Making Wizards disappear a team effort

This one is for all the doubters. For all the media pundits that have continuously viewed this Heat team as a two-man show and not good enough to excel at this level. And for all the haters - like Hubie Brown who could not hide at all his cheerleading on ABC for the Washington Wizards and Tom Friend of ESPN.com fame (if there is such a thing). Count this game 4 win as a bitch-slap of righteousness from the Miami Heat.

Thanks for coming out, but you "best" recognize what this team is about.

Let's take a detailed look at the biggest plays of Game 4 and, more importantly, who was creating them.

What was the biggest play of game 4, you may ask? Quite easily, the three nailed by Eddie Jones in the 4th quarter to put the Heat up 97-95. Dwyane Wade, in the midst of probably the quietest 42 point night ever, dished out a pass that seem less intended for an assist and more for a bail out from his teammate. All Eddie did was step back and pop a three to make everyone in Washington get indigestion.

But it wasn't just the shot, the timing or the theatre that made this a huge play for the Heat. Or as Shaq might put it, the 'hugestest'. It was what happened next.

This shot allowed Stan Van Gundy to do what any good coach does in this league - create and anticipate with matchups. All he did was trot Zo out there to play center on the next offensive play for the Wizards. And all Zo did - plagued by foul trouble from some very quarrelsome refs - was block the biggest shot of the game and probably of the Heat's playoff run thus far. Blocked it so masterfully, that the ball ended up falling back on its shooter, Larry Hughes, who could only watch it roll down his chest and off of him as he fell out of bounds.

In disbelief and among a distant cry of victory the Wizards season came to an end. Denied by a much better and more determined team.

You see, all you 'haters' and doubters out there - it takes a team to win a championship. The Heat may have begun to demonstrate they were just that with Shaq sitting these past two games - the Big Fella turning into the Big Adornment for the time being. But they also showed that they are a team of great players and that there is a plan at work here. There is chemistry mixed with execution and great coaching. All the elements are in place.

It wasn't Wade saving the day by himself, but the quiet and steady work of Eddie Jones that built this win. It was the small contributions of a frustrated and shackled Mourning that shut this game down in the end. It was the precise and deadly delivery of threes from Damon Jones that pushed this series towards a sweep.

And we still haven't even talked about Haslem's timely rebounding or Dooling's ridiculous field goal percentage and energy off the bench.

This is a team. It took a team to win and it continues to demonstrate it is a team to the finish. The Wizards, to their credit, didn't lay down and roll over for Miami after losing game 3. They came out and took it to the Heat and tried to take at least one game from them. But it was to no avail. The Heat could have very easily took the night off and saved it for game 5. They didn't. They wanted to end the series now. And they did.

And they did it as a team.