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In the lead up to perhaps the end of Boston’s reign as the East’s top team, James and Wade stepped back to take a moment to pay credit to their rivals and confess that it was Boston’s star trio that first gave them the idea of joining forces.

“They set the blueprint for us when they decided to make the trade for KG and for Ray,” James said. “Seeing guys make sacrifices to come together and play as one. They set the blueprint and went out there and did it. They won a championship. They competed every year.”

Boston’s blockbuster trades were really the first of it’s kind as never before has the league seen 3 athletes in their prime join one team to fight for their elusive first championship. Whilst Pierce, Garnett and Allen saw it as the last opportunity to extend their window of success, it was a very different situation for Miami’s much younger Big 3.

“With LeBron losing to Boston in Cleveland in the playoffs, he felt like, ‘I gotta do more, I need to be around more to contend for a championship,’ ” Wade said. “Me feeling the same way going into the summer, saying that I needed more, it was because of Boston. They knocked us out.

Obviously the way Allen and Garnett left their teams was much more tastefully, given they were both traded away by their organisations, with the players wishes, as Seattle and Minnesota respectively had enough class to give up their franchise players to allow them a better chance in achieving their ultimate goal. James and Bosh left their teams during free agency. James left during a one hour ESPN special. By no means are we going to get that started again but the situations were much different in comparison.

Where the Boston trio saw it as their last chance to win a championship or multiple championships, the Miami tripod saw it as an opportunity to combine perhaps even before their primes setting themselves up for serious contention for the better part of the next decade. Again a highly controversial thing to do, but such is the current transformation of the NBA. New York are in the process of doing something similar. I’m sure others will follow.

If you follow this site regularly or managed to catch my last post on the Heat-Celtics series you will know how deeply disappointed I was in their performance in game 3 and I called them out for game 4.

I expected the Heat to somewhat respond, but I had no idea how strong their resurgence would be.

I am a big believer in fate and I am a big believer in the power of moments. I believe it is now fate for Miami to become a true champion team and I believe what Miami showed us late in the fourth quarter and through over time was the defining moment that will set them on their way to greatness.

I have been watching LeBron throughout his entire career. I have been an avid fan of LeBron throughout his entire career. I can say with 100% honesty that after last night’s performance I have never been more proud of the man nor have I seen him as focused, intense and passionate.

Two days ago I really questioned Miami’s ability to perform like they did last night. I said in the article I wrote on game 3 that from what I had seen from LeBron, Wade and Miami that I really struggled to see them ever becoming a real champion team. I failed to see them pulling out heartfelt, passionate performances in the face of adversity that we have seen so many times from the Lakers and Celtics. Last night they beat the Celtics at their own game, and it was in those final minutes of the game that I think greatness will grow.

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It was perhaps the most incredible playoff sweep we have ever seen.

11 time champion Phil Jackson led his two time NBA champion Lakers into the second round against the no time NBA champion Mavericks and their history of post season failure.

Jackson had never suffered a 3-0 series deficit, let alone a four game sweep. Every time he has won an NBA championship, he won three consecutively. In 20 seasons he had been to 13 Finals and won 11 of them. Despite all of that, he had never seen anything like this.

None of us have.

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Rajon Rondo’s unbelievably brave performance last night personifies everything the Boston Celtics stand for.

Chris Bosh’s performance personifies everything that is currently relevant for the Miami Heat.

Last night Rajon Rondo dislocated his elbow and was taken from the court in what most of us would have expected to be the end of his season. To our utter dismay Rondo emerged shortly after being taken off and returned to help the Celtics finish off the Heat in game 3 in Boston.

It is in instances like that from Rondo that we see how truly great this team is. They are winners in every sense of the word. They are champions. When their backs are against the wall, when the world is against them and there is seemingly no way out, they respond and they always make it through. I honestly cannot say any of that about the Miami Heat.

Midway through the fourth quarter after Rondo re-entered the game he made one of those classic Celtics plays. Miami started to group together some shots and were looking like forging a comeback. A mad loose ball situation ensued with players scrambling for the ball. It was deflected back in the direction of Bosh, but as he waited for the ball to fall into his hands an ailing Rondo reached out with his recently re-located left arm, tipped the ball away from the struggling Heat power forward and ran down court for an easy fast break dunk. The game was over right there.

When you watch teams like the Lakers and Celtics, a 10 point lead late in the fourth quarter really means nothing. You never feel safe playing either of these teams because you know that at any point they can and will pull themselves back into the contest. If you support either of these great franchises then you never feel a great sense of concern because you know you have the players and coaches to will the team back into the game.

When you watch the Miami Heat you do not get the sense of any of this. You never are comfortable with what they are doing. You never feel like they have completely taken the game or will be able to pull themselves back when it counts. You do not get the sense that this team have the ability to become true champions.

The Miami Heat may have the most talented team on paper, and perhaps the greatest trio ever compiled. They have the ability to destroy the best teams on any given night through the brilliance of their leaders LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, arguably the two best players in the game right now. I have no doubt that over the next decade they will win at least one title, if not more.

They may well win titles, but as of right now I just can’t see them being true champions. They do not have that makeup in them right now. Which is fair enough they’re a fairly unfamiliar team in an unfamiliar situation and they are yet to win a championship together. Nonetheless are we going to be able to say the same things about Miami in 5 years time that we are saying about the Lakers and Celtics right now? I don’t think so.

LeBron James has shown flashes of being a champion, of having that Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant killer instinct to step up and make it happen when his team needs it. But as many times as we have seen that we have seen him become somewhat uninterested and tries to make things happen too much with his passing, rather than taking the shots himself. Dwyane Wade has already won a championship, but the same can be said for him as it was for LeBron James. You do not have that same trust in these two players as you do in a Kobe Bryant or even a Paul Pierce. I believe James and Wade are better players than Bryant and Pierce, but I do not have that same faith in the Heat stars as I do in the leaders of the two champion teams.

That may well come following a championship or two together, and hopefully it will. But until they can break that barrier, it is going to be nothing but adversity for the NBA’s most controversial team.

I had more faith in LeBron James as a Cleveland Cavalier than as a member of the Miami Heat. Watching him play it seems like he has lost something. I cannot describe it but he doesn’t look the same. As I said there are reasons for all of these doubts and they may be answered with a championship, but nonetheless I cannot see them becoming this unrelenting champion team like the Celtics and Lakers are right now.

It is in these characteristics that I find it so hard to count the Lakers out of their series, despite being down 3-0 to a red hot Dallas Mavericks team led by the most amazing 7fter the league has seen. It is in these characteristics that Boston will fight their way back into the current series they are trailing in, and more likely than not it is in these characteristics that Boston will win this current series.

Before last night I had comfortable faith in Miami’s ability to win in the playoffs. Today I stand corrected and humbled.

I hope Miami prove me wrong. I hope they find that sixth sense within themselves that gives them the extra drive to succeed when they are in dire situations. But until they find that, until they achieve that unteachable attribute that has laid the platform for every great team in the history of all of sports, they will never be champions.

The Celtics came out with the mentality that if they lost they were out. Given no team has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit they were probably right. But you can never count a champion out as Boston ran away with a game that may have seemed somewhat close on the scoreboard, but was nothing of the sort.

There isn’t much else to say other than Boston completely outplayed Miami in every single area of the game. Miami’s bench performance may be the only area it succeeded in, with highly surprising productivity from Mario Chalmers and Joel Anthony. Other than that it was all C’s.

Miami should have come out hard and tried to get under the skin of the Celtics and their fans early, leaving them questioning their ability to stop Miami from taking a commanding and virtually unassailable 3-0 lead. They came out as flat as the Hudson and showed very little sign of life throughout the game. Had it not been for Anthony and Chalmers, this game would have got out of hand early.

James seemed uninterested, Wade floated in and out and Chris Bosh was flat out embarrassing.

If you are a fan of this blog or at least have read some of my previous work, you will know my dissatisfaction with Chris Bosh and his inconsistencies this season. Last night was an absolute joke of a performance by someone considered in the top group of players at his position and a perennial All Star.

Kevin Garnett is one of the greatest players of all time. He has a passion unlike anyone in professional sport, let alone the NBA. He is by far the most intense athlete I have ever seen. All credit should be given to him for this win. But Chris Bosh was Kevin Garnett’s bitch last night. There is no other way to say it.

Bosh played 30 minutes, managing 6 points on 1/6 shooting and just 5 rebounds. Garnett had 28 points on 13/20 shooting and added 18 rebounds in 38 minutes.

At the start of the series I said the team that won this Bosh-Garnett match-up would most likely win the series. If Bosh keeps playing like this Miami won’t win another game.

Bosh made a statement earlier in the season in the midst of a 5 game Heat losing streak. He demanded more ball because he felt he was being wasted in the system. To his credit when he received more ball most of the time he played better, but still has looked a mere shadow of the player he was in Toronto.

Last night he was disgraceful. These are harsh words and a lot of it is generated from anger but I have seen this all too many times before. As a Cavaliers fan I saw us acquire talent like Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison and even an elderly Shaquille O’Neal, only to see these players continually let down LeBron when it mattered most. Chris Bosh has become the new Mo Williams.

Bosh has the ability to be the best power forward in the game, but I do not believe he has any of the character needed to do so. He has showed me nothing that tells me he can be a winner. He should hang his head in shame after last night’s performance.

LeBron James too should be bitterly disappointed in himself. He went MIA through most of the first three quarters, then started missing poor shots in the fourth in an attempt to bring Miami back. I do not shelter the blame off LeBron, regardless of the name of this blog. He is at just as much fault as Bosh.

Miami have a lot of work to do, despite being up 2-1 in the series. If they continue to be out-enthused by the Celtics they will not win another game.

Who would have thought that after games 1 and 2, the Heat would find themselves in such a situation.

In just under 11 hours the Heat will enter one of the most hostile and storied buildings in professional sports as it attempts to take a commanding 3-0 lead over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semi Finals.

The previous two meetings have been dominated by Miami and their superior athleticism and speed. Watching PTI last night, Kornheiser made the point that Miami had turned the series into a “race” which played directly into the hands of the much younger and more agile Heat team.

Boston has not had an answer for Dwyane Wade or LeBron James so far and will be best off not attempting to do so. When you focus so much on one or two players it leaves you very vulnerable. So many times over the course of the season we have seen teams focus on Wade and James in an attempt to beat the Heat. This has backfired nearly every time. The Celtics cannot afford to make any mistakes, they need to play this game as safely as possible.

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All the left over energy and tension from game one still lingered heavily in the American Airlines Arena in game 2 as both teams came out as physical as they had left.

James and Wade got Miami going early with a routine of scintillating moves, many ending with hoop+harms.

Rajon Rondo found a way to have an impact in game two, but was unable to really elevate the game of his teammates, despite having 12 assists, as the Celtics Big 3 shot just 15/48 between them.

Miami’s defense needs to be commended for the way it has performed in the opening two games, both times keeping their rival trio severely below their normal totals. The fact the Celtics have infinite more playoff experience together compared to the Heat further emphasises the value of the Heat’s lock down defense.

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I was only 9 years old at the time, but I remember the pictures so very clearly.

Living in Australia, it wasn’t until the morning of September 12 that I became aware of what had happened, of how the world had forever changed.

I was pretty intelligent and aware as a kid as my mother would talk to me like I was an adult because I was the only companionship she had throughout the day. I still remember at only around 5 years of age that I would run inside every time I heard a plane because I thought it was Suddam Hussein trying to bomb us. I remember we went to watch the Sydney Harbour Bridge fireworks for New Year’s Eve later that year and I cried the entire time thinking it would be a grand opportunity for him to attack us. I carried the fear up until the 2000 Sydney Olympics when I hesitated to go to events because of my fear.

I was a naive child but I experienced the world as it truly is from a young age, and I think it allows me to take a greater perspective on it today.

Waking up on the 12th of September and seeing the footage of two of the world’s most famous buildings billowing black smoke over the world’s most famous city was surreal. The feeling at school that day transcended anything I have felt before. If you have ever suffered a death either at school, university or in the workplace you may understand the feeling I will try to describe. You return to the place and there’s just an eerie sense of desertion, of loneliness, of emptiness. Even though in reality there is the same amount of people in the building or the schoolyard as there is every day, the overwhelming feeling of nothingness triumphs. If you do not understand what I mean I apologise, but that was the feeling I experienced that day.

Since the news broke of Osama Bin Laden’s confirmed death, many people, including many athletes, have voiced their opinions and feelings towards the sensitive issues of war.

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It led up to everything it promised.

The usually fashionably late Miami crowd packed in early, ready to bare witness to an era defining playoff series.

We saw everything in game 1 you would normally get from an entire playoff series.

Dunks, chase-down blocks, ally oops, scuffles, ejections, buzzer beaters, clutch Ray Allen 3 pointers, so on so forth.

Miami were definitely the stronger of the two, particularly on defense as the Heat put together one of their stingiest team performances we have seen this season.

Pierce, Rondo and Garnett all struggled shooting the ball due to the athleticism Miami pride their defense on. Doc Rivers told his team during a timeout; “This was the first thing we talked about in practice. If you think you can beat them with athleticism you’re kidding yourselves”. Athleticism has been Miami’s mantra all season. It is what sets them apart from perhaps any team in history.

Wade wanted to come out and make a statement in game 1 and he did to the tune of 38 points including several big plays late in the second and fourth quarters. James chipped in with 22, but was most effective on the defensive end of the court with two steals, two blocks and did a terrific job slowing Pierce.

James Jones was the unlikely hero for Miami adding a playoff high 25 points off the bench featuring 5/7 from three and 10/10 at the line. He too played a highly influential role on the defensive end for Miami and was largely responsible for having Paul Pierce ejected.

It is too early to get ahead of ourselves, and even more so against a champion team like the Celtics. However, Miami have showed us enough in game 1 to suggest they can go all the way this season. It is now Boston’s turn to respond.

A 2-0 series lead would give Miami unbelievable confidence heading to Boston. Miami are very much a confidence team, despite having three perennial All Stars that can turn it on and off with ease. When Miami find a comfortable rhythm, as we saw throughout the second half of the season, they can find themselves in a cruise control which sees them putting together emphatic win streaks.

When James and Wade are confident, their aggression sky rockets and their shot selection tends to focus more around shots in the paint. This is the time when Miami are seemingly unstoppable as their is really no way to stop either when they are taking the ball to the cup. Now they have began to understand the benefits of playing of one another, there are easier offensive opportunities to be taken. It was a highlight of last night’s game.

I would be surprised to see anything less than a 6 0r 7 game series. I haven’t yet mentioned the fact Chris Bosh managed just 7 points on 3/10 shooting because I was trying to stay positive and I think the fact they knocked the Celtics aside fairly comfortably warranted a night off.

I identified him as the key to Miami winning the series, and the championship. Rivers also made this point before the game earlier last night. He needs to decide whether he is going to be a Mo Williams or a Scottie Pippen.

If you know anyone that has always wanted to get into and truly experience what the NBA is all about, make sure you point them in the direction of this series.

I have a feeling that it is in this series that a generation of basketball could be defined. At the very least, it will forever change the NBA as we know it.

On one side of the ball you have the rich history of the Boston Celtics, led by their version of the Big 3 that has been there and done it all before. They are entering a new era in Celtics basketball as they watch the backbone of their team decline through the cruelty of age, although it’s fair to say each of Boston’s elder stars have defied age and injuries to get them into the position they are in now. However it seems that now their most important and valuable player does not even belong to this trio, rather found in their young point guard Rajon Rondo, who promises to guide this storied franchise through it’s transformation and continue to hold it in the upper echelon of contending teams.

The other side has the new comers, the challengers if you will. They are perhaps the most scrutinised and emotion evoking team in the history of the game. They caused shock waves throughout the league unlike anything we have ever seen before. They boast the most talented threesome we have seen in the past two decades, perhaps ever. Miami claim arguably two of the top 3 players in the game, a third perennial All Star and a following wherever they go comparable to the Beatles, hence their nickname, the Heatles.

LeBron James single handedly changed the landscape of the NBA when he ‘took his talents to South Beach’ to combine with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, leaving a lot of angry people in their wake, and not just in the state of Ohio. Nearly every stadium they enter greets them with deafening boos and dissatisfaction and the monster these three have created. Regardless of your feelings towards them, no one can deny the potential they possess, something that began to come to fruition during the latter stages of the regular season. They are now attempting to unofficially dethrone the Celtics as the Eastern Conference’s superpower.

These teams played each other 4 times during the regular season. Boston took the first three games, but Miami took the final meeting, which may be the most relevant measuring stick of the two given Boston’s controversial trade and Miami’s more familiar roster.

Both Wade and James have battled the might of the Celtics before. Both have failed each time. However, neither can say they have ever played with a teammate that comes close to the talent they now boast. This will prove invaluable for both and should be the difference between their previous failures and this year’s series.

Boston on the other hand will go into the series favourites, despite Miami holding home court advantage, and rightfully so. They are former champions and boast 3, surely 4, future Hall of Famers. They can probably still hang their hats on being the best defensive team in the league and their experience in playoff situations are second to perhaps only the Lakers. But they have never been in a situation like this. No one has.

The marquee match-ups will obviously be Pierce-LeBron, Allen/Rondo-Wade. However I believe the series will be won and lost in the battle between the ageless, inhumanly passionate Kevin Garnett and the multi-talented Chris Bosh. The player that gets the better of this will likely be taking their team to the Eastern Conference Finals and even the Championship.

Miami will have their hands full chasing Ray Allen off screens, keeping Garnett out of the paint and slowing down the seemingly un-guardable Rajon Rondo. The Celtics will attempt to slow the multi-dimensional and unrelenting attack of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. They will do well to close out on Miami’s archery of shooters.

It can only be one. It will either be the prolonging of one dynasty or the beginning of another. Careers will be forged upon this very series. Defeat will be seen as nothing but failure in the eyes of all involved and all who watch.

Will we move closer to the 8 year dream of a Kobe Bryant vs LeBron James Finals series or will we have a potential renewal of the league’s two greatest rivalries?

Regardless of what happens, it will be epic.