Remember, way back at Zo's Summer Groove, when Dwyane Wade stirred up some controversy by saying the media would equate every Heat loss to the World Trade Center attack? (Wade took a shellacking for that one, but I understood his point).
The loss came Friday night -- actually, the second loss of the year for Miami, but it was hard to draw up any conclusion from the season opening setback against Boston way back in late October.
On Friday, the Big Easy was mighty hard for Miami, and it was the first loss after the Heat were rolling -- a surprising setback perhaps not in reality, but in this new alternate universe (making it the actual universe) where the Heat are one of those sports team you never expect to lose.
You know Pat Riley is wide awake, scheming to somehow land LeBron and Wade's bestest best friend, Chris Paul, in Miami. It'll never happen, but after CP3 picked apart Miami for 19 assists, Riley is at least thinking of strange mathematical ways to lure Paul to Miami.
Wade and James settled for their next best friend, Chris Bosh, to join forces this summer. Fortunately for the Heat, he remembered to bring his passport from Canada. Unfortunately, he left his rebounding skills behind in our friendly land to the north. International mail takes longer to arrive, but it should arrive shortly. Then again, the postal service has made stranger errors.
As a friend of mine pointed out recently, Heat games have elevated to Dolphins status. Fans are investing more time and emotion than ever in this basketball team, mainly because it's fun to watch a team kick the shit out of the rest of the league. If you're into competitive balance, you'll appreciate close, competitive games -- even in a loss -- against guys like Chris Paul.
But now that Miami will fare no better than 80-2 this year, the Heat are back to mortal status. They lost and hopefully the media won't blow it out of proportion, a la Wade's summer groove comment. That will come if they lose in the playoffs.
No comments:
Post a Comment