James, Wade have Heat living up to hype

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Friday, April 22, 2011
Posted: 1:55 a.m.

By John R. Finger
CSNPhilly.com

For nearly 48 minutes on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center, the 76ers threw nearly everything they had at the Miami Heat. They jumped out at a 9-0 lead, fought to get the ball into the paint and tried to attack any chance they got.

And yet after Miamis 100-94 victory in the pivotal Game 3 in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade had jokes in the nearly deserted locker room.

Look at who is doing interviews, James shouted to Wade, gesturing over his shoulder to teammate Joel Anthony.

Movin on up Wade sang at Anthony in the tune of The Jeffersons.

Certainly the press that regularly cover the Heat are looking for any kind of different angle in order to tell a story about how the team got to this stage of the season. Anthony, the 6-foot-9 center, proved to be a tough matchup for Sixers swingman Thad Young, limiting him to just four points on eight shots in 20-plus minutes.

But lets not get it twisted the story for the Heat as they took an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series has been James and Wade. Simply stated, the Sixers have no answer for either of them.

James scored 24 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out six assists while Wade scored a game-high 32 points with 10 boards and eight assists. The biggest number on Wades stat line, however, was the six offensive rebounds he came out of the fray with. More notably, Wade had three crucial offensive rebounds in the final quarter, which put a major crimp in Sixers coach Doug Collins plan of keeping the Heat out of the paint.

The migraines Wade struggled with in the first two games have been passed onto Collins after Game 3.

I think Dwyane Wade can get a shot anytime he wants to, Collins said matter of factly.

Think about it this way: the Heat missed 43 shots, but grabbed 20 offensive rebounds. Add in the fact that James and Wade were whistled for one foul in a combined 83 minutes, while the Heat took 51 shots in the paint and only 15 shots in the yard, the area inside the three-point arc and outside the paint, and the Sixers never had a chance.

Factor in that James, Wade and Chris Bosh scored 75 of the Heats 100 points in Game 3 and 202 of the 291 (69.4 percent) scored in the three games and it simple to break down.

Flat out, the Sixers have played well in two of the three games and were in position to win Game 3. In fact, some of the plans Collins laid out this week in practice were executed well on Thursday night. For instance, the Sixers got 31 shots in the paint for 34 points and Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala combined for 31 pointsCollins wanted 30.

For sure, the Sixers were up to the challenge, its just that if they are going to beat Miami, they cant trip up at all.

So far there hasnt been any hype in the Heat.

Our guys responded, we played well, Collins said. We made some strategic mistakes in the first half, we left James Jones open twice in the strong side corner and gave him six points, we let Wade back cut us and fouled him, thats three points and we let him out on the break and touch fouled himthree points. We let LeBron spin us and dunk for three points. Thats like 18 points. In the first half we held them to 50 points and those were 18 of those points. Those are mistakes you just cant make against the Miami Heat.

It seems as if the Heat everyone expected when Bosh and James joined Wade have finally hit their stride.

When we came together, we thought about the postseason, James said. Like I said before, we never take for granted what the regular season brings us. You build habits over the regular season to get to this point, but we all envision being in the playoffs. This is what we envisioned.

That means a lot of trouble for a young and inexperienced team like the Sixers.

As far as the effort, I told our guys the effort was great, but effort without staying discipline you just cant do, Collins said. We cant afford those breakdowns.

Meanwhile, Anthony told reporters about how the Heat withstood the Sixers best haymakers and fought off a hostile crowd hoping to see the hometown team upset the mighty Miami Heat. Though he didnt post big numbers, he battled Brand and Young for 30 minutes and did what he could to keep the flow going.

Yeah, the Sixers wanted to keep the Heat out of the paint, but its not as easy as that.

LeBron and D-Wade are two of the hardest guys to keep out of the paint in the league, so it isnt easy for anyone to do it, Anthony explained. We just try to do a good job of spacing the floor and try to get them open even though they are trying to take away those drives.

Yep, its been as easy as that.

E-mail John R. Finger at jfinger@comcastsportsnet.com

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