The MIami Heat Face Yet One More Test, Themselves.

Miami enters tonights game at the triple A, versus the Philadelphia 76ers with thoughts of round two in the back of their collective heads. Miami' nemesis the Boston Celtics defending Eastern Conf. Champions are already home game planning and resting tired bones. The Heatles look to finish off the Sixers and move on to round 2. First the Heat must figure out somethings that have become obstacles in their progression as a team, no not who the closer is, Miami' largest hurdle is themselves.

There is only do or do not, there is no try

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.

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. Dwayne Wade being a former Champion, has the GPS coordinates to success. He is the only player of all the contenders in the playoffs, not playing for Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Boston with the Championship road map. Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Joe Johnson, and of course Dirk Nowitski know that the road exists, but don't even have a map. 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.

The Heatles are on the verge of confronting their Goliath, the proverbial monsters under the bed, The Baaaston Celtics! Boston' guile and perspicacity bring a formidable opponent to once again test the meddle of not only James, but Bosh' also. In the words of the Yoda of basketball Pat Riley "There can only be one state of mind as you approach any profound test; total concentration, a spirit of togetherness, and strength". The Miami Heat must close out the Sixer' tonight in Miami and prepare for the war versus Boston, they already have the physical edge, the rest in mental. Nothing but net...

Act like you've been here before

Well, all the game one' have been played in the first weekend of playoff basketball and it was a good one, no great one. The Miami Heat took care of business against the Sixer's and got one under their belts, but its just one of many to come. Many of the teams that were upset today played well, but were outplayed by a better team that day. Many will point at fouls, hard fouls, and non calls, to them I say, welcome to the Playoffs.

In Miami' first playoff game in the Heatles generation, the Heat played a good game for the most part. Miami was down in the first quarter and caused Heat fans to worry, but Miami fought through the waves of Sixer players of their deep bench. Miami led for most of the way, until a fourth quarter run brought the Sixer's to within one point. Miami gathered themselves and with help from Bosh with 24 points and 12 boards and James adding 21 points and 14 boards to quell the Sixer's final run. Dwayne Wade was the difference though his stat line won't show it, as it so often does. Wade made his late game shots and created shots where there were none. Miami' capacity to get to the line was key. Two rim attackers driving continuously will do that and as a fan I am grateful, especially for Bosh. The bench, though quiet did just enough, especially on the defensive end. Miami did have some lapses on the offensive end and seemed to be lulled into jumpers when ahead. Miami also turned the ball over 5 more times than the Sixer's. Missed free throws and turnovers have plagued the offense and opens the door for opponents to make quick runs.

The Playoffs are here and the games will be tough and the fouls will be hard. Many players have started the complaining and coaches have also chimed in. These are the playoffs and there are no freebies here, act like you've been here before. Nothing but Net...

Dwayne Wade slashes the Sixers

     I'm not one of those guy that likes to compare teammates, it's not fair. Lebron James is a mix of my two favorite players Magic and Jordan. He is truly a great player. But Dwayne Wade is truly unique, he can do it all! 5 Blocks and 39 points, are you kidding me?  * assist, too. D-Wade was "DD" tonight. It was one of his better performances this year against an athletic and aggressive team.
    As I caught my repeat telecast on Sunshine, I saw a team grow before my eyes. Lead by a nasty Dwayne Wade at his finest. From the nose bleeds they can see Wade fly off his left foot to facebook the Sixer' D. Philly is a good and athletic team with good coaching, but they folded a lead and never got it back.
The Heat are not only meshing, they are winning big games against good teams. Despite trailing by 16 at one point they rallied to win. The addition of the pick and roll to Bosh' game has been a good wrinkle in his game. The bench eh not so much, but what can you do. Everyone knew the bench would be thin, but loosing U.D. really exposed the deficiency.
    Still, despite the issues and the hype, this team is showing up every night. With a weakish schedule coming up and a showdown with Celts on the 10th of March. The Heat are playing cohesive, unselfish, and aggressive basketball.