FJM Style: Miami Heat

The Miami Heat once again lost to one of the best teams in the NBA in the Chicago Bulls. It was reported after the game a few of the Heat players were crying after the game in the locker room after the game. Now while I don't think the Heat are going to win the championship this season, I never thought that at the beginning of the year, I wouldn't call this season for the Heat a failure. Especially since the playoffs haven't started yet. Don't tell that to Israel Gutierrez of the Miami Herald who wrote a redundant doomsday column on the Heat.

When this talent-rich, superstar-heavy version of the Miami Heat was built, the only tears were expected to come as players wrapped their arms around a trophy or drenched themselves in champagne.

They weren’t supposed to come from frustrated superstars soaked in failure.

Once again the playoffs haven't started yet. How do we know this season is a failure? Sure they won't win 70 games but that won't matter if they win the championship. I can't call this season a failure for the Heat until they've been eliminated.

The only moving speeches given in the middle of a quiet locker room were supposed to be inspirational pre-game messages from a coach.

It was never supposed to be LeBron James apologizing for repeated failures in critical situations.

This much disappointment, this kind of emotion was never supposed to be part of the package deal that came with James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

I love these doomsday column's by sports writers. They basically repeat everything they've previously said, but phrase it differently. "Hey folks! Our team is crumbling so let me phrase that to you in a 600 word column 20 different times! Will I explain why they're crumbling? Of course not!"

And yet, there was crying Sunday inside the Heat locker room. There was a humbled James. There were crushed hearts and somber superstars.

And it’s all because the Heat lost a fourth consecutive game, and for the third time in that stretch did so by missing last-second shots that could’ve changed the entire portrayal of the team. And the situation isn’t going away. The Heat is four games into an 11-game stretch of matchups against winning teams (it has lost the first four). The next six are at home – but the Heat lost its previous two at home, too.

This time, it involved a phantom foul, two Chicago free throws, a James missed layup and a Wade missed jumper – all of it coming in a span of 16 seconds.

Bulls 87, Heat 86. Misery wins again.

Misery? If Israel wants to see misery he should get on a plane to Sacramento and see what misery is all about. I would take the misery of losing a game while still being able to make the playoffs any day over losing the team entirely. That's misery. Not losing a single game on a Sunday afternoon.



Regular season NBA games aren’t supposed to be this excruciating. Not for a team that has won 43 games with 19 yet to go.

But regular isn’t a word that was ever supposed to be associated with this Heat team. The season was supposed to be a spectacular success. The league was supposed to be in awe of what these three stars can do together, and there was to be nothing ordinary about the 82 games before the playoffs.

They were rarely supposed to be humbled – and it certainly wasn’t supposed to come with this heavy a hand.

I wouldn't call the Heat season ordinary either Israel. When both ESPN and Fox Sports have writers specifically to cover the Heat, that isn't ordinary. Also every team is humbled during the regular season. 82 games will do that to even the greatest teams. The Lakers were beat by the Cavaliers and Kings this season. The Spurs were humbled by the Lakers yesterday. The Celtics also lost to the Cavaliers this season. The greatest teams are humbled at one point or the other during a long year. Why do I keep rambling about this? Israel wrote a redundant doomsday column and now I'm coming off as redundant as him. Let's just move on. 

Easily the most aggravating part of this entire experience is how close the Heat has been to making it an entirely different narrative. One bounce of the ball, one shuffling of feet, one less piercing whistle and everything’s different.

Sunday, the Heat went through the same series of late-game failures it has recently repeated. Couldn’t hold on to a double-figure lead. Suffered inexplicable drought in the third and fourth quarters. Played disjointed basketball despite having three of the best options in the sport.

And yet, there was a temporary breakthrough. When Mario Chalmers scored five consecutive points to put the Heat up by two points with 25.8 seconds remaining, it looked momentarily like it would be a permanent breakthrough – that the Heat would end its string of futile finishes against the league’s best teams.

But eight seconds later, Chalmers fouled Chicago’s Luol Deng, putting him on the free throw line. And when Deng missed the second, tying free throw, the ball bounced in the direction of a Chicago Bulls player, Joakim Noah. Never mind that two Heat players were standing in front of him, in position to grab the loose basketball. No, the ball traveled close enough to the lanky Noah so that he could tip it toward other players, hoping one of his teammates would end up with it.

In the skirmish for the ball, Deng appeared to simply lose his footing and fall to the ground. Yet a referee determined that it was a shove from Mike Miller that put Deng on the ground, therefore putting Deng to the line again, this time for two made free throws that gave the Bulls the lead with 15.9 seconds remaining.

I love how Israel is complaining about a foul call. Where was he when everyone agreed the Heat stole the championship away from the Dallas Mavericks because of the officiating? This is one area where I'll never feel sorry for the Heat. NBA officials are the worst in my opinion. They make bad calls night after night. Eventually a call is going to be against the good teams in a crucial moment.

Had Deng’s initial miss not gone the direction it did, James would very likely be speaking of late-game heroics, not apologizing for misses.

Had referee Tony Brothers saw what it appeared every other person inside AmericanAirlines Arena saw – that Deng fell without Miller’s help – and not blown his whistle, Heat players would be celebrating their ability to overcome adversity, not claiming this the most trying time in their respective careers.

As it is, James took the blame for this latest loss. Because even after those Deng free throws, the Heat had 16 seconds to gather itself. And the ball was in James’ hands. He wound up defending by the 6-11 Noah, a player bigger and presumably slower than James.

He found himself near the rim, attempting a left-handed layup over the outstretched Noah. It clanged off, and Wade eventually recovered for one more final, desperate shot that also missed.

Then why the fuck are you complaining Israel? You can't complain about the officiating if your team still had time to win the game.

It was never confirmed that James was among those who shed tears in the locker room after the loss. But it’s not who cried that matters. It’s that anyone in that talent-filled room was brought to tears by failure.

This wasn’t supposed to be like this. And with the schedule ahead, it’s not stopping anytime soon.

This is called adversary. Everyone goes through it in their life at one point. LeBron has been sheltered and pampered since high school so he's never gone through adversary before. He'll either overcome this or falter. There isn't another option, but thankful for continuing to be redundant even at the end of your columns.