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The first effort was both unsuccessful and very successful at the same time. http://ift.tt/1naOSIZ David Mainiero

Confidence in the Heat's Ability to Make History

So, I was clearly wrong about the Heat winning in 6 or less. The deck is stacked against them right now, and they haven't oozed the confidence that they have in the past. However, San Antonio knows it would be a grave mistake to think they have this in the bag. They are drawing on last year's experience and reliving the Ray Allen shot over and over again to motivate themselves.

If any team in history has the talent to come back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals, it is this Miami Heat team. Some incredible performances from Wade, LeBron, and Bosh can really make things happen. The Spurs have had the benefit of those incredible performances in Games 3 and 4.

Winning tonight will be huge for the Heat's confidence. They will feel great coming home and needing to win to get to a Game 7 to determine the fate of their three-peat. The prospects of beating San Antonio three consecutive games and twice on the road are really slim, but this team has relied on sheer talent to win games and to dig deep and I don't expect them to crumble.

As much as it has pained me to watch the Heat get destroyed over the past two games, I have kept watching until the very last minute because I know how quickly they can turn things around for the better. That's the joy of watching this Heat team. They can do anything. I hate to quote Kevin Garnett, but "anything is possible."

Tips for Getting a Job After College

If you have recently graduated and are finally getting over the post-college depression (at least, temporarily), you are probably in the midst of or gearing up for making your job search a full time job. This can be a really stressful time, especially if you're relying on the income to support yourself. If you're not, it's still stressful, but you have a little bit of a cushion and some flexibility to ensure that you take a job that will help you build relevant skills, advance your career goals, and pay you a reasonable salary for someone with your qualifications. In either case, there are a couple tips that can help you propel yourself into a successful entry-level position.

Hopefully, you have worked hard to credential yourself and give yourself marketable skills so that you are well-equipped at this stage of the game. But, the following tips apply to pretty much anyone in any situation after college trying to find a job:

1. Don't limit yourself to just one field based on your academic interests in college or your major - most people literally have no clue what they want to do with their lives, and there isn't anything wrong with that. In fact, there's a certain maturity-level required in admitting that fact to yourself and being open to the world of opportunities out there. While there are certain instances in which you'll want to keep that attitude close to the vest, it's important that you understand that you can't have full control over your career path in almost any circumstance, let alone this early in your life. A lot of opportunities will come and go based on who you know, what you do, and how well you do it. You may certainly be able to put yourself in relatively better or worse positions, but you can't control the future and the happenstance by which certain appealing opportunities arise. The most important thing you can do is make sure you are building some marketable skills that are either directly in a field you're interested in or are easily translatable to other fields that you might want to pursue work in later on in your career. 

2. Be persistent - If you talked to a company a month or two before graduation that told you they wouldn't be hiring until mid-summer, that is not a ticket for you to sit around and wait until then. As soon as you graduate, you should be in contact with people there finding out who you can meet to talk about the industry or that company in particular, and what you can do to make yourself a more attractive candidate for the job when the applications become available and hiring decisions start to be made. There are definitely ways to be persistent without being annoying. One of my good friends got an internship in college by calling the HR woman in charge of the hiring process every week and checking in about possible availabilities in the company; one day, she called him and said that someone had dropped out last minute and that he was the first one she thought of to fill the spot. His persistence paid off, and he ended up at a job he otherwise would never have been able to get at that stage in his career. 

3. Make sure your resume and cover letter is perfect and both are tailored to the job for which you applying - This is especially important if you are applying to jobs in multiple industries. You'll want to make sure that your resume accentuates different parts of your background and experiences in order to maximize your prospects for success both in getting an interview and in succeeding in successive interview rounds beyond that. Resumes are dialogues, not monologues; they should be adapted based on each unique situation. If you can't bother to change it, and can't bother to tailor your cover letters to companies (without any glaring errors or typos), then you don't deserve a job there. That's the easiest way for them to toss out your application. What does it say about your work ethic if you can't manage to make your application materials flawless when you're unemployed and sitting at home? 

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Getting into a great law school is more important than ever with a dwindling job market, but we're here to help!

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LeBron Will Rise to the Task

Tonight, after all the backlash against LeBron, he's going to do what he always does when his back is against the wall and have a legendary performance. I don't expect it to quite reach Game 6 Boston levels, but he is going to be super-aggressive (and hopefully, super-hydrated as well) and really make his mark on this game. It should be a close game, but I think Miami will get the much-coveted split tonight. In the 2-2-1-1-1 format that the NBA finally switched back to for the Finals, home court advantage is even more important. Miami really won't want to go home in a 2-0 hole, where the Spurs can steal a close game and then come home for Game 5 to finish them off. Consequently, you can expect the Big Three to be incredibly aggressive tonight on defense. They're going to try to smother Danny Green, and make sure they're chasing him off the line at all time. While it would be nice if Bosh could play better defense on Duncan, I think the Heat are content to let him get his 25-10 stats as long as the three point shooters are kept in check and Parker isn't going nuts creating easy dump-offs after his drives.

Tonight's game should be a tight one because the Spurs don't often get complacent (especially after last year's Finals debacle for them) like the Heat are prone to do when their backs aren't against the wall. But, I expect Miami to snag a game tonight and win Game 3 on an emotionally-charged home court in a couple days.

With no Lance Stephenson antics, no A/C failures, and no other silly distractions from the great basketball being played, the rest of this series should be exactly what it has been billed as...a hotly (no pun intended) contested match-up of two NBA teams who will already be known as some of the best teams in league history.

Side Note: We're going to have a Super Mario Chalmers sighting. Less turnovers, more high-arcing threes.

Cramps and Stupid Tweets

Twitter was ablaze with baseless hatred and vitriol spewed toward LeBron, as usual, after last night's sweltering heat and resultant cramps. LeBron has had problems with cramps in the past, such as during the game in the 2012 Finals against OKC. If you remember that, you'll think of LeBron limping back onto the court and nailing a dagger three. If you don't, you might want to watch it again:



Of course, no one mentions this when they talk about LeBron not having grit and not fighting through pain. You want to compare other guys limping over and taking free throws (which don't require jumping, or moving, by the way) while hurt, but not compare LeBron to himself two years ago. Trust me, if there was any way his body would let him continue, he would have. In fact, he already was doing so after several cramps earlier in the game. He has quadriceps the size of a horse's and when they fail and start uncontrollably spasm-ing, it's not fun. This isn't an issue of playing through pain; it's an issue of simply not being able to continue in a way that helps his team. Risking further injury in that ridiculous environment when he was clearly dehydrated and exhausted would not have been heroic. It would have been idiotic. Spoelstra and the training staff instantly told him he could not continue; otherwise, he would have been on the floor stretching it out, pounding Gatorade, and taking potassium pills or other sources of electrolytes.

Plain and simple, the Heat should have won Game 1. This isn't to say they definitely would have, but they dominated the game up through that point, and things only changed when LeBron came out. Let's answer a couple common criticisms from last night, through the lens of dumb trolling tweets:

1. Kobe injury comparisons -

Yes, Kobe shot free throws after tearing his Achilles. Not a huge deal; if LeBron needed to do that, he definitely could have and would have. He's shot free throws with his left hand before. He has played through pain and cramps before, which by the way, are completely different. Did he need to be carried off the court? Probably not. But, his teammates didn't know what was wrong necessarily and there is no badge of honor associated with walking off the court on your own volition when you could risk further injury with a cramping and spasming muscle. It's just stupid. If you want to talk about something stupid, let's talk about Paul Pierce's dramatic return from the locker room in a wheelchair.

Maybe Lebron should watch Kobe shoot two free throws and walk off the court with a torn Achilles before he gets carried off the court again
— Josh Mobley (@Josh_Mobley) June 6, 2014

The bottom line here is that the comparison is stupid. Here's a comparison: Kobe sat out this season. LeBron is in the Finals, again.

2. "The heat affected both teams equally."

This heat analyst is a jackass. Both teams played with the AC off lmao wtf. You act like the spurs had AC
— Persian Amir (@AmirLakersFan24) June 6, 2014

Well, thank you for your in-depth analysis! The simple fact for anyone who knows anything about basketball is that the Spurs are much deeper team and that is their strength. Popovich plays rotations just like the one he played in Game 1 that rest his Big Three and rely on the supporting cast to do the rest. The Heat were constructed as a top-heavy team that relies primarily on heavy minutes and contributions from Wade, James, and Bosh. They got that contribution, but only for 33 minutes.

3. Michael Jordan played in the "flu" game and other people have played injured.

Yes, Jordan's flu game was impressive. Do I think LeBron could have done it given the opportunity? Definitely. How many games has LeBron missed for injury or illness that were not preventive maintenance in the past few season? Not many. Definitely less than Jordan. DEFINITELY less than Kobe.

Jordan played a game with the flu. Isaiah played a game with one leg. Magic played games with HIV. But LeBron can't play with a cramp? Ok
— Hall of Fame (@HOFSportsTalk) June 6, 2014

LeBron has played through cramps before, and done so in a meaningful way to win a game in the Finals...don't forget that. He also frequently rolls his ankle or hurts his back or a number of other ailments and plays through it without any complaint. He is the most durable player in the league and has proven his grit time and time again.

Here's him playing through back pain:

          Here's him dropping 33 on the Pacers after a bad ankle sprain:

Here's him coming back from the same injury (in air-conditioning this time) to spark the rally to win a Playoff game this year:

 Almost forgot this one...here's him dropping 61 on the Bobcats with a broken nose:

 And, his own flu game...granted, much less important:

 

You know what's better than playing through pain and other circumstances? Being superhuman, never missing games, and almost never getting hurt. That's what LeBron gives you. And, when he does get hurt, he plays through it.

4. "LeBron cramped up, but no one else did."

@NBA why did lebron cramp, but no one else? #therealquestion
— Mark Shadden (@MarkShadden1) June 6, 2014

Here's a suggestion why that might be the case...he is more athletic, relies on that athleticism for his game, and uses it more than any other player on the floor. He's not Mr. Fundamental like Duncan...he does absolutely EVERYTHING on both sides of the ball. Leads the team in assists, points, and rebounds on almost any given night while being their best defensive player. He guards Parker, Green, Leonard, and Duncan. He is guarded by Diaw and Leonard. I think it's fair to say he exerts a considerable amount more energy than anyone on the floor. I'm sure if you measured how many calories he was burning out there, he would be putting everyone else to shame just like he does by any other statistical measure. There are no excuses for him, and he isn't looking for any. The Heat still could have won, but this just put another stumbling block in their way (and a big one). The hate he gets for it is crazy.

You know what LeBron James never did? Leave the sport of basketball in his prime to play another sport that he was pretty terrible at. Jordan is celebrated for that, but if LeBron went off to play football for a year (which he would instantly be a Pro-Bowl caliber player at), he would be absolutely vilified for it...let alone if he went to play minor league baseball. I don't mean this to criticize Jordan, but merely to draw a comparison between the type of media and Internet criticism that LeBron is subjected to. Yes, he has brought some of it upon himself by opening up his life to the media and being a playful personality. When you have your own app about you, you're kind of asking for it.

The simple fact is that LeBron gets way too much criticism, and it's just stupid. He's the best basketball player in the world right now, and he is making a legitimate run at being the best ever. You said he's not clutch? You've already been proven wrong. (Yes, he did have a period where everyone saying he wasn't clutch became a self-fulfilling prophecy and made him less clutch; that period is over.) Yes, he passes sometimes (to wide-open, great shooters) when he should just selfishly assert his own dominance. That's better than missing on a forced shot like Kobe is so fond of doing.










Anyone talking about his cramps has never played a sport in their life, or at least hasn't played it hard enough to know what a cramp feels like. It's a muscular shut-down accompanied by intense fleeting pain that you wish would be over, but won't end.

Well, that's the end of my LeBron James defense for the day. Heat in 6, still. Game 1 road win would have just been a dagger, and it's a shame the Heat didn't grab it.