I often wonder what opposing teams, their beat reporters
and bloggers are saying about the Celtics after playing the Celtics.
Here's a dose of 'enemy chatter' from Miami.
What happened last night was a worst-case scenario. Instead of kicking a man while he was down, the Heat took a shot to the groin and fell down itself. Instead of making the most of a bad situation, the Heat laid an egg and gave the Celtics more confidence. instead of heading back to South Florida with a tied series — advantage Heat — Miami and its fans have to wonder whether the Heat really have a chance at all.
There were no bright spots. There was no valor in defeat. For the first time in a long time, they stunk. For example: how does Mario Chalmers get into foul trouble? How does Jermaine O’Neal perform that poorly? Can this team develop and hit its own shots on a consistent basis? If not, don’t make any plans after Game 5.
O'Neal was somehow credited with five first-half blocks, but it didn't come close to making up for how Kendrick Perkins dominated him.
Perkins forced O'Neal into near-impossible turnaround jumpers, into a pull-up jumper far out of his range, into rushing short shots and missing them and into a funk that resulted in a 1-for-10 shooting performance. That's 4 for 24 for the series.
And now to Beasley -- again. The promise to be more aggressive resulted in nothing more than a couple extra shot attempts (14, with 13 points). Meanwhile, his defense helped to make Glen Davis, Garnett's replacement, look like a budding All-Star.
The Heat's point guards were perhaps dominated even more thoroughly.
Tony Allen, a defensive specialist who affected Wade late in Saturday's game, was playing the backup point guard minutes and never allowed Carlos Arroyo to get the offense started.
Enter Mario Chalmers, who was dominated just as badly by Rajon Rondo. Chalmers barely could get the ball past half court, and when he did, he would celebrate by getting called for an offensive foul.
I recommend reading Israel Gutierrez's article from the Miami Herald. It's very entertaining.