Time for the Hating to stop

The Slammy's will make a triumphant return next week. They had to be put on hold as Johnson and Johnson is being sued for being the company that killed all of the dead babies in the dead baby jokes...a strange twist of irony. In light of these recent allegations we here at the Buzzer are cutting ties, and currently looking for a new sponsor to our awards.

As for the finals...
I'm not sure they're even worth analyzing. This series is over in four or five games. Last night, James and Wade rarely got in the paint. They became jump shooters exactly the way Dallas wanted them to. Chris Bosh was 5/18 at one point late in the game. TWO of Miami's starters did not have a single point...And yet the game wasn't in reach for Dallas by the six minute mark of the fourth quarter. Miami's defense is that good. There are too many athletes for the finesse Mavs to handle.
Honestly, I'm going to give this Heat team some credit. When LeBron announced to the world he was leaving Cleveland for South Beach, in his heart, he knew that Cleveland would forever hate him. What I think he underestimated was how much America would hate him for what he did,(Keep in mind this subject I'm about to tackle is a tough one to discuss without looking bad one way or the other, but it's relevant enough that it needs to at least be brought up) specifically white suburbia. "The Decision" and the subsequent celebration in Miami over the summer was about as over the top as it gets if you re a white man in his late 40's. Nobody can really relate to all of that kind of hype and celebration that the summer of 2010 brought into mainstream America. Parents of kids at the High School like I went to would be outraged if their kids decided to leave their respective cities to go be with their friends, and celebrate like rock stars for having made that decision. Think I'm wrong for making this a race issue? Think of white folks you know personally, or have heard on TV/Internet analyze LeBron since the decision. Did even one of them have anything but bad or even hateful things to say about LeBron and the Heat-especially in regards to the decision? If you can name somebody besides Dan LeBetard (even Client 9 thought the Decision was in poor taste) than I'm very surprised.

Now look, I'm not claiming to be someone who's totally in touch with Urban culture. I do however have a lot of close friends who grew up in the inner-city, and I do work with many as well. I'm going to be honest, not too many of them really cared about The Decision. In fact, a lot of them wonder why everyone still brings it up now almost eleven months later. I'm not one who normally thinks that race would play a role in a sport like the NBA (where the root of the sport is white fans rooting for black players), but in this case I've come to the conclusion that it certainly has.
I've heard countless people at my work, and in my group of friends pick the Mavericks to win this series. I know that I will be blasted for this, but I think race really is a factor in that. The Mavs are a team that has white men as their three most recognizable faces. There is no real urban presence on their team, there are no high-flying show boaters, and they share the ball as well as anybody. The Mavericks have paid their dues, and have put years into making their team a title contender. The media and suburbia have a comfort level with a team like the Mavs, and deep down believe that they have done things "the right way."Much like the Fab Five, the Miami Heat represent things that my Father and Grandfather can't relate to. It's perceived that LeBron is a self-absorbed jerk for his actions, and that the rest of the team are right there in his same boat. The idea of a team beating the rest of the league three on five offensively goes against everything we've ever been taught about the game.

I actually thought that Jeff Van Gundy made the best point that anybody has made about the Heat. As they were going on one of their patented runs Van Gundy said that if you took away all the hoopla and hating, that Miami was a well coached, very unselfish basketball team. He couldn't have said it any better. I watched the Knicks at the end of the season be a "me first" gunning team with no commitment to defense whatsoever. These Heat are the exact opposite. The play hard every second of every game. They swing the basketball and find the open man. Wade and LEBron have put their egos aside for a bigger cause. Most importantly, they all bust their butts on both ends of the floor. You can't name me too many other super stars or teams that do that consistently. Despite the fact that he looks like a kid playing dress up in a suit, Spoelstra actually is a good coach. It was a brilliant move to put LeBron on Terry, and essentially make him a non factor in the game.
I've hated on the Heat and it's players for the entire year. I may never like these guys on a personal level like you would someone like Shaq in his prime or Sir Charles. I've come to the conclusion that the hating from me stops now. I'm still rooting for the Mavericks, but I'm going to appreciate the things the Heat do instead of being blinded with spite. LeBron really could go down as the greatest player that's ever walked this Earth, and unlike Kobe or Mike (neither of whom were/are very good teammates) LeBron is a great teammate, an unselfish player, and can guard any player in the league and hold his own. I would do nothing but hurt myself as a fan to let the Decision get in the way of appreciating a player like him.
In a week or so when we are all watching Miami celebrate after a five game series, two thoughts will run through my mind. One is that I hope guys like Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, Monta Ellis, Blake Griffin, and DeMarcus Cousins are taking note. If you want to be anything in this league you have to play defense, anybody who says that there's no defense in the NBA should never be allowed to talk about the NBA again. Specifically Carmelo, if he isn't inspired to at least play some defense, than I can never take him serious as a superstar in this league. The same goes for his passing. If that happens than we will have one bright future in the NBA with the Knicks and Heat battling each other for the next five years.
My second thought...If youre a basketball fan try and appreciate what the Heat are doing right now. Don't let your hate get in the way. Just imagine last summer that Steve Nash held a press conference to announce that he was leaving Phoenix to team up with Dirk and Pau Gasol to make a run at a title, and that all proceeds from the press conference were going to charity-would there have been the same reaction for them??? Food for thought