Picks 'n Pops: Annoying Heat, clutch players, and a comical ejection

MIAMI -- Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because I failed the South Beach fitness inspection and I'm stuck in my hotel for a while.

- Don’t worry. Luke Kornet has been upgraded to probable for Game 3, so everything is going to be just fine. 

- Can Miami just go ahead and rebuild already so we don’t have to deal with their unpredictable, undead basketball magic? 

- I hope the Celtics don’t just chalk Game 2 up to strictly shooting variance. I don’t think they will, but playing the same way and expecting to win just because Miami probably won’t hit 50% of their 3-pointers again is a great way to ensure Miami is comfortable enough to hit a bunch of 3-pointers again. 

- Miami’s biggest strength is that they are on the same page with one of the best coaches in the game. When a team has it all working collectively like that, they can overcome a lot talent-wise. It lets them get creative. 

“They make us think,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “They do this on one possession and do another thing on another possession and then they switch and then they don’t. That can freeze you a little bit, because you start to think a little bit, then you rush a little bit into the next action. It’s this game they play, the game in the game, and they’re good at that, so you have to give them credit. But we’ll see going forward.”

The Celtics seem pretty confident heading into Game 3, and they should be. They're the better team. But they're going to have to work hard to break through and get someone on that Heat team out of position. 

- Denver is just toying with the Lakers. I’d say it was cruel if it wasn’t fun to watch.

- The Lakers are lucky the bubble happened. If LeBron James and Anthony Davis didn’t get a couple of months to rest their injuries, this entire run would have been a disaster for Los Angeles. 

- Amazon Prime is on the verge of a major NBA broadcast rights deal. It’s getting harder and harder to watch your favorite team. However, it’ll be very convenient to watch a game while ordering socks and paper towels during the commercial break.

- This has the potential to be so bad that it’s good

If I was Doc Rivers, I’d be pretty happy to be played by Laurence Fishburne. I'm not that lucky. If they make a Celtics movie, Vin Diesel is going to have to get fat for a role again. 

- It's funny to see JD Davison and Drew Peterson get seats in the stands for these playoff games. They can’t be on the bench because they're two-way players, so they have to sit somewhere. But putting them next to a couple of dudes crushing Modelo tall boys is amusing. 

- I don’t care how old they are, it’s amazing to see these guys together in the same place. 

I guess this feeling explains why the Rolling Stones still tour.

- Every time I’m ready to give Joel Embiid full credit for what he’s doing on the floor, he does something (or things) that reminds me he might be the biggest baby in the NBA. 

- How the hell is the winner of the NBA’s Clutch Player award on a team that didn’t make the playoffs? 

- The NFL Draft is fun, but we all know the real excitement doesn’t start until day 19. 

- I don’t understand why the officiating changes so drastically in the NBA from the start of the season to the playoffs. Why does the league want two versions of the sport? If the edict is to let them play, then let them play for 82 games. If you’re going to call things, like the Porzingis swing-through move, all season, then call them in the playoffs. 

I don’t really care which way they go with it, but don’t let players build up habits and expectations and then rip them away. It’s like dating someone who says they love a certain food and music, and then after you get married they don’t want to go to that restaurant or those concerts anymore. Which is it?

- Aaron Boone getting tossed because a fan yelled something is the highest form of baseball comedy. 

You can scream about NBA officials all you want, but MLB umpires are the absolute worst and I’ll die on that hill. You can Tony Brother me all you want, but as long as Angel Hernandez has a job, I’m right. 

- I think Sam Hauser can play more in this series.

- The OKC Thunder looked a little shook by the moment in Game 1 against New Orleans. But just like everything else with that team, they matured much more quickly than I expected. 

- Emma Stone says she would like to be called by her real name, Emily. I would also like to be called by my real name from now on: Prince Rogers Karalis

- Here’s this week’s Bing AI-Generated image: It’s been a fun couple of days in Boston, hasn’t it?

- Here’s my latest podcast, if you’re bored.