
One of the many reasons we’re eager to see Heroball vanish is the assumption that every final possession of a tight NBA game has little to nothing to do with defense whatsoever; a player misses or makes a shot, in a Heroball world, entirely on his own gumption, guile, or grit, and the teams in the other jerseys, in a narrative sense, might as well not be there at all. A reason it’s going to take Heroball a while to go away is because players still believe in it. Witness Dwyane Wade, after missing a three-pointer that would have won Game 4 for Miami last night, who said afterwards it was “a 5o-5o shot.” Smart ESPN reporter Tom Haberstroh cleared his throat and pointed out — ahem — that it was actually a “29-71 shot.” That’s amusing. Anyway, the Heat and Celtics are now tied 2-2, just like the Western Conference Finals, and the Heat are looking scared again. Chris Bosh might be back for Game 5 on Tuesday, but at this point, none of these supposed superstars look as good as Rajon Rondo anyway. This is getting fun.