Author: katadmin

Buck Harvey: Blurry, but Bosh still finds his way

DALLAS — Chris Bosh told them it was coming. He told them he could see the Mavericks’ body language, and what would happen when the Heat ran the play.

Bosh even told Udonis Haslem which Maverick to screen.

And when it all happened?

When Bosh got the pass and made the biggest shot of his basketball life?

“It feels good,” he said afterward, when it had to feel better than that.

Bosh had never won an NBA game in his hometown before. And early in his first Finals game in Dallas, he saw the trouble ahead.

He saw that through one eye. In the first quarter he took a finger to an eye and fell to the court. With Bosh on the ground, the Mavericks raced to score and built what would be their biggest lead of the game.

The moment summed up his image in Miami. Next to LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, he’s been the fraction in the “Two and a Half Men” show.

Game 2 was part of that. Then, he was asked to defend Dirk Nowitzki, and Nowitzki drove past him for the game-winning basket. Bosh shooting only 4 of 16 that night didn’t help, either.

Some in San Antonio might remember another Bosh ?? failure. In the 2001 Class 4A state championships, starring for Dallas Lincoln, he fouled out in a 2-point semifinal loss to Lanier.

But there’s another side to his life, and his next season at Lincoln showed that. Then, he led his high school to an undefeated season and the state championship. That was the first team from Texas to finish a season ranked No. 1 by USA Today, and that was also the last time Bosh said he was as happy as he has been this year.

“As far as camaraderie, working together and having fun on and off the court,” Bosh told the New York Times, “this has been the first time I’ve experienced anything like it.”

So he’s enjoyed this season, even when there were times he clearly struggled. That’s why Sunday, even with his vision blurred, he could see how everything fit together.

“We knew this was not going to be easy,” he said. “I think it’s just symbolic of our season .?.?. it was quite fitting I got poked in the eye. You just have to keep coming.”

Bosh was fortunate that Wade kept coming, with a performance similar to the one he put on against the Mavericks in 2006. Bosh was fortunate too, that Haslem defended Nowitzki on the last play this time.

“He stayed down,” Nowitzki said of Haslem, “and made me shoot a contested shot.”

The game before, Bosh didn’t.

Still, what happened with about 40 seconds left shored up Bosh’s reputation. Miami called time, and Bosh all but announced what would happen next.

Haslem talked about that in the locker room afterward. Bosh told him: Get the pin down on Nowitzki, and I’ll hit the shot.

“We run the play all the time,” Bosh said, “and I kind of saw Tyson’s (Chandler) body language, and I saw Dirk’s body language. You could kind of tell what they’re about to do, especially when Dwyane and LeBron are running screen-and-roll. They both turn their head, and I told (Haslem) who to hit .?.?. I knew I was going to have an open shot.”

That’s the Bosh who was in the National Honor Society at Lincoln, and who chooses to read a book before games to relax.

Yet even when everything happened as he thought it would, as James threw a smooth pass to him, Bosh needed to complete the play.

Any worries?

“That’s his sweet spot,” James said.

When Dallas had never been that before for him in the NBA.

bharvey@express-news.net

Blog brother lists the Spurs’ untouchables and others who could be swapped this summer

I always like new and different graphical ways of explaining stories.

B Diddy of Air Alamo.com had an intriguing look at the Spurs roster in terms of their .

Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tiago Splittler and yes, even Tony Parker were listed as near untouchables by Diddy on his graphic. DeJuan Blair, Matt Bonner and Richard Jefferson weren’t nearly as fortunate in their ratings.

It was an intriguing way of breaking down the Spurs’ roster heading into the summer. And it will be interesting to see how closely the strategies of Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford match Diddy’s approximations.

Here are a few other takes from across the blogosphere about the Spurs and a variety of NBA topics.

  • Eric Freeman of Yahoo.com’s Ball Don’t Lie Blog compliments  Ginobili’s toughness in .
  • Pounding the Rock.com’s Big 50 gives Popovich  and for his work during the season.   
  • All-around athlete Erin Rambo of Euclid, Ohio, tells the Cleveland Plain-Dealer that .
  • From the department of potential Spurs roster additions, Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution spells out the reasons why Josh Smith .
  • And Nick Underhill of the Springfield (Mass.) Republican wonders if the in Boston.
  • Alley Oop of Spurslocker.com predicts thatsome day.
  • Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer reports that VCU’s Jamie Skeen, a 6-foot-8 forward,during last week’s draft combine in Chicago.
  • Jeff Washburn of the Lafayette (Ind.) Journal and Courier reports that Dallas forward Brian Cardinal is attempting to become the fifth former Purdue player to play for an NBA champion. One of them is Glenn Robinson, .
  • B Diddy of Air Alamo.com haswith the 29th pick in his mock draft.
  • Ginobili picks in an interview with the Argentinian publication  translated by Jeff Garcia of Project Spurs.com. 
  • Spursfan4life of Spurs Dynasty.com has six reasons why he.
  • Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman liked the move by Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks of in the fourth quarter against Dallas in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.
  • Veteran San Diego Tribune columnist Nick Canepa isn’t including Dirk Nowitzki.  

Buck Harvey: Heat edge: Tonight just the usual hatred

DALLAS — This time, they laughed. This time, Dwyane Wade posed in front of the Mavericks’ bench before LeBron James threw a couple of playful jabs.

And when they came apart shortly after? America loved it.

But there was a time when they cried, and America loved that, too. Those days were not unlike the final seven minutes of Game 2: Chris Bosh was as confused as Erik Spoelstra was clueless then, and James dribbled until he missed.

The Heat overcame all of that during the long season, however, and that’s what should worry the Mavericks tonight.

After this circus of a season, isn’t some embarrassment and failure just the usual for Miami?

James and his teammates have learned to live with standards that apply only to them. Kevin Durant heard far less, for example, in the Western Conference finals. Then, he strapped on an imaginary championship belt after swishing the kind of 3-pointer that Wade made Thursday.

The Mavericks rallied in that game, too. But Jason? Terry didn’t say anything about Durant then, nor did the media, when a few comments could have been said.

One possibility: Durant must have really been strapping on an imaginary diaper.

Then there’s the point that James made about Terry on Saturday. “If (Terry) runs down the court doing the whole wings expanded,” James said, “do we count that as a celebration as well?”

A few people in San Antonio have seen the Jet act and are nodding right now. Terry is far from the model of professional comportment.

“I just think,” James continued, “everything gets blown out of proportion when the Miami Heat does things.”

James brought it on himself. Still, somewhere in the middle of the taunts and the blame, with everyone but South Florida rooting against the Heat, the abnormal became the normal.

Maybe the bottom came in March, when James and Wade missed last-second shots and Miami lost its fifth game in six tries. That’s when Spoelstra, trying to emphasize how much his guys cared, said, “There are a couple of guys crying there in the locker room.”

What followed was all-star schadenfreude, and it went far beyond fans and media.

“Wait ’til I call him, man,” Carmelo Anthony said of Bosh then. “I’ll be like, ‘What are you doing?’”

What were they doing? They were enduring harsh criticism and angry arenas as they tried to contend in their first year together. At times it had to be frustrating, if not maddening, and yet here they are in the Finals.

Here they are, too, as a dominant team that threw away Game 2. Miami has played better for longer in the first two games, and it fits with what the Heat did against the 76ers, Celtics and Bulls before.

So what happens now? Bosh is back to his teary days, shooting 26 percent in the Finals. Spoelstra was out-coached Thursday. James ran no offense in the final minutes before missing threes, which is what he was doing in January. And, having given away such a game, there’s reason to wonder how they will respond on the road under Finals pressure.

Still, Miami has a few things to lean on. One is talent.

Another was there Thursday until the end, which is the Heat defense. Dallas plays defense, too, but not like this. Dirk Nowitzki calls it “almost suffocating.”

Then there’s what Wade said Saturday. “It’s going to be a hostile environment,” he said. “Nothing the Miami Heat are not used to.”

Everything has been hostile for seven months, and maybe that’s their edge now. They’ve been able to set aside their failures, and whatever anyone says about them, and the aftermath of Game 2 fits into that.

They celebrate too much?

They’ve heard much, much worse.

bharvey@express-news.net