The NBA Dribbled Out

Celtics fans were pretty incredible last night when they weren’t tossing beer on ‘Bron. 

Witness this video of Celtics fans loudly cheering “Lets go Celtics” with a minute to go  and Miami ahead by 20. Both Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen were impressed and so was I.

They were cheering on their team for a game 7 they won’t be at; they were cheering on their team to win (again) on the road and take the series; they were saying goodbye and thanks for the incredible season, if the Celtics lose game 7; they are some of the best fans in the country.  

They were awesome; it just sucks one fan besmirched the whole thing.

UPDATE: One fan in the Miami area is claiming it wasn’t a beer that was thrown on ‘Bron:

h/t I Am a GM

Game 6: Miami at Boston

I did not see that game from ‘Bron coming. I don’t think anybody did. If last year’s Finals game 6 in Miami was any indication (it’s the only othe time this Heat team has faced elimination before tonight), the Heat would fold faster than you can say Rajon Rambo 10 times fast. Plus, tonight they were in the __ Garden with an acerbic crowd hungry for their team to finally do away with these pretenders from the beach.

Bron started unbelievably hot then just kept hitting jumpers and had cracked 30 at half. He had 11 more in the 3rd including this trey with 2:29 left in the period when Boston had cut the lead to 10.

He finished with 45 points on a Dirkian 19/26 shooting (2/4 from 3), 15 rebounds and 5 assists. It’s the performance everyone in Miami has been aching for since the Celtics started their 3-game win streak after game 2; it’s a performance most everyone will forget if the Heat don’t win game 7 at home on Saturday night; it’s a performance everyone will point to as proof he’s not clutch if James doesn’t play well on Saturday night; Primarly, it was a performance that turned the last 6 minutes of the game into bench time for most of the Celtics players.

Even though Rondo didn’t score as much in the second half, he still finished with 21 points and 10 assists to lead the Celtics. Paul Pierce was awful, possibly flatulent, and that’s really where the Celtics lost pace with ‘Bron. It’s not like Pierce didn’t get open looks, he did, he just wasn’t hitting any of them.

He might’ve been cold-blooded in Miami for game 5, but back at home for game 6 was another story altogether. Pierce’s sprained knee has got to be hurting him a bit because not only did he shoot poorly (and has for the entire series at 36%), but from the opening tip tonight—when ‘Bron scooted by him on the right for a dunk before most people had even glanced at their televisions—Pierce couldn’t stay with him. This isn’t the truth most Celtics fans know. We’ll see if a Friday night off can help Paul for game 7. Celtics fans better hope it does.

Rondo can’t do it all; although, watching those little stutter, fake-behind-the-back-pass followed by a hard drive for an up-and-under lay-up, are pure artistry right up there with Da Vinci and Picasso. Tonight he did one with his left hand.

After a gorgeous Wade reverse with around 8 minutes left in the 4th pushed the lead to 21, Doc sat Rondo, Pierce and Garnett and that was it. Celtics fans started filing out of the __ Garden and we’re headed back to Miami.

I never thought this was possible. I just thought when the Heat had their backs against the wall, which hardly ever happens, they’d fold. Just like ‘Bron folded when he was going against Boston with Cleveland and just like he did against Dallas last year in the Finals. It’s written in stone somewhere near Skip Bayless’ mansion, right next to McCarthy’s list of Commies. But ‘Bron didn’t fold, he rose to the occasion.

Lets take a moment to appreciate how much pressure he was under tonight, and how well he responded. It was pretty incredible. Big ups to James, he deserves as much praise as he can get before game 7 brings him crashing down to earth. If you don’t think the Celtics are gonna come out firing, then you don’t know the Celtics. And with all the pressure on Miami to win since they’ll be at home, I don’t see a happy ending for Miami fans. Then again, I didn’t see a happy ending for the Heat tonight either.

Final: Miami Heat 98 - Boston Celtics 79

The Celtics and Heat are tied 3-3

PHOTOS VIA

If you didn’t know, LeBron James was 12/14 from the field in the first half for 30 points while Wade got hit in the head with the ball from a fan and is only 1/6 for 6 points.

LeBron also never smiled once. All business! Jon Barry is already talking about how excited he is that LeBron is taking this game so seriously with his no-frills demeanor, but there’s still A LOT of basketball to play and the Celtics are only down 55-42 after the Bronworks.  

James also gave Rajon Rondo (himself with 19 points and 5 assists as well as 5 turnovers) a little pat on the hip. I’m not sure if it was meant as a sign of respect or he was trying to mess with Rajon, but Rondo just laughed when he looked back, almost like he finds it funny that LeBron would try and play head games with him. 

Regardless, Rajon seems to be the only Celtic that is coming to play tonight. Here he is with another gorgeously timed and perfectly thrown alley-oop to Garnett.

Like the last 3 games, the different halves of basketball are sometimes disparate hills and valleys for both these teams and if Miami hits a cold streak, the Celtics are right back in this game.

Everyone is going to be tuning in tonight at 8:30 p.m. EST on ESPN to watch the Boston Celtics try and eliminate the Miami Heat in a super-charged game 6 from the parquet (is it still parquet?) floor in Boston’s asdfjsdfsdjaf Garden. No less an authority on overwritten sports tropes than Detroit Free Press columnist (and author), Mitch Albom, has weighed in on the Heat hate. This after dentalophile Rick Reilly wrote his condescending column (which is redundant when Reilly’s name is attached) defending LeBron James (pro-tip: you’re doing something wrong if Rick Reilly has to come to your defense). It wasn’t just those two titans of annoyingly naval-gazy online writing that have weighed in. Most of my favorite writers have already started the death dance on the Heat. 

Tom Ziller asked it most directly: Is this the death of the Heat? Sports Illustrated’s Michael Rosenberg writes that “everything” is at stake for the Heat tonight. Henry Abbott at True Hoop tackles the eschatological Heat rhetoric more realistically. Howard Beck of the New York Times says a Heat loss tonight would be a referendum on their model for success; namely, that superstars do not ensure titles (and yes, he mentions the Knicks). Dan Le Batard at the Miami Herald accurately says there’s no margin for error with this Heat team.

In all, everyone has a few words to spit about the Miami Heat as they head into an elimination game in rowdy Boston. I myself don’t think they’ll win, and I’ve tackled the Heat enmity with the twist that it’s possibly the public’s disdain that’s most at fault. Metaphysical hypotheses aside, there’s simply too much pressure—some of it self-imposed—for the Heat to do anything but crumble under the weight of their own expectations and egoistic displays of grandiosity. They asked for this, and so I don’t feel as bad about all the voices stacked against them. If they do somehow pull off the upset tonight, it will be that much more remarkable even as they face a game 7 let-down. 

That’s sorta the point: there’s just no winning if you’re the Miami Heat, even if they win.

Heat art via

Some links around the web on the Celtics and Heat, but primarily the Heat. 

—SI’s Zach Lowe on how the Celtics gained the upper hand in the Eastern Conference Finals.

—Matt Moore at ProBasketballTalk on the ECF Game 5 and Erik Spoelsta [sic] vs. depths of pressure.

—Chris Sheridan thinks Spoelstra’s explanation for not using more of Chris Bosh in game 5 was “scandalous.” Also, Bosh may start in game 6, which I guess wouldn’t be that scandalous.

—Ray Ratto, a national columnist at CBS Sports, thinks LeBron’s moving into Wilt territory, which is not a good thing.

—Linda Robertson wants us to know the latest Celtics victory gives fuel to Heat skeptics. There are Heat skeptics? I thought everyone loved them?

—Favorite Globe columnist, Gary Washburn, with his take on game 5: “When all was lost Rondo was found”

—Sun-Sentinel columnist, Harvey Fialkov, on the Celtics Big 3 ending the Heat’s Big 3.

—Ira Winderman, perhaps downplaying coach Spoels’ struggles to come up with a good offensive set out of a timeout, thinks the Heat may need an offensive coordinator.

—Here’s a nice comic from some time, long ago when Detroit was still a team to beat in the East and when LeBron was only half-heartedly critcized for failing to take the big shot.

As for the unknown Miami Heat fan that chimed in with “Good job! Good effort!” as the Heat made their desultory way to the locker-room after their game 5 loss—and turned viral enough for Buzzfeed to post about it under the ubiquitous #LOL tag (barfing)—I really only have one thing to say: