The Heatles where 0-11 in Boston' TD Garden prior to winning in game 4. Many of the Heat players and coaches had never won there before. Miami stealing game 4 was one of their biggest wins in Heat history and solidified that the Heatles had the killer instinct, by stepping on Boston' throat in game 5, they sent a message to the rest of the contenders. Miami is playing their best ball right now and entered the playoffs as one of the hottest teams since the all star break. With a 23-5 record since the all star break and into the playoffs, Miami' once struggling team and players have found the formula to success. Wade and Lebron where the two hottest scorers since the break and both have carried their scoring into the playoffs. Beating the defending Champions in a "gentleman sweep" only confirms what most Heat fans already knew, Miami is ready, willing, and able.In the final four and a half minutes of game 5, Miami went on a 16-0 run and the defense stood it ground against the most efficient offense of the past two years in the Eastern Conference. James closed the window by scoring the final 10 points on the team that has booted James and Wade from the playoffs in previous years and more notably last year in the Eastern Conference final. James would later describe Boston as the blueprint for joining Wade and Bosh in Miami. By defeating their Goliath, the Miami Heat grew as a team and grew in confidence that they made the right "decision" to take their talents to South Beach.
Lebron James and Chris Bosh joined the Miami Heat to win rings and Dwayne Wade is the only player East or West, not playing for Los Angeles, Boston, or San Antonio with a World Championship win. Down 2-0 vs the Mavs, he put the team on his back, coming back to steal Dallas' lunch money and parade budget, but he did not do it by himself. Wade was part of a club with multiple Hall of Fame players including Shaq, Alonso Mourning, and Gary "The Glove" Payton all of whom contributed to the Championship run at some point. Wade looks to James and Bosh to contribute with similar performances in the Eastern Conference Championship.
Chris Bosh has never won a playoff series as the star player for the Toronto Raptors and Lebron James took his team to the NBA Finals after many years of failure in the early rounds. James' and Bosh' failures to achieve their goal of winning an NBA Championship can be seen as a failure, but failure is the greatest of motivators. In the world of sports psychology, Attribution theory seeks to explain how an individual’s perceived reasons for past success and failure contribute to their current and future motivation and success. The theory revolves around four causal attributions: ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. Each is characterized as stable or unstable, internal or external, and controllable or uncontrollable.
James is widely regarded as the most physically gifted players with an incredible basketball IQ. His effort has been questioned by fans and his former owner alike. Last year with Cleveland, James was accused quitting on his teammates and has heard chants of Lequit, Lebum, and Lebrick, all due to his perceived failure wether internal or external. Lebron James arguably the most gifted player reinforced by his two back to back MVP's has had his fair share of failure. Most players would buckle and/or shy away from the bright lights after so much disappointment, but Lebron' drive and mental toughness used that only as motivation. After his long streak of misadventure, his decision to leave Cleveland for Miami can be directly correlated to his desire to succeed and quiet his detractors, but instead they multiplied. Lebron' mental toughness has been put to the test all year long, every arena he entered from the very beginning of the season assaulted him with a plethora of slurs, boos, attacks, mocks, burns, digs, and I wont go into the all round general hate. Even his Mother's failure's have been thrown in to the mix, in an attempt to rattle his cage, yet James has not only performed, he's improved and expanded his skill set.
Now that the Heat have defeated the Boston Celtics and a few demons along the way, Miami looks to finish the job in the Eastern Conference Championship and stand 8 wins away from Miami' second World Championship. The Bulls/Atlanta series may be over tonight if the Bulls can defeat the Hawks in Atlanta. Miami will have to face a formidable team in the next two rounds, winning an NBA Championship is not a given, but Miami has positioned itself quite nicely to compete going forward since the bastions of experience the Celtics, Lakers, and Spurs have been eliminated in these playoffs. The remaining teams though dangerous and talented lack the experience of finals play with the exclusion of Dallas whom Miami played in the Finals in 06'. The Heatles look forward to competing with the best teams remaining, but underestimating would be a mistake Miami will not make. Beating the Celtics is just the start of a marathon Miami is just beginning, Talent and athleticism can take you a long way in the playoffs, but experience and tough defense are the key to winning the Larry O'brien trophy again. Dwayne Wade, is the only leader left in the playoffs that knows how to get the job done. Nothing but net....
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