The text messages started rolling in around 8:15.
"R u a heat fan? cuz your losing"
"We got more championships than u have seasons"
Being stuck in class, this was the way I experienced the first half of Tuesday's season opener.
It wasn't Boston fans sending me messages. Oh sure, they might have been wearing Boston gear, but in reality they were Heat haters, the biggest fan base in the country as of July 8th.
And for one night they were right, regardless of how douchie they might have sounded.
The Big 3 looked hesitant, the defense was a step slow, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh shot 26% from the floor, none of the role players stepped up, and Joel Anthony started at center.
Disaster, on the surface at least.
The fact is before Tuesday's game, Wade, Bosh, and James played together on the same NBA team for exactly three minutes. In a preseason game.
The fact is the new-look Heat played the defending Eastern Conference Champions, a team which led the league in every defensive statistical category last season, in Boston.
The fact is the Heat were down three points with less than a minute to play.
That was as bad as the Heat are ever gonna play. To lose by eight, after being that unimpressive and unimaginative isn't disheartening in the least, its encouraging. Today's glorified shoot around (@ Philadelphia) should serve to hash out rotations and loosen up the players a bit, after all, nothing lifts a team's spirit like hammering on the 76ers (Honorable mention for the Twolves).
We open our season at home on Friday, October 29th against the Magic, a legitimate title contender with size, shooting, and athleticism. Hopefully by then, Wade gets over his irrational fear of defending screen and rolls, Bosh remembers you can be closer than 17ft to the basket, and Lebron forgets about game 1.
The Haters were happy for one night. The Heat are content to save their happiness until June.
Meanwhile in LA....
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