Kraznaya
Princeps
this kind of profligate ignorance of rondo's offensive performance is pretty much symptomatic of watching only seven celtics games for the year. not that it matters since neither the OKC nor the Boston front offices would ever agree to that trade (due to Rondo's cheap contract and the chemistry problems it would cause on both teams)
anyway, a brief retrospective on some key characters of the 2011-2012 heat season:
Erik Spoelstra: He is not by trade an offensive coach, and that weakness has occasionally been painful over the past two years. I tore him a new one during the Celtics series for refusing to use the 2-3 pick'n'roll as much as possible when it was clearly the best way to release the intense ball pressure Boston was putting on Dwyane Wade, leading to the offensive malaise that plagued Miami from games 3-5. After the Celtics series, Spoelstra said Rivers "helped him become a better coach" by putting him through that seven game series, and he was right. Miami was forced to use a small-ball lineup with Battier at PF after the Bosh injury, but the Heat took note of Boston's surprising offensive efficacy using the same lineup with KG (even with Pierce and Allen playing at what was less than probably half strength) and used lineups that featured only one big man during the finals (generally Bosh for 38-40 min, Haslem for 10). The result was a wide open offensive attack that confounded Brooks's defensive rotations, spread the floor enabling a barrage of threes, and enabled wide lanes to the basket on dribble penetration. Spoelstra embraced this change while Brooks stubbornly refused to change his offensive lineup to counter, resulting in laughingly lopsided plus-minus stats for the Thunder big men who were forced to matchup against guys they had no counter for (Ibaka: -42, Perkins, -25). From a purely tactical standpoint, this NBA season was the triumph of small-ball and Spoelstra employed his small-ball lineups during the Finals to great success. Defensively, minus the few lapses in the Boston series brought on by the barrage of Miami misses allowing Boston to run in transition, Spoelstra has always done a commendable job. Overall, Spoelstra demonstrated a flexibility and inventiveness this season that make him a deserving champion of a coach.
LeBron James: Since there are a thousand and one paeans to his greatness on the Internet after tonight, I'll make only this point: the combination of athletic talent and technical ability that LeBron has dwarfs anybody in NBA history, and if he were to go up against any of the "legends" in their prime, he would kill them. This guy is taller than Bill Russell for chrissakes, and he has better quickness attacking the basket than MJ. Obviously, LeBron has had access to much more advanced athletic training and coaching techniques than his spiritual predecessors, but without a curve LeBron is the most skilled basketball player of all time. Now, of course, he has much better competition now than they did then...
Dwyane Wade: An athlete just doesn't get his knee drained for the hell of it, and Dwyane Wade clearly wasn't right this postseason. He was missing his explosive first step that made him a nightmare for defenses in the past, and the lack of a corresponding counter on defense made guarding fast PGs like Rondo and Westbrook highly problematic for him. Still, Wade proved that he has a ton of savvy and moxie in his game to continue playing as well as he did limping on one leg, using a ton of tricks such as his patented shot fake, timing on defense to block and steal, and slow changes of direction on offense to generate production for his team. We saw glimpses of the vintage Dwyane Wade, particularly in that unconscious 41 point performance against Indiana, but never him in full force for the course of a series. I sincerely hope that he can make a full recovery whatever's ailing him and be 100% come next Playoffs...
Chris Bosh: Fun fact: I temporarily lost my password to this account in April and created another login named "AmnestyBosh," partially in jest, but partially because I felt Bosh's role was too redundant with the rest of the big 3 on offense and he was always a step slow on defense. Well, Bosh has proved his value over the last two series, partially because he's finally embraced the role of playing the center and banging against bigger bodies as part of a small ball lineup. As the roll man in the Miami PnR attack, Bosh is a horrific mismatch for traditional centers like Kendrick Perkins and acts as a perfect release valve for his ballhandler, be it James, Chalmers, or Wade. On defense, he was horrific upon his return in Game 5 against the Celtics, but then... something amazing happened. Bosh stopped being a step slow reacting to dribble penetration, he timed his rotations correctly, and he influenced attacks on th basket. His wiry seven foot frame finally became Miami's best center option on defense that had been occupied by Joel Anthony for two years, despite the fact that Bosh was a third of a foot taller (to his shame :/). Also, you have to keep Bosh around because of this:
Link to video.
Mario Chalmers: Friggin' love you, 'Rio, as maddeningly inconsistent as you are. I've always had a soft spot for the mercurial underdog, and his name is so much f.cking fun to shout when he splashes a momentum-turning three. I just absorb the turnover or stupid foul you commit right after no problem, because at this point, it's almost expected. He swung Game 4 of the Finals for the Heat, but he was also pivotal in the Indiana and Boston series for the Heat when Bosh was out and Wade was struggling for the floor. The best part is, he's only earning 4 mil/year and will be on the books for two more years.
Congrats to the HEAT!
. When that 3 point shot got stuck between the backboard and the rim I had a feeling it was over 
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