| Out like the fat kid in dodgeball. |
It was a good series, conceptually. It's not like any of the individual games were any good or even competitive. This is only the second time in NBA history that all seven games in a series were decided by at least ten points.
Just like they did in exactly three of the previous six games, the Heat just didn't show up Sunday. It got behind early and never got back. In the second half, the deficit got as low as 11.
This series was like the opposite of the Sopranos ending. Where that was all suspense, suspense, suspense, then nothing, this was all nothing, nothing, nothing, then... still no suspense.
Wade, the seventh league scoring champion to miss out on the second round of the playoffs in the past eight years, was not discouraged after the game:
"I'm very encouraged by this season," Wade said. "The team that won 15 games last year came back to win 43 games this year and took Atlanta to seven games in the playoffs. We've got something to build on."
And of course, he's right -- the Heat certainly has a ton of young talent. And all the Hawks have to look forward to is a solid beatdown at the hands of one LeBron James. But still, after a long, exciting year, you can't help but feel like maybe Wade might feel a little relieved to have this season over. Now he's free to hang in the Canadian yacht.
It's just a shame the season had to end this way. In the very least, maybe we could have had some Journey.
