The Lebron Dime to Wade

The Heatles Can Make History

The Heatles are in position 

In the past 25 years the Lakers, Spurs, Bulls, Heat, Celtics, Detroit, and Rockets have been the few teams that can say we are world Champions. The Miami Heat' one and only ring was delivered by the Dwayne Wade lead team of 06' with a historic comeback to defeat the Mavericks. Of those teams previously mentioned, five are in playoff contention this year. Miami has Wade 29, James 27, and Bosh 27, in their relative primes, while the Lakers, the Spurs, and the Celtics are growing old before our eyes. All quality teams in the age of free agency are destined to loose players, coaches, and front office personnel to shifts in competition. Miami has positioned itself to compete now with these seasoned but older and slower clubs reaching the twilight of their runs, right now.

Miami have The Heatles, the building blocks to compete for years to come with the addition of role players, specialists, and veterans. That, and some timely scoring from role players the Heat may redeem James of his famous quote "not 1, not 2, etc...". James will have to play his best basketball, not just scoring a ton of points to get it done this year. Miami will have to earn those potential titles as the the Bulls and New York have made significant strides. With the addition of Boozer and ringer MVP Rose' accelerated growth, Chicago is in position to challenge for some time. Anthony and Stoudemire joining the Knicks added fuel to the fire it seems clear, Pat Riley started in the East, as he changed the game yet again.

The clear demarcation line between these clubs is the seasoning of these three teams, Wade and James bring their version of Lamar Odom in Bosh playing solid and efficient basketball in the playoffs where he's averaged 23 points and 11 boards in two games while shooting 56%. With a finals experience under their belts James and Wade, a 06' finals MVP himself, appear to have the key ingredients to be front runners to win a championship this year. The only Heat ring came on the back of Wade in 06' and a band of talented, but aging veteran ball players that were the only team to be down 0-2 and win a ring. Wade showed the league that a team of regular season under achievers can win a Championship. That experience Wade gained in 06' coupled with Lebron James' well documented short comings in the 07' finals, give The Heatles an upper hand, this year. Nothing but net...

Jumpball? Really?

Jumpball? C'mon Man!

As the Miami Heat were taking care of locking up the 2nd seed in the east on Monday in Atlanta, a curious call on Lebron James caught my attention. As he drove the lane and was being fouled, he flipped up a lay up that went in. Expecting a 3 point play for Lebron, the referee stepped in and call a "jump ball". Now I'm no referee and certainly do not proclaim to know each NBA rule, but how can you call jump ball on a play that the player flipped in the ball for a lay up? I thought a jump ball was called on plays in which both players controlled the ball? Hmm, is right? There was no jump ball at all, in fact James should have been at the stripe for one and the basket should count. Bad calls seem to follow the Heatles, I wonder why?
Last year both James and Wade went to the stripe regularly due to the physical manner they each attack the rim. James averaged 10 FTA/ game and Wade averaged 9 for the whole of the 09/10 season. This season shows a considerable drop off from last year, both Wade and James average 8 FTA/ game this year. Both increased their scoring totals and FG%, while reducing their number of shots. Are the referees making less calls now that they now play on the same team? The stats say no, but if you have watched Heat games last year, Wade was getting calls he hasn't gotten this year. Perhaps James isn't going to the hoop strong enough and drawing enough contact, not! James has lost more calls than Wade has, while having his most efficient season from the field, making 1 out every two shots. Those FT attempts have been the difference in a season filled with close games against plus .500 teams. The Heatles have faced critics all season from all angles and have taken it in stride and with class. Their toughest critics may come in the form of no calls in the playoffs and in the playoffs each possession counts.
The Heatles tend to expect certain calls and routinely quarrel with the refs. They may have a point  as per last years numbers in some cases, but this year guys, those calls aren't coming it appears. That's a personal foul on the refs or was is it a "jumpball"?