I’ve been waiting my whole life to witness The Miami Heat win one and we got it tonight.

I feel so good for everyone on the team. All the vets, all the unsung heroes, and for our young star who clearly deserves everything he got.

Dwayne Wade is the MVP for the 2006 finals and the decision was not even close. The absolute clear and obvious winner.

Tonight may have been The Heat’s best team basketball, not seen since the Detroit series and regular season.

Udonis had his best game of the series. Since game 3 Haslem’s defense has been great on Dirk. Tonight it was steady as well, except he was able to knock down his famous jumper and collect a double double by being tenacious on the glass. He was really great in that department for us.

Another spark was Alonzo Mourning’s play. This guy, and I’ve been saying it all season, has given us, the fans, everything he has. Zo may have had his best season this year. His limited minutes have almost always been chock full of stats and have helped this team over many a hump.

The Heat were down as much as 14 when Zo, The Minister of Defense, as Eric Reid likes to often put it, stepped onto the court. Miami could do nothing right. No defense, no ball control, and Dallas was dropping points in the paint like it was going out of style. I immediately call my brother saying Zo has to come in. I don’t care if Shaq deserves his minutes, I don’t want to lose this game because of policy. We need defense, rebounds, and paint protection and Alonzo Mourning delivered big time.

Zo comes in and immediately blocks shots, rebounds, and makes two dunks. The guy got 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Zo brought us back from being down 11 points to being up 1 at the half. The Mavericks never really took it to the hoop and settled for jump shots for the rest of the game.

I can’t say how happy I am for Zo. Not just for what he went through with his transplant, but I’ve been watching Zo play for The Heat since he got here from Charlotte. Heck, I’ve been watching him since Charlotte. Don’t forget Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson were teammates in NBA Jam. They were always my team in that game.

I’m happy for the players who have chased rings and have gotten close like, Gary Payton, Shanden Andersen, Derek Andersen, and Antoine Walker.

So congratulations Heat. I watched every regular game this season and you guys made it worth it.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban took a shot at Miami coach Pat Riley during an appearance Wednesday night on CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman.”

Cuban, wearing a Ben Roethlisberger jersey, brought up Riley’s coaching tactics when he was with the New York Knicks after Letterman asked about the Dallas owner’s contributions to the NBA.

“I’ve tried to make it more fun, but we’ve changed the rules around some,” Cuban said. “I mean, the game got to a point where it really, it slowed down, and then they went through a whole set of rules changes, which really helped, and then these past couple years, I really got involved to outlaw all the handchecking and all the beating up of guys on the perimeter, so now the game’s gotten a lot smoother, so you’ve got superstars like Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki who can take the ball to the hoop without all of that old Knicks ball, the old Pat Riley stuff, where they’d just beat up on people. So, we changed it up some.”

Cuban’s Mavericks lead Riley’s Heat 2-1 in the NBA finals. Game 4 is Thursday night in Miami.

Source

–How does 3-2 taste?

For putting in Shandon Andersen and matching the Mavs. Thanks for listening to us. Ok you may have never seen Letsgoheat.com, but what we wanted to see, you did, and its working.

Its not working. During the season when the vets sucked, they brought Shandon Andersen, Derek Anderson, Wayne Simien, and sometimes Jason Kapono. Get some fresh legs on the court. If the vets earned the right to be there, fine, they got their chance, but don’t let the game go down the tubes because of it. Get fresh legs on the court–we need DEFENSE!

Our Miami Heat are the Eastern Conference champions!!!! One of the most concentrated efforts I’ve seen all season long from top to bottom. The stand out performance has to be J Williams. O’Neal was awesome as well and did an incredible job soaking up the paint. Williams kept us ahead and kept Detroit on the ground all game long. Suprisingly he only missed one shot and it was a layup. He went 10-11.

Walker had a great game as well, kicking where he needed to and scoring and drawing fouls at the right spots.

I know fans had to be worried when Detroit cut the lead from 21 to 13 with 8 minutes+ left, but this is where J Williams and great rebounding by pretty much everyone on the glass, made the difference.

Congrats to the fans and the Heat baby!

Who should we face next? The Mavs or the Suns?

Here comes Detroit. Miami is clashing with Detroit for a second time in 2 years in the Eastern Conference Finals.

What’s different this year?

-The bench of the Miami Heat is stacked with veterans as opposed to untested playoff first timers.
-Two first rate, albeit old, but veteran, point guards as opposed to Damon Jones and an unfamiliar and injured Dwayne Wade bringing up the ball.
-A slimmer quicker Shaq.
-Multiple deep three threats in James Posey, Antoine Walker, Jason Williams, Gary Payton, and now Wade as opposed to just Damon Jones.
-Defensively, they might be slightly better due to veteran wiles and the ability to take more charges. Udonis Haslem has improved his defense tremendously over last year.
-Chemistry with Shaq is better. Especially between Shaq and Haslem/Wade.
-Big time shooting Robert Horry style with Antoine Walker, Gary Payton, and Dwayne Wade as opposed to just Wade last year.
-The ability to get to the basket more with Williams, Wade, Shaq, Haslem, Payton, and Walker. Last year it was Wade, Shaq, and sometimes Haslem. None of the perimeter players could really get to the basket last year (aside from that hellacious dunk on The Franchise by Keeyon Dooling last year).
-Lets not forget coaching. The coaching staff has naturally gotten better with some more experience under their belt. Oh yeh they added Pat Riley too.
-Announcers. Yes The Coach, Tony Fiorentino got better at calling the games and doing color. Eric Reid, like Coach Rothstein, had no way of improving after so many years. They just maintained their greatness.

I’ve been Antoine Walker’s biggest fan it seems if you listen to the callers on 790 the ticket. Not the hostsmind you. but the callers. I remember people saying we should be playing Dorell Wright over Antoine. I don’t think so now and I never did then. Without Walker it seems we would not have beaten the Nets. Hes had 3 big games in this series including clutch baskets we needed.

I’m filing under this under coaching as well. Riley knows Walker is the last key to the puzzle to spread the defense giving Shaq and Wade more room. If Haslem can get his bounds and baskets in addition to those 3 then we will beat anyone.

30 points is the magic number for Wayne Simien to step into the game. The matchups for Dallas I think require Simien’s presence. In fact, we need need him in alot of games. He may not be the answer, but he will sure provide some f’ing energy for this team.

I don’t care about the required minutes the vets have to play. You sit Doleac the entire season and you think hes gonna produce? No. This was something Van Gundy incorporated well last year. Rotating his whole bench night in and night out.

Oh and now there is this talk about Shandon being the potential key to our team D all of sudden. He was there last year doing the same thing. Hes one of our only decent defensive players. Its sad, I know.

You’re either in or you’re out. Riley is in and Van Gundy is out. I don’t like it, but the players I guess do.

I know Alonzo is a big Riley fan and vice versa. They have a tremendous amount of respect for each other. Maybe Zo can elevate his offense now.

We have a ton of veterans on our team and they are not gelling correctly. Maybe it was because of Van Gundy, maybe they didn’t respect him enough, maybe it was just because the team was losing and looking for a scape goat.

Riley has been wanting to come back to try and work this clay into a Heat Championship since the playoffs last year. Here is his chance. I really hope this doesn’t screw us up more.

Riley likes Walker’s game alot so I expect the three people to be getting the most touches will be him, Wade, and Shaq. We also see some new defensive schemes, something I have been disappointed in this year.

I’m willing to bet Riley makes us better in the half court offense and defensive boards.

Pat Riley and Stan Van Gundy met back in August and everyone was unsure if Pat Riley was gonna step in as head coach and fire Stan. Well those rumors were put to bed as Stan stepped on the court Tuesday night for their first exhibition game against the defending Champions San Antonio Spurs.

The Heat was victorious 103-101. After the game the media asked Stan what Riley had discussed with him in the offseason. He said he wouldn’t be where he was if Pat Riley had not given him a chance to learn under him and give him oppurtunity to coach. He also mentioned that Pat and him were on the same page and are looking forward to making this team an elite team and not just good looking on paper, but produce on the court. Stan Van Gundy has a chance to do good things with this team this year. His coaching will be key in making these players believe in his system.