Miami will put on the Heat against the Nets

This first round best-of-seven series between the Heat and the Bulls was a series of pure emotion.

We had seen plenty of emotion in this basketball series, but it was always the wrong kind. One Miami player angrily hurling his mouthpiece toward a referee. Another Miami player tackling a Chicago Bull with a dirty, frustrated shoulder. Two other Miami teammates screaming curses at each other in a very public way. The rage gurgled in a way that everyone kept getting scalded.

So when Shaquille O'Neal threw a perfect pass to Gary Payton under the basket in Thursday's first quarter, and Payton fumbled the easy points clumsily out of bounds, the look that swept across O'Neal's face was not what you might have expected.

A smile. It had been too long since we had seen one of those.

Miami ended Chicago's season and breathed joyous life into its own with a 113-96 blowout here in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

The assignment gets more difficult from here, the Heat advancing to meet the New Jersey Nets of Jason Kidd and Vince Carter in a second-round series that begins next week, but it was nice to see the Heat realize that these are games and games are supposed to be fun.

So there was Payton, ripped nationally for getting into an argument with beloved Dwyane Wade during Game 4, going around and hugging each of his teammates just before tip-off, Wade included.

And there were Jason Williams and Alonzo Mourning and Antoine Walker, all on the bench, getting up and thundering onto the court with child-like enthusiasm during play to applaud another basket that silenced Chicago's upset-minded crowd.

A fist does not relax well, but Miami seemed to on Thursday. And the poor Bulls had to feel, as wave after wave hit them, like they were trying to keep back the ocean with their bare hands. Miami took joy in administering the beating.

''We figured it out,'' Payton said afterward. ''Be carefree. We had a meeting about it in the morning. Too many mean faces in here. We weren't even smiling when we were winning. We were a little bit tense, listening to the criticism. You are supposed to enjoy this. We love this game. So we played.''

[Shaquille O’Neal and the rest of the Miami Heat are finding life in the post-season a little too difficult than expected. Can Miami get it together just in time for the New Jersey Nets? Bet on NINE.com today.]