I know a good-natured battle between two good sports is the way it's supposed to be, but I want to know if things will get a little nasty at all in this series. So far, Shaq is singing the praises of Dirk, is failing to talk trash about Erick Dampier, Josh Howard is kind of backing off his "Dwyane can't shoot" comment, and everybody seems to love everybody. That's just unnatural. I want someone to get mad (my money's on Antoine. He's just mad at everybody most of the time), to make things more interesting.
So the game is finally here, and I keep getting asked who of the Heat's role players will be the X-factor. I think there will be no such thing. If Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal can't dominate, then it'll be tough for the role players to do anything of significance. By that I mean, if Dwyane and Shaq aren't playing at their playoff best, then it doesn't matter what Antoine or Gary or Jason do, because it won't be enough. I think Avery Johnson's decisions will have a lot to do on how this series turns out.
Biggest day in Heat history is here. Any favorite memories prior to the Shaq-Wade era?
I grew up in Miami, so I vividly remember Glen Rice scoring 56 on the Magic in an afternoon weekend game against the Magic. I was also a big fan of Steve Smith's game, so anytime he had a big game, it was fun to watch. I also remember giggling when Harold Miner would break his guy off the dribble and do something nasty. I'm not sure if I was laughing because I thought he could be great, or because it was funny how such a big bust could still show flashes of brilliance.
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