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Down 0-1? More Wake-Up Than Worry For Miami

May 7, 2013  ·  7:51PM

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MIAMI – The Chicago Bulls were healthier and, back then, had the NBA’s newly named Most Valuable Player on their side. The Miami Heat were still a relative work in progress, talented and scary but also sorting and sifting near the end of Big 3, volume 1.

The Bulls whupped that crew by 21 points in the opener of the 2011 Eastern Conference championship series, held the home-court edge and looked for a couple days as if they were headed for the Finals.

Ahem. The Heat won the next four games, the first two by double digits each, the next in overtime, the last with a 19-4 rush over the final 3:36 to win by three.

The Miami team of postseason 2013 is more dangerous and highly evolved, with the league’s best player at the peak of his powers. Chicago is missing three guys (Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich) from its preferred eight- or nine-man rotation. So there really shouldn’t be a problem, should there?

Yes, the Heat dropped the opener of the teams’ East semifinals series Monday. But LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the rest have trailed in five of the 10 playoff series they have played since coming together in the summer of 2010. But they have roared back four times – three times last spring against Indiana, Boston and Oklahoma City. Only against Dallas in 2011 did they slip behind (3-2) and stay behind.

That should alleviate any hand-wringing about the here and now, right?

“We’ve been there,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Our experiences have taught us a lot of things, but that does nothing for us right now. We have to fight for our playoff lives.”

The challenge for the Heat on Tuesday, practicing in advance of Game 2, was to find the right line between unruffled and overreacting. Some considered the Bulls’ 93-86 Game 1 victory a wake-up call, a shock to their system, a shot across the Miami guys’ bows. Others felt the Heat played well, that too much was made of James’ facilitating first half (just two points scored) and that extreme adjustments would be the biggest mistake the defending champions could make at this point.

“When you lose a game, your ears seem to work better,” said forward Shane Battier of the team’s mood in practice. “You seem more open for adjustments and you see to tune up the effort a little more in the next game.”

Said James: “We executed, we missed shots, we had good looks. … It ain’t about X’s and O’s in this series. It’s about the will and determination to win the series. For both teams.”

That didn’t stop Spoelstra from immersing the Heat in a lengthy video session. But what it confirmed again and again was that they got a lot of good, even open shots that they simply did not knock down. By James count, six of Battier’s seven 3-pointers were wide open, as were three of Mike Miller‘s four. Combined they made only three of those 11.

That had more to do with the outcome in James’ view than his alleged lack of aggression. He scored 22 of his 24 points after halftime.

“My shooters have gotten us to this point. They’ve made shots over the season,” James said. “I’ve got trust in them. We still had a chance to win the game, no matter what I was doing in the first half or not.

Spoelstra, James and the others did see some breakdowns offensively in the game’s final minutes and an unacceptable brand of defense (35 points allowed) in the fourth quarter. When James and Wade attacked the rim, they looked more interested in avoiding Bulls center Joakim Noah as a shot-blocker than they did in forcing the issue physically. As a result, James got the foul line less often than his defender, Jimmy Butler and Wade didn’t shoot a free throw at all.

Still, Wade said, “There were a lot of encouraging things throughout the game. That was the kind of game where you’re not playing as good as you want to be, but good teams find a way to grind it out and get the win.”

Chicago played harder and got rewarded. The Bulls, if they’re smart, will remain on the run because they have manpower issues and a roster stretched thin by injuries. Hinrich (calf bruise) still was limping after their team meeting Tuesday at their downtown Miami hotel and said he’d had only marginal improvement from rest and treatment.

Deng (spinal tap complications) still was in Chicago, posting on social media a photo of himself in his hospital bed that was a mystery to some in the Bulls’ camp (was that taken during Game 7 vs. Brooklyn? Or Game 1 Monday?) The best option with the All-Star forward would seem to be patience until Game 3 at United Center or later. As for Rose, that remains a “no,” with the faintest hint of “you’re-kidding-right?”

So the Bulls will try to remain a moving target, with the Heat likely to challenge Noah, attack Butler and pressure Nate Robinson more. Obviously, they don’t want to be satisfied with getting one of two at AmericanAirlines Arena.

“We’ve played this team a lot so we know their tendencies pretty well. But every game of thes playoff series is chess,”Noah said. “We’re going to go back to the film room, see the things that we could have done better. … it almost becomes like you know their sets before they even run them.

“We’ve been in this situation before where we won Game 1 .We were all very, very excited about it. And they ran us over.”

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Heat-Bulls / Comments (57) /

Heat Not Lulled By Bulls’ Inactives

May 6, 2013  ·  1:27PM

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MIAMI – As usual, the Chicago Bulls are undermanned, so they should have the Miami Heat precisely where they want them.

Only the Heat are wise to that game. As far as the defending champions are concerned, the Bulls not only have Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich available for Game 1 and each subsequent contest in their Eastern Conference semifinals series, they might as well have Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Norm Van Lier.

“We don’t play the personnel, we play the jerseys. We play the team,” Miami guard Dwyane Wade said, avoiding any discussion of specific absent Bulls players. “This team proved that no matter who’s in the lineup, they’re going to be competitive and they’re going to do the little things that’s going to give them the opportunity to win games.”

With Rose (knee surgery) a constant all seasons and Hinrich (bruised calf) a game-time decision, Deng is the most pressing and serious. The illness that led to his precautionary spinal tap led to a complication that sent him back to the hospital over the weekend. Deng’s plan, after the Bulls’ Game 7 first-round victory at Brooklyn Saturday, was to meet the Bulls in south Florida for the start of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

But he was not in Miami Monday for shootaround sessions and Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said he didn’t know if Deng would travel in time for Game 2 or await the series’ shift to Chicago.

That wasn’t anything that the Heat players were willing to engage.

“No change,” forward Chris Bosh said when asked about Deng. “It’s all the same. I’m tellin’ ya, that’s how you get beat. You think that just because Deng’s not playing, you look at the other guy and change your mindset. That’s when things start to go wrong. So we can all learn from Brooklyn’s mistake.”

With Deng, with Rose, with Hinrich, with whomever, Bosh said, Miami is approaching the series as if all Bulls are ready to hit the streets of Pamplona.

The All-Star power forward did watch Game 7 of Nets-Bulls, however, in which Chicago produced one of the great upsets in recent NBA playoff history. Star-laden teams never get the chance to know the exhilaration of giant-killing quite like that.

“Yeah. I mean, my days in Toronto I know what the underdog feels like but we never had a chance to win a playoff series or anything like that,” Bosh said. “Honestly, I don’t want to be in that position.

“It really just comes down to playing the game. You can’t really worry about who’s the underdog and who’s the favorite. If you sleep on those guys, if you think you just have to show up to win the game, you’re wrong. Chicago has a work ethic. They’re going to play together, they’re going to make it tough. And if you underestimate them, you will get beat.”

The Heat and the Bulls split their four meetings this season. Miami last played on April 28, and it’s eight-day layoff is the longest between series of its three-season run since Wade, Bosh and LeBron James joined forces in 2010.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Heat-Bulls, 2013 NBA Playoffs, HT News / Comments (32) /

Jennings’ Funny Math No Laughing Matter

April 26, 2013  ·  9:26AM





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – His demeanor has shifted. The smile is gone.

The gravity of what Brandon Jennings and his Milwaukee Bucks are facing, down 3-0 to the defending champion Miami Heat in their first-round playoff series, seems to have set in for the brash young point guard.

That funny math he used to predict the “Bucks in six” has crumbled over the past eight quarters of this series. It’s no longer a laughing matter, not when your season and potentially your career in Milwaukee is potentially coming to an end.

Jennings has vowed to play until the final buzzer in Sunday’s Game 4, hoping to stave off elimination for at least one more games. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that this series is every bit the mismatch most of us thought it would be on paper. And it’s even tougher to avoid the obvious question that will linger between now and free agency for Jennings and the Bucks. Do they stick together after four extremely productive years for Jennings, a restricted free agent at season’s end?

He’s helped the Bucks to the playoffs twice, his rookie season and this one, and he’s shown his many critics that his decision to bypass college for a one-season detour in Italy did nothing to damage his NBA stock. But in a league filled with as diverse and talented a group of point guards as its potentially ever had, where exactly does a player like Jennings fit?

“Great question,” an Eastern Conference general manager said. “His rookie season I felt like he was going to join that group of elite point guards, especially after what he did to the [Atlanta] Hawks during the playoffs. He showed off playmaking skills and scored at will in the postseason, doing things you don’t normally expect from a rookie. And he’s been solid ever since. But I don’t know that he’s moved into that tip tier of point guards. He’s not there, not yet.”

Jennings has averaged an impressive 17.0 points, 5.7 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 291 career regular season games. Considered more of a scorer than a facilitator, Jennings has proven himself capable of handling both responsibilities for the Bucks. Still, there is some uncertainty about his desire to stick around in Milwaukee during what could be a complete rebuilding situation this summer.

His backcourt mate Monta Ellis can opt out and become an unrestricted free agent this summer. And Samuel Dalembert, Mike Dunleavy, Marquis Daniels, J.J. Redick and Joel Pryzbilla will all be unrestricted free agents this summer.

The Halloween deadline for Jennings and the Bucks to agree on an extension of his rookie contract passed without either side admitting that they were even close to getting something done.

That’s one reason why this series against the Heat is such a showcase event for Jennings. It’s his final platform before free agency to remind the league that he’s a player a franchise can build around. The upset guarantee and his 26-point effort in Game 1 was the ideal buzz and result for Jennings early on.

But he’s managed just 24 points in the two games since the opener, shooting 8-for-30 from the floor and 1-for-14 from beyond the 3-point line. The Heat have stymied the Bucks’ offense late in all three games, eliminating the pick-and-roll as an option for Jennings and Ellis when the game is one the line.

“One of the problems we have with that is our size in the backcourt,” Bucks coach Jim Boylan said. “We’re not a big team. So when they are out there trapping and staying with the ballhandler like that, they are putting a lot of pressure on you, first of all. Secondly, they have good size. It’s easy for me stand up in the huddle and say ‘we’ve got to make a quick pass, we’ve got to move that ball and take advantage of them double teaming.’ But sometimes it’s hard to do. They are flooding the strong side and cutting off passing angles and it makes it difficult to find the right man, the open man, with a pass. It’s usually a cross court pass and those are always dangerous because of their speed and activity.”

This is one of the premier defensive teams in the league we’re talking about in the Heat, who boast quality perimeter defenders in not only LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, but also Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole and Ray Allen.

Chalmers and Cole have taken a particular interest in limiting Jennings, both of them no doubt smarting from the brash attitude and words Jennings has been sure to share with the world.

“They are really getting physical,” Boylan said. “It’s playoff basketball. So there is a lot more contact than in the regular season. And anytime we use any sort of pick-and-rolls, they are double-teaming him and putting pressure on him. That combination is difficult. And they are focused in on both [Jennings] and Monta. They did what they needed to do, be physical, be big and cut off those angles for finding people.”

At 23, Jennings is probably done growing. So there is nothing he can do about that size disadvantage and the fact that the Heat are executing flawlessly in wearing him down. But he has at least 48 minutes left to prove that his skill set can best whatever advantage the opposition brings to the show.

That Bucks in six stuff is obviously history.

Whether or not Jennings’ time with the Bucks is, however, … well, only time will tell.

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (45) /

Heat Burst Burns Bucks Again

April 23, 2013  ·  11:58PM



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MIAMI – You know it’s coming, no matter what you do. Even if your brace yourself for the blow, there isn’t much you can do to stop it.

The Miami Heat will come at you at some point during a game with a vicious run that either knocks you off balance or knocks you out cold. It doesn’t matter if they are up 20 or down 20, that run is coming. It’s not a matter of if but when for the Heat, who have made a habit of smashing teams this season with quick and wicked runs that decide games.

Even in a close game against a playoff opponent, they can go from zero to 60 faster than the opposition. And when they hit that speed, the way they did in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena, the Milwaukee Bucks had to know Game 2 of this first-round playoff series was gone.

The Heat went from clinging to a 3-point lead at the end of the third quarter to an insurmountable 15-point cushion in the time it takes most teams to stretch out for the mayhem that comes with a tight fourth quarter against the Heat. When the dust cleared from the Heat’s 98-86 win, it was obvious that Chris “Birdman” Andersen‘s energy had spilled over for the second straight game during a critical stretch for the Heat, who battled the Bucks every inch of the way through those first three quarters.

Andersen kicked off the run with a rebound and putback for a 70-65 lead and Norris Cole finished it off with a deep 3-pointer off a feed from LeBron James for the 80-65 lead with 9:58 to play. The 95 seconds of choreographed mayhem between those buckets has become a Heat staple. You better be buckled up for the ride or you could get run over. And chances are, you’re going to get run over anyway.

“At that point, when it got to still a 3-point game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “we were more of the mindset that, ‘hey, we’re going after this big.’ We hadn’t been in a great rhythm. We certainly were not playing a great basketball game. You have to give them credit, they were doing some things that had us spinning around a little bit defensively and got us on our heels. Offensively, we never got into a rhythm, so we figured we’re just going to have to have to find a way to grind in the fourth quarter. We figured it was going to be a close game. It was just a quick skirmish and explosion. Obviously, that second unit with Bird and Norris came in with a great deal of energy.” (more…)

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (17) /

Sacrifice Turns Into Strength For Bosh

April 23, 2013  ·  9:52AM



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MIAMI – In the wake of the what he called the “ultimate pain and failure,” Miami Heat Erik Spolestra challenged all involved to reinvent themselves, have a growth mindset and put the team first.

He placed that request with the players and also his coaching staff after the Heat fell in The Finals to the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. That forced guys like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to do some self-examination and find a weakness and turn it into a strength or find something they hadn’t done much of and turn into a staple.

For James, it was about asserting himself and becoming the leader of this crew. For Wade, it was about learning how to defer to another superstar (or two, when needed), something foreign to his system as the lone superstar here before James and Bosh showed up. And for Bosh, it became about expanding his game and becoming the “positionless” big man Spoelstra needed for this team to play to its strengths.

Perhaps no one’s sacrifice has been greater than Bosh’s. He’s had to abandon the conventional low-post construct most NBA big men operate in and learn how to play center while operating from the 3-point line in, a change that has come gradually over the past two seasons. He’s not a 3-point specialist by any stretch as he made just 21 this season and shot just 28 percent. But he’s capable of being a threat from that distance if the Heat need him to be. He shot 54 percent from deep during the Heat’s championship run last season.

“That’s where he becomes positionless,” Spoelstra said. “Is he a [four] or a [five]. As long he’s doing the things that help us be versatile, that’s what makes him so special and unique to us, his versatility. And if you don’t have a player such as Chris, with his versatility …”

Just ask the Milwaukee Bucks, who have to figure out a way to deal with three of the league’s most versatile players tonight in Game 2 of their first round playoff series.

They couldn’t handle any of them in Game 1. But Bosh was a particularly tough matchup because he stretched the floor early with two 3-pointers, drawing Bucks rim protector Larry Sanders away from his comfort zone and opening up the floor for James and Wade to operate.

Bosh might not make another 3-pointer in Game 2 tonight or the entire series, for that matter. And that’s fine with Spoelstra, who insists that the fact that Bosh has polished that part of his game and can use it is far more important than worrying about whether he actually utilizes that skill. (more…)

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (10) /

LeBron’s Not Sweating The Drama

April 22, 2013  ·  5:31PM



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MIAMI – Rarely has one designer sweater caused as much discussion as the one LeBron James wore in his postgame session with the assembled media Sunday night.

Only in his world could his wardrobe choice garner just as much attention, if not more, than his near triple double in the Heat’s 110-87 Game 1 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

But it’s like those T-shirts on every seat at AmericanAirlines Arena said, “Witness Miami.” And this city is bearing witness to the twisted fishbowl that becomes of anything associated with James.

You can debate it all you want … the color of the sweater, whether or not it was appropriate in South Florida this time of year and if James made should have gone with a vest instead of one with sleeves. Just don’t ask James to give it a second thought, because he’s done sweating the drama that used to consume him this time of year (LeBron’s elbow ring a bell?).

Dwyane Wade gave the sweater “two thumbs up” and praised James for having a fashion sense that older teammates like Ray Allen and Shane Battier, who had some fun joking about the sweater, should envy.

“I liked the whole combination,” Wade said. “Bravo. Bravo. I give him two thumps up on his outfit last night.”

Jeff Staple, the founder of Staple Design, loved seeing James “wearing him” on such a big stage. And took to Twitter to thank the Heat’s resident fashion hound for the free advertising.

James said he had no idea of the frenzy his attire caused until he was informed of it at the end of Monday’s practice, when his sweater generated more buzz than his game.

“What’s the big story about it?” he said when asked what led him to that particular choice. “I don’t know, it was just how I was feeling. It’s just fashion. Nothing more, nothing less.”

It’s never that simple for an athlete whose every move, on and off the floor, inspires non-stop discussion. He took just 11 shots in that Game 1 win over the Bucks, a career playoff low, but still managed game highs in points (27), rebounds (10) and assists (eight). Two years ago, when the Heat failed to win a championship, a performance like that might have caused an uproar.

But now that he’s won a championship and the narrative has changed, purists praise James for being the embodiment of efficiency. It’s a drama shift James said he refuses to entertain these days.

“I don’t know, I don’t really … the difference between the past and now is that I really don’t pay too much attention to it,” James said. “I really don’t hear it. I’m so far removed from what’s being said. It’s like this thing about the sweater, until now, I don’t know about what people are saying. I don’t really get involved. I just play my game and do the things I do on the court. It doesn’t amuse me, it doesn’t do anything because I really don’t hear it until I see you guys.”

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (19) /

Bucks’ Sanders Has To Be A Factor

April 22, 2013  ·  4:37PM





MIAMI – When Brandon Jennings made that upset prediction involving his Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat, he did so with Larry Sanders factored into the equation.

The Bucks’ rim protector and Defensive Player of the Year nominee has to play more than the 18 minutes and 41 seconds he played in that Game 1 loss. He was in foul trouble early and never got into a rhythm. He sat out the final four games of the regular season after a hard fall during an April 10 loss to Orlando, so Sunday night’s game was his first real game action in almost two weeks.

It showed. Sanders barely made a ripple in the first playoff action of his career, scoring six points, piling up as many fouls (five) as he did rebounds and not registering a single block.

Credit the Heat for going after him early and often and doing it in all sorts of ways. LeBron James and Udonis Haslem challenged him at the rim on three first-quarter possessions and Chris Bosh made sure to follow through on the game plan by stepping outside for jump shots in an effort to drag Sanders away from the basket.

If the Bucks are going to avoid a repeat performance in Game 2 on Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena, they’ll need to make the proper adjustments and make sure Sanders leaves a much bigger footprint on the action. (On NBA TV, pregame 7 p.m. ET)

“I’m going to keep myself in the game and play better,” Sander said. “Every time we were aggressive on defense, we got good things out of it. When they came out and they were aggressive, we couldn’t really match their intensity.”

The Bucks couldn’t match the Heat’s balance or energy either, especially when it mattered most. Jennings and Monta Ellis were plenty aggressive on both ends, combining for 28 points and five of the Bucks’ 12 steals.

They didn’t do a great job of involving Sanders or anyone else, though, an adjustment that Ellis and Bucks coach Jim Boylan said must change for Game 2.

“A lot of guys that usually help us out on the offensive end didn’t have a good shooting night,” Ellis said. “You’re going to have nights like that. We just have to stay together as a team, keep trusting each other … we have to play a perfect game, everybody has to be engaged.”

Sanders in particular. It’s difficult to scheme against players like Jennings and Ellis, guys who are every bit as craft and athletic as the Heat defenders assigned to stop them. Designing an attack for Sanders is much more deliberate. And when it is executed properly, the way it was in Game 1, can make a guy who averages nearly three block night a non-factor.

“I had to be a little less aggressive with the fouls I picked up,” Sanders said. “I wanted to be more aggressive in the fourth (quarter) but I went into the fourth with four fouls. But they were really aggressive in how they attacked the basket for rebounds, they attacked us in pick and rolls. They were really aggressive. And that was so smart on their part, to use Bosh the way they did. Definitely, in Game 2, Game 3, Game 4, or however many games we play, you’ll see me more aggressive if I’m not in foul trouble.”

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (12) /

LeBron As Efficient As Ever In Opener

April 22, 2013  ·  1:44AM




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MIAMI – For a guy who claims not to have slept much Saturday night, LeBron James looked remarkable Sunday night, refreshed even, for the start of the Miami Heat’s defense of their NBA title.

And no, it had nothing to do with the designer red sweater he wore to the postgame media gathering after James and the Heat demolished the Milwaukee Bucks 110-87 at AmericanAirlines Arena.

A restless LeBron looks a lot like the same uber-efficient LeBron we’ve seen all season, and particularly in his past 10 games. James is shooting a staggering 70 percent from the floor and 57 percent from behind the 3-point line. While everyone else plays at game speed, James continues to play at his own speed. It’s not breaking news that he flirted with a triple-double Sunday night … he does that on the regular. It’s the way he does it, making it look easy, that makes you pause.

He needed just 11 shots, making nine of them, to pile up his game-high 27 points. The 10 rebounds and eight assists, nearly each and every one of them a momentum-shifter in one way or another, completed his performance.

“He really just let the game come to him,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He facilitated quite a bit for us. He was creating triggers a lot of times by setting screens and generated a lot of offense just by doing that. It was a very mature, high IQ game. Yeah, that’s about as an efficient as you can get. He made that look easier than it was.”

James has a knack for doing exactly that, making it look easier than it was. Sunday marked the 13th time in his career that he has finished a playoff game with those numbers, the most of any player in NBA history.

“When [James] has a game like that, what can you do?” Bucks coach Jim Boylan said. “I thought Luc Mbah a Moute and Marquis Daniels battled him well. The guy is the best player in the world right now, so what can you do?”

A calm and composed James can nitpick his own work, highlighting his five turnovers and the Heat’s 19 that resulted in 22 points for the Bucks, who will get another dose of this in Game 2 Tuesday night.

“That is the disappointing thing for us,” James said, “The 19 turnovers and 22 points. A lot of those 19 turnovers were careless, including myself, I had five. You know how I am about turning the ball over. I had five of them and three or fourth of them were careless and unforced. We can’t allow that to happen.”

Actually, you can. When you have a bench, powered by Ray Allen‘s 20 points and Chris “Birdman” Andersen‘s 10, capable of producing 43 points, to the Bucks’ 25, you can get away with a little sloppiness in your playoff opener. You can get away with it when superstars like Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh can play complementary roles to the most efficient and dynamic player in basketball.

“He’s in playoff mode,” Wade said of James. “We love him in that mode. Now he is focused on his goal. His goal is to dominate every game and help take this team to a championship.”

Having done it once before, you might assume that this playoff journey would stand out to James above others. But that’s not his way, not his frame of mind for this postseason. He said before the game that he couldn’t remember how he felt before Game 1 last year, so he couldn’t compare then and now. Truth be told, he has no desire to compare what was with what is or even what could be. Competing against his own ghost holds no appeal to James.

“I try to stay in the moment, to live in the moment,” he said.

And why wouldn’t he?

His next game always provides an opportunity to set a new standard or at least chase one that someone else set. He’s scored 25 or more points in 16 straight playoff games, and he kept that streak alive Sunday night with the fewest shot attempts in his playoff career. Shooting 82 percent from the floor, of course, makes these sorts of things possible in LeBron’s world.

The Bucks found that out the hard way. They stayed close early thanks to Brandon Jennings (26 points on not-nearly-as-efficient 8-for-20 shooting) and kept fighting long enough for Monta Ellis (22 points on solid 10-for-19 shooting, though he was just 1-for-6 from deep) to get going, too.

And the Heat still won going away, with all of their turnovers tossed in for good measure, thanks to James.

It’s like Boylan said, when a guy has a game like that (and game like that), what do you do?

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (54) /

Bucks’ Need More Than Bravado To Beat Heat

April 21, 2013  ·  10:18AM





MIAMI – Brandon Jennings is fearless. The Milwaukee Bucks’ point guard always has been and probably always will be. And it’s hard not to admire that trait in him.

You don’t skip college for pro ball in Italy, declare yourself better than than international teen sensation Ricky Rubio and then back that claim up with four fantastic NBA seasons and have an ounce of fear in you.

But that fearlessness alone won’t be enough to propel the Bucks in their first round playoff series against the Miami Heat. They’ll need All-Star work out of Jennings and equal doses of fearlessness and spectacular play from the entire roster just to make this thing as interesting on the court as it has been in the build up to Game 1 here tonight at AmericanAirlines Arena. (On TNT, 7 p.m. ET)

Thursday night at the Wisconsin Sports Award ceremony, where he was picking up an award for his work in the community, Jennings uttered these famous words: ”I’m real confident. I’m sure everybody is writing us off but I see us winning the series in six.”

That’s a playoff guarantee even Rasheed Wallace could appreciate. And while Jennings said later that he was making that prediction after joking about it with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, his words took on a life of their own. If he was attempting to put the pressure on the Heat instead of him and Monta Ellis or Bucks coach Jim Boylan, it’s not clear whether that mission has been accomplished just yet.

There is, however, recent evidence that a No. 8 can actually pull this off.

Two of the five instances in league history when a No. 1 seed has been upset by a No. 8 have come in the past two seasons. The Philadelphia 76ers did it last year against the Chicago Bulls, but only after Bulls All-Star Derrick Rose tore his ACL in Game 1. And the Memphis Grizzlies stunned the San Antonio Spurs the year before that.

This Heat team, however, is a far superior outfit to either of those aforementioned upset victims. They won 66-games this season, including that monster 27-game win streak, and have been vetted like few other great teams when you consider all that has gone on with this Heat crew the past three seasons.

“We don’t feel we can be beat in a series,” Heat center Chris Bosh said. “We say that in the most humble manner possible. We’ve been humbled already. I think before, all those other teams [upset], they were either injured or just caught slipping or they were in a five-game series. We’re not in that predicament so it’s a little different.”

The Bucks also have to contend with a rested and hungry LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, two stars who have welcomed all challenges since joining forces with Bosh here in Miami.

Jennings might very well have the advantage in his individual matchup against Mario Chalmers, though the ultra-confident Chalmers would love to argue that. And the Bucks have the same fighting chance any No. 8 seed does before the games actually begin. But it’s not like the Heat don’t see the challenge coming. They’ve been on guard for three years running now.

That would explain the reaction of Bosh, Wade and the rest of the Heat. They’ve seen and heard it all before (you remember the Indiana series from last year or the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals last year?). All that’s left is to play the games.

“We’ve been in every situation where it’s happened,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ve been up in a series and it’s happened. We’ve been down in a series and it’s happened. It’s happened, so what? [Sunday] night, bring it. That’s the only thing we can control.”

It’s going to take more than a healthy dose of bravado for the Bucks, or anyone else for that matter, to beat the Heat.


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Playoffs Snapshot — April 13

April 13, 2013  ·  12:47PM

It’s a light Saturday night in the NBA with only a single marquee matchup featuring crucial playoff implications. Here’s a look at what’s on tap:

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS at MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES (8 p.m. ET, NBA TV): These two teams clashed in an epic seven-game, first-round series last season. The Clippers won it, taking two at Memphis, including that massive comeback in Game 1. These clubs are a mismatch made in heaven. The Clippers are a bunch of high-flyers and freakish athletes that know how to throw it down. The Grizzlies are burly and far more earth-bound and would rather kill you slowly with defense. These clubs are locked in a raging battle with the Denver Nuggets for the Nos. 3-5 seeds, critical positioning that will determine not only matchups, but homecourt advantage.

The Clips and Grizz are both coming off wins Friday night. Memphis had a short flight home after an 82-78 win at Houston while L.A. made the quick hop over from New Orleans after scratching out a tough one. Memphis is tied in the standings with No. 3 Denver at 54-25, but remains in the No. 5 slot because the Nuggets hold the tiebreaker and the Clippers, one game back at 53-26, get the No. 4 slot by virtue of being the Pacific Division champs. Still, homecourt advantage in the 4-5 series will be decided by best record. As for the season series, the Clippers hold a 2-1 edge on the Grizzlies, and both teams are 32-17 in the Western Conference, the next deciding factor for the tiebreaker if Memphis ties up the series tonight.

CELTICS (at Orlando, 7 p.m. ET, League Pass): The Celtics are one of two teams among those headed to the Eastern Conference playoffs with a negative point-differential. The eighth-seeded Bucks are the other. Boston will finish with the No. 7 seed and a date with the New York Knicks in the first round. These final games are nothing more than tune-ups for the Celtics, who are re-integrating Kevin Garnett.

BUCKS (at Charlotte, 7 p.m. ET, League Pass): Milwaukee begins its final three games and they might want to get serious about these ones if they harbor any hope to even be somewhat competitive against Miami in the first round. Of course, the Bucks weren’t even that last week when Miami beat Milwaukee with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh sitting it out. The Bucks have lost three in a row and are 3-7 in their last 10, hardly the push J.J. Redick figured his new team would be making.

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