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"  Scott Raab, Esquire writer-at-large, is now writing about sports for Esquire.com all week long. Follow his posts here That was a terrific basketball game last night. It had almost everything I want from a good story \u2013 vivid characters in conflict, complex action, a miserable ending, and lingering mystery: Dwyane Wade&amp;#039;s knee. When he plays poorly, his knee is injured; if not \u2013 and he played a superb game \u2013 his knee is tip-top, and nobody says boo about it.  LeBron James had exactly the same injury during his last playoff series as a Cavalier, in 2010, except that it was to his elbow. He&amp;#039;d alternate great and shabby performances, and at the podium after the stinkers, he&amp;#039;d lead off by telling the press &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m not going to use the elbow as an excuse,&amp;quot; making clear thereby that his elbow \u2013 not the roaring in his ears or the apple in his throat -- was to blame.  The other mystery involves Heat coach Erik Spoelstra&amp;#039;s curious decision to leave his starters in after the Spurs have conceded the outcome and pulled theirs off the floor. He&amp;#039;s done it in both Miami wins, and I have no idea why. Is it to let them pad their stats? Is it some cruel tactic designed to humble the opposition? Considering the risk of fatigue or injury, the obvious answer is stupidity; he is, after all, the same yutz who thought starting Mike Miller last night was a fine idea.  Thanks to the performance of the Heat&amp;#039;s big three \u2013 including, at last, Chris Bosh, the Curly Joe Besser of the bunch -- Miller&amp;#039;s empty minutes didn&amp;#039;t matter in the end. Miami even managed to shut down titanic Tiago Splitter, who attempted three shots. I believe that each of them was blocked -- the last one, inadvertently, by the youth who mops the players&amp;#039; sweat off the court. It&amp;#039;s astonishing, and sad, that in the wake of LeBron&amp;#039;s Game 2 block on him \u2013 the greatest blocked shot in the history of the sport \u2013 Splitter has been transformed from a panther in shorts into such a feckless oaf, but such is the power of King James&amp;#039; mojo. THE MISSION OF RAABID: By Scott Raab I believe that sports are more vital to human nature \u2013 and often vastly richer and more exciting than \u2013 than other performing arts, revealing truths fundamental to our individual lives and collective cultural constructs, truths beyond the reach of safer, less sweaty efforts to express and inspire the soul, with the possible exception of line dancing. I believe sports do this naturally because, unlike &amp;quot;serious&amp;quot; artistic endeavors, they are not by nature exercises in social or intellectual elitism or the pursuit of false purity, with the possible exception of polo and \u2013 if it were a sport rather than a game \u2013 golf.  I believe that writing is a mission, and writing about sports is a holy mission. I believe that flags fly forever. I have to: I&amp;#039;m from Cleveland. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/sports/news/a23063/dwyane-wade-knee/>