Sportswriter Dave George:
MIAMI — The shocks are coming hot and heavy for the Miami Heat now, but here is the greatest of them all.
As much as we expect LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to dominate on demand, both individually and in partnership, there are real, raw limits to what they can do together and those limits might forever fall short of a championship parade.
This is true with or without Chris Bosh, and this is infinitely more true, as it turns out, than the spontaneous prediction of multiple NBA titles that sounded so good coming out of LeBron's mouth in the glow of his arrival in Miami two summers ago.
This team isn't even thinking today about one ring ceremony. One victory, that's the goal, and playoff elimination is the punishment for not going up to Boston and grabbing it in Game 6.
...
"It's tough, but we've still got a chance," Shane Battier said. "We've got three really great guys, some of the best in the world. You get those guys on the court and you've always got a chance."
A chance? This team is supposed to be defined, and for several dynastic years to come, by the choice, LeBron's decision to bring his talents to South Beach. Last season's loss to Dallas in the NBA Finals, that was the worst it would ever be with these guys, right?
The new Heat reality says that is wrong, and if that's a body blow to South Florida fans, it's coming close to a psychological knockout in the Miami locker room.
"Every time we got them down, they made runs," said LeBron, who scored 30 points but was 1-for-7 in the third quarter, when the Celtics turned a nine-point deficit into a five-point lead. "They made us stagnant offensively and got stops and that got them back into the game.
"I think we played good enough to give ourselves a chance to win and that is all you can ask for."
Not even close. Having a chance to win at home in the game that may well have decided this series is the absolute least or any genuine championship contender - could have done.
...
It's up to LeBron and Dwyane and them alone to find another gear, and that's saying something after a night in which they combined for 57 points.
Remember how the Celtics supposedly had reached their ceiling in a Game 2 loss at Miami? Rondo scored 44 points that night and still it wasn't enough to beat the Heat.
Well, Boston won Game 5 last night to grab complete control of this series, with Rondo scoring just seven points on 3-of-15 shooting. Clearly, the Celtics have lots of ways to win.
Miami, for all the brave words, is down to one, that being a Hall of Fame highlight performance stretched over four quarters by both James and Wade.
<< Home