The Miami Heat have not played a single regular-season game yet. They already have a fusion. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo have compared themselves to Son Goku and Vegeta, the two Dragon Ball Z characters, and recreated the show’s pose to illustrate their partnership.
Giannis arrives after 13 years in Milwaukee. With him, Miami are title contenders again, at least on paper. He described his new teammate in terms of fire: “At the end of the day, it’s like fighting fire with fire,” he said of their daily battles in practice.
Bam Adebayo, the captain, answered in kind: “That’s what great players do: they push each other to get better.”
A fusion. Two guys, one pose. And where’s the dark? Me, I do that on a Saturday at half past eight: the caretaker switches off half the lights, the two school-fête spotlights cross at centre court, a two-second blank, [transformation jingle, cut by me], “Mesdames et messieurs, dames en heren… the captain’s number… and the new arrival… FUSION!” And the sound system makes its little sound-system noise, the one that always has an opinion. The chairman’s nephew, in the dinosaur costume, does the pose in the middle. It’s got nothing to do with Dragon Ball, but we had it lying around.
The captain also said he is ready to make sacrifices every day if it helps the team win. The first regular-season game is still to come.
The richest league in the world has the best entrance of the year, and no jingle. Just saying. I’ve already cut the jingle.
It’s true, we checked: Basket USA.
