The Official 2010-11 Miami Heat Thread
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good team win, still gotta get another one.
Bron is something else, on defense, wow. Wade close out D too. -
Bosh is the Premier PF in the East.
Dude has it all. -
rofl... yeah he is.
one good game dont erase a season's worth of less than mediocre play
thats because he's been hurt.
that cracka can plsy -
Damn I'm watching 1st and 10 and they said Mike Miller's wife gave birth to their first daughter last week and she has been in the ICU since.
He been wearing pink laces in honor of his daughter and for him to play like he did last night with that on his mind, I got to give him his props.
Hope everything comes out good for his daughter. -
south4life wrote: »Damn I'm watching 1st and 10 and they said Mike Miller's wife gave birth to their first daughter last week and she has been in the ICU since.
He been wearing pink laces in honor of his daughter and for him to play like he did last night with that on his mind, I got to give him his props.
Hope everything comes out good for his daughter.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoopmiamiheat/post/_/id/8002/mike-miller-performs-a-dual-roleMIAMI -- The real fight Mike Miller has on his hands has nothing to do with the late-game heroics he delivered in the clutch -- finally -- that helped the Miami Heat take a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven East finals against the Chicago Bulls.
The true struggle Miller is coping with didn't take place in AmericanAirlines Arena -- even as he rose to the occasion in the most important game of his first season with the Heat, a 101-93 overtime victory that moved Miami one step closer to the NBA Finals.
Basketball, despite all the success and relief that came Miller's way on Tuesday night, was simply a diversion -- a much-needed one, considering what she's going through.
That's right, she.
“She's still in ICU,” Miller said as he dressed quickly after speaking to reporters, then headed toward a side door to leave the arena. “She had some complications. But it's going to be all right. She's a fighter. She's the most important thing I'm thinking about right now.”
She is Miller's week-old daughter, Jaelyn, who has been in an intensive care unit fighting an undisclosed illness that resulted from complications with his wife's delivery last Thursday. Miller said on Tuesday that his wife, Jennifer, is doing fine. The couple, who also have two young sons, remain in relatively good spirits even as they wait to see if Jaelyn might need a surgical procedure.
Not all of Miller's teammates even know what he is going through these days as he hustles back and forth from practices and games to a South Florida hospital. He wants to do his job and be there for his team at the most crucial point of their playoff push.
At the same time, Miller's closest teammates know it's far more important that he spends as much time as he can with his family as they rely on their faith, bond and love to get them through a challenging ordeal. Miller admitted before Tuesday's game that he has had “not a lick” of sleep essentially since he rushed to the hospital immediately after the Heat arrived back in Miami early Thursday morning after their Game 2 victory in Chicago.
And if Miller's routine was the same Tuesday night as it's been the previous five days, he headed directly from work back to Jennifer's side to watch over young Jaelyn.
Miller left the arena exhausted, battered and bruised after he finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, two clutch 3-pointers, an assist and a steal in 26 minutes off the bench. The Heat were not just effective when he was in the game, they were flat-out dominant.
Stat gurus covering this series marveled at Miller's plus-36, meaning the Heat outscored the Bulls 69-33 when he was on the court. It's the second-highest plus/minus figure among all players in this postseason, trailing only Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki's plus-37 during Game 4 versus the Los Angeles Lakers as the Mavericks closed out a series sweep.
Miller admitted he desperately needed a breakout game after persevering through a frustrating season that's been filled with thumb injuries, concussion symptoms and other ailments that have contributed to arguably the least-productive season of his 11-year career.
But this series against the Bulls has represented a resurgence of sorts for Miller, particularly since Jaelyn's birth.
“It's been a long time coming,” Miller said. “I've been waiting for this. Obviously, it was a big game for us at home. It was fun being a part of it. It's a rhythm game, and unfortunately for me, with injuries, I really haven't been in a great rhythm. Tonight, I made some big shots at big moments.”
He also made some big plays, especially in the fourth quarter.
Big would describe the 3-pointer Miller nailed at the 10:43 mark that pulled the Heat to within 69-68.
Bigger would describe the jumper he knocked down from 21 feet to give the Heat a 78-77 lead with 4:25 remaining. A minute later, Miller hit a floater to tie the game at 80-80.
But his biggest play was the product of the defense and hustle that have gotten him through all those nights when his shot betrayed him. The same grit and determination that kept Heat coach Erik Spoelstra going back to Miller even after poor performances were the same two elements that allowed him to snag the most important rebound of the game when Derrick Rose missed a contested jumper that could have won it for the Bulls in regulation.
Chicago had been dominant at times on the offensive glass this series. So even after Rose's miss, there was an opportunity for the Bulls to win the game with one of the many putbacks they had been accustomed to getting.
But Miller established position, clutched the ball with the game tied 85-85 and didn't move until he heard the buzzer. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh scored all the Heat's points in overtime. But it was the boost provided by the two other members of Miami's high-profile free-agent class -- Miller and forward Udonis Haslem -- who did the ? work to get them there.
Miller didn't score a point or even attempt a shot in the extra period. But there is no question that his best and most important work came in overtime.
The overtime that followed the game, that is.
There is no player in the locker room closer to Miller than Haslem, his former roommate during their playing days at the University of Florida. When the youngest of Haslem's two sons was born with a breathing disorder and required additional hospital care, Miller checked on Haslem to help him get through a difficult situation.
Now that Miller is going through what Haslem said is an even more serious situation as a parent, Haslem has been there to help support his teammate, close friend and, “basically, my brother” during these past few tough days and nights.
“I'm calling and texting him all the time, just to be there and check on him,” Haslem said Tuesday night after Miller had already left the arena. “With my situation, I kind of know what he's going through. You can't think about anything else but your child. Mike needed something like this, a game like this. People don't always know what you're going through out there. But when you can let basketball be your outlet, and you come through to help your team win a big game, it's a great feeling.”
Then, Haslem paused before he spoke again.
“After that, you get right back to dealing with real life,” he said. “He's my friend, my family, before anything else. You just want to say or do anything you can to support him and his wife so much.”
Heat guard Mario Chalmers said he saw a different, more relaxed, less hesitant version of Miller on Tuesday.
“Sometimes, when you're going through some tough things off the court, you come in here and get your mind off the problems in your life," Chalmers said. "He knows he's never away from family, whether it's his family at home or his family right here [on the team].”
Part of it is just going with the flow, James said.
"He just played free," James said of Miller. "Everything that he gave us was what we always expected out of him. He didn't think about it."
Miller had a wide grin on his face when he emerged from the shower, draped in a towel, and saw dozens of reporters and cameras crowded around his locker.
He was an impact player again. He was worthy of a story.
“Glad to see y'all again,” Miller joked. “It's been a while.”
Miller seemed almost embarrassed by all the attention.
He was there. And then he was gone.
The most important role Miller played Tuesday night wasn't that of a long-struggling Heat sharpshooter who finally found his stroke and came through big on the job. It was being a concerned father who darted out of the arena to be by his daughter's side.
Jaelyn's birth has led to a rebirth of sorts for Miller on the court. She doesn't know anything about the version of her dad who has toiled through a tough season. But he's found his role and rhythm since she arrived.
On Tuesday night, Miller was a finisher for the Heat.
But he's been even more clutch as a father, relentlessly operating on little rest.
props to mike miller... -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/25/v-fullstory/2233500/heat-is-doing-what-america-feared.htmlHeat is doing what America feared: dominating
By Greg Cote
gcote@MiamiHerald.com
America’s worst sporting nightmare is coming true. Deal with it, haters, doubters, Clevelanders and others.
The Miami Heat is as good as most of the rest of the country feared it might be last summer when LeBron James and Chris Bosh teamed with Dwyane Wade.
The Heat is as good as South Florida hoped it would be during that arena welcome for the Big 3 – the bombastic night that apparently proved so off-putting to many of you but felt so damned right and wonderful to us.
You know what that celebration is turning out to be, by the way?
Justified.
Premature, sure, but also prescient.
That is how it all looks now.
That is how it all looks after Tuesday night.
The Heat met a Chicago Bulls team that could not have been any more desperate to win, but Miami said no as the downtown bayside arena ultimately rocked and swayed.
Chicago, playing ferocious defense, starving to win, led entering the fourth quarter. It still wasn’t enough.
Miami would win, 101-93 in overtime, and the result hugely turned these Eastern Conference finals for a Heat team now up 3-1. The result crushed Bulls fans’ realistic hopes while lifting Heat fans closer than ever to the championship team they have imagined since last summer.
That the game was taut, tense and so, so nerve-wrackingly close made the Heat’s tenacious triumph all the more impressive, and the loss devastating to the Bulls. For Miami the game was huge. For Chicago it was bigger. Much. It was all but must-win.
LeBron stood tallest with 35 points and suffocating late defense that wilted Chicago’s Derrick Rose. Chris Bosh added 22 points and Mike Miller came alive with 12 important points. Dwyane Wade, struggling with his shot all night, would score only 14, but six came in overtime.
Miami in seasons past would not have survived a 14-point playoff game by Wade, but James and Bosh have helped rewrite the survival guide.
James, seemingly impervious to fatigue, played almost 50 minutes and still seemed fresh late when the Bulls were sagging.
Does James ever show fatigue?
“If he does show it to me, I ignore him,” kidded coach Erik Spoelstra.
James deflected the spotlight, simply calling Tuesday, “A great win. A great defensive team win.”
The Bulls, the team with the best regular-season record in the NBA, were fighting for their playoff lives.
The Heat said no. Not here came the statement, not where Miami is now 8-0 in this postseason, the only unbeaten home team in these playoffs.
Bosh was asked earlier this week if he could recall the last home loss.
“No I can’t,” he replied after a pause.
Miami has not lost at the bayside arena since April 6. And an end to that streak Tuesday would have been, to paraphrase TNT’s Charles Barkley, “turrrible” timing. All at once, Heat fans who expected to be howling, “Oh yeah!” would have been left to mutter, “Uh oh” had Miami lost this game.
Now Miami’s 3-1 lead in this series, being honest, means the series is for all practical purposes over.
Chicago has no realistic shot now to beat the Heat three straight games. I have a better chance to use two strands of cooked spaghetti as chopsticks. Chicagoans have to believe it still could happen, of course – or try to convince themselves, anyway – but, now, those fans believe that like they believe this is finally the year for the Cubs.
Miami also figures to be a clear favorite in the NBA Finals vs. (presumably) Dallas.
Getting ahead of myself, you say? Yes. So what. Heat coaches and players can’t do that, at least not publicly. Well I can! And that’s how crucial Tuesday’s victory was. How all-important.
Now it is reasonable to count out the Bulls and to be the first one on my block to note that Dallas is old, and seemingly not far from joining the Lakers, Celtics and Spurs in the NBA’s Used To Be division. The Mavericks’ five leading scorers in these playoffs all are 32 or older. After Dirk Nowitzki nobody on that team scares you on the offensive end. And the Mavs’ defense isn’t nearly as good as Chicago’s.
In other words, the Heat’s path to the championship in Year 1 of the Big 3 appears clear now – where a home loss Tuesday night would have left all of that murky.
It was beyond a physical game, a victory intensely earned.
“We want opponents when they come here to think they’ve just played the hardest game of their life,” Bosh said.
I think both teams might have felt that Tuesday as midnight approached.
Forgive Spoelstra his hyperbole in describing this series and Game 4 as “an absolute bloodbath.” Although if that were so, suffice to say the bleeding Tuesday was mostly Chicago, and that it might be too late to stop it now.
This series hasn’t been about any of the ancillary stuff, by the way. Hasn’t been about how much Miami fans might dislike Charles Barkley. Or about Carlos ? disrespecting Bosh, or about Joakim Noah answering a heckler.
This series has been about the Heat being better than the Bulls. Simply that.
Not much better, maybe, but clearly better.
Enough better. -
lebron, wade, miller, bosh, and haslem.
nobody ain't ? with that lineup. -
http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2011-05-26/celtics-owner-i-want-miami-to-lose-so-badlyCeltics owner: ‘I want Miami to lose so badly’
As the Miami Heat have found out over the course of this season, pretty much wherever they go around the NBA, they’re a target for the disdain of fans who were put off by the way the team’s trio of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh conspired to join forces in South Beach. What they may not have known, though, is that the disdain can reach high up in NBA front offices.
Celtics partner Wyc Grousbeck, speaking to the Boston radio station WEEI at a charity event, said he has been tuning in to this year’s postseason even after his team’s disappointing Eastern Conference semifinal loss to Miami for the same reason many fans around the country are watching—to root against the Heat. “I’m watching this year because I want Miami to lose so badly,” Grousbeck said.
Of course, Grousbeck can take some consolation in the notion that, the longer the Heat stick around in the playoffs, the longer his league will continue to draw impressive television ratings. The opener of the Heat’s conference finals against the Bulls on TNT set a record as the most-watched NBA game in cable history, and Game 3 ranks second at 10.9 million viewers. Game 4, the network announced, drew 9.8 million viewers.
Grousbeck acknowledged that the Heat looked like the more energetic, fresher team in the series against the Celtics but is still lamenting the overtime loss in Game 4, which could have evened the series at 2-2. Instead, Boston lost in overtime.
“We might have won the thing,” Grousbeck said. “I don’t regret it like a huge, missed chance. I’m just annoyed we didn’t beat them.”
someone is mad cause the heat beat his geritol sqaud... -
LMAO he gone be even more mad next year. Back in August i said this will be the only year that people are really able to compete with the Heat cuz we lack depth and a true center. Next year after we get someone like Deandre Jordan or dalembert who is athletic and can play defense its a wrap
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so dalembert is a free agent?
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Coo Coo Cal's Beanie wrote: »LMAO he gone be even more mad next year. Back in August i said this will be the only year that people are really able to compete with the Heat cuz we lack depth and a true center. Next year after we get someone like Deandre Jordan or dalembert who is athletic and can play defense its a wrap
This is so true...what people dont seem to grasp is THIS IS THE WORST TEAM this incarnation of the Heat will ever field. They will only ever get better. -
This would be so crazy if they get DeAndre Jordan. Imagine all the lobs to him. It'll be a wrap, ? a three-peat, how about a four-peat.
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yup. Deandre Jordan tooso dalembert is a free agent?
Man every year we could add a midlevel exception player. We gone murder teams every yearbless the child wrote: »This would be so crazy if they get DeAndre Jordan. Imagine all the lobs to him. It'll be a wrap, ? a three-peat, how about a four-peat. -
Coo Coo Cal's Beanie wrote: »yup. Deandre Jordan too
ok then. what about the pg position? -
who knows. i want nolan smith. If he falls to the 2nd rnd we goodok then. what about the pg position? -
DeAndre Jordan would be a perfect fit.
Starting Line Up would be.....
C - DeAndre Jordan
PF - Chris Bosh
SF - LeBron James
SG - Dwayne Wade
PG - Mike Bibby
The second unit would be.....
C - Joel Anthony
PF - Udonis Haslem
SF - Mike Miller
SG - James Jones
PG - Mario Chalmers
That would leave Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Juwan Howard, Eric Dampier, Eddie House, Jamaal Magloire and Dexter Pittman as the rest of the bench.
But who will be The one that is gone to make room for DeAndre Jordan? -
Dampier, Magloire, and Mike Bibby can kick rocks. Those ? is bums. Next season i want chalmers starting and nolan smith as backup. Then i want Deandre Jordan starting and dexter Pittman/Joel Anthony splitting time at backup center
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Hmm do we even have any draft picks this year is the question lol
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yea we got 2nd rounders
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we got the 1st pick of the 2nd round. according to this mock draft they're lookin at josh selby. Id rather have nolan smith, who's predicted to go 3rd in the 2nd rnd
http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2011/ -
Theyre having a viewing party right now down in dade at the american airlines arena. i started to go but i decided to stay in palm beach and watch the game at a bar. and its memorial day weekend too? u know ? live and chunky down there.
here's a pic
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this ? jrodd right again
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i said it 2 or 3 times in this thread.. i will say again.. bron & d-wade are the best closers in the game.. both of those ? clutch as hell.. also they are best all around players in the nba...
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Im impressed. They were down and they won that ? . Rose cracked when he couldve tied it up....
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congrats to lebron... real ? . since dallas sonned my boys so bad i hope yall show them ? the exit
This discussion has been closed.