Following their impressive win in Game 1 on Tuesday, the Miami Heat will look to maintain their homecourt advantage and take a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals tonight against the Dallas Mavericks. Isn't it nice that there is only one day in between the first two games of the series? Following the Eastern Conference Finals in which it took 8 days to play 3 games, this is a welcome change.
The first game of the series saw each teams point guards having a hard time. Dallas starter Jason Kidd did all right in the 1st half, hitting 2-of-6 from the field, while Heat starter Mike Bibby missed all 3 of his opening half shots. Neither of them did anything noticeable in the 2nd half though they didn't spend much time on the floor. Reserves Mario Chalmers and J.J. Barea got some minutes, but they were ineffective as well.
As expected, LeBron James Heat jerseys are starting to sell like hotcakes after James announced his decision to play for Miami. But it's the burning of his Cavaliers jerseys that has been even more eye-catching in the wake of James' snub of Cleveland.
Cavs fans wasted little time in uploading videos online of their various acts of pyro. The emotional message being sent to James is loud and clear, but not everyone agrees it's the right thing to do. Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard took to his Twitter page on Thursday night to express his displeasure with Cavaliers fans' behavior. After watching footage of a Cleveland jersey being set ablaze, Howard had this to say: "Cmon cavs fans don't do that. That man went hard for y'all for 7 yrs. He doin what's best for him burning his jersey is messed up. That's bs. Burning his jersey. That man tried. Wow. [sic]"
Howard then got into a contentious back-and-forth with some angry fans on Twitter. When one fan replied, "Whatever your rich you dont live in Ohio shut up [sic]," Howard shot back with "come shut me up homie. I can say how I feel."
Whether Cavs fans are burning jerseys for catharsis or just reaching for the only form of retaliation available, there's no doubt how many of them are feeling right now: angry as hell.
Warning: The following video contains some explicit language.
When LeBron was asked by ESPN's Michael Wilbon on Thursday night's broadcast if he was surprised that fans were doing this and how he felt about it, James replied: "Well, I can't get involved in that. One thing that I didn't want to do was make an emotional decision. I wanted to do what was best for LeBron James, and what LeBron James is gonna do to make him happy.
"Put the shoe on the other foot. The Cavs would have gotten rid of me at one point. Would my family have burned down the organization? Of course not. This is a business and I had seven great years in Cleveland. I hope the fans understand. Maybe they won't. But I'm going to ultimately be happy with the decision I made and continue to be great."
