Tora! Tora! Tora!

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve".

That statement is attributed to Japanese Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor back in 1941.

With all due respect to the "day that shall live in infamy", those same words might aptly be applied to the Chicago Bulls waltzing into Miami and winning the opening game of their playoff series with the Heat. After Miami had swept Milwaukee in the first round of playoffs, they had some time off waiting to see who their next opponent would be. The Bulls finally closed out the Brooklyn Nets to qualify. Perhaps Miami dozed a bit in the interim.

Historians generally agree that it took the US a couple years to fully gear up for all-out warfare, but once it did, Japan was in a heap of trouble. It only took the Miami Heat a one game wake-up call. Now I fear Chicago, with or without Derrick Rose, is about to experience some of that terrible resolve as well. They definitely woke up the sleeping giant in Miami, and he's pissed.

Though the final score of Game 2 was 115-78, a whopping 37 point margin, it could have been a lot worse. Miami was ahead by almost 50 while the game was still only in the 3rd quarter. This was not just a convincing victory. It was a flat-out beatdown. A rout. When's the last time anybody heard of a team yanking it's starters and emptying the bench, in a playoff game, no less, shortly after the 4th quarter started? The entire quarter was nothing but "garbage time" to the Heat.

After the US jumped in and went all-out, WWII was over in about 3 and a half years. Japan surrendered unconditionally. The Chicago Bulls likely won't surrender under the same terms, but there can be no doubt of who's going to win this war with Miami. It will likely take a little over a week -- no nukes required -- unless one counts Lebron and Dwyane -- and entail far less casualties.

Yes, back in the day, Japan had a choice and made the wrong one, while the Chicago Bulls were obligated to start this NBA playoff war. But make no mistake. The basketball army representing Obama's home town is going down. Hard. The other guys just have too much firepower.

Yamamoto knew what he was talking about.

Bad things usually happen when one wakes up a sleeping giant by slapping him.