic effigy burning image with some sweet, CGI explosions.

Celtics/Heat

Series Preview: The Unknown (This Is Not an M. Night Shyamalan Movie)
Game 1: The Celtics Remind the Heat that “Defense Is Our Backbone”

Cavs/Bulls

Game 1: Bulls Prep for Losing Games 2, 3 and 4 by Losing Game 1

Why don’t you cry about it?

But Manu?

He plays a brand of basketball that inspires joy joy feelings in all those around him and Kobe, according to Chris Ballard in his book The Art of a Beautiful Game, likes to repeatedly characterize as “balls to the wall.” Usually, Manu’s greatness comes with the rock in his hands. But this year, dude’s defense has been on full display.

Last night, par examplar, he unleashed this Yeti-like-force block on KG, who now has two huge reasons to be thoroughly embarrassed: the blowout his Celtics suffered at the hands of the old, boring Spurs and being swatted this badly by a slow, white, geeky, balding chump. (via Real Cavs Fans)

And this wasn’t the first time this year Manu has publicly de-scrotumed a future Hall of Famer named Kevin. Here we see Mr. Durant also get got by the Argentine. (Video via Project Spurs … Click through to see KD’s PG-rated response to the block … And my sincere apologies for the Sean Elliot commentary.)

Is that all?

Nope.

Here’s Manu standing on his head to prevent a lay-up attempt by his Eastern Conference SG doppelgänger. If you can’t stand the Heat, Dwyane, better get out of the kitchen.

Am I right?

Lastly, who can forget this Halloween swat?

(Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)

What can you say? He’s one of the best players to ever lace ‘em up, and his approach to the sport is the most enjoyable form of basketball I’ve ever watched. Sorry, Reggie, but much like my alcoholism, the fact that Flash is my favorite player of all time has been something I’ve been cognizant of for some time — just never admitted publicly.

But it’s true. I’ve never enjoyed watching a human play basketball more. Reggie’s “moments” are timestamps of my adolescence and early adulthood, and because he was not only my favorite player but played for my favorite team, his career will always be more special to me than any other player ever. And it’s not like I want to like Dwyane more than Reggie. I just do. How does Martin Landau term it in Rounders? “What choice? … Our destiny chooses us.”

So, yeah, Dwyane is my favorite player of all time.

I say all this not out of any need to psychoanalyze a public admission that would have seemed blasphemous to me as recently as 2005, but more so just as journalistic disclosure. At this point, it’s entirely possible that my affinity for Dwyane Wade the player has begun to cloud my objectivity about him. It’s possible that I watch him play in a mental state of confirmation bias, wherein I ignore the negative stuff he does on the court and over-inflate the importance and greatness of the, well, great stuff he does on the court.

Players are regularly viewed by different analysts under the spell of confirmation bias, with Allen Iverson being, as he all so often is, the best example. His supporters, a group that would include me, excuse his insanely low shooting-percentage years in Philadelphia while his critics rarely acknowledge his higher percentages during his time in Denver when he was for the first time playing with other capable scorers. As you may have noticed, it’s quite possible that, just in the way I wrote those previous two sentences, I probably cannot be completely objective about Allen Iverson the basketball player — let alone Allen Iverson the person.

But I digress. The point here was to discuss the Heat and how they beat the Wizards last night,* giving them their second win over their division rivals from DC this weak and giving Flash his second 40-point outing of the young season. (His first came perhaps not-so-coincidentally against Washington as well.)

* (Ed Note: I wrote this last week and forgot to post it. They lost three times since then and won once, but I feel the same way about the team. Carry on.)

With a 6-1 record thus far, Miami is definitely overachieving in the eyes of most. It’s early, of course, and numbers can still swing wildly in just one game so take this all with a grain of salt, but the Heat, as a team, are on or around the top of the leaderboard in several defensive categories, and Dwyane and Mario Chalmers are both again among the league leaders in steals. (Both are in the top fifteen currently and they finished second and fourth overall last year in steals per game, respectively.)

Again, it’s very early and plenty of 6-1 teams have turned into pumpkins well before the New Year even arrived. Regardless, I think this Miami team is going to be better than expected and I don’t even think it’s going to take Flash doing his Flash stuff every single game like it did last year for them to get the the 5th seed. A lot of this hinges upon JO and Q staying relatively healthy — and I’m a Pacers fan, so I know just how preposterous that sounds. But I think Michael Beasley is rather good, Chalmers is better than people think and Udonis Haslem is perhaps the most underrated player in the NBA.

More importantly, however, I think this is just a well-constructed squad where everyone has their roles. It’s puzzling how many teams allow their rosters to just glide through month after month, or even the whole season, without all the players knowing their roles. A lot of this is on some pretty bad coaches that for some reason have jobs in this Association. But a lot of it also falls on the players. Rebounders wanna be scorers. Slashers wanna be shooters. Shooters wanna be ball-handlers. And no one wants to be a defender.

In Miami, however, everyone not only has a role, but they all seem to both know and accept what these roles are. There is no confusion and, seemingly, everyone is one the same page. They revolve around an all-world player and do whatever else is needed to fill in. Willingly.

Let”s try to define the roles of the key contributors:

Dwyane Wade – Captain. Beast. Leader. Superhero. The guy who you all know just what he’s capable of. And so do all his teammates — and they love him for it.

Michael Beasley – Sidekick. Robin to Batman. Scorer. Mr. Go Get Some Buckets. The guy the team wants doing things with the ball. The guy the team depends on to do things with the ball. And the guy the whole team is rooting for to succeed.

Jermaine O’Neal – Intimidator. Paint patroller. Jumpshooter. Occasionally reliable post presence. The guy who just wants to stay healthy and is willing to bang, board and block shots — presuming you also let him get some looks in the post and take his beloved fadeaway jumpers.

Quentin Richardson – Elder statesmen. Spot-up shooter. Willing defender. Post-up specialist. Lead-by-example rebounder. The guy who has been passed around the league so much it’s a joke at this point — but his jumpshot isn’t, nor is his defense.

Mario Chalmers – Floor general. Place-Setter. Ball pressurer. Mr. Do What Coach Says. The guy tasked with reining things in when Wade starts going one-on-one too much and making sure the post guys get their touches and Beasley stays engaged.

Udonis Haslem – The Rock. In a Hard Hat. Mr. Dependable. Mr. Lunch Pail. The guy who does the in-the-paint stuff that no one else, not even Jermaine, wants to do and gets no credit for it nationally — but certainly does inside that locker room.

Carlos Arroyo – The Empowered Bench Team Leader. The Feisty Point. The Little Guy With A Chip on His Shoulder. Mr. Run the Second Unit. The guy who for the first time in years is being told by his coach and teammates to “Do you. Get points. Dribble around. Create. We need you to be productive off the bench.”

Dequan Cook – Shooter. Three-point shooter. Spot-up Shooter. Mr. Seriously Don’t Do Anything Else But Shoot. The guy who comes in for a few minutes and makes a three or two. And then sits down. Quickly.

Joel Anthony – Big off The Bench. Shot-blocker. No More. No Less. Mr. Eat Some Minutes While The Starters Rest. The guy who needs to help out JO and Haslem against the bigger bodies in the League and provide dependable, if mediocre, bench help.

Is this cast enough to scare the Easter Conference powers even if they all somehow stay healthy? Probably not.

It’s hard to believe in this lineup, no matter how well they know their roles. They are good defensively, but not great. They are fairly weak offensively, even if Flash is utterly unstoppable.

Still, watching a team constructed like this is nice. Personally, I just watch the Heat to marvel at Flash. Seeing all these other guys embrace their minor roles next to one another is just gravy.

It’s pretty rare to see these days, too.

Even on a team like Boston where KG, Pierce, Rondo and Ray should be the unassailable leaders, I can’t help but feel that, at least in the past, guys like Big Baby and Eddie House wish they had a larger role. They come into the game and play well, so it doesn’t affect the team, but there has been an air of begrudging-ality (it’s a word) to their whole time there. I would watch Big Baby play against the Bulls and the Magic last year and he seemed like he was half-fueled by a “See…Told yall KG shouldn’t get so many minutes” vibe. That’s not a bad thing. But it isn’t exactly knowing your role either. And I think some of that obviously exists in Rondo, too, given his general demeanor and foolish willingness to compare himself to Chris Paul.

Similarly, it’s hard to not get the feeling when you’re watching the Lakers that Andrew Bynum he deserves a larger role and more attention for his talent. Amar’e and Shawn Marion gave that vibe throughout Seven Seconds or Less, which was only the most Marxist distribution of statistical wealth I’ve watched first hand in the NBA and a team that barely even used its bench. At times, Nate Robinson rolls like this. A young Ben Gordon in Chicago could be the poster child for this concept. Brendon Haywood. Stephen Jackson. Jason Terry. Jamal Crawford. I enjoy all of those guys, actually, but they have in the past seemed disappointed with how they are being used.

Like I said, I’m not judging any of these guys who, to an outsider, seem to want a bigger role. I like these types of guys, by and large. I became a Reggie Miller fan mostly because he was so obviously an asshole, even through my TV set when I was 12, and because he so obviously walked around like “MJ aint shit.” So, I’m not saying any players who carry this attitude should fall back or that their teams are hurt in any way by their approach — many of them probably help fuel their teams.

I’m just saying that that type of dynamic doesn’t seem to exist in Miami — at least not right now.

And I really enjoy watching that.

Just like Flash.

Sorry, Reggie. Had to end some day. Still luv ya.

But as good as they are in a standalone highlight reel or YouTube clip, they are 1000x better live during a game. It’s one of the things that makes basketball, and particularly the NBA, so amazing to watch no matter whether it’s Game 4 of the Finals or a random Hawks/Mavs game in December. At any given moment, something completely out of the blue and unreal might happen.

For instance, I was watching the Heat play recently, as I’m wont to do given my unchartable affinity for Dwyane Wade, and I saw this amazing behind-the-back dribble to split a double team plus an acrobatic layup finish thrown in for good measure. (It’s number two on this Plays of the Week video. It’s at the 1:57 mark and definitely worth your time).

This one brief moment in time (not to mention Dwight’s insane block, which is number four on that countdown) was insane. It’s things like this that make me wonder how anyone can ever watch NCAA basketball aside from the awesomeness that is March Madness. I mean, I try to watch. I went to St. John’s University and try to at least watch a little Big East. And when I’m at work and find out that Duke/Carolina is on that night, I get all pumped up to watch it when I get home.

Then I actually get home and see that there is a Nuggets/Jazz game on, and I’m like “Duke/Carolina will play again later in the year, right?” Because as much as the Tobacco Road thing is cool from a historic rivalry and huge intensity standpoint, there will definitely be multiple things done by Carmelo and Deron in a random Denver/Utah game that make anything that happens in a UNC game look like the basketball equivalent of tee-ball.

But I digress. Getting back to the original point, half of what makes these three or four other-worldly moments per NBA game so amazing is the spontaneity and the holy-poop-that-came-out-of-nowhere factor. And not only are you the fan caught off guard, but so are the defenders, the fans in the arena, the announcers and — oftentimes — the player himself. (Ricky Davis’ borderline leapfrog of Steve Nash is probably the coolest, organic, “what did I just do?” reaction, whereas The Reignman Point, which is number one here, is probably the best “I just did that? You’re damn right I just did that” reaction.)

And it is those times when announcers are caught off guard that I want to praise specifically right now. It’s always been a hobby of mine to pick apart the mundane, over-obvious, old-man-non-humorous and outright incorrect things said by in-game announcers. They are, by and large, pretty poor, and even though I fully realize that it’s a job that is very hard to do well, I more fully realize that it’s really easy and fun to mock those who do it.

But on rare* instances, announcers say something great. And on even rarer instances, these amazing audio moments are unexpectedly forever ingrained in video form by a forthcoming highlight. I’m not talking about the “spec-TAC-u-lar move” or “OOOOOooooooh, MAN … Hell-o” reactions to great plays. I’m talking about the things that are just being said nonchalantly and then oh-so-rudely interrupted by a moment that stops time.

There aren’t a lot of good examples for me to throw out there off the top of my head. But there has been a handful of great ones of the past few years that I remember really enjoying. None, however, likely compares to this “audio posterization” of the unnamed, yet clearly-being-discussed Hasheem Thabeet.

As you’ll see in the video below, Rudy Gay utterly baptizes Al Thornton with a baseline jam. Good stuff, Rudy. Well done. But as he is doing it, you will also hear Clippers announcer Ralph Lawler discussing this year’s coveted number two overall draft pick and saying “…Dikembe Mutombo. But a lot of people think he’s more likely to be the next DeSagana Diop.”

OOOOOooooohhhhh, Man. Hell-o. That has to hurt. How’s your pride feel, Thabeet? (video via Hardwood Paroxysm)

And now we will now forever have this audio posterization courtesy of Rudy and Lawler that will can replay endlessly eight years from now when Hasheem is on his fourth team and playing 15 minutes per night.

And that will be funny.

In the meantime, let’s keep a look out for future — or past — audio posterizations that you come across. Everyone enjoys them, so if you find one, come back here and drop them in the comments. Or at least email me the link.

* Marv, Clyde Frazier and Jeff Van Gundy excluded

Still, from Rony Seikaly and Glen Rice toiling away in obscurity to Timmy and Zo making waves in the East to Flash and Shaq bringing home the Larry O’Brien trophy, the franchise has enjoyed a nice linear arc of success. And the team’s entire style, along with its logo, has transformed from expansion fly to champion iconic. For a team that once retired Michael Jordan’s “23″ in its rafters, today, the only jersey you’re going to see on South Beach is a Dwyane Wade — or maybe a Rudy Gay.

Looking past any of that, juxtaposed against other NBA teams that use basketballs in their logos (looking squarely at you, Clipps and Nets), the Heat have laid out blueprint plans for how any expansion franchise in sports should create and manage its logo:

Step 1: Create a logo that relates to your name. (Disclaimer: If you’re name is “The Thunder,” change name before beginning logo process.)

Step 2: Make your logo simple, sticking to the script of what has worked historically while also — and this is where most teams go astray — adding a singular, unique element that sets you apart.

Step 3: Don’t use more than three colors — or four if completely necessary and you can give a legitimate, well-articulated reason for it.

Step 4: Don’t use ephemeral color combinations, lettering or design principles that will be dated in a decade. The last thing you want is to wind up like the Spurs, who abandoned their timeless silver-and-black logo in favor of colors representative of an interior design fad during the South West population boom, only to later realize that, yeah, don’t do that. Not so coincidentally, the Spurs have reverted back to their original look. See also: 76ers, Philadelphia; Pistons, Detroit. (And, yes, I realize that the Heat’s lettering might start to look dated within the next decade — although not necessarily. Regardless, they should be able to launch a preemptive, minor redesign that will avert looking like an early-90s relic if necessary.)

Step 5: If after a few years you determine that the logo is not perfect, tweak it a little provided you first determine that the logo is worth preserving. This is always the ideal way of changing things. Never change just for change’s sake. Worse still is changing for marketing sake or to create a new revenue stream. Fans have and want to maintain a connection to the past and even if it’s only five or six years, a change will be jarring and ultimately unfortunate. Still, be honest with yourselves. If the logo needs aborting, don’t hesitate — kick that bitch down the stairs.

Step 6: Once you have a good look, remember the best part of Jay-Z’s Blueprint and apply it to your franchise: Never Change.

What up to my Miami and St. Thomas connects.

If Hov don’t sign LeBron, him and Flash gonna get paper longer than Pippen’s arms.

No longer.

Let’s start with the name. Obviously, nonplural sports team names are dumb. The Jazz are probably the closest to not being cringe-inducing, but it’s still unpalatable to say. Even worse is reading the variation in subject/verb agreement when nonplural teams are discussed in written form. Logically, the Jazz, Heat and Magic should all be treated as plural nouns just like the Celtics, Lakers and Bulls. By the rationale of context, they should become like deer, moose or fish in that the singular and plural forms are the same word. “The Magic ARE on a four-game win streak,” for instance, not “The Magic IS on a four-game win streak.” Still, two decades after Orlando and Miami entered the League, there is no consistency, and you will see the names handled differently depending on the publication.

Moreover, even for a nonplural, the name Thunder is just weak. Dogs and 12-year-old girls are the only things scared of thunder. Lighting is a little scary, sure. It can kill you. But loud noises are not intimidating. There are certainly thousands of other nouns that Oklahoma City could have chosen that would have been better, but, for my money, the Oklahoma City Outlaws would have been the ideal choice.

See, the only two things Oklahoma is widely known for is being the title of a simple musical I was forced to watch in elementary school and being the nickname for the notorious gunslinger The Oklahoma Kid, who was played by bonafide tough guy James Cagney in the 1939 film of the same name. (It should be noted that legendary badass Humprey Bogart starred in the film as well.) Throw in the alliteration benefit and calling a team the Oklahoma City Outlaws is a no-brainer.

Then all you have to do to have a great new franchise is steal the phenomenal Arizona Outlaws logo from the defunct USFL. But that would have been way too easy, I guess. Instead, the powers that be in OKC opted for a lame name and a logo that looks more fitting of an internet browser. Or worse, a WNBA team.

This doesn’t belong on a jersey. It belongs on a KFC Famous Bowl.

(Top video with Dwyane via Ball Don’t Lie. Second video with Mamba via NESW Sports)