LeBron got his prayer answered as the Heat beat the Celtics.  Thanks for nothing says this sports fan

JIM RUBERA
(Rubera writes for The Spop)

After screaming to the crowd and dramatically hyperventilating, Lebron found an open patch of floor and dropped to a knee to thank the Lord.  He sought out Doc Rivers, gave him a long hug and told him he loved him.  He spoke to interviewers about the monkey being off his back, exorcising the Celtic demons, and saying that this was why he came to Miami.  And ESPN, SI, Sportsline, Yahoo, NBC Sports, an the newspapers all concur that the Heat have arrived.

Arrived where?  The third round?  Yay.

What Lebron, Wade, and Bosh did last year was devastating not just to their reputations.  It also set off a chain reaction that is and will continue to be devastating to the league itself.  Since they joined forces, two superteams are already in the making with a lucky one or two others being worked on for after the 2012 season.  They’re all wanna-be Heat, but no combination of them will amount to the two best players in the league plus Bosh.  Nevertheless, the next batch of superstars will still crush their current fan bases by leaving and will unwisely snub GMs whose teams are better fits because they will want to chase and replicate Miami.

The Bulls put together Rose, Boozer, and Noah and will undoubtedly add another key piece this summer.

The Knicks got what they wanted with Amare and Carmelo, and are also under the cap and in position to lure a premiere point guard.

There are big names approaching free agency that will either sign with or demand a trade to teams that need a final piece to complete their trifectas.  Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Steve Nash, Kevin Love, and Dwight Howard are among the top names in the conversation.  And don’t think Ray Allen or Kevin Garnett won’t jump on for a free ride somewhere when the Celtics tell them to screw off after losing in the second round again next season.

When the dust settles next year, there will be a handful of superteams that have assembled by choice, not by good drafting or crafty trades by GMs.  And then there will be the rest.  The other 25 or 26 teams that have been stripped dry, trying to compete with their one All-Star and a bunch of role players.

That is the landscape that Lebron has set in motion.  And if it works for him and the Heat and they win five of the next seven championships, then good for them.  It was worth it.  But a) None of those other superteams teams will be as good as Lebron and Wade and b) Lebron and Wade might not be that good anyway.  But either way, we are then left with 80% of NBA cities that will have lost interest in the sport.

This all comes back to the original question.  What have they accomplished?  Why all the praise after beating the Celtics?  Look how they won.

• Rajon Rondo, who everybody agreed is the key to the Boston offense, suffered an injury that would have sidelined him 6-8 weeks in the regular season.  (Reported by Celtics insider Mike Gorman of CSN New England)
• With the score tied in the 4th quarter of Game 2, Miami went on a 14-0 run to win.
• Down by 6 in the 4th quarter of Game 5, Miami went on a 16-0 run to finish the game.  The Celtics did not score a single point in the last four and a half minutes.
• Jeff Green inexplicably, and without being pressured, fumbled away two possessions in crunch time in games 4 and 5 when a Celtics basket would have changed the complexion of either game.
• The Celtics scored 4 points in the overtime period of Game 4.

This is not playing “only if” or making excuses for the Celtics.  They sucked and Miami deserves the credit for outplaying them.  But the Heat strategy was simple though.  They stayed within ten points for the first 43 minutes and turned on the jets at the end when they knew the older and injured Celtics would be out of gas.  Very good.  Very smart.  Obviously effective.

But can anybody honestly think that Derrick Rose, Dirk Nowitzki, or Kevin Durant will allow their teams to not score a single point during a four minute stretch to close out a game?  On two separate occasions?   Probably not.  And the Heat will have to face two out of three of those guys if they want to accomplish the goal that should be in their sights.

If the games were 40 minutes long, Miami would have lost the series 4-1.  Unfortunately for Boston, they can’t play a full game anymore.  Unfortunately for the Heat, the teams they’re about to play can.  Maybe Lebron should have been praying for help when he was on one knee instead of thanking God for making it out of the second round.  David Stern might want to join him.

Photo: AP

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