Like a shimmering heat induced mirage on a hot horizon, one that promised reward and satisfaction, Miami’s zeroing in on the ’72 Lakers record streak of 33 straight wins had become tantalisingly within reach.
However ultimately the pursuit of this 31 year old record indeed proved a figment of all our imaginations.
To win 27 in a row in these modern times is something of a miracle, to win 28 proved to be unbelievable.
And in breaking the Heat streak, the understrength Chicago Bulls (still without Derrick Rose) showed a way through Miami’s seemingly impregnable wall of skill and confidence.
Like Olivia Newton John once pleaded, the Bulls needed to get physical to beat the Heat and this is exactly what they did.
A few weeks ago I wrote an article that talked about LeBron’s look of normality when displaying his recent stratospheric playing level.
Yesterday we saw a look that was more circumspect.
Twice in the first quarter Chicago’s torero point guard Kirk Hinrich was able to tie up James on his way to the bucket.
Over the previous 27 games these flying open court charges would end in a sky-high highlight play with a LeBron James salute to the crowd and his bench.
But like a annoying playground brat, Heinrich was having none of it, and nor should he.
LeBron looked at Heinrich like a peasant who had held up the Kings feast for no good reason.
These spoiling tactics are nothing new, nor are they particularly attractive.
But employing them might be the only effective way of competing against arguably the best team since Jordan’s Bulls of the 90’s.
LeBron was his usual awesome self, though the Bulls hard men Hinrich and Luol Deng showed how the Miami maestro could be rattled.
It was a blue print followed with great success by the 2011 Dallas Mavericks during the Finals series that saw them steal a title that the Heat thought was theirs to lose, and it was.
And when Carlos Boozer had LeBron called for flagrant one foul deep into the fourth quarter, you sensed that coach Tom Thibodeau’s aggressive game plan was turning the tide in Chicago’s favour.
NBA Teams understand they are not going to consistently stop the tidal wave that is LeBron James.
By transposing that same defensive aggressiveness shown to LeBron onto the rest of the Heat players, you can limit the damage created by the King’s surge.
However if you thought the Heat losing for the first time since February first spells good news for their nearest rivals, I ask you to reconsider.
The truth is that Miami losing this match potentially spells more danger for the league than if they had continued on their merry way.
The fact that the heat (pardon the pun) has been taken off his team in terms of the streak will come as a minor relief for coach Erik Spoelstra.
The slow starts that the Heat has been enduring through the last 10 games would have been a huge point of concern.
The focus on the ‘streak’ was becoming a distraction, one that the players were openly beginning to acknowledge.
James in several interviews had refused to espouse the line of ‘we don’t take notice of streaks’ to admit that he knew the significance of what was happening and what the record was.
Spoelstra will now be able to reorganise a team that many were beginning to see as unbeatable and will allow him to reiterate and work on their potential fallibilities.
The rest of the league will hope Chicago showed up a few of these potential weaknesses and lit a path to possible victories against the NBA champions.
They will also hope it has not refocused a complacent giant.
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