Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra asked the question, “Was there any doubt that it’d be us and Boston?” Did he watch the Celtics play? Certainly, they cast some doubt into our minds about a Celtics-Heat series after failing to close out the 76ers in Game 6 before finally edging out the pesky eighth seed. Nevertheless, the stage is set for another battle between Miami and Boston on Monday night for the third consecutive season in the playoffs, this time in the Eastern
The Boston Celtics have staggered into the Eastern Conference finals for the third time in five years, their “Big Three” era so close to complete that the moniker is outdated. It no longer even includes their best player, the mercurial and unpredictable Rajon Rondo. Just 48 hours after Rondo finished off the stubborn, pesky eighth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 of a series that was borderline unwatchable for those without a rooting interest, those same time-tested and battle-proven Boston Celtics will
// Frank Vogel made a major mistake last night, IMHO. I compliment him for everything he has accomplished this season, I admire his youthful enthusiasm, but I question his wisdom today — the day after Indiana’s season ended in a Game 6 loss at home in which the Pacers never fully took advantage of the big-man advantage they had with Udonis Haslem out serving a one-game suspension. With exactly 3 minutes left in the first quarter, Vogel subbed out David West,
When is the last time we saw the combination of a shooting guard and a small forward completely and utterly dominate a game the way Dwyane Wade and LeBron James did on Thursday night? His Airness and Robin Scottie Pippen certainly come to mind. Back in the 90’s, the NBA and its fans saw Michael Jordan and Pippen display unparalleled athleticism and skill that allowed the tandem to terrorize their opposition with incredible offensive games. Longtime Pacers fans, along with Larry Bird – now the
The series between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers has been filled with unexpected drama and extracurricular activity with all the trash-talking and posturing – mostly from the Pacers. Things took a turn for the worst in Game 5 when Pacers forward Tyler Hansbrough “made a play on the ball” but also swiped hard enough at the head of Dwyane Wade to draw blood from the All-Star guard. What resulted from that play was retaliation by Heat forward Udonis Haslem, who less than
MIAMI – Order was restored to AmericanAirlines Arena Tuesday, both on and off the court. Well, order was restored after Miami Heat security and the Miami police handled the potential streaker. Apparently, there might be a $10,000 connection to hip-hop artist Rick Ross, who issued the 10k challenge to anyone bold enough to streak across the court wearing only MMG (Maybach Music Group) T-shirt. Making this streaker story even more bizarre is that supposedly the man was, well, rotund. Plump. Husky. OK,
Before the series between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers began, there was some notable trash-talking on the Pacers side from both the players and coach Frank Vogel – for which the coach promptly was fined $15,000 – calling the Heat floppers and actors of sorts. That’s all well and good, but Pacers forward Danny Granger has taken things to another level on the court. He has constantly gotten in the face of LeBron James often looking ready to brawl –
Blake Griffin now has plenty of time to tell Hugo: “Play funk.” About six weeks to be precise. That’s the next time Griffin will be back to work, when he and teammate Chris Paul arrive in Las Vegas for Team USA training camp. (And guess what: They have to get ready to play Tony Parker (France) and Manu Ginobili (Argentina) again, this time in the first round of the London Olympics.) Griffin and Paul played well Sunday night in their last playoff