Wading Into Rough Waters: Miami Falls, Series Back Even

Were it not for SEO, I wouldn’t be writing about Tiger Woods, but... Remember when Tiger won the Arnold Palmer Invitational shortly before The Masters? With all the “Tiger’s back!” talk? You remember that one. Well, did he leave before he got to Augusta? I ask because I keep hearing, again, that he’s back, and I don’t quite know how he’d do that twice. Great job at The Memorial. Way to go, tying Jack Nicklaus for second all-time in tournament wins. But long ago, we agreed that majors were what mattered. So let’s talk again after the U.S. Open in two weeks, K?

Would someone just come out and say what’s really going on with Bountygate? This goes for the NFL, which seems to have provided Yahoo!‘s Jason Cole with information of a bounty ledger...except the information didn’t connect with what actually happened and had to be corrected. This also goes for Sean Pamphilon, whose suddenly become the most famous documentary filmmaker in sports history. I don’t necessarily begrudge Pamphilon’s willingness to share what he knows about the Sants, especially since there is evidence to back his claims. What can’t be missed, however, is his heavy-handed, moralistic tone when discussing all these things. That started with Mike Silver’s first story about the now-infamous Gregg Williams speech, continued the next day with the reaffirmation of his dedication to “truth” on the matter, and went right through to an impassioned plea Friday to Drew Brees to “[j]ust be truthful.” Maybe Pamphilon is just a concerned observer who can’t sit idly by. Or, maybe he’s a concerned observer who can’t sit idly by and is working on a documentary called “The United States of Football,” which, while examining football as a cultural phenomenon, will give particular attention to the long-term physical damage the game inflicts. Sorry, but no one involved -- the league, Pamphilon, or any player -- deserves the benefit of the doubt. Time for everyone to put show all their cards, because nothing else is trustworthy at this point.

James looked stunned at the whistle. Pietrus pumped his fist. With James out of the game, the Celtics went on to win, 93-91.

After the game, James did his post-game interview from his locker, and he didn’t pull any punches when it came to his thoughts on the call that took him out of the game.

Uncle Luke really wasn’t happy about the Miami Heat’s loss. Actually, he was pretty mad at the refs, the NBA, ESPN and pretty much everyone else. Still, the meltdown was quite spectacular.

These are unedited and chronological.

If you’re only watching the ball, you’d see Wade dribbling around aimlessly, but what he was really doing was waiting for Chalmers to get open on the wing for a three-pointer

Here are the screenshots. Focus on the right side of the court.

That’s Wade’s “Oh no, I did the one-legged thing again” face.

While LeBron wasn’t as efficient as he has been in this series, he still had 29 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Wade recovered from a slow start in the first half to put up 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

Erik Spoelstra unfortunately doesn’t have direct control over his players making shots with the buzzer about to sound, but that won’t stop him from trying. Here he is almost trying to kick Udonis Haslem’s game-winning attempt in.

It’s a good question, one that requires a lot more of an examination that I can provide in the time taken to post this update.

But one fundamental reason: the Heat’s defense is so focused on what is happening with the guy who has the ball that they often forget about the guys who don’t have the ball. Against most teams, that’s OK because they don’t have a whole lot of weakside movement. Against the Celtics, though, that’s a problem. As bad as their offense has been this season and during the playoffs, the Celtics can always confuse teams with lots of complicated things off the ball. For a team that often loses concentration off the ball, it’s a tough matchup.

With all the small lineups in, LeBron James has been successful being used as the roll man on pick and rolls. Even if he’s not getting the ball initially, he’s finding his way towards the basket so that his teammates can later find him when they drive on the Celtics’ closeouts.

The Heat still aren’t playing very good defense, but they’ve found something offensively. Keep this in mind if they can keep the Celtics within arms length.

It didn’t take long for the Miami Heat to roll with their small lineup with LeBron James at center. It worked well in Game 3 as long as Kevin Garnett was off the court, and it’s given the Heat nine straight points with Garnett off the floor in Game 4.

As long as Erik Spoelstra doesn’t use this unit too much with Garnett on the court, it should help Miami get back into this game.

The Boston Celtics, spurred by hot shooting and beautiful defense, are up by 12 points on the Miami Heat in the first quarter of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. It was 15 until Shane Battier hit an open corner three-pointer.

In response, an angry Doc Rivers called timeout to yell at his team. Classic Gregg Popovich maneuver there.

Joel Anthony is starting at center for the Miami Heat in Game 4, and while the theory was to put a better defender on Kevin Garnett, things haven’t worked out on that front. There are a couple problems here.

For one, the Celtics aren’t posting up Garnett at all. All those lobs from the high post to Garnett around the rim? They aren’t a part of the Celtics’ early game plan. Instead, we’re seeing a lot of actions for Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, with Garnett being used as a screener. Anthony traditionally shows hard on those plays, but he is over-pursuing now, and his teammates aren’t helping him by providing lazy help on the backside.

Rajon Rondo headed the ball on the opening tip in Game 3. He one-upped himself in Game 4.