Anyone who happened to be flipping the TV channels last Wednesday night and found a channel which showed a bunch of basketball players acting like they were rioting, could easily be forgiven if he/she thought something of unbelievably high importance just took place.
LeBron James failed to get past the Boston Celtics as a Cleveland Cavalier, but after finally downing the green giant known as the Boston Celtics, with an outstanding performance for the Miami Heat on Wednesday.
After Miami reached the Eastern Conference finals by completing a 4-1 series triumph over the Celtics, James, who scored 33 points in the clinching 97-87 win, knelt down on the floor and bowed his head. Could easily be mistaken for some kind of religious ceremony.
James, arguably the game's greatest player under the age of 25 has had quite the NBA career so far, for someone so amazingly unbelievably talented, he has had his share of ups and downs.
Following this win over Boston, he was immediately criticized (along with most of his teammates) for celebrating so hard. It could have been mistaken for a team that just won the league title. They would still have to get by the Chicago Bulls and then the western conference winner, possibly Denver or Oklahoma City, if they are to win the league championship.
James now has a legitimate chance to finally win his first NBA championship. The emotions he showed after his remarkable end- of-game play that would close out the season for Boston was justified given all the heartache James suffered at the hands of the Celtics. James' teammate Chris Bosh, formerly of the Raptors, was taking in every second of it too. After spending seven agonizing seasons on this side of the CanAm border, Bosh had every right to act like a little kid at Christmas who just found his little toy train whizzing around the tree.
During his seven-year run in Toronto, Bosh appeared in two post-seasons, failing to get out of the first round each time.
Boston has been James' nemesis for a long time. Miami's huge win over Boston last Wednesday marked the one-year-to-the-date anniversary of the date that Boston destroyed James' Cavaliers in last year's playoffs. Everyone knew James had to play with a talent such as Dwyane Wade, even though there were many, players, fans, media alike, who felt it couldn't work.
James of course, was part of this euphoria that completely took over his entire Heat team. They celebrated like they won the championship because to them, it was their championship. He helped beat the team that embarrassed his Cavs last year. Good for him/them. Even Boston coach Doc Rivers was happy for James, adding that he's never seen someone so heavily criticized for doing something that is obviously legal.
Rivers was quick to point out that James didn't do anything wrong. He was very emotional and that's good for him, testifies Rivers.
The Celtics once again proved their resiliency but as the game wore on, it started to become clear who the victor was probably going to be, against a younger, more athletic Miami team, who seem destined for good things. It was James of course, who delivered the final TKO to any Boston hopes to continue their season, which came in the form of a 3-pointer over the head of Paul Pierce with only 40 seconds left in regulation time.
James and Dwyane Wade totalled close to 70 points between them in what was a 97-87 win to eliminate Boston and set Miami up with a semi-finals date with the Chicago Bulls. As of press time, the Bulls were up 1-0 in the best-of-seven series.
Boston had some injuries and the players who did dress weren't all 100 per cent and Pierce was in and out of the game due to foul trouble.
Despite all of that, Boston still held an 81-74 lead with under 10 minutes to go.
In this game, the Heat obliterated the Celtics with 3-point shooting.
Three in particular were killers: a James Jones trey with 3:45 to go (which proved to be his only bucket of the night) just after a Kevin Garnett turnaround rolled off; a LeBron fallaway 3-pointer over Pierce in the corner with 2:11 left to push Miami in front 90-87, and another contested LeBron 3-pointer over Pierce's outstretched arms with 40 seconds left to clinch it.
If there's anything you'd like to see covered by Game 7, please forward your suggestions to the Yorkton This Week sportsdesk by phone (306) 782-2465, fax (306) 786-1898 or email me at jeff@yorkton this week.com
