Riley Wins Again: What He Knew and Why It Worked

Pat Riley is winning again.
Not basketball games. Mind games.
He took our doubts in stride, stayed faithful to the offseason amendments that he had made to the Miami Heat and never once buckled under all the questions regarding his judgment.
He stayed quiet and, ultimately, made us look like fools.Pat Riley is winning again.
Not basketball games. Mind games.
He took our doubts in stride, stayed faithful to the offseason amendments that he had made to the Miami Heat and never once buckled under all the questions regarding his judgment.
He stayed quiet and, ultimately, made us look like fools.
He outsmarted us. He saw a much bigger picture at stake. While we as sports fans, the media and society saw a potentially disruptive, gross bunch of collected players, he saw purple and gold.
He saw what the Lakers of the `80s needed to do to defeat the Boston Celtics.
Then, he organized a similar outline regarding how the Miami Heat needed to defeat the Detroit Pistons.
Voila. What he sought is what he got.
With his Kareem and Magic, so to speak, already in place, Riley went after more in the offseason.
More scoring. More defense. More shooting. More passing.
No longer would role players such as the Jones’ (Damon and Eddie) duo suffice. No longer would Miami be needing the services of Keyon Dooling.
More scoring. Antoine Walker.
More defense. Gary Payton.
More shooting. James Posey.
More passing. Jason Williams.
Walker now lends his hand with 14 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in the playoffs. Payton is a more than capable backup point guard, averaging 7.5 points but does not even accumulate one turnover in his 25 minutes on the floor (0.71).
Posey is Miami’s long-range specialist who became that out of, seemingly, nowhere. Known as a slasher for most of his career, Posey connects on a team-high 44% of his 3-pointers. He’s also one of the more underrated perimeter defenders of the game.
Williams has had a so-so playoff performance so far (24% on 3-pointers, only 3.4 assists) but the Heat have faith he’ll return to his 2005-06 numbers of 37% trey shooting and a 2.87 assist/turnover ratio.
Add these respective numbers and you have what last year’s supporting cast failed to provide.
Consistent shooting. Aggressiveness on the boards. Players who are more than willing to step up when the spotlight is upon them.
Remember earlier this season when Walker screamed violently at Williams for not cutting on a particular offensive play? Of course you do, because it was all over ESPN as these so-called basketball “experts” wanted to reinforce their notions that Miami would crumble and fall due to such potential incohesiveness on the roster.
Riley even went as far as to tease us in what was only a subtle mock of our “intelligence.” The Heat stood at 17-13 after 30 games and it was assumed on sports shows and in publications alike that the team was a disaster.
Or, to put it bluntly, “what was Riles thinking?”
Riley endured that criticism. He survived throught the questions of his basketball mind. “This isn’the `80s anymore”, writers said.
He answered questions, never once raised his voice and had a smirking grin all along.
Simply because he knew.
He knew what others didn’t. “Oh, Chicago’s gonna give them hell.”
No. They gave the Heat a competitive series, but not “hell.”
“New Jersey’s going to win in 5, maybe 6 if Miami gets lucky.”
Wrong again. The team that people labeled as incompetent defensively halted the high-speed efforts of Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson. Though Vince Carter had his way, they stopped him when it mattered most.
“Ah, um, well, um, yeah, well Miami now has to face a real team in Detroit. Say goodbye, Heat fans.”
The last I read was a 3-1 series lead, favoring Miami.
The last I saw was Rasheed Wallace neglecting a timeout huddle, indicating the fact that possibly Miami has gotten into Detroit’s heads’ a little bit.
Indicating the fact that, maybe, Miami is winning these mind games; these intellectual contests of war which do not test athleticism or speed but judges strength and will.
The same games that have tested, not our intelligence and perception, but our faith and hope.
The same games that Riley has won and we have so miserably failed.