Miami Heat team president, Pat Riley, set the sports world ablaze with his recent comments. He needs not to clarify though, you should pay attention.
The Miami Heat didn’t win the NBA Finals. The Los Angeles Lakers won it fair and square.
However, to say that the Miami Heat weren’t fully healthy or all the way together, isn’t a knock on them and what they did. It’s the absolute truth.
That’s what really puzzles me about the whole thing that was started as a result of recent Pat Riley comments. He essentially said that this title deserves an “asterisk”.
That was all it took. The sports world, the sports media world, and social media had been ignited.
All of the uproars eventually led to this. Here was Riley’s comment on the uproar caused by the misconstrued comment.
"“The asterisk is next to the Heat’s name, not the Lakers,” Riley said in a statement. “Their title is legitimate. Our loss has an asterisk [next] to it. The Lakers were the better team. Period.”"
As we stated in our piece detailing the comment on Sunday and as Riley has so elegantly clarified, it had nothing to do with the Lakers though or the notion that this trophy and title isn’t as valuable as others. It had everything to do with the Miami Heat, how they should feel about it all, and how it should motivate them.
For everyone that wants to be tight over the comment, looking at you Terrence Ross, then you may not only want to pay closer attention or fully comprehend what was actually said, but furthermore, but you might want to be of a certain ilk before you call yourself “checking” a legend.
Pat Riley is one of the pillars of the NBA. So, as stated and first off, before you call yourself calling him out, make sure the respect that you think is on your name is actually there.
Secondly, be sure that what you are reacting to or responding to is actually what you think it is. Headlines can be confusing… or downright meant to mislead you, it’s the name of the game.
Trust me. I know.
Even if he is wrong or if you do take issue with something he’s said though, he’s earned the right to do so. He helped build this whole thing.
All in all, the great Pat Riley, the Godfather of the Miami Heat, and the NBA, doesn’t need to ever clarify himself when he says something. You need to pay closer attention.