by user Futurestudent
First Quarter:
12:31 Miami wins the tip; Udonis Haslem makes a jumper, bad start.
12:32: Richard Jefferson missed his first jumper. Jason Kidd goes over and politely reminds him that shooting is not his strength. On the next possession he pulls an anti Vince and appropriately drives to the basket and lays in an easy one.
12:34: Jason Collins takes a charge as Dwayne Wade barrels into him.
Has there ever been a more unknown who has played in this many playoff games? I mean this guy guarded Shaq and Duncan in consecutive NBA finals in his first two years in the league. He has been the starting center (I don’t count Todd McCullough he played the first 5 minutes and then never re-entered the game) on two NBA finals teams and four or five playoff teams and I don’t think 95% of NBA fans would recognize him.
Note that may interest only me: He has an identical twin brother who is also in the NBA, used to be in Utah but now I don’t know where he is. If I were commissioner for the day I would make a rule that starting with the 07-08 NBA draft you can draft identical twins as a package. Solely to keep them from switching identies like some crazy Mary Kate and Ashely Olsen movie.
Side note: While I was writing that last part Vince gets the rock under the basket and instead of going up strong he tries to lay it in, and misses. Why am I still surprised when this happens?
12:35 Jason Kidd gets the rebound and throws it down court to a cherry picking Vince Carter. Without any defense he confidently dunks it.
12:39 First commercial break, a chance to catch up on my writing, this running diary thing is hard I better pace myself or I won’t make it four quarters. Score Miami 14 NJ 16
12:43 Coming out of the commercial break Vince shoots an air ball three……is there a reason he doesn’t drive to the basket?
12:44 Walton mentions the Clifford Robinson “incident:.
12:44 Shaq picks up offensive foul number one. Collison has now forced Wade and Shaq into offensive fould, I wonder how many he’ll get today.
12:45 Vince Cater misses another jumper. Note I just copied that line I will paste it in from now on to save from retyping.
12:46 Vince Carter has the ball stolen which leads to Antoine Walker draining a three. How many turnovers does Vince have in this series? 30?
12:50 Nets come out of a timeout and get an easy score. Why is this surprising, shouldn’t this be the norm if you have 3 minutes to prepare?
12:51 Antoine Walker takes and misses a bad three in transition. Bill Simmons would comment about how often he hated seeing him do that when he was with the Celtics. As a Nets fan I have always loved seeing that happen.
12:52: Alonzo Mourning just made a shot and got booed. He then put his hands up to his ear in one of those ridiculous things
12:53: The Nets have John Thomas on the line. Who is John Thomas? I don’t know but I just heard that he played two regular season games for the Nets after being out of the league for four years.
12:54 Vince Cater misses another jumper. Wait no no on that didn’t happen sorry force of habit. Carter instead threw a hideous pass to “John Thomas” and it was a turnover. Why is our all star and supposed best player trying to pass it to a guy who has been out of the league for four years?
12:55 End of the first quarter, Nets 24 Heat 27
Second Quarter
12:57 John Thomas is now starting in the second quarter.
12:59 Bill Walton let’s us know that the Nets have one of the most unproductive benches in basketball. Thanks! With that said the Nets are down by 3 (6 Posey hit a jump shot) I mean 6 and Shaq has been out for a while.
1:00 Nenad Kristic just made a shot snapping a streak of 7 missed field goals in a row including, surprisingly, a few from the mysterious John Thomas.
1:03 My mom just called, it’s mother’s day so I had to listen and I missed a few minutes but I know I heard John Tomas’s name mentioned again
1:04 Dammm Nenad has 8 points and 8 rebounds I don’t know what to say
1:05 Dwayne Wade just makes one of the best craziest moves I have ever seen, he passed all five guys while in the air.
1:06 Jason Kidd drives to the basket and gets fouled. Maybe he’s figuring if he sets a good example Vince Carter will follow?
1:07 They keep showing highlights of Dwayne Wade’s great drive to the basket. Maybe we need to show Vince that jumpers don’t make the highlight reels. Everyone says that Sportscenters constantly showing of great dunks has made people not want to shoot? Why hasn’t that affected Vince Carter
1:09 The mysterious John Thomas has gone back to the bench and Collins is back. Random Thought: Maybe John Thomas could be come the Kurt Warner of the NBA?
1:10 Vince has missed his last five shots and is 2 of 8 from the field. He just took a jumper from 8 feet behind the three point line and missed, make that 2 for 9.
1:11 Carter thinking that his jumper may not be working today drives to the hoop and gets fouled.
1:12 Bill Walton mentions that sometimes Vince falls in love with the long jumper. I laugh
1:13 Vince just missed a put back dunk to make him 2 for 11 today.
1:14 Miami misses and J-Kidd goes coast to coast and lays it in. How did he not win the MVP back in 2003, I am still bitter.
1:15 It’s been two quarters and I still haven’t heard anything about the impending Larry Brown buyout. This is the biggest story in years. I mean one of the top coaches in NBA history is going to be fired and they are going to promote Isaiah Thomas. Isaiah Freaking Thomas are you kidding me, how could they promote him. This needs to be its own column written by a real author (like Bill Simmons)
1:20 While the game is going on Bill Walton is debating what is and what is not a foul. I am not sure he noticed that Walker just went one for two from the line.
1:21 Vince actually makes a jumper, Snapper Jones is talking about what is and is not a foul on Shaq so no one notices.
1:21 Walton mentions what a good job Collins did on Shaq in the NBA finals a few years back. Brings back memories, I was at those games, he did a great job but that LA team really was just to good for the Nets.
1:22 They are now talking about Collins brother “Jarron” but get interrupted by the basketball game when Jefferson gets an offensive foul, his third personal, he has now gone to the bench where he will remain for a while.
1:24 Defensive violation on Shaq, he laughs like movie studios due when he tells them he wants to act
1:24 Collins makes a nice move to the basket and misses but gets fouled. Vince Carter smartly goes to the basket and tries to dunk the meaningless miss and hurts his hand. Odds are he’s not going to the hoop again the rest of the day now that he’s hurt.
1:25 I just realized that this has turned into the bash Vince Carter blog. I am sorry for that. It is NOT intentional; he just seems to be involved in every bad play the Nets make. From this point forward (if anyone is still reading) I am going to try and be more balanced. When I clean this up later I will try to balance it more as well.
1:29 Hey, Eli Mannings at the game, that’s nice. Oh look Lavar Arrington too.
1:30 Shaw just dove on the floor towards a lose ball. Sliding across the ground in attempt to throw the ball off Jason Kidd. He missed but on the unintentional comedy scale it was an 11.
1:31 Riley tries to get Alonzo into the game and everyone boos? I can’t imagine why Nets fans don’t like a guy who took $20 million for a quarter seasons worth of work and until he tore his calf was having a vintage year for the Heat.
1:32 Lamond Murray has just missed two three pointers in one possession. Who is this guy? Well according to Walton he “doesn’t shoot a high percentage but he is certainly willing to throw them up”, not what I would call a ringing endorsement.
1:33 Um I know I am going to lay off Carter but he just turned the ball over again, actually Wade just sort of took it from him.
1:34 Vince made a jumpshot looks like he’s finally in rhythm, just in time for halftime.
1:35 Wow Mourning just blocked Nenad’s shot and then fouls him as he goes back up. A double technical is called on both Mourning on Kristic. I have to say Mourning didn’t do anything that’s a rough call.
1:36 Wade drives to the basket, gets fouled and goes down. (Just like in that commercial on TV) Foul on our man John Thomas.
Halftime Score: Heat 54 Nets 48
Notable Stats Vince Carter 5-14 and 0-4 from three point range 1 rebound, 0 assists, 3 turnovers. Jason Kidd 12 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists (could be more if Vince could hit anything) classic Jason Kidd stat line. Nenad Kristic 11 points and 11 rebounds he has some real “upside” if he keeps developing Dwayne Wade 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting with 4 assists and 2 turnovers. Just a great half from a great player.
This running diary thing is exhausting. I will be taking a break during halftime but I’ll be back in the next half.
Start of the Third Quarter
1:56 Bill Walton let’s us know that Lawrence Frank should be nervous because Miami is playing better. Thanks Bill!
1:57 Nenad makes another move to the basket, why aren’t the Nets just feeding him more under the basket?
1:58 Kidd makes a jumper, I get the feeling this may be one of those games that he has to take over offensively for them to win.
1:58 Jason Williams with a bad miss, Kidd again with the ball outlets to a Cherry Picking Vince Carter who dunks it.
1:59 Antoine Walker just makes his 4th three. He is now 4 for 5 from behind the arc.
2:00 Antoine Walkter just makes his 5th three. He is now 5 for 6 from behind the arc.
2:01 With the Nets down by 6th Vince drives to the basket and makes a runner in the lane to cur the lead to 4. Bill Walton finally starts talking about how important it is for Vince to go to the basket. (How is my sarcasm translating online?)
2:01 At 1:58 the game was tied. 3 minutes later and a Miami 10-2 run the Nets are down by 8 and calling a timeout to stop the bleeding.
2:04 I like this freeze cam thing that the announcers are playing with. It’s really just a pause and zoom in thing but they are promoting it like it’s a new product at E3
2:05 Nets come out of a timeout and turn over the ball. This should be surprising it’s not.
2:06 Shaq gets called for a three second violation. As always he turns, smiles, and laughs.
2:07 Udonis Haslem hits another shot, just killer. Nets are now down by 10 and it’s not getting better.
2:08 I have to give Miami credit they are playing some stifling defense on the Nets. Just traps every time anyone gets the ball.
2:09 Shaq makes a basket and gets fouled. His free throw is so off its funny. He runs back laughing.
2:10 Antoine Walker leads all scorers in the game with 20. That’s right Antoine Walker is taking over the game, it’s like it’s 2002 all over again.
2:11 The announcers just talked about Jason Collins being defensive player of the year.
2:12 Vince Carter just drove to the basket and gets the roll off the rim but not the foul. He’s angry and showing it.
2:12 As we head into a commercial we find out that Jason Kidd is one assist away from a triple double, and it’s the third quarter. I just want to point out that Steve Nash has two MVPs and couldn’t guard me in a pickup game. Jason Kidd has been an NBA all defensive team player multiple times (although this years selection is iffy) and has none. When we look back at history will we ever consider Steve Nash better than Jason Kidd?
2:15 Now they are showing a stat that Jason Kidd is about to be tied for third in all time in playoff triple doubles. Once again proving my previous point. Regardless Lebron James may break that record this season.
2:16 Vince goes to the basket and gets athletic. This game would be tied if he had started doing that in the first half.
2:17 Vince drives and dishes to almond Muarry who makes the three.
2:18 Vince drives to the basket again (that’s three possessions in a row) and gets fouled before getting to the basket. See Vince good things happen when you go to the basket.
2:18 What a play by Jason Kidd. Pump fakes, Wade leaves his feet so Kidd steps in and gets fouled. Three free throws for Jason Kidd. (replay just showed that this should have been two free throws but…) That was a vintage Reggie Miller play. I miss him.
2:19 Wade just rises up and makes a jump shot. If there was a draft today in what order would these three be drafted. Lebron, Wade, Bryant…..really makes you think.
2:20 As the quarter comes to an end Kristic makes a long jumper to make the deficit three at the half.
Score Heat 76 Nets 73
Start of the Fourth Quarter
2:26 First Nets shot of the second half. Lamond Murray takes a three in transition, he misses. Second Nets shot Vince Carter for three in transition, he misses. Wade drives and lays it in he has 24 points and has made the lead 5.
2:27 Kidd drives and dishes to Nenad who makes the jumper to close the lead back to three. This is getting tense. Hopefully this game will end with some well played basketball.
2:28 Kidd moving the Nets down the court in transition makes a great pass to Jefferson who goes to the basket and dunks it home. Timeout Miami.
2:31 Antoine Walker takes a bad three (Celtics fans smile), Nets push down in transition, Kidd misses a driving layup.
2:31 Seriously who is Lamond Murray and why has he played so many minutes in this game?
2:32 Nets down by 1, Vince makes huge drive to the basket and gets fouled hard by Shaq. He misses the first free throw and the second, Nets still down by 1. I will give him credit though, he has been mch better after that horrendous first quarter.
2:34 Lamond Murrary with a rebound, falling out of bounds, throws it off a Heat player. That is so high school, I love this game.
2:35 Richard Jefferson drives to the hoop and gets called for a questionable offensive foul (on the replay Haslem was CLEARLY inside the arc), that’s five on Jefferson.
2:36 The Nets have been down by one for five minutes now and have been unable to close it. Now Haslem gets an offensive board, puts it back up, and gets fouled. Misses the free throw though to keep it a three point game.
2:37 Nets last four possessions (down by 1); missed jumper, two missed free throws, two turnovers. This isn’t good.
2:39 Nets call a timeout to try and make anything happen.
2:42 Coming out of the timeout with 7 on the shot clock Vince drives to the hoop and makes the runner.
2:43 Shaq at the line misses the first one badly, makes the second one, but it wasn’t pretty.
2:44 Jefferson jus has the ball taken out of his hands by Wade who gets down the court and dunks it.
2:45 Kristic makes another jumper, Nets still down by 3 but the level of play is increasing.
2:45 Inside of 5 minutes Vince takes another three and misses it badly.
2:45 Just a brutal foul call on Jason Collins which is also his fifth. Posey makes both free throws and the Nets are now down by 7.
2:46 Carter from outside the three point arc passes up the shot and passes to Jefferson under the basket who lays it in.
2:47 Carter drives to the basket and lays it in, nets down by 3.
2:48 Nenad Kristic posts up Shaq twice and with the shot clock running down just pivots and shoots. He has 28 and is just playing huge right now. Again I ask, why are the Nets shooting deep jump shots when they can send it inside to Nenad? Why aren’t they pushing this?
2:52 Jefferson with an ugly long jumper. Nets down by five and I don’t like where this is going as we approach the two minute warning.
2:53 Nenad fouls Shaq intentionally to send him to the line. Misses the first, and the second. (Wow watching him shoot free throws hurts me)
2:54 Kidd drives, penetrates, dishes to RJ for a wide open three which he makes to make it a two point game.
2:55 Collins fouls Haslem and he fouls out of the game. Nets are forced to bring in Lamond Murray. Haslem makes both free throws, four point game with 92 seconds to go.
2:57 Nets run a nice little Princeton weave set and Kristic misses an open jumper
2: 57 Wade drives to the basket and passes across the court to Gary Payton who drains a three for his first basket of the night. That might be the dagger as the Nets go down by 7 with 56.4 seconds to go.
3:00 Shaq is out of the game. Carter goes to the basket, avoids the contact and misses the layup. Miami rebound and the Nets foul quickly. Wade makes both to make it a 9 point game with 40.2 seconds to go.
3:01 Carter misses a deep three, Kidd fouls Posey and Miami goes to the line. This game is all but over as Posey makes one of two to make it a ten point game.
3:02 We have just found out that the Nets have not scored in the final two and half minutes. The crowd is exiting as the stands are empty behind the announcing team.
3:03 Vince drives to the basket, and lays it in, too little, too late.
3:04 Nets are done fouling as Miami dribbles the clock out and the game is over.
Final Score Heat 102 Nets 92
This is seriously exhausting. I am going to take a nap before I clean this up and do a post game analysis.
I am posting it here now in hopes of getting some constructive criticism. Please keep in mind that I am writing this as the game is going on and I still need to go back and correct it. Thanks!
Later this evening a full edited version will be posted on my blog at www.themedschoollife.com
Date
Sun 05/14/06, 12:01 pm EST
Source
- www.money4medschool.com