As I sit in “The Recliner of Second-Guessing” I’m watching LeBron James score 45 as the Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics to tie the Eastern Conference Finals at 3-3 and even though things look a lot better for Miami now that they have a Game 7 in their house one thing runs through my head…
Is Eric Spolestra Heat President Pat Riley’s love child? I mean, that’s all I can figure out. How else is this guy coaching the Heat? You might as well have Eric Estrada trolling the Heat sideline. There wasn’t a lot of strategy last night. All Eric had to do was pat LeBron on the butt and say, “Keep shooting LBJ!” Think back to last year in the NBA Finals when Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle coached Estrada…I mean Spolestra into the ground in the NBA Finals, Boston’s Doc Rivers is doing the same thing in this series. It’s almost like Steven Hawking vs. Sling Blade.
Let’s go back to Game 5. We always hear these TV yappers saying that 85.23754344% of all teams who win Game 5 win the series…so this game is kind of IMPORTANT. So why would a player as vital Chris Bosh only get 14 minutes of PT? Why wasn’t Bosh on the court during crunch time in the 4th quarter? He’s one of the Big Three, right? Bosh said he felt good coming back from his abdominal injury so why is he on the sideline waving a towel? Estrada…I mean Spolestra, said it would be unfair to Bosh. Huh? Bosh gets millions of dollars to shoot a basketball and in the biggest game of the year he says he was ready to rumble and he only plays 14 minutes?
And from “The Recliner of Second Guessing” I also wonder if the Heat even run an offense? Sure, LeBron torched the Celtics for 45 points but most of the time it was James playing hero-ball. Why doesn’t Estrada…I mean Spolestra, have LeBron moving without the ball? Run James off screens, have him cut the middle or run the baseline? Why do the Heat just given LeBron and Wade the ball and tell the other three guys to just stand around and pick their nose? When James and Wade drive and the entire defense collapse on them, why don’t the Heat have guys cutting to the rack to get easy passes for lay-ups or dunks? I’m no hoops expert but I think the easiest dude to guard is the one standing still and the toughest one to guard is the fella who is moving. Don’t believe me? Go try and catch a parked car. Now go and try to catch a moving car. See the difference?
If Miami does beat Boston in Game 7 and rolls into The Finals they aren’t playing a team like Boston, who is beat up physically and has guys so old they ran pick-up games with Fred Flintstone. The Heat won’t be playing a team like Philly or Indy who they are just better than talent-wise. They’ll face an OKC squad who is young, fast and talented. And Oklahoma City has a real coach in Scott Brooks. Brooks won’t be saying goofy things about tuning out the noise from the outside like Estrada…I mean Spolestra. Eric makes his team sound sensitive and fragile. It’s like the Heat need Prozac. People think the Heat are as soft as Charmin for a reason. And their coach feeds into it. LeBron made his coach look like a genius Thursday night but at some point Eric is going to have to actually do something and then the Heat will be in trouble.
And from “The Recliner of Second Guessing” it hits me! Maybe I’m wrong about Estrada…I mean Spolestra. Maybe he isn’t Pat Riley’s love child. Maybe he just has some great blackmail pictures.
