Dismantle the Big Three because they came two wins short of a title in their first year together?  Are you bleeping kidding me?

SCOTT JACOBS

Over-reaction.  It’s one of the things that makes sports fantastic.  Like everyone anointing Dirk Nowitzki as a top 10 player in history because of one sensational playoff run.  It’s why I have such respect for Michael Wilbon when he tells those people to stop it, and just enjoy the moment.

We sensationalize everything.  It makes sports sexier.  But sometimes people over-react to the point that it makes them an idiot.  Case in point: Fox Sports writer Jason Whitlock.

Now I’m sorry, because I’m not one to write up personal attacks, but Mr. Whitlock, you my friend sound like a real joke when you write that the Heat Should Pull the Plug on the Big Three.  In all my years of reading sports columns, this has got to be one of the dumbest, most over-reactive pieces of journalism (sure we’ll call it that) that I’ve ever come across.

Blow up the Big Three? Why?  They came within two wins of an NBA championship without a starting point guard or a center that contributed anything offensively.  They were using Juwan Howard and Eddie House in big pressure minutes because their minimum salary roster sans obviously Wade, LeBron, Bosh, Haslem, and Miller despite the fact that Howard is 37 and had barely played this season, and that House is a journeyman streak shooter who usually gets two shots a game to either get hot or get benched.

But sure, let’s blow up the Heat because they failed to deliver a title in their FIRST year as a trifecta.  Let’s call this experiment a colossal failure because they had a few collapses at the end of fourth quarters.  Miami could have swept this series, but it was Dallas who came up big in the final quarter.

Whitlock: “They can’t survive what we just witnessed, a Finals meltdown of historic proportion, an ego deflation that is being celebrated throughout the basketball world.”

Yes, they can you dope.  The Heat withstood every punch the worldwide and national media threw at them this season, and managed to chug along to the second seed in the East, pile-driving the conference into submission en route to the Finals.  In the first three rounds Wade and LeBron had one bad game together in the fourth: against Philadelphia in game 4, when the Heat on the verge of a sweep, coughed up a late lead allowing the Sixers to salvage a game.

If you’re a professional athlete you relish being the hunted.  Miami’s already been anointed the favorites for next year, and who can blame them, they only stand to get better, given the fact they’ll actually have more than just minimum salaries to dole out.  LeBron, Wade, and Bosh have all been Olympians.  They’ve all been All Stars multiple times.  Wade and LeBron will likely one day end up in the Hall of Fame.  To become great teams you have to lose first in the NBA. It’s just how it goes.  Every team has had their opposition, before getting to the top (Even Jordan’s Bulls). This will be good for Miami.  This will humble them and they will come back stronger next year.

They will figure this thing out.  They will get themselves a center and find consistent point guard play.  They will land a shooter who can come off screens to hit big shoots.  LeBron will work effortlessly on his game this off-season to develop more of a post up move, and he will come back next season more aggressive than ever.  He reads the stuff people say about him. Yeah, he wasn’t all there in this Finals appearance and his Finals track record isn’t great, but Wade is a fiery competitor who got hurt at the worst time, and Bosh proved to me that he can be a valuable asset on this team.

Whitlock: It’s over. Wade’s brainchild and Pat Riley’s free-agent coup is a failure. The right thing to do is to blow it up before it dies as a result of friendly fire.

Who paid you to write this, Dan Gilbert?  What person in their right mind would deem this experiment a failure?  Consider the vantage point of the Heat: they went from a middle of the road team that was knocked out in 5 games by the Boston Celtics in round 1 of last year’s playoffs.  This year they improved from 47 wins to 58.  From fifth in the Eastern Conference to Second.

They went from the first round to the Finals.  From irrelevant to the most talked about team in sports.  They sold out every game — even if some fair weather fans showed up a little late or not at all.  They brought unprecedented traffic to their website, and their broadcasts drew huge ratings.  LeBron’s jersey was the number one seller in the league, and the Heat were the hottest road ticket in the league by a mile.

They were the most talked about, dissected, and hated team in North America.  They overtook the Yankees as villain #1.  They did that in a year while creating a firestorm so big it spawned basketball’s popularity beyond the traditional NBA fan.  Their partnering drew in the casual fan, and helped bring TNT, ESPN, and ABC unbelievable ratings throughout these playoffs.  It was the most talked about NBA regular season in over a decade.

Lest us forget that they didn’t have a pre-season to really get their mojo going, because they had injuries to deal with.  O yeah, Haslem was out for most of the year, Mike Miller was a non-factor for much of the season too because of his finger.  Those were two key cogs who given time, were good pieces to surround the Big Three.

When Miami clicked they were the most dynamic team in the sport, and by far the best finishers (not to be confused with closers).  Wade, LeBron, and Bosh knocked out the Celtics practically all by their lonesome in the playoffs and accounted for nearly 80% of Miami’s points.

Up until the last few games Miami’s defense was being hailed as the best in the league.  In year one.  A few bad games, a three game losing streak, some odd LeBron comments and disappearance acts and that’s it, you say just blow it up?

Whitlock: Spo must go. So must any notion that Miami is a serious sports town.

“Our fans just punked the s*** out of the Miami fans,” said Dallas owner Mark Cuban, referring to the 3,000 to 4,000 Mavericks fans inside Miami’s American Airlines Arena for Game 6.

I’m still not sold on Spoelstra, who I think is a pretty good defensive coach, but has no clue what he’s doing offensively.  Often times late in games Miami’s spacing was terrible and if they weren’t settling for forced three point ‘hero’ shots, they were over-passing into turnovers.  Miami needs to run set plays, and create a flow with which makes their offense at least somewhat unpredictable.  Too much 1 on 1, too much indecision, not the blueprint to close games.

Any notion that this column should be taken seriously goes out the window with you too attacking South Florida sports fans.  I am really tired of this notion that South Florida isn’t a sports town just because rich people who don’t care that much and ticket brokers gobble up the seats  in place of the die-hards who really do but can’t afford it.

Miami’s season tickets sold out like hot cakes this year, and a lot of the fans who were reluctant to renew their seats because they didn’t know what would happen with Wade, lost out.  Miami has plenty of true hard core fans.  I’ve been in sports bars in South Florida, I’ve been to games, I’ve listened to talk radio whether it was 790 The Ticket or 560 WQAM. You have no idea how passionate some of the people in South Florida are.  It bears remarking, South Florida is not a cold place, thus there are more things to do, and more things to compete against.  While I wouldn’t call South Florida a great sports town, it’s certainly not a horrible one.  One final thing: it’s a town of transplanted Northerners.  We don’t have the same history and connections that the Bostonians and New Yorkers have with their teams.  The Heat have been around since 1988.  Think about that.  Barely 20 years.

Whitlock: LeBron James is a man without a country. He abandoned Cleveland. And Miami has no love for him. The Heat fans who sold their tickets to Dallas supporters will now unleash their vitriol on King James. He’s a national laughingstock, a late-night punch line. He’s a hard-to-love Charlie Brown.Worse, because of his putrid performance in the last three games, his ability to command respect within the Heat locker room (and across the NBA) has been severely undermined. His pregame speeches will forever sound phony and hollow. There’s no reason for Wade to share the leadership role with James again.

Again, shortsighted, and stupid. Heat fans are bitter because the Heat were the perceived better team but they lost.  LeBron’s play at the end of the series was puzzling and he did look a little bit rattled.  But to say Miami has no love for him is just flat out ignorant.  It’s year one.  This has been Wade’s town for seven years and he has demonstrated both on and usually off the court that he is a class individual.  O yeah, he’s also won a ring with the Heat.  He’s “been there.”  Give it time man.  LeBron has to earn all the love.  And o yeah, didn’t like 13,000 people show up for the unveiling of Wade, LeBron, and Bosh to the world?  You know, the pre-celebration that everyone blasted them for.  Yeah, a horrible sports town gets 13,000 people to show up for a non sports related press conference. Sound logic.

And then the pre-game speech crap. Are you kidding me?  If Mike Vick can win back teammates and fans after being in jail for two years for dogfighting I’m damn well sure LeBron can win back his teammates by being aggressive again.  He’s still LeBron James, and whether he has a ring to show for it or not, doesn’t take away from the obvious fact that he’s incredibly talented and wants to win.  How badly we shall see next year.

Wade brought LeBron in.  Wade wanted LeBron.  Pat Riley said this would probably take two years.  Get off your high horse with this leadership junk.

Whitlock: Does pressure choke James? Maybe. More likely, James is simply moody. Kids born into family dysfunction often struggle emotionally.  All season when the Heat experienced adversity it took several games for the team to snap out of its funk. The adversity, the depression lingered. The Heat reflected James. Boston and Chicago failed to hit Miami in the mouth and force James, Wade and Bosh to question themselves and Spoelstra. Dallas didn’t.

Moody?  Really?  Maybe it had to do with the fact that Miami along with any other sports team in history was not used to being under the worldwide microscope it found itself under for nine whole months. Maybe the Heat found themselves treading water with guys like Carlos Arroyo and Erik Dampier.  Do you realize how interchangable most of Miami’s roster is outside of their top 5 guys?  Why is that?  Because it’s year freaking one!  Because Miami lacks the cap space to add better depth.  Because they traded all their draft picks away in the coming seasons to bring Bosh and LeBron here to Miami.

The depression lingered?  What is this Oprah.  This is a basketball team, not a Lonely Housewives group.

As for the Heat reflecting LeBron, what does that even mean?  Are you saying Miami was soft?  Cause I saw a team in the first three rounds that had firepower unlike anything I’d ever seen.  Miami crushed Boston’s dreams with a 16-0 run to end the Celtics.  They came back from a massive deficit IN Chicago, their fourth win in a row against the Bulls, to erase their game 1 pasting.

If this team got that depressed that easily they should have barely made the playoffs according to logic.  Philly pushed them, and they lost in five.  In fact, the Heat were 12-3 in the first 3 rounds. Other teams pushed, and Miami pushed back.

Whitlock: The Big Three is done. It was a noble experiment. James and Wade deserve credit for trying to make it work, for being completely loyal to and unselfish with each other for an entire season.  Now it’s time to move on before they inflict further damage on their reputations.

I think it’s time for you to move on before you ruin your reputation.  The Heat have a whole offseason to figure this out.  Then they can add more pieces.  They can bring in a point guard and a reputable center.  They can find someone who can orchestrate the offense. They’ll get back a healthy Wade, Miller, and Haslem.

Miami’s going to be just fine.  You on the other hand, I’m not so certain.

Whitlock’s Article: Blow Up the Heat

Photo: Getty

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