Heat Defeat Celtics: Recap and What We Learned

Photo By Andrew Innerarity/REUTERS

The Miami Heat topped the Celtics in Miami 120 to 107

They were in control for the majority of the game, and never seemed to sweat the many runs by the Celtics. Lebron James finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds. He and Chris Bosh cleaned the boards for Miami with 20 out of the 31 total rebounds for the Heat. Rebounding could prove to be a problem for the Heat if they hope to repeat this year.

Speaking of a repeat, before the game was the ring ceremony for the Champion Miami Heat players of 2011. To begin the ceremony David Stern showed his age when recognizing the victims of Hurricane Sandy by saying "Katrina" instead. After Stern finally finished, they presented the rings.

"Its amazing, its like my first born, " said James to TNT reporters after the ceremony. The rings hold not 5, not 6, but 219 diamonds each. The same number as the age of Kevin Garnett. Maybe not, but it sure seemed like it the way he was playing.

Garnett finished with 9 points and a very cold shoulder when Ray Allen came over to greet him.

Allen and the Celtics had much drama including his role being downgraded as he was forced to the bench for guard Avery Bradley. After a season of flux and the Celtics actually trying to trade him, Allen signed with Miami in the off-season. This absolutely pissed the Celtics off.

Allen proved the Celtics made a mistake the second he hit the court. Allen sunk his first shot which happened to be a shot clock buzzer-beater in the corner. It was in classic Ray Allen fashion as the buzzer rang and the ball hit the bottom of the net. Miami fans instantly fell in love. From there, I could see the rivalry between Boston and Miami intensify.

From then on it was pretty much all Miami. Dwyane Wade finished with 29 points, but seemed to be forcing the issue for much of the game. Wade was playing like someone who had something to prove, which is a step up from the nonchalant performance he had vs. the Pacers last year. However, Wade and Haslem, the only two players left from the 2006 championship team, were the only two players with a negative plus/minus number.

For the Celtics, they proved to be very deep, just not strong enough. The Celtics roster looks very nice as they have the best bench in the NBA. The play of Jason Terry was great as usual. Barbosa stepped up to the plate with 16 off the bench, and Courtney Lee fit into the offense pretty well.

What We Learned

There Will Be Blood

The Celtics and Heat hate each other. They are going to have many great battles within these next two years as this rivalry is looks to be the heart of the Eastern Conference. Miami is definitely the superior in the match-ups, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Celtics didn't take a few at home. Also,  don't think Wade is going to forget about that Rondo chokehold at the end of the game anytime soon.

Celtics Offense Is Looking good

Paul Pierce is still a good scorer (and a sissy) but he doesn't have to be. The additions of Jason Terry and the comeback of Jeff Green should take much of the offensive burden off Pierces back. With Rondo facilitating that offense, the Celtics look to be in good shape to finish with a top 3 seed in the East.

Miami Will Force Teams To Adapt

Miami's small ball style forced the Celtics to get out and run much more than they are used to. The Celtics seemed to be playing out of their game and it resulted in Miami scoring 120 points. The Celtics only allowed teams to peak 100, 57 times out of 66 last year. The Heat had their way and in the end had the victory.

Also, congratulations to Dwyane Wade for scoring his 15,000th point.

The Fall of Black Quarterbacks

Cam Newton in another loss

There are 5 Black Starting Quarterbacks, but 0 with a winning record

The collective record for Black Starting Quarterbacks in the NFL this year is 13-23. That is a mere 36% winning percentage, and none of them have a winning record. Maybe "fall" is a bit dramatic, but this is definitely a step in the wrong direction.

This is a step that they can not afford to take in a league where they are already a minority. 

In 2011, 65% of Starting Quarterbacks on the college level were African American. In that same year only 12.5% of NFL quarterbacks were black.

Those statistics could be because many black quarterbacks are dual threat and that is perceived to be "high risk" by many NFL coaches. No matter the cause, the stats don't lie and black quarterbacks are the minority.

This leaves little room for error for players that made it such as Michael Vick, Cam Newton, and Robert Griffin III, who are all currently under .500 this year. 

The Black QB with the best record is Russell Wilson. This is a rookie who didn't find out he was going to be starting until the end of the Pre-season, and now he's the pride of Black QBs in the NFL.

But it is also not always to the fault of the quarterbacks. In the cases of Josh Freeman and RGIII, they are having exceptional seasons statistically, but their teams are somewhat letting them down. 

Last week Griffin made a great drive to put the Redskins ahead of the Giants with under 2 minutes to go, but his defense failed him by allowing the Giants to score on a bomb to Victor Cruz.

That being said, not all of the blame is on these African-American Starting Quarterbacks, but playing quarterback in the NFL, you get most of the glory or most of the criticism. And as of late, they have been receiving much of the latter. 

This is not an attack on such quarterbacks, but a challenge for them to step up their recently sub-par play.

New Anti-Ginobli Rule

NBA cracking down on flopping

Ralph Freso, AP 

"Flops have no place in our game," said in a written statement by Stu Jackson, the NBA's Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations. "They either fool referees into calling undeserved fouls or fool fans into thinking the referees missed a foul call.

For this reason David Stern has decided to make an attempt at eliminating flops in the NBA.

If a player flops in the regular season, he will be hit first with a warning. Then every flop thereafter will cost the player a concurring fine of 5,000$. The fines increase to a lump sum of $30,000 for a fifth flop. I applaud the effort but this is down right ridiculous.

To attempt to decipher rather or not a player faked a fall, and to then attempt make a case that they owe the league money is insane. I am a fan of flopping leaving the league--along with Manu Ginobili and Paul Pierce, but this might not be the proper way to do so.

This is another rule that will cause controversy and player disapproval. Im sure David Stern is not going to lose any sleep over it because it has become way too common for players to go for Emmy awards instead of MVPs. You know flopping is the culture of the NBA when it is now a new move in NBA 2k13.

This shows just how prevalent this flopping epidemic is and it needs to be put to an end. Along with grown men wearing capris.