Monday, May 17th, 2010 at 10:30 am  |  34 responses

Jason Williams Can’t Believe Heat Won a Title, Either

J-Will tells the Herald a similar story to what ex-teammate Shaquille O’Neal said about that championship Miami team from 2006: “As the Magic prepared for Game 1, J-Will explained what the main difference is between the teams. And his reasoning didn’t differ too much from O’Neal, who questioned out loud in the S.I. article this week how the 2006 Heat ever won that title with its partying ways off the court. ‘I didn’t even know that was going to be a shot at the title,’ Williams said. ‘But I’ll take it. D-Wade carried a lot of that slack.’ Williams believes his current Magic team is far deeper and much more focused than Miami’s champion. But it remains to be seen if the Magic has enough heart and the necessary finisher to complete the job. ‘We weren’t as focused when we won the championship in 2006,’ Williams said. ‘I can say that. I was there. I saw it. I was at the shootarounds, all the practices and stuff. Don’t get me wrong. We got the job done. But here, with every little thing, we’re so focused.’ The irony of it is J-Will and Shaq were two of the bigger problems on that team when it came to attitude, J-Will&Pat work ethic and meeting Riley’s demands for defense and conditioning. They were also big reasons why the Heat won. And Miami hasn’t seen their level of production at center and point guard since they departed. But I remember hearing something about the two of them getting tossed out of practices, including an infamous session when Shaq supposedly refused to leave and charged after Riley before Alonzo Mourning stepped between them.”

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  • Eboy Posted: May.17 at 10:36 am
    That’s my boy!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Eboy Posted: May.17 at 10:40 am
    And 4 things won the Heat that title 1)D-Wade’s singular brilliance, 2)Riley’s ability to get the team to buy into his “15 Strong” bullsh*t, 3)Zo’s never say die attitude, which secured the Game 6 win and 4)favorable officiating, although, as the Warriors showed a season later, the Mavs just couldn’t f*ck with a powerful perimiter player (hi, Baron Davis)which exposed their flawed defense.

  • Eboy Posted: May.17 at 10:44 am
    Also, anyone that doesn’t think that Van Jeremy’s overthetopcantstoptoexhaleletmescreamabitloudertogetmyguysattention coaching style doesn’t work when you have adversity instead of a cakewalk is missing his shortcomings as a coach. There’s a reason why the Heat failed to advance to the Finals the season before their title win….Hint: he’s fat and cost his team the Finals with poor coaching strategies in two games during that series last season too.

  • vtrobot Posted: May.17 at 10:50 am
    “i came out of a black out and i realized that we’d just been handed a championship. it was sooooooo trippy.” ha ha, when i think “champion”, i think of chuckers like j. will and ‘toine. much respect to d. wade tho.

  • Eboy Posted: May.17 at 10:51 am
    Meaning? He get’s too caught up in the moment and starts to practically hyperventilate to get his point across in big moments….I think his players love him, but also have some disconnect with him when he begins to rant like that (just from what I’ve heard from people that are within the Heat organization)which short changes him unfairly.

  • RetepAdam Posted: May.17 at 11:01 am
    J-Will’s a chucker? Here I was, thinking he’s a pretty good shooter.

  • Dacre Posted: May.17 at 11:13 am
    I just love the notion that Alonzo Mourning got his ring…. 5 blocks in game 6 of the finals that year. Beautiful and he did it with less kidney than anyone else ever.

  • vtrobot Posted: May.17 at 11:14 am
    i don’t know what his career % is, but i seem to recall him “chucking” some ill advised shots when i watched him in sacramento. i like the dude. pull up 3 on the fast break is my kind of b-ball. good for him to still be doing it pretty well.

  • LeoneL Posted: May.17 at 11:15 am
    Embarrassing the Mavs even further?

  • Noel Posted: May.17 at 11:38 am
    Inadvertently sh1tting on the Mavs. Hilarious

  • The Philosopher Posted: May.17 at 12:00 pm
    Shaq could have been the greatest center ever. He never had the fire.

  • Cheryl Posted: May.17 at 12:08 pm
    Which is all the more reason that the premier free agent this summer is DWade, not the “King”.

  • Jukai Posted: May.17 at 12:11 pm
    Cheryl: That’s a little ridiculous…

  • giogolo Posted: May.17 at 12:19 pm
    One big reason aside from DHowards immaturity and blind arrogance with no skill set is the fat coach with the loud,gruff ,annoying voice. Listen to NBA’s voice overs between hi and doc rivers. A charismaticly mile of a difference.

  • giogolo Posted: May.17 at 12:21 pm
    It’s always been d-wade over lebron. By that , I mean heart, right attitude and focus on what the goal is: winning. Lebron’s too focused on media, marketing himself, mogulship BS.

  • giogolo Posted: May.17 at 12:22 pm
    Why is it Slam screens and not post every comment I give about lebron?

  • Sovainmag.com Posted: May.17 at 12:31 pm
    Seriously? If what J-Will appears to be true, then the Mavs are that sorry of a team to lose to Miami And I guess Miami will never win a ship again

  • Jukai Posted: May.17 at 12:44 pm
    Oh yes, Wade TOTALLY had heart, attitude and focus this season, taking off for half of it. Yeah, a three-years-old constantly injured shooting guard is more valuable than Lebron. Totally.

  • Jukai Posted: May.17 at 12:50 pm
    Lemme try not to hate on Wade here, he’s the best two guard in the L (I said it)
    but c’mon now… let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

  • JL Posted: May.17 at 12:52 pm
    i think jwill is actually a real good shooter whenever he sets his feet right. it’s when he does off balance or off the dribble shots where he gets in trouble. anyway he’s a bit player now.

  • Eboy Posted: May.17 at 1:07 pm
    Uhm, Jukai, Wade has barely missed time in the last two full seasons, so let’s not YOU exaggerate either.

  • Spaceship Jay Posted: May.17 at 1:23 pm
    @ Jukai; Cheryl is DAMN right. After those 2 lackluster performances in the playoffs, why would I sign Lebron over Wade.

  • Spaceship Jay Posted: May.17 at 1:24 pm
    Actually, why would I sign Lebron over Wade?

  • Hersey Posted: May.17 at 1:28 pm
    To play devil’s advocate, Wade’s performance in 2006 seems to suggest adding him to a decent supporting cast will bring a title faster than adding Lebron. The loss to the Pistons in 2005 had more to do with Wade’s injury than SVG’s coaching. Detroit was the defending champ too.

  • Cheryl Posted: May.17 at 1:29 pm
    Because, JUK, Wade has the ring AND did it with less (talent and according to Shaq and JWill, focus).

  • Donovan Posted: May.17 at 2:22 pm
    Wow! The Mavs should really feel like trash. They choked against a partying, unfocused team in disbelief of their good fortune. This is proof that Dirk should leave and that the Mavs will never amount to crap.

  • topo Posted: May.17 at 2:26 pm
    that year didn’t really require that great a team to win the chip, not surprised…dallas made it to the final!!,yup dallas

  • Dutch Rich Posted: May.17 at 2:50 pm
    @E. The Mavs got robbed by blind officials, DWade was carrying like Delonte. The Heat been nowhere since either, so stop hating on Stan. No-one ever said he should be COY.
    It was Zo that won them that final game. I won’t be around to read your hate spewing reply cause I got deadlines…
    ciao

  • Eboy Posted: May.17 at 3:07 pm
    Dutch, I’m not going to ream you. The Magic have done nothing resembling a title win since 2006, so I’m not sure where Stan has done such an incredible job for the Magic that puts him leaps and bounds from being criticized. He’s had two rosters that have been among the best in the league the last two seasons and fell short in the Finals (really, they got their a*s whipped to be more accurate) and failed mightly in their first game aginst the Celts. Not that they can’t turn the tables on the Celts, but I’m not sure if their roster is “tough” enough mentally to beat a peaking Celts team. If they lose to the Celts, it would be as big a shamble then the Cavs loss was. That’s not debatable, and it will come back on the coach since there’s not one ball-dominant superstar on the Magics roster like a certain Bron in Cleveland. Dwight will take heat, but he won’t be written about as he should “retire/go away/find a friend/eat a burrito/relocate to Guam, etc” as a handful of the writers on this site and many other in the media wrote. Let’s be real, the Magic are Stan’s team, and Dwight is his Big Dog. It’s not like “it’s Lebron’s Team” and the Grimace is an afterthought. Every now and again, the top player does all he can and his team falls short….those times, the coach becomes the scapegoat. Stan is that guy if the Magic falter again. Vince, Dwight, Jameer, etc. have all played fantastic this year and the Magic were really good, but if they fall to the Celts, them as the 2 seed, falling to the “crippled Celts” has to be a terrible end to the current Eastern Conference Champs, no?

  • Dutch Rich Posted: May.17 at 3:13 pm
    No! Because then we get Gold vs Green and the entire universe will be aligned again and everything else will be forgotten.

  • davidR Posted: May.17 at 5:50 pm
    i dunno eboy, the finals last year came down to 2 key plays: lee missing that last second alley-oop, and jameer letting fish hit that clutch 3. 2 games the magic messed up that should’ve led to a close 7 game series. hindsight though

  • kriz Posted: May.17 at 6:39 pm
    god last years finals sucked. anyone but LA (i hate boston, just not as much)

  • theoriginaldwayne/schintzius Posted: May.17 at 8:31 pm
    It didn’t hurt that Wade broke a 6 game record for free throw attempts with 97. The record he broke was held by Shaq who shot 90 while being intentionally fouled during the hack a shaq era. Something about that doesn’t add up.

  • ryandc Posted: May.18 at 12:53 am
    thats too bad kriz. get used to it

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