Q: Can’t we all just have fun? Who cares how it happened? So many people claiming to know how Kobe Bryant would have felt. WTF does it matter? – J.B.
A: Look, sports and sanctimonious have gone hand in hand from the earliest of days of newspaper columnists to the most recent of social-media outlets. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But, yes, you nailed it – Tuesday night at Kaseya Center was about the fun, the magic of never knowing what you might get to see when you attend a sporting event. This is an assumption I feel comfortable in: Not a single person in that arena, no matter how many were in that arena, were debating Bam Adebayo’s place in history, comparing him to Kobe Bryant or Wilt Chamberlain, as if anyone ever thought he was either. During the NBA regular season, you simply don’t get many moments like that. Look, the outcome was decided. The Heat were getting the victory they needed, the Wizards getting the loss they wanted. The fouls were legitimate, or as legitimate as calls in any other game. And yes, the Heat did intentionally miss a free throw (God bless Keshad Johnson), and yes, the Heat did foul to extend the game. Because who doesn’t want to extend a good time? Was it silly at the end? Sure. But, it’s sports, it’s an outlet, an escape, fun. The shame is not the position the Heat put those Wizards players in, it’s the position the Wizards put their players in, by deciding not to field a competitive roster, one so non-competitive, it couldn’t even keep up to a Heat roster lacking Tyler Herro, Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins and Kel’el Ware, all of whom have been starters for the Heat this season. And shame on the NBA for allowing the Wizards to be this disinterested.
Q: I have no issue with the fouls themselves. I take issue with the Heat both intentional fouling and intentionally missing free throws to get Bam Adebayo extra possessions. – Tom.
A: Which from the outside is an opinion that certainly is fair. But to know Bam Adebayo and to know his relationship with the coaching staff, management, ownership and his teammates is to know that this roster would do anything and everything for their captain. The sequences after the game summed it up, from the embrace with Erik Spoelstra, being showered courtside by teammates, the moments with Micky Arison and Nick Arison on the opposite end of the sideline, and then the interaction with Pat Riley in the hallway leading to the locker room. What the Heat did, they did out of love for one of their own. Those were moments that created an appreciation for the notion of Heat Family.
Q: You call that an NBA game Tuesday night? Nothing more than a pickup game of YMCA quality. Terrible and boring to watch. – Robert.
A: No, not terrible and not boring if you were there. But, again, when it came to the quality of the competition, this is what Adam Silver’s NBA has become, with more than a quarter of the teams desiring nothing more than another loss. Any angst or even antipathy should be directed at the Wizards for what they weren’t and weren’t even trying to be. The real “terrible and boring” is when it’s tank team against tank team. That’s when you might be better off at your local YMCA. If you want “terrible and boring” tune in Jazz at Kings on Sunday night.