3 Overtimes & The Younger Big 3 Endure As The Older Big 3 Falter

Rajon Rondo, no shot, no pain killer played 38 minutes in a courageous effort to help his older brothers in Ray Allen, Paul Pierce & Kevin Garnett in maybe their last run for another championship.  Shaquille O'Neal came in looking like a dinosuar and managed to play nearly 4 minutes racking up 2 personal fouls and then RETIRED to the bench.  Charles Barkley said it best last night and that doesn't happen often but he mentioned that "basketball is a young man's game."  As the Spurs and the Lakers recently found, that it is time to pass the torch; the Celtics just received the memo last night in Boston Garden.  The Miami Heat barely proved they can win the close game against a worthy opponent but they definitely proved that the Heat is the new younger team "to be reckoned" with in the Eastern Conference.  In the Western Conference last night some of the finest up & coming young stars were highlighted in a triple OT thriller.  The game between Oklahoma City Thunder & the Memphis Grizzlies displayed a new era of competition with new and youthful teams taking the reigns.

Rajon Rondo was in pain & you could tell by his facial expressions throughout the game.  The Heat were not shying away from his injured elbow & bumped Rondo enough to where I believe it forced him to throw in the towel.  The Celtics did receive a spark from Delonte West off the bench hitting some big shots, but he lacked the explosiveness & vision Rondo brings.  But, it felt like the Heat were not struggling to keep the game close as the Celtics gave their all & faltered at the end with a blown last second shot attempt by Paul Pierce.  A play that they run almost everytime in that gametime situation but they looked scrambled and confused resulting in an overtime win by the The Younger "Big 3". 

LeBron, D. Wade & Chris Bosh reached their magic number of a combined 70 + points which means the Heat win, they are now 30-3 when that milestone is reached.  83 points scored between the stars with LeBron having 35 points as the high scorer.  Mike Miller was the only other player on the Heat to take a shot in the 4th Qtr. other than the "Big 3".  Chris Bosh admitting that in Game 3 he was pretty much not ready, nervous or mainly just to honest for coming out & making such a statement; started Game 4 seemingly with the same mental block.  In the 2nd half & overtime I believe Chris Bosh realized where he was at, in a playoff series with the Eastern Conference Champs and finally "went hard in the paint" against KG.  That is the exact approach all of the Heat took in Game 4 using their younger, stronger bodies & continue to batter the older Celtics until they had no strength in their legs as you could tell with Kevin Garnett.  After having a 28 point, 18 rebound performance in Game 3 to turn around in Game 4 and shoot 10% from the field scoring only 7 points with 5 from the free throw line.  There was also no lift in Paul Pierce's last second shot at the end of the 4th due to him being tired, old with a blown play and LeBron with a hand in his face.  Before that shot, LeBron turned the ball over by slipping out of bounds; I immediately thought that the Heat were about to lose another close game.  Then I realized that this was the Miami Heat's time and it is now their series to lose.  Chris Bosh must maintain his courage & agressiveness in Game 5 & throughout the rest of the playoffs while Wade & LeBron do what they were created to do, dominate.  Mike Bibby, if not already known as a lackadaisical defender has been exposed this series as big Zydrunas Ilgauskas has been exposed for being someone in the game just to take up space.  The younger more athletic defender in Joel Anthony earned himself a start in Game 4 & proved that he is a presence in the paint.  The same decision must be made by Erik Spoelstra to bench Bibby & start Mario Chalmers, the more agressive point guard who has produced much more than his counter part.

To be quite honest I didn't finish the Oklahoma City Thunder at Memphis Grizzlies triple OT because I was behind on my DVR & it didn't record the 2nd & 3rd overtime.  However, I did catch the highlights and as I predicted OKC pulled it out.  Just didn't think there would be 3 OT's with a stunning performance by Kevin Durant scoring 35 points and hitting big shots in clutch situations.  I was not inspired by Russell Westbrook's performance simply because anybody who shoots 33 times in one game should score 40 points.  Especially, when the FACE of the franchise is Kevin Durant; a more pure shooter & only took 20 shots, still scoring 35.  I'm only assuming, but it seems to me that Westbrook maybe a BALL HOG.  I could read it with his body language, the kid on the team who is going to take the ball & shoot with passing being the last resort.  Mark my words, if OKC allows Russell Westbrook to continue taking the majority of the shots they will not advance past the Grizzlies; a more team oriented squad with 2 dominate low post threats in Marc Gasol & Zach Randolph with 60 points & 37 rebounds between the both of them.  A better formula to win playoff basketball with O.J. Mayo & Michael Conley being decent perimeter threats compared to a point guard (Russell Westbrook) trying to score 40 points every night.  Little advice for Russell Westbrook, give the ball to Kevin Durant & get some of your other players involved.  Only 5 assist from you point guard is not good playoff basketball.

The NBA Playoffs has been all that I expected it to be, a change of an era with exciting new players on different teams other than the norm Lakers, Spurs, and Celtics.  Giving a chance to other upcoming players to win a championship and for those players a championship has already eluded; a chance at redemption.

Game 5 Boston Celtics @ Miami Heat on TNT 7pm ET (Heat lead series 3-1).  Followed by Game 5 Memphis Grizzlies @ Oklahoma City Thunder on TNT 9:30pm ET (series tied 2-2).