Miami blows a 17-point lead, wins by seven
By Dave Holcomb
The Heat are almost unbeatable at home, having only lost three times there through the first half of the season. One of the those losses, however, came at the hands of the Celtics back in November. Once again, Boston gave Miami all it could handle on Tuesday night.
Miami scored the last nine points of the game, seven via forward LeBron James at the free throw line, as the Heat held on to win, 93-86.
Boston trailed virtually the entire game and slowly pulled itself back into the game with efficient offense and quality effort on defense. The Celtics turned the ball over just twice in the second half and out-rebounded the Heat 46-33. Forward Brandon Bass led Boston with 15 points.
The Celtics completed the comeback with a Kris Humphries slam that tied the game at 82. After trading baskets, another Humphries dunk gave Boston its first lead since the early minutes of the first quarter with 3:08 to play.
James, or what his jersey read, “King James” took over the game, driving to the hoop to get to the charity strip. Somehow the Heat won despite only a lone field goal from Ray Allen, or as what his jersey read, “J. Shuttlesworth” in the final five minutes of the game.
Sure, the Heat won tonight and for the third straight night, Dwyane Wade, or as his jersey would have read, “D. Wade”, did not play. And even if they had lost, Miami is not in danger of missing the playoffs.
But the effort is simply not there. Possession-to-possession it is not there, quarter-to-quarter it is not there, and game-to-game it is not there. In a year where the Heat could do something really special, winning a third straight championship, something the great players “King James” is always compared to, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, both did, fans would expect that effort to be there.
Again, the Heat are not going to miss the playoffs, so the lack of energy really does not concern most right now, and it will not be a concern tomorrow or even next month. My question to you then, “When will it be a concern?” Playing with that championship drive, that ‘eye of the tiger’ is not something players wake up and find next to them, even if you are “King James”.
So rather than coming up with cool nicknames to wear on their jerseys, Miami’s players should search for that championship drive again before its too late.
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