Now we have a New York NBA series. True, no one called anybody “fugazy” and there wasn’t a single guarantee heard anywhere. But finally words flung back and forth.
Well, sort of. Words went one way, at least.
After the Nets manhandled the Heat on Saturday, slicing Miami’s lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals to 2-1, Brooklyn’s Paul Pierce made a point.
The Nets had sent the Heat a message: “We wanted to show them we’re not scared of them.”
It would have been so much better if he called the Heat “fugazy,” but you take what you can get. LeBron James would not get drawn into a feud Sunday at Baruch College in Manhattan after Heat practice.
“Why should there be a fear factor? It’s just basketball. We’re not trying to win a war here, it’s just basketball. We’re all grown men. Who cares about who’s fearing who?” James said. “We don’t get into that. We’ve never been a team to talk. We’ve never been a bulletin-board team. We just want to play the game the right way and give ourselves a good chance to win.”
So the Heat spoke more about what they must do Monday in Game 4, which is an awful lot of stuff on both ends of the floor that they didn’t do in Game 3. The Nets packed inside while the Heat took jumpers and missed on one end. The Nets moved the ball precisely, found 3-point shooters and didn’t miss much on the other.
“You have to be honest with the film, first of all. And that was our worst performance of the series,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s not just the effort, the urgency, it’s also the detail. … The defeat was complete.”
Yeah, but did you hear? The Nets aren’t afraid of you and your two title rings. What do you think of that?
“I’m not in their locker room,” Dwyane Wade said. “We go out there and compete. No matter. You believe, you don’t believe.
“We’re just trying to win four games by any means necessary.”
At the end of Game 3, Pierce and James exchanged a few words. James declined to discuss the subject matter.
“Words don’t win the game. You’ve got to go out and play,” James said. “He did [say something]. I’ll leave it there. He decides to take it elsewhere. I leave it right there on the court.
“You guys should know Paul by now. I don’t want [to respond]. It’s not how I play the game. I don’t play the game by getting into words and [getting things] on the bulletin board. I’m just trying to win the series,” James said. “It’s not about what Paul has to say. I really don’t care what Paul has to say. We don’t really get involved in that.”