Retweet of the Day - June 4, 2013

The Miami Heat disposed of the Indiana Pacers in the decisive seventh game of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night. Making an appearance at Game 7 was pop recording superstar and wannabe black guy Justin Bieber. Why tell you when I can show you why he is relevant to this topic. Today's retweet is by Adam Knight ( ‏@ThatWhiteKnight):
  
"Justin Bieber literally looks like every douchebag anyone has ever hated combined"

Maybe he's photophobic and wanted to shield his eyes and face from the sun...indoors...at night.

Image from www.businessinsider.com

Retweet of the Day - June 3, 2013

The stage is set for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight in Miami between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers. One of the subplots that has surfaced in this series is the substandard play by the supporting cast of NBA MVP LeBron James. James has had to carry his team in this series, a role he became quite accustomed to during his tenure with the often otherwise outmatched Cleveland Cavaliers, but has played that role very infrequently during his three seasons with the Heat.

Today's retweet, is by  Sir Reese Waters (‏@reesewaters):

"You know the Heat will be ready for Game 7. And by the Heat I mean Lebron."

He'd better be ready.

Image from www.nydailynews.com

Game Seven!

2

The NBA Eastern Conference Finals will come to a close tonight. The Indiana Pacers, fresh off of a big win at home over the Miami Heat in Game 6, travel to South Beach for tonight's game in an attempt to shock the sports world and dethrone the defending NBA Champions. It is one game for all the marbles and perhaps the most exciting situation in sports - a decisive 7th game in a playoff series.

The Miami Heat were favored coming into this series, but many, myself included, are not surprised that Indiana has made a deep run in the series. Indiana has been a physical, sharply executing defensive team all season. They protect the rim well and grab rebounds as well as any team in the NBA. All season, the Heat's Achilles heel has been post play. They have compensated for that deficiency all season with a finesse game that includes sharp perimeter shooting, speedy ball movement, a ball-hawking defense that forces turnovers, a ruthlessly efficient transition game and the Herculean physicality (not to mention superior all-around skills) of four-time MVP LeBron James.

Roy Hibbert (left), David West (right) and the Pacers showed that LeBron James (center) "stretching them out" won't necessarily keep them from winning, no homo (smh).

WHO WINS? WHO LOSES?

Indiana wins if: They play their "A" game. The Pacers need to play the equivalent of a pitcher in baseball throwing a shutout. Give Miami nothing in the lane, nothing in the post, and nothing under the boards. Make the Heat as uncomfortable along the perimeter as possible. In short, if Indiana does everything exactly right to the best of its ability, they could pull off a colossal, shocking upset.

Indiana loses if: They lose the turnover battle. The Heat will eat the Pacers alive off of turnovers. If the Pacers' guards get into early foul trouble, Dwyane Wade will get the freedom he needs to overcome his ailing legs. If that happens in Miami, the Pacers are finished.

Miami wins if: They don't do anything stupid. All Miami has to do is show up and do the things they are supposed to do. They are not rebounding juggernauts and do not have to be. The do not bang well with bigs in the paint and they don't have to. If the Heat force turnovers, are sharp in transition, are crisp at the free throw line and none of their "big three" get into early foul trouble, I don't think it matters what the Pacers do. This game is in Miami, the crowd is with the Heat, the closer calls always tilt towards the home team, the Heat are comfortable in their own building and the Pacers are the ones traveling.

Miami loses if: Everything goes to hell early. If Dwyane Wade takes shots that don't find the basket, he will be playing directly into Pacers Head Coach Frank Vogel's game plan. If Chris Bosh remains ice cold, it will play into the Pacers' hands. If Ray Allen continues his inexplicable tribute to Shaq at the foul line, it gives the Pacers hope. If none of the role players - Udonis Haslem, Shane Battier, or Mike Miller - can give Miami a lift, the Pacers will have one less obstacle to winning the Eastern Conference title. If LeBron James racks up unnecessary fouls in succession like he did in the fourth quarter of Game 4, the Heat will have big problems in a close game. In short: Miami loses if they give the game away.

Advantage: Heat - No way will the defending champs lose a Game 7 at home unless LeBron James gets injured early and misses most of the game.     

What you say today could haunt you forever. 1

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1) Image from www.jerseychaser.com
2) Image from www.nba.com
3) Image from www.cbssports.com

Retweet of the Day - May 30, 2013

Tonight is the night of the pivotal Game 5 between the defending NBA Champion Miami Heat and the Central Division champion Indiana Pacers, at Miami. The build up of this series has been epic and control of the series is on the line. The winner will have the ability to close out the series and advance to the NBA Finals in Game 6 in Indianapolis.

Today's retweet is from ESPN (@espn), sweet and simple:

"Pacers/Heat Game 5 is tonight. If something else is on your schedule, find a permanent marker and scribble over it." 

Image from www.facebook.com

Retweet of the Day - May 29, 2013

The Eastern Conference Finals are (finally) offering the theater that fans crave from the NBA playoffs. After a multitude of series that were neither competitive nor compelling, the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers are tied at 2-2 following the Pacers' Game 4 win at Indiana last night.

One of the sub-plots of this series includes former All-Star David West. David West has a sincere look of indignant surprise on his face whenever he thinks he is unfairly called for a foul, which is every time he is called for a foul. This is not a new phenomenon unique to the big stage of a Conference Finals series.

West spent the first eight years of his career with my home team, the former New Orleans Hornets (now "Pelicans"). Anyone who followed the team knows that, in West's mind, David West never committed a foul in his life. It is amusing to see the rest of the country picking up on this habit of Mr. West.

Today retweet is from  D'Brickashaw ‏(@DragonflyJonez):

"David West always looks like he wants to punch somebody SOOOO bad after a foul. He's like that dude hooping at the park who's on probation."

"What do you mean I took out his knee?!? He's got TWO!"

Image from www.gazettenet.com

Retweet of the Day - May 24, 2013

Paul George has been the talk of the sports world during the NBA playoffs. He's been an offensive catalyst for the Indiana Pacers during the playoffs, helping them reach the Eastern Conference Finals. George also contained Miami Heat forward LeBron James at key moments of Game 1 of the series. However, the final play was James blowing by an over-pursuing George for the game winning basket as time expired.

Still, George has become a household name for any NBA fan since Wednesday night. In addition, NBA players during the past couple of seasons, have made very...distinctive fashion statements in post-game appearances. George may have raised the bar. This is reflected in today's retweet, by ESPN's Jemele Hill (@jemelehill):

"Just saw Paul George's post game outfit on @PTI. Did he think he'd be hosting Soul Train after the game?"

I'm thinking Jackson 5 backup dancer.

Image from Ms. Hill's Twitter account (@jemelehill) at www.twitter.com.

Retweet of the Day - May 23, 2013

Anyone who uses Twitter regularly and converses with random people in the Twittersphere steps in to a pile of bird crap every once in a while. That is absolutely what I did today.

EPIC

If you missed last night's Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers, you missed a classic. The quality and intensity of the competition reminded me (I am dating myself, here) of Game 1 of the 1991 NBA Finals between Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls and Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers won that game on a 3 point shot by Lakers forward Sam Perkins in the final seconds, though the Bulls would go on to win the series and the NBA Championship in five games, 4-1. Last night's Conference Final offered an equally compelling opening act.

The Pacers and Heat played 48 minutes of regulation basketball that ended with the score tied. It took all five minutes of overtime to settle the contest. No team held a lead of more than three points in the closing minutes of regulation nor did either team hold a lead of more than four points in over time. The largest lead at any point in the game was seven points.

For those of you who completely avoided all forms of sports media for the past 18 hours, the Heat won the game in a dramatic form that will, no doubt, add to the legend of four time MVP and future Hall of Famer LeBron James. Indiana took a late one point lead following three clutch free throws by Paul George. Miami called its final timeout with 2.2 second remaining to advance the ball to the Indiana half of the court. George over-pursued James while contesting the in-bounds pass at the left elbow. James, like some kind of Superman, took one dribble and released the ball into the basket in less than two seconds, with the shot falling as time expired.

The star player of the Heat had ice in his veins in the finals seconds. 1

FAN-TASTIC

The combination of split-second decision making, superb athleticism (it's more than 15 feet from the elbow to the bucket), and clutch execution to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat became the talk of the sports world and the Twittersphere. It is why the NBA completely owns the months of May and June in the sports world and television ratings. Of course, there are people who simply hate LeBron James. Those of us who do not hate The King (or are actual fans) are beyond tired of reading the same, empty stale attacks on LeBron, the fuel for which likely date back to "The Decision" in 2010. What little validity the excessively harsh criticism of James had evaporated with his first NBA Championship last June.

Writing a daily sports blog, narrating Internet broadcasts of high school sports, and volunteering as coaching assistant for high school football has immersed me in the sports world. It also can detach me from the fanaticism (hence the word "fan") that hooked me and millions like me on to sports as a child. I read a tweet, by okdeadhead (‏@okdeadhead), that I found somewhat outlandish, downplaying LeBron's accomplishment. Earlier I read a tweet, from Pat Day (‏@PatrickDay_3) suggesting, in so many words, that people would still find a way to hate on LeBron.

Anyone who has played or covered organized basketball can appreciate how clutch the ending of last night's game was. But, when semi-professionally immersed in sports, it can be easy to forget what it is like to watch the game purely through a spectator's eyes. I retweeted both tweets, copying one on the other and unwittingly stirred a big pile of Twitter poo. You can follow the exchange between okdeadhead and Pat Day on my feed (@ech1997) (contains strong language; reader discretion is advised).

For only the second time, today's Retweet is an alley-oop:

@PatrickDay_3: "Lebron could of pulled up from 3 and nailed it... Yall would still have something negative to say. It's pretty clear Lebron is not human" (alley...) 

(...oop!!!) @okdeadhead: "People. LeBron James was not a hero right there. He had an uncontested, walk up layup. Any human w/ 2 legs & a heartbeat would have made it."

You be the judge, Hat Trick Fam: hot or hype?

1) Image from www.nytimes.com