We never led the entire game. Jimmy had a great game. And he had help--BAM had 25. And our shooting percentage was better! How did we lose. We lost it behind the arc. We don't have reliable long-distance shooters. Jimmy's last shot was our last chance; it would have been stupid and Yes! if it had gone in, stupid and...our last chance if it did not, which it didn't. He could have tied it with one of his drives--only Horford to beat! The lane devoid of humanity!--but Horford was also playing off him, and Jimmy has made those shots in this series, far tougher! We. Didn't. Lead. The. Whole. Game. We trailed by two when Jimmy took that shot. It was over in the first quarter. We trailed by 15 at the end of 1Q! We. Didn’t. Lead. The. Whole. Game. We never recovered. So we didn't get to "Neverledville" because of Jimmy. He had 35, Bam had 25! If you had told me those two things before the game I would have said, “Heat wins.” We got to Neverledville because talent tells and we ain't got enough of it. Lowry: 4/12 (1/6), Strus: 3/10 (2/7), Oladipo 4/12: (1/7), Vincent: 1/4 (1/3). We played 82 games to get home court through the East playoffs and we lost three times at home to Boston, including game 7. The regular season was meaningless.
If I posed this rhetorical question to "Heat" fans and NBA cognos after Game 5, well I'm doing it again: where do you see this iteration of the "Heat" getting better next year? Show me the "upside" you see because with my 20/400 vision I can’ see it. Of course we’re not going to be better next season with this group. Jimmy knew: this was our year, this was his year to finally get a ring. We're not getting better, we're getting older and creakier. Bam, man, I don't know about Bam; Jimmy? Kyle? PJ? Bam? Tyler? Duncan? Strus? Vic? No to the first three, I think the fourth has plateaued strangely; Yes to Tyler, he steps into the starting lineup next season. Absolutely NO! to Duncan, Strus...who knows? Vic? Who knows? Will Tyler get better enough to play Robin to Jimmy's Batman, Brown to Tatum? I think he will. But will Jimmy still be capable of Batman? I don't think so, you can make a case, but I don't think so. We don't have two "sures", much less three. Contrast with Boston: Hell yeah! They've got three and they're young!
Another question "Heat" fans: Let's say we win this game. What happens in the Finals? I'll tell you what happens in the Finals. 🧹. Golden State is on a different planet than the "Heat." Steph, Klay, Draymond, now they got this fucking kid Jordan Poole. 🧹! Fo-Oh, bro!
Did Riley want one more Eastern Conference champion banner to hang from the roof of the Bus? Nah-ah. This was as good as it gets for this team and we aren't close to another NBA championship. Take it from here, Pat.