LeBron Not A Choker, The Celtics Are Just Winners

(Damian Strohmeyer/SI)

Though you might get it right once in a while when
you call LeBron James a choker, more often than not
he isn't, and this debate could go on for quite a
bit, but this isn't my point. There is plenty of
blame to go around when it comes to the fact that
the Heat had a 2-0 lead and is now down 3-2.

The guy who often gets a pass in Miami is Dwayne
Wade, and that's because he already brought the
Heat a ring once before, but he is as much if not
more to blame than James is for this recent and
what seems to be inevitable collapse. Chris Bosh
gets the least respect of all in that threesome,
and his return didn't get him any more in last
nights loss. To the naked eye it may seem like
the Miami Heat can't lose, but they aren't really
built to win either. Lots of money invested in 3
guys, and fingers crossed on the rest of the roster.

The Boston Celtics know how to win, it just that
simple. Three years from now if this group is
allowed to stay together you may be able to say
the same about them too, but this win now mentality
has doomed in the short term. They put that bulls
eye on their own back, and they said they wanted it
that way, well the pressure is and microscope is
killing them. Don't tell me that they went to the
Finals last year and could this year too. The Heat
has not won anything yet, and until they do, they
are just another answer to a who lost trivia question.

I knew the Celtics had their number, and could beat
Miami, and still I picked the Heat in six. Why?
Age, but age is also another word for experience, and
now that James, Wade, Bosh, and Spoelstra have left
the door open, Doc Rivers and crew know what to do
once the get inside. For their sake I just hope their
sciatica doesn't kick in.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Celtics Can Beat Miami, But The Heat Will Defeat Boston After All

AP Photo

I have been saying for a few weeks now that if there
was one team in the East that could take down the
Miami Heat, it was the Boston Celtics. Not the #1
seeded Chicago Bulls, not the unified, and injury
free Orlando Magic, but the veteran, and savvy Boston
Celtics. That same Celtics team that I said in the
beginning of the year was gonna be too old too compete
this far. The Celtic team that Bob Ryan of the Boston
Globe says is on the fifth year of a three year plan.
It is not to be however, the Celtics who have shown
all year that they would have no problem handling
LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and that other guy, are
starting to get tired, and the schedule is not going
to get any friendlier in the way of two days off in
between games as opposed to one.

I looked over at the Western conference finals to
see if the breakdown of games was any different, but
it wasn't. So as much as I'd love to sit here and
gripe about the NBA working for the Heat and against
Boston, I can't. Even if Doc Rivers and some of his
players are unhappy with the refs, it won't change
their age, and the fact that though I might admit that
right now the Heat is the better team, a rested, and
healthy Celtics squad would hand them their lunch.
That being said, if the Celts hadn't allowed the young
and fiery 76'ers to hang around until game seven, they
might have had a chance of resting a little beforehand,
and stealing this series away from the favored Heat,
no matter how much rest there would have been in between
games in the East finals. This of course in turn would
have started the LeBron James is a "choke artist loser"
headline mill. So maybe for LeBron, this works out
pretty well, and the Celtics really have no one else to
blame in the end but themselves. A Shame.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

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Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Knicks Win With Lin Raise Expectations vs Heat

Reuters/Adam Hunger

Tonight's game vs the Miami Heat is not going to mean
too much in the standings unless the Knicks are going
to come all the way back and win the entire Atlantic
division and take the #1 seed, but if you take the
temperature of the fans right now, you would think
that it's the 7th game of the NBA Finals.

The Knicks had a nice win against a quality opponent
in the Atlanta Hawks last night, but with Joe Johnson
out of the lineup life was a little easier, and so
was the game. Since the arrival of Jeremy Lin into
the starting five the Knicks have had a few good wins
against quality opponents like the Lakers, Hawks, and
the defending NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks, but they
have also had a couple of clunkers against teams like
the Nets, and the Hornets. The quality wins have been
all at home, and the losses have shown that when teams
make a real effort to defend Lin, they can cause the
Knicks some difficulties. The Hornets were the first
to get some film on him, and in turn made it hard for
New York to run it's offense.

Make no mistake, tonight is going to be one to watch,
but please don't think for a minute that LeBron and
Wade have been under a rock this entire time either.
They know what's going on, and just like the NJ Nets
Deron Williams made a point of saving his best game
of the season so far for Jeremy and the New York fans,
don't expect James, and Wade to let Jeremy Lin waltz
into their home and make a name for himself on their
backs. I won't sit here and tell you that Lin isn't
up to the task, but I can assure you that he and his
teammates are going to have to earn this quality road
win, in what is likely to be the first of many tests
in the Jeremy Lin era.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Miami 2.1

Chris Bosh is starting to look like the little kid
brother Le Bron and D-Wade had to take with them to
the school yard if their Mom was going to let them
go out and play at all. His woeful performance last
night of 1 for 18 versus the one of the few elite
teams in the East, and more of an up and coming one
in the Chicago Bulls makes calling that trio in Miami
"The BIG 3" an insult to Boston's "Big 3" of Garnett,
Pierce, and Allen. By the way Miami lost again to
another "winning" team to add to their dismal record
of losing to good teams and beating up lesser teams.
Can you see that parade in downtown Miami now?