...with gathering suspicion of chicanery since the most populous county in the state is Hinds County, with the most votes cast too, with +60% going to Scott Colum, and yet mysteriously with the highest percentage of uncounted ballots, that is, with other matters on our minds, we occupy ourselves with speculations on matters of less import, to wit,
What the FUCK is the matter with the Miami "Heat"?
I will spoil the ending of this post for readers awaiting an answer, as we await the mail from Mississippi, by writing, "I don't know."
We are 4-6. We don't work. It's alarming. Other people, arguably more important than the undersigned, are alarmed. They have been with the team on their present West Coast road trip as if attending a loved one in hospice, viz:
...during the team's swing through Los Angeles, the Heat got visits from three of their pillars.
Heat president Pat Riley was at both games in Los Angeles, visiting the locker room after the loss to the Lakers and the team's shootaround before the Clippers game Wednesday. Heat legend Dwyane Wade also attended that shootaround at UCLA.
Former Heat captain Udonis Haslem was at the shootaround last Monday, in shorts and on the court with the team.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/50425453/miami-heat-giannis-antetokounmpo-erik-spoelstra
Then there were these comments, followed closely by corrections, from Doc Rivers:
"I liked Giannis a lot. I liked him more as a dude. He's interesting. He's not easy. He's not easy because he plays at this crazy downhill pace. He's really a difficult guy. ... He has this great passing ability, but he doesn't necessarily have this super IQ at the same time. It's really a strange thing, and he really has one way: downhill, force, force. Every play, he wants to force it."
The corrections:"I was saying he was one of the most interesting guys," Rivers said. "He makes unbelievable passes, but then at times, because of his force he plays at, it gets in the way of his feel. It was more of a compliment. I hate this and feel bad about it. I apologize for the distraction. I'm not trying to be one."
Rivers also said during the podcast that Antetokounmpo was "not easy" to coach. The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coach told Andscape that those comments were actually meant as a compliment to his greatness, not as a slight. Rivers also added that he made a lot of positive comments on the podcast about Antetokounmpo, including that he enjoyed coaching the former Bucks star, that were overlooked.
"The point I was trying to make is whenever you have a great player, you have to fit the team around that great player," Rivers told Andscape. "That is the point I was trying to make. It's not always easy. It's a compliment. I've been successful and unsuccessful at it. But your job is to create the best team you can possibly create around that great player and his talents."
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/50436679/doc-rivers-apologized-antetokounmpo-clarifies-critiques
And as corrections go, I think that is a pretty damn good one. Giannis does know only one way: force, drive, draw defenders, pass out or go straight to the rim. That has been known about Giannis for many moons. It does get in the way of his feel for the game, at least one can see how it would. I can see how coaching Giannis would not be easy.
