Real question, is Stephen A that delusional? Or in Stephen A-bonics "IS STEphen A THat DELusionAL?
And I'm not complaining from a Boston perspective, I'm glad he gave the team it's props. They're now leading their division and have the second best record in basketball since the All-Star break. They're still old as hell and a fairly flawed team with some real weaknesses, but if anything this proves they've got a punchers chance in the playoffs. You know they'll go down swinging, and if they catch a team, like say, the Heat, by surprise, they could knock 'em out.
Which is why I think Stephen A, and all the media types who keep defending Miami for these show down losses need a bit of a dose of reality. In the past month they've played the Lakers, the Pacers, Orlando, Chicago, Oklahoma and now Boston, a combined 8 times...They're 2-6. TWO AND SIX! And no one says anything about it, just "oh, the game meant more to the opposing team than it did the Heat."
BULLSHIT. This is a team that comes into every big matchup with a media circus, wondering how they'll respond. They've stepped up twice. Once in overtime against the Pacers at home, and once at home against Orlando...Hell, that loss to Chicago was while Rose was out...The talent disparity is already huge between Chicago and Miami, but take away Rose? That should be like playing just another middling eastern conference team for Miami, but they couldn't do it.
Once or twice is excusable, but not showing up 6x in a month, that's a pattern. Four of those losses were by double digits, by an average of 15 points per game...That's not exactly paining a picture of an elite team putting up a fight on a night by night basis.
And the argument that it doesn't mean anything, that they're just treading water, doesn't really hold weight either. Coming into last month they were in contention for the 1 seed, now? It's all but gone. And trust me, in a seven game series against the Bulls, they want that home court advantage. Not to mention the fact that no other team in the league would get this much leeway...its a shortened season, every game counts more now than in any previous season. In the blink of an eye we're going to be into the playoffs, and they're going to be a team that went 10-7 in the last month when they should have been rounding into form for the playoffs, including 6 losses to playoff caliber teams (one to the Jazz for good measure).
So yes, Stephen A, these games do mean something, and should mean something to Miami. What you're seeing is a team that gets down and quits. A team with no fight once another team imposes their will on them. A team of quitters who very much look like they're being led by a guy who's never been able to overcome adversity in his career. They're front runners who can't handle playing from behind, and that's a huge problem come playoff time.
