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His finger is so broken he can dunk.

An epic collapse? No, that was called the Celtics completely locking down the Heat. The Heat didn't collapse in this game. The Celtics just played defense like it was the 2008 Finals and absolutely shut down Wade while the rest of the Heat couldn't do anything. The Celtics gave Wade absolutely no driving lanes to work with after his great start, forced him into contested jump shots and when they weren't forcing him into contested jumpers, they forced the ball out of his hands and did a great job of contesting the jumpers that the Heat took. The Celtics didn't give the Heat any open looks or easy baskets all second half. The defense that they played in the final third of the game was the reason why they won. Are you saying that you don't think the Celtics, a top 5 defensive team in the NBA, are capable of playing this kind of defense all series long? That is basically what it sounds like with the posts you have made in this thread. If the Celtics are motivated, they are more than capable of playing this kind of stifiling defense all series long, and the Heat perimeter players better start hitting jumpers or else it will be a short series. I shouldn't expect you to give credit to the Celtics and make it seem like they were given the game by the Heat instead of earning the win like they certainly did, but I find it completely laughable that you say that it took an "epic collapse" by the Heat to lose game 1. You literally give no credit to the Celtics for playing unbelieveable defense, which is the real reason why the Heat lost this game, not some "epic collapse". You also completely brush off the fact that Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen shot a combined 10-32 from the field, by acting like it is a normal occurance for these three, who shot 47%, 51% and 48% respectively during the regular season, which is completely false. The bottom line is that the Heat did not have an "epic collapse" in this game. They were shut down by a terrific defensive effort by the Celtics. There is a difference, in case you didn't know. Man, I can't believe it. I have defended the Celtics twice in this thread and was cheering for a Celtic win last week. What the hell is going on?

Garnett being a tool again.

I love it, Q Rich is my boy. About time someone called out Pierce. But lol at the "they're good basketball players but that's about it", I guess he didn't want to offend them all the way.

Many prognosticators believe that with the peaking Miami Heat and fading Boston Celtics traveling in opposing directions, their series will be prime for a first round upset. For roughly the first 30 minutes of their Game One matchup, it looked like the Heat would confirm the suspicions of those expecting a quiet Celtic spring. But then reality set in and Boston ultimately prevailed 85-76, less on the basis of their own merit, and more on what Miami didn’t and couldn’t do. Why Miami Lost Miami’s starting defense had too many holes that ultimately got picked apart. By my very unofficial count, about half of the combined interior rotations of Jermaine O’ Neal and Michael Beasley were on point, and half were late, absent, or ineffective. That’s a number that will get a team to the playoffs, but won’t have them winning series'. Quentin Richard jumped like a jack rabbit whenever a Celtic perimeter player offered the slightest head fake. Richardson and Dorell Wright couldn’t stop Paul Pierce’s quick post moves, and Wright was particularly affected by Pierce’s strength. Beasley’s individual defensive efforts were frequently chumped. Miami’s post trapping strategy isn’t necessarily a faulty one, but weak side help was often late when a Celtic, usually Rajon Rondo, cut down from the top of the key when his man went to double. Boston had success generating open looks from curling Ray Allen off of Kendrick Perkins and having Allen drop a pass to Perkins after Miami’s bigs showed on the screen. Because of this, late game curls were defended much softer, and Allen was afforded relatively clean looks. Though O’Neal and Beasley were mediocre at best defensively, Udonis Haslem’s and Joel Anthony’s defensive efforts ranged for solid to awesome. Interior rotations were on point, the middle was effectively jammed, screens were bottled up with aggressive hedges and Miami’s defense generated run out opportunities that led to easy scores. However, because Haslem relies on teammates and execution to set up his looks, and Anthony is merely an offensive garbage man, having both of them on the floor is a liability when thirsting for offense. Unfortunately for Miami, their offensive frontcourt didn’t bother to show up. O’ Neal played as brittle and timid as he always has—3-14 FG, 2-2 FT, 8 PTS. The Heat tried to establish his mid-post and face-up game because of his height advantage over Perkins, yet two of O’Neal’s makes were simple mid-range assisted jumpers, and a third make came on an early offensive drive. O’ Neal didn’t register a single field goal when trying to attack Perkins one-on-one. Michael Beasley’s lack of feel for the game resulted in multiple awful passes and decisions with the ball—5 TO—an airballed jumper, and limited production. His poor basketball IQ relegates him to being an iso scorer, but he doesn’t have the savvy to beat good defenders one-on-one. He was a disaster against the Celtics on both ends. Without O’Neal or Beasley stepping up, the Heat were relegated to hoping Dwyane Wade would turn in a vintage Wade performance. For the first three quarters, Miami’s defense was able to unleash Wade in early offense, and any open crack Boston presented would be blown wide open by Wade’s electric assaults on the basket. But then Boston roused itself from its collective slumber and was totally focused on keeping Wade out of the paint. Tony Allen did a Grade-A job of sticking to Wade’s hip around both on- and off-ball screens, the Celtics’ hedges and backline rotations picked up in intensity, and Miami’s offense ground to a halt—so much so that other players began to make boneheaded mistakes Richardson jumped in the air before trying to blow by his defender.Haslem missed a couple of layups, and then missed an open court dunk.O’ Neal and Wade were so careless on an inbounds pass that Tony Allen recorded a steal under the Heat basket. With Miami’s offense so stagnant, whenever a Heat player did receive the ball they were timid and unsure of themselves and simply passed it back to Wade for a high screen that opened up nothing. Miami’s offense devolved into a series of 24-second violations, forced attempts against the shot-clock buzzer, turnovers, and missed Wade jumpers. If Miami can’t get any production from Beasley and O’Neal, Wade will have to be superman for the Heat to pull off an upset. However, Boston is well aware that his kryptonite is his long range jumper and will take away his drives if necessary. Why Boston Won Boston’s defense over the final 18 minutes was smothering. Boston’s frontcourt dominated Miami’s in every aspect, particularly in the battle of each team’s starters. Pierce missed a few layups early and then became uninvolved in the offense, but he always broke down Richardson and Wright near the basket—4-12 FG, 7-8 FT, 16 PTS. 52 of Boston’s 85 points came in the paint, and 22 more came at the free throw line, a testament to Boston’s physicality and offensive execution. If Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were profoundly ordinary, Glen Davis and Tony Allen performed rousing imitations. Davis’ hustle, quick-toed defense, and bowling ball barrages at the basket, combined with Tony Allen’s athletic drives and adhesive defense were the difference in Boston’s win. With Rasheed Wallace providing nothing—a made turnaround jumper from the mid post, horrible screen defense, a pathetic job of defending Mario Chalmers along the baseline, and a blatant offensive foul—it’s urged that Boston make Davis the first big off the bench and relegate Wallace to spot duty. Rajon Rondo had the flu and didn’t play with the spunk he usually plays with, a disease that trickles to the rest of the team. As he picks up in health and picks up his play, expect his teammates to follow suit. Game One was a story of the Celtics getting key supporting cast members to step up, while the Heat were stuck watching and waiting for a Wade miracle. Still, there are ways Miami could be more effective. In one fourth quarter sequence, Wade posted Tony Allen in the middle of the paint and wound up with a made mid-range jumper. Try getting Wade in the post more to force different angles for Boston’s help.Also, a penetration by Chalmers, with Wade simultaneously curling off a baseline screen netted the Heat a late layup.The onus is for Eric Spoelstra to find more creative ways to get Wade the ball.Run more weak side curls or combo screens involving Beasley. Try to use him as strictly a finisher rather than someone who has to read defenses and make decisions on how to attack. The flip side to this is that, off course, Beasley has to convert his layups.O’Neal has to pick up his play. If he can’t produce, than Miami has no chance.If he’s not as steady a decision maker as Carlos Arroyo, Chalmers is better able to break down Boston’s defense off the dribble. Miami should be able to compensate for his ineffective defense with Haslem and Anthony in the game.Should Kevin Garnett be forced to sit out because of his end-of Game One silliness, Boston will be forced to play Wallace or Sheldon Williams more minutes—matchups that work in Miami’s favor. As such, Game One was only one game of a potentially long series. Now we wait for the adjustments, counter adjustments, and counter-counter adjustments as the chess match begins.

Geezus Christ S.Ibaka is [expletive]ing beautiful and with a nice body. my gosh

Kobe and Durant are having a battle who can take and miss the most mid range jumpers.

any player would say the same about their home town, he didnt say i love the bulls and thats my dream team that i wanna play for dude's whole family is in chicago, chicago IS his home and of course he love chicago, but you are ignoring what he has been sayin about miami for years - miami is his "office" this is where he works, this is the job he wants, he is the face of the franchise, he is around peers that he respects a lot -- pat riley, alonzo mourning, the coaching staff..his 2 best friends q-rich and dorell (who possibly might be resigned too)

Lakers are screwed, no Mbenga for game 1.

I don't even deserve all the reps I have... http://www.sportsrefuge.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/501d5f190b7c2c661fe228da26687c62.gif

The guy in front of Hell would say 'Heaven' and the guy in front of heaven says ' Heaven', so which Heaven you go for?

It's always good to fantasize, but lets get real Blazers fans. There is no way you can beat the Suns without Roy, Oden, and Przybilla.

What's wrong with the current one? I'll listen to suggestions. The old skin had too many bugs. It's up.

Who wants to bet Bulletproof won't be able to read Yama's answers?

So I guess I'm the only one that liked seeing Garnett give Richardson a little shot there? It's the playoffs, your best player is lying down hurt and a member of the opposing team starts walking towards him, your first reaction is going to be to get that guy away from your teammate. Also, who knows what Richardson was even saying to Garnett/Pierce? I know that it is going to be pointless for me to defend Garnett's actions considering his history and the amount of hate that he gets for every thing, but I honestly don't think that he did anything wrong there. Good on him for getting Richardson away from his injured teammate. I do think that the second elbow looked pretty bad though. There is absolutely no way that Garnett should be suspended though. EDIT: The best part of that entire sequence was seeing the 90 year old Dick Bavetta trying to seperate the players. I'm surprised he wasn't injured.

LMAO at Garnett's shocked look.

Lmao, Sheed's probably so pissed this didn't happen on the Boston bench.

KG is such a little [expletive].

This might be one of the only times I say this, but.... co-sign.

LOL, yeah I think that is him, I think he has been doing that just to mess with Legacy. I still could care less about this rep system.

[expletive] I totally forgot. I'll try to get it in by tonight, but it doesn't look good. Work is busy as hell today.

That's Prodigy being a dumbass. I've pm'ed him a couple times telling him to stop abusing the system. As for me, I don't even use the rep system. Remove it for all I care.

Kobe didn't rape her.

LOL @ anybody caring about rep points.

It's funnier that you actually wasted time making that.