Win, win, win, no matter what. Well, for one team.
by Adam Fleischer / @adfleischer
Back home in Boston for a few days, I was able to catch Game Two of the Heat-Celtics series. After a hotly contested opener, this was sure to be a good one. Kevin Garnett suspension. Trash talking on both sides. Boston looking to defend home court. Miami hoping to steal on before heading back down south. Plus, this was the first playoff game I’ve hit in two years, so I was anxious and excited.
Pregame
–I arrive at 6:00, roughly two hours before tip and a half hour before locker rooms open up. With some time to kill, I head to see what’s happening out on the floor at this hour.
–Shelden Williams is on the court chopping it up with Shavlik Randolph. Former teammates at Duke, the two are surely enjoying their brief reunion, laughing and looking relaxed.
–James Jones is near midcourt, running from sideline to sideline. This looks like a “16″ that we used to have to do in high school, when everyone on the team had to go back and forth sixteen times in under a minute. Guess he’s not worried about any wasted energy.
–I see current Celtic video guy, former SLAM intern and contributor, and long time friend Sammy Newman-Beck sitting on the Boston bench talking some hoops with Nate Robinson. Without interrupting too much, I go over to say what up before heading back to swing by the media room for some food and then hit the locker rooms.
–Quentin Richardson-he of Game One KG-Pierce incident fame-is asked if he expects a backlash from the crowd tonight? “Probably so,” he retorts matter of factly. Good assessment, Q.
–Jamaal Magloire (who has been on five teams since 2005?!) is bumping some calypso music in his headphones. He says that’s what he always listens to pregame. Makes sense, considering calypso has its origins in Trinidad and Tobago and Magloire is of Trinidadian descent.
–I catch up with Michael Beasley for the first time since we spoke at a photo shoot in Miami in late February for a story in SLAM 138. We speak on how the Heat were simply bordering on .500 when we spoke, and then caught fire, finishing 18-4.
–Weezy’s Da Drought 3 is blaring through Beas’s headphones, although he reminds me of what he had told me down in Miami: that he’s almost exclusively a Jay-Z guy. Both he, and when I ask later, Sheed, agree that the passing of Guru from Gang Starr was tragic. Both say they’re Gang Starr fans. As am I. Shit, Moment of Truth (my blog) is derived from Moment of Truth (their classic album). If you don’t know, do research. Go listen. RIP Guru.
–Beasley is playing chess on his iPhone, and it looks like he’s still getting the hang of the right strategic moves of the game. Admits he only began playing two years ago.
–According to Doc Rivers, the one thing they’ll miss defensively from KG on this night is, well, “everything.”
–Doc’s thoughts on the Nets expressing interest in Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau: “I want all my assistants to be head coaches.” Probably not yet, though. And this Thibodeau is something the Celtics need to keep their eye on, as he’s crucial to the staff, and Doc’s recent comments about his thought on leaving after the season should raise some eyebrows.
–He also says that he doesn’t expect the Boston crowd to react well to Richardson and others, not does he expect the Miami crowd to do so when the Celtics come to town. “And that’s the way it should be.”
First Half
–While all the Heat players get booed during introductions (with scattered cheers for Wade), QRich was right, and he definitely gets it the worst.
–Pierce starts the game aggressively, pulling and nailing a quick three. Seems like he wants to get going tonight, especially with KG out and after Game One’s theatrics.
–Back to Q. That dude is getting booed like hell every time he touches it. Damn.
–As he leaves his feet, it looks like Rondo is about to throw it to someone in the crowd. It turns out he has eyes in the back of his head and he finds a streaking Perkins down the lane with a pretty no look dish.
–About five minutes in, and I’m thinking how Wade hasn’t scored or even been all that assertive yet. He proceeds to score the next six points, including a dunk and a lay in after he feel to the ground by miraculously yet, because he’s so good, not all that surprisingly, kept his dribble alive.
–Rondo accidentally knocks over ref Bob Delaney on a break. Something goes down with Delaney’s knee. He is rubbing his knee for the next few minutes, even lifting up his pant leg during a timeout to assess the damage.
–Michael Finley is rocking some all white Jordan 11′s. Anniversary pack. Fresh.
–I feel kind of bad saying this, because I don’t know her, but I’d let Ke$ha (dollar sign—really?!) know I don’t like her if I saw her. “Tick Tock” makes me want to bang my head on something hard.
–Sheed just got a board after getting hit in the nuts. Maybe Celtics should do that to him intentionally more often.
–Both of these second units seem equally offensively inept. This is pretty gross.
–Big Baby takes a charge on one end, then dives on the floor on other. He’s showing Doc that he made right choice starting him and not Sheed. He’s missed quite a few lay ups, though. He’s accepted the challenge and finishes the half with 14 points and six boards. Very solid.
–The Heat were outscored in the second quarter 26-10. That can’t be a good feeling. 49-33 Celtics at the half.
Second Half
–Right as Beasley starts to get going with two quick buckets, which is precisely what the Heat need, he picks up his fourth personal and is headed to the bench. There was a feeling that they were about to climb back. Not as much anymore.
–Consecutive threes by Ray Allen make this a 62-37 game. Yikes. I’m sure the city of Boston loves to see him shooting this well.
–Big Baby falls on Chalmers, and Mario is called for the foul. Whistles aside, that looked like it hurt. A lot.
–Wade, rocking this year’s Jordan’s, has his nickname “Flash” where the clear material is. Really cool socks, I guess?
–This game got ugly. Fast. The crowd is loud tonight-louder than I’ve heard it in Boston in a while. They seemed weak during the handful of games I was at this season.
–Wade is getting buckets upon buckets, but it doesn’t matter. Who knows what will happen. But if this becomes a sweep, and he decides to leave this summer, this may be a night that you can point to.
–That being said, I don’t think it’ll be a sweep, and I don’t think he’ll be leaving this summer.
–Scalabrine, a Boston fan favorite, dressed in street clothes tonight, is over at the scorer’s table during a late game timeout and mouthing the words to “Don’t Stop Believin’” to the nearby section of seats, much to their delight.
–Pierce has put his index finger over his lips, as if to say “Shhhh” on more than one occasion tonight. He’s happy about this win.
–Nate Robinson hits a somewhat completely ill advised pull up, fast break three with not much time left. On the way back down court, Doc gives him a simple nod, like a father showing approval but not wanting to give too much love.
Postgame
–Like he was a couple years back, Nate is still looking for all black Nike CB94′s. He’s been rocking the whites. He says he has a great prize for whoever finds them—no matter if it’s his mom or a fan.
–Nate also temporarily debunks a story that I’ve been told by some of my homies who are from Seattle. They’ve told me that there was point when Ed Roy, Brandon’s older brother, was better than the young gun. Nate says he played against Ed as a freshman, and that wasn’t true then, or ever. Gonna have to ask some other players from the area to see what they say.
–The Heat locker room, to no one’s surprise, looks like there was just some great catastrophe. Understandably so. Voices are somber, heads are down.
–The Celtics out-rebounded the Heat 50-33. Only one of the many stats that show how horrifying this game was if you’re a Miami player or fan.
–Asked in his presser what the key is for when the series heads down to Florida. Intentionally, or not, he quotes another of the state’s biggest celebrities: T-Pain. “Win, win, win, no matter what,” he says. I’m not too sure that anyone not from SLAM that was sitting in the room made the connection—although I can’t be sure that there actually was one.
Read the SLAMonline Discussion Rules before posting.
Pingback: SLAM ONLINE | » Hot Topics