Well what can I say, all of the media outlets pretty much have this Heat team extra-covered, who the hell cares what I think?

Wade looked good in his return, the Knicks were hitting outside J’s all night but Miami was clearly the better team. Miami hung around and kept attacking. Any other night and NY might run away with this on some 1996 Heat/Bulls Rex Chapman-like post-trade shenanigans but this is 2012, these are the Heat, and we will shove a goddamn alley-oop up your ass faster than you can say Knickerbocker when our guys are on their game.

Noted: Haslem looked good with the jumpshot tonight and Cole has become a 1-man wrecking crew, attacking non-stop for some sweet drives to the hoop. I like how Wade attacked with his jumpshot tonight, the second game will be much more telling on how ready Wade really is.

..yes it was a classic eastcoast style game. Defensive, gritty, melancholic, grey…

There was grace in the end though as Bosh and Bron’s stepped up to “do what they gotta do, mang…”* and put their signatures on this thing in cohesion.

Chalmers, great game… everyone in Miami played their roles…playmaking was there, Detroit hung around with guys like Daye shooting well. He and Miller went toe-to-toe on at least 1 or 2 sequences.

Curry looked sluggish tonight though, that surprised me. Anyways, Daye choked in the clutch to make it interesting.

And  then the gayest quotables ever courtesy of Sun-sentinel:

“We looked up at each other at the end of the third quarter and we both knew he wasn’t coming out,” Spoelstra said.

“We did lock eyes,” James said.

“LeBron was able to attack and knock down his free throws,” Spoelstra said.

“We told him he’s two-way player and he has to prove it,” Spoelstra said.

“It was a gusty win,” Spoelstra said. “It doesn’t matter how you get there.

“In the moment of truth, we were able to get a couple of consecutive stops.”

*Al Pacino ‘Scarface’ style accent

The Cavs played Miami hard. They stayed in it and made Miami work for the win. On another night they might have caught Miami in a trap game, similar to Milwaukee. Bosh and Bron continued their sequence of signature games and Haslem and Cole led the bench effort.

Quotes from post-game.

“He’s a very cerebral player, so he knows what we need when we need it,” Spoelstra said about Bosh. “We need some scoring when Dwyane is out and he’s able to do it in the context of our normal offense. It was important for us.”

“It wasn’t all together a smoothly played game but at the end, regardless how you get there, we were able to get a handful of stops and execute,” Spoelstra said.

“Finally in the last three to four minutes, the ball started to move,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

“Whenever I play and I don’t hesitate, good things happen,” Bosh said. “People say don’t fall in love with it, but it loves me and I love it back,” Bosh said of his jump shot.

“I think he made the biggest adjustment with this whole situation,” James said, referring to the moves that allowed he, Bosh and Dwyane Wade – who sat out again with a sprained right ankle — to team up in July 2010. “He’s done it before.”

“We kind of beat ourselves tonight,” Irving said. “We had 22 turnovers and we lost by seven points.”

“Stayed in the game for 48 minutes,” Cleveland coach Byron Scott said. “And the only thing I’m disappointed in is the fact that we had 22 turnovers. That’s killing our young team.”

“It’d have frustrated me a lot if we lost,” James said. “I’m all about team. When I don’t play well and we lose, I feel like I didn’t do enough. But my teammates picked me up.”

“I don’t think we played him straight up,” said Cavaliers swingman Anthony Parker, who spent most of the second half as James’ primary defender. “We brought help when we needed to. He’s a great player and he’s going to get points, but we didn’t want to give him the breakaways and easy layups at the basket, stuff like that.”

“You see a lot of good come out of some injuries,” James said. “You never want any injury to our team but we seen what C.B. has done since the injury and he’s back to playing like he was and getting the ball and just attacking, either with his jump shot or attacking the rim, which he did. He did pretty much everything he wanted to do in the fourth quarter tonight.”

The Sixers were in town. They remind me of the 90′s Heat in many ways. Underrated, with a good coach and some athleticism. They played teh Heat well but Miami just overpowered them on a night where the Heat offense and players were on the same page entirely. Bron and Bosh both had signature games with 28/9/5 (bron), 30/7/5 (bosh) and there was good ball movement going on. For all of the talk about Battier having no offense, he made some respectable offensive moves to the hole tonight. Louis Williams led Philly and Meeks showed he has some good speed out there on him.

Sunday 1.22 vs Bucks:

Miami lacked the extra energy in this game to get over the hump against a decent Bucks team. Jennings played well early and Miami’s defense was a mess at the end of the 4th. James had 28/13/5, Bosh 23/6/1. Chalmers shot 4-14 as the only other Miami player in double figures. Chalmers did have a sick and-1 in one of those 4 shots. Cole is being looked at to step up in such a scenario and he did get a couple of shots up, but Cole should also look to set up other guys with shots and get some more assists, that seems like a better approach for him. A Rondo-like approach but with more scoring. Think about it.. or not.

The Heat rocked the old ABA Floridian's uniforms this weekend, as you can see here with Haslem. The Floridian cheerleaders were pretty memorable themselves..

Yes, Miami looked potent again against the Lakers.

LeBron continued his recent stretch of good play so the praise stays at the same level, but the team is clicking on all cylinders due to LeBron’s unselfish play.

Maybe it was because Magic Johnson was in the building but LeBron had his game at a Magic-like level of passing-consciousness that would have made Kareem take notice. And the team responded with inspired play and great shooting.

The rhythm was definitely there.

Let’s be honest though. Kobe did not play well, he missed his first few shots and became too passive, the Lakers responded with uninspired play overall although Gasol looked good. Also, LA is on an east coast trip and this was not the best timed game from them their energy level was low and guys like McRoberts were not a factor. This was not LA at it’s best. Bron will not see the level of open space in the playoffs that he saw tonight.

Bosh looked great again. His shot remains pure and he has been improving his decision making. His cuts look faster than earlier this year and perhaps even last year.

The core bench of Battier/Haslem/Cole was effective tonight. Good mix of offense and defense. Anthony and Chalmers especially played well giving Miami a deep dimensionality. Miller had his moments, although he needs to relax before he hurts himself again. Miller is making his shots, though.

The surprise of the night was Eddie Curry’s sharp play, a reverse layup and tip-in were crucial points to gain momentum early. His line of 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 blocks in 6 minutes was cool to see.

Since I’m throwing around praise like it is going out of style:

Overall Spo’s grasp of the lineup has a more masterful stroke to it, he seems more comfortable with his array of talent this time around. He may not even notice this himself, but there may be improvement from the young coach overall.

Other than the game, the Heat rocked the all-black unis for the first time and invoking images of Prime Tyson, it is definitely a “Miami has arrived as a true-quality franchise” moment. The streamlined look giving the franchise a futurist look, at the least it’s minimalism that I can support.

After a title, last years finals stint and legendary teams in the 90′s the Miami Heat franchise as a whole has never shined brighter or pitched darker (uniform-wise) than these last few years.

This blog entry was not paid for by the Miami Heat.

Will Kobe will get his revenge?

The Heat started out slow in this one, while the Spurs were hot like fire.

Miami’s main 2 cogs, Bosh and Bron, were tentative and hungover.

The defense was pourous at best. LeBron hit a 3 on Miami’s last possession to cut it close, but then this guy that looks like Derek Rose hit a halfcourt shot, nullifying Bron’s 3 pointer.

It wasn’t looking good for the losing streak to end and at home it was a dumbfounding performance in the first half. There were even some boos going.

Halftime. Spurs 63 Heat 49.

And then LeBron suddenly, unexplainedly transformed into beast-mode and it was all over for San Antonio.

The usual repertoire was in order:

• sick dunks

• 3 pointers with no hesitation and a backspin on the ball which could produce leather-burn.

• midrange jumpshots

• alley-oops from Chalmers

The Spurs had no idea what hit them.

By the time they recovered from the super-barrage, it was the start of the 4th, they were down 15 and Miami had just completed a heavyweight 27-point swing. Heat 88 Spurs 75.

Yes a 27-point swing. That is stuff of dominance.

James’ excellence spread to the rest of the team and what LeBron started Mike Miller accentuated with a John Blaze shooting display (6-6 on 3pts, welcome back) and Chris Bosh shut the door on a comeback with some excellent playmaking down the stretch culminating with perfect footwork on a 360 degree spin-dunk crusher.

That’s game.

Up next: The suddenly east-coast styled, defensive minded Lakers.

And some guy called Kobe Bryant.

OK, I know what your saying.

But it is not time to panic.

This is an early-season post-lockout west coast trip.

Yes, whatever Wade’s regimen was this summer/fall is looking like a slight failure.  Wade is now injured, but if you’re Wade you have to live and learn. Wade does have a ton of off-season things to do and maybe he is just a little burned out, maybe he will try something else in the next offseason.

This is just a minor bump in the road. Maybe these are not the 96 Bulls like I was hyping them up to be, but 90-91 Bulls wouldn’t be too bad either.

Even if Wade and Bron are not exactly Jordan/Pippen… they will forge their own identity with Bosh.

In this last game against Denver, Miami scored enough to win overall but not at the pace Denver was playing. Obviously, recent lineup changes by Spo has changed the equation a bit but allowing 117 points is not going to cut it with the talent on this roster. Obviously energy was down for this game and will not be this low at a regular level.

This team still made excellent plays out there:

• Full-court pass for a layup.

• Wade behind-the-back pass for an assist

• Bron shooting a great percentage

• Sick alley-oop to Wade

• Bosh had his moments

And you still have the evolution of the 5 spot to look for. How will Pittman and Curry’s return affect the Heat’s game? How will Mike Miller be utilized?

Wade will be out for some time to rehab and train. He will have a chance again to come back and dominate but for now another SG will be in the lineup.

If the Heat thought last year was extreme in highs-and-lows it woud be best to not think of this whole situation as a huge low.

It’s just a minor low.

“I’ve sprained my ankles many times, but I’ve never really sprained it like that before,” Wade said. “The biggest thing is you sprain it and you feel it roll over and try to get off of it as quick as possible. Once I got the X-rays saying it wasn’t broken, now it’s about doing my treatment and hopefully I can get back on the court as soon as possible.”

“It’s probably frustrating for him that he’s not been able to have his explosiveness,” James said, “We haven’t seen his Euro-step at all this year, because that foot is where you usually step off of and he’s kind of timid to even use that..” “…So a lot of his moves he hasn’t been able to use thus far in this year because he’s afraid that he may reinjure his foot.”

It was an epic matchup tonight as the Heat went to LA to take on the upstart Clippers.

The Clippers, rejuvenated with the additions of Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, ex-heat Caron Butler and the development of young all-star Blake Griffin would Shirley like to make a statement against the powerhouse Heat. And they came to play.

“The level was definitely raised a little bit,” Griffin said. “We were tired, but the intensity was as high as it should be.”

Right out of the gate there were excellent plays at the rim for Miami and a beauty of an alley-oop from Paul to Griffin.

In fact the entire game was classic NBA action for the ages.

Fast paced, well executed basketball with acrobatic finishes all over the damn place.

If there was a turnover of any kind, it was most likely going to end in spectacular fashion at the other end of the court.

It went on all night with Miami taking a slight lead and the Clippers trying to make a continuous push to get over the hump.

Eventually a lack of free-throw conversions doomed Miami to take the loss.

“I didn’t make enough,” James said. “It’s kind of a rhythm and it trickles down to everyone.”

“I need to concentrate a little more at the free-throw line and knock them down and we’ll be fine,” LeBron would go on to say.

Free throws are such a pain in the ass and give no recognition to the athletic abilities of a player.

Thats why I propose a new penalty system.

Although it is more exhausting it would be great for athletic players like LeBron.

The player gets the ball at half-court and drives one-on-one against a player chosen by the other teams coach.

1 drive to the basket, make it and get 2 points.

Bad idea? Probably.

But anyways, the “Lob City Showdown” lived up to the billing.

“We can learn from this,” Wade said. “I thought we got what we wanted. A lot of times we were able to get LeBron to the rim.”

“I was encouraged by our execution,” Spoelstra said.

It was a sizzling night as we move to the west coast to focus on more high-quality NBA basketball.

In Phoenix, you had Kobe going for 48 (playing through a wrist injury that would send most players to surgery), to take out the struggling Suns. Will Nash be traded? He is starting to decline and PHX may want to try to get some value for him, he would still be a great 2nd or 3rd option on a contender. Knicks?

In Oakland, our Miami Heat came in ready to do battle against a new Warriors regime with ex-player/broadcaster Mark Jackson at the helm. He is preaching defense to his team, which makes sense because the GS culture has always been about run and gun west-coast styled bball. If he can balance that out with some defense he may have something. GS is stacked with young talent.

Anyways, to the game:

In the first half, the Warriors came out of the gate hard, trying to establish the tempo. They did a well enough job but the Heat showed that they have more than enough firepower to hang close. With Dwyane Wade back after a 2 game hiatus, the Heat were at full power with the starting unit and were able to make outstanding play after outstanding play.

Wade finally started looking comfortable again at the 2 spot, even showing a glimpse of the mid-range perimeter game that he likes to go away from. But, Wade’s game remains flawed: he needs to work on his reverse lay-ups and his footwork. Wade could score with much more ease if he went to the reverse layup, using the rim to block the defender. Dwyane’s moves still lack a certain fluidity/polish that can be perfected with repetition in the offseason. Maybe it is the foot pain that is hobbling Wade, but these patterns have been creeping up for a sec now…to be continued. We will see how Wade ‘s game develops as the season unfolds.

In the 3rd, Miami started pulling ahead.

Bron had his J going and was finding Bosh for some sweet cuts to the rim for slammas. Chalmers was hitting threes, Cole was attacking… it was going pretty damn well. The 3rd quarter looked like endgame for Golden State. It was Miami’s game to lose. They then proceeded to do just that.

Yes, this game featured a passive LeBron in the 4th quarter. The haters will be dining on LeBrick tweets tonight.

Some would say that LeBron quits or “checks out”.

Some would say that LeBron has a mental hurdle to overcome during pressure situations.

Some would say Bron gets fatigued.

I myself expect Wade to do more in the clutch with Bron as the facilitator.

But the truth is Miami as a team started having problems with defense (which was surely caused by fatigue?) and Golden State started lighting it up from the perimeter at a high clip, led by Dorell Wright’s 6 three-pointers. The Warriors were able to push the pace again and Miami just went cold. Even normally reliable Udonis Haslem had a dunk pop out on him and had a ball slip through his fingers and go out of bounds. James Jones was nowhere to be found on the court tonight. Literally. He played 3 mins. For some reason when James Jones plays, the Heat win.

So, in the 4th and overtime (yes this game went to ot) Bron was settling into his role as clock manager and distributor, but he again lost his aggression in the closing moments. This is obviously something that Bron has to work on. Many people think that LBJ is a perfect ball player but he still has a ton of growing to do, mentally and experience-wise. Tonight was not his night from a late-game management standpoint. Only Bron knows what is going through his mind late in the game, but I am highly doubtful it is the “psychological paralysis” that many think he is going through.

It could be as simple as Bron deferring to Wade and Wade just not able to get open.

But why should a talent like Bron defer and not be aggressive with the scoring?

Is it respect for Wade? Fear of failure? Strategy? Forgetfulness?

Probably neither, but one thing is clear:

There is still much work to be done before that championship ring finds the finger of the “chosen one” and these players and it’s superstars are far from perfect.

This team is far from perfect.

Notes: The final play of regulation featured both Battier and LeBron shutting down Monta Ellis. That is serious defensive firepower.

Can Wade and Bron finally figure it all out?

The lob alley-oop  to Bosh.

The hammer slams in the open court.

The throwdown from Cole.

The buzzer-beater at the half.

The assist to James Jones.

The one-handed rebound in trafffic, initiation to fast-break, assist to Bosh sequence.

Even the one-handed touch-pass in traffic for the assist.

LeBron did it all.

But, noooo, the one thing all the basketball nerds want to know is this…

“Did he shoot one of those standstill J’s from the post?”

Yes, he did.

And he made it.

So last blog I talked about how Miami, even sans ‘big 3′ (or in this case, without Wade and Bron), is still looking like a cohesive, dangerous team.

So of course this game against the Hawks comes and it’s Bosh looking like a legit all-world talent out there (33 points & 14 boards) and Chalmers making clutch play after clutch play. Clearly, this team made it to the finals for a reason and the scope of it goes beyond the ‘Big 3′.

With Haslem contributing double-digit rebounds as well as James Jones and Norris Cole’s overall production so far this season, this team has some interesting dynamics working for it and looks like a very functioning unit overall.

Bosh was excellent with his scoring in the clutch and overtime.

With time winding down in the 4th quarter, Bosh stepped up with a huge 3-point splashdown to force OT.

Chalmers’ 29 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, was a major option as he burned ATL’s defense late with good decision making and some decent passing.

Terrel Harris stepped in and had 14 rebounds at the guard position.

At 3OT’s, it was a test of athletic endurance and Miami won it.

Heat blog.

Supplemental.

It appears this Heat team is the real deal right now. I’m in a post-new years, cold-front funk and I have to admit it feels irie. Thus is the life in Miami, but I digress…

What I can see from this Heat team in the second year of the ‘Big 3′ experiment is this… Spoelstra has somehow put together a team with excellent chemistry that is pretty damn athletic and with the addition of Battier and Cole is just so much more versatile and gritty. And they still play good defense. This is a team that now truly complements the Big 3 instead of relying on them. Props to the Heat coaching staff.

At one point on the court you had LeBron, Haslem, Bosh, Battier and Cole. Even with Wade out, that a damn good lineup to roll with.

Not to mention LeBron’s monster game, mind you. This wasn’t the open-court run-fest that the game against Atlanta was in the first half… this was flawless halfcourt execution. With many times Bron being the catalyst. This was the LeBron that reminded people of Magic, instead of last games’ LeBron that reminded people of Shawn Kemp, both are the best talent in the league.

And, again, not to mention motherfuckin Chris Bosh who continues his consistent act as one of the best if not the best #2 guy in the game. Thats when it hit me. Miami has Bron and Bosh like it used to have Wade and Haslem. The results are more explosive, but then Miami still has Wade and Haslem, so what now? The answer is, nothing. Wade and Haslem make this team go from a top dog to team-for-the-ages potent. Unless those guys want to carry a team again and go to the Magic for Dwight Howard.

OK, that’s the last time I will mention it. I like this team, and why mess with what is seemingly greatness just because this tender piece of basketball talent called DWIGHT HOWARD looms in the shadows of trade availability.

It’s cowardly, it’s selfish, it’s … ?

I will not entertain the idea again on this blog.

We will continue on this trip through elite-basketball space in the USS Heat, and we will look at the stars and continue to warp through hyperspace on the open court…

and we will continue to enjoy tonight’s domination of the Pacers’ 2nd ranked defense.

this has been your captain speaking.

—end transmission—-

This one started out well enough with the Heat getting out into the open court and showing it’s dominant transition game. LeBron in particular was setting the tone with his typical one-man wrecking crew theatrics.

It looked for the most part like Miami was going to be feasting on bird tonight but the Hawks switched their defense to the dreaded ( queue echos ) ZONE  zone  zone …

…which stopped Miami’s momentum in it’s tracks and killed it’s offensive efficiency. Clearly, the Heat have an achilles heal. Wade and Battier started combating the zone effectively but then the Heat started turning the ball over and the Hawks flashed their open-court game which aint too damn shabby itself. The Hawks are pretty athletic in their own right and were able to push their game in the open court to good success.

“They went to the zone, we got out of our rhythm and it affected us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We will get better at it and this is something we need to have a breakthrough with.”

Miami did not look too good in the halfcourt and had trouble in the fourth quarter defensively. Both teams exchanged leads in the second half, but the shots were not falling for Miami late and thats usually why you lose in basketball.

It appears that Wade is still in his mini-slump and needs to figure out how to get comfortable scoring in the halfcourt with LeBron playing at such a frantic pace. With Wade at full efficiency, the game would have been much closer.

It is easy to only pin this on Wade, but the truth is that the team overall shot the ball poorly and had a bit of trouble with Atlanta’s length and athleticism.

“Not every game is going to be able to be played out at our ideal pace,” Spoelstra said. “This was a game that simply was going to be a grind. We’ll adjust. We’ll adapt. We’ll work at it.”

Anyways, it was good to see the legendary Tracy McGrady healthy and in uniform for Atlanta but it was not so exciting to see him hit the clutch threes to put the dagger in the Heat.

It didn’t look like McGrady could hang with the athletic pace these two teams play but when the game slowed down, playoffs-style, McGrady was there to capitalize.

Alas, an undefeated season is not going to happen.

Alas, alas, alas.

Notes:

Wade may have struggled on offense but he dished 9 assists and had this sick block, continuing his defensive exploits in the paint:

Happy new year.

The Bobcats may have partied a little too much. The Heat will take it.

Looking nothing like the Bobcats team that made it a close contest in Charlotte, the Heat used a balanced attack to outscore the Bobcats 63-37 in the first half en route to a 129-90 shallacking at the AAA.

How bad were the Bobcats?

If you used the Star Wars trilogy as a barometer with ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Empire’ being great,  ’Jedi’ and ‘Sith’ being good and ‘Phantom Menace’ and ‘Clones’ being passable, the Bobcats’ game consisted of Jar-Jar Binks scenes… thats it. Which means that it was full putridity.

The Bobcats were so bad, if this were a baseball game, the 4th quarter would have been called on account of the mercy rule.

At one point there was a rumor that D-Wade was going to try to suit up for the Bobcats after halftime just so the fans wouldn’t walk out at halftime resulting in lost hot dog and Bacardi sales.

The other rumor going around was that the Bobcats were ready to insert a Heat cheerleader into the point guard position just to boost the guard play.

Charlotte’s starters in the first 24 minutes shot a staggering 3 for 22, including an 0 for 7 from D.J. Augustin and 0 for 6 from Corey Maggette.

The Heat are now 5-0 on New Year’s Day games.

Dwyane Wade moved past 14,000 career points, becoming the 25th active player to reach that total.

The Heat are now 4-0 after a very entertaining game at Minneapolis, Minnesota against the Timberwolves.

The first half featured LeBron outclassing everyone on the court with a total package of points, rebounds, assists, defense… his combination of size, athleticism and skill is phenomenal. As an enthusiast of basketball, I appreciate seeing the combination of gifts the Bron has on the court when he is in “god-mode” like this. ..

(and these are only the dunks of course, look at that fast break…)

And “god-mode”, combined with a suddenly explosive Norris Cole (showing the total package on offense) pushed the Heat to an early double-digit lead.

But you have to give Minnesota credit. Behind a spark by K Love and rookie Rick Rubio, the T-Wolves made it a great contest by cutting the deficit and making it competitive. Love, at his best, has a game reminiscent of Kevin McHale with the ability to rebound and score inside buckets with ease, at his worst he can appear to chuck threes ala the great Antoine Walker.

Meanwhile, Rubio has an instinctual skill to make great passes in the lane.

“He has just an ultimate knack for passing. He can run an offense and when he gets out, he’s better in that fast-paced spread offense because he can just see things before they even happen.” Bosh would say about Rubio.

The T-Wolves stayed close the entire 2nd and 3rd quarters before making a push in the 4th.

Minnesota took the lead late with Bron on the bench, and with Wade struggling it was Bosh’s turn to step up again. Bosh, cool under pressure as usual, made key jumpers to keep Miami within striking distance until Bron returned to the lineup. Once LeBron returned, he was able to help push Miami to the lead.

By the way, Miami’s fast-break is the most unstoppable force I have seen in franchise history. It’s ridiculous how fast and how good this fast-break has been in these first 4 games. Just ridiculous.

On a minor downer ,Wade was having a sub-par night again. A combination of foot pain and timing issues made Wade look very human but once Ricky Rubio was assigned to guard Wade, Wade went off. He scored the final clutch baskets, one in spectacular alley-oop fashion from a LeBron inbounds pass.

“We stole it,” James said. “And D-Wade, that’s two game-winners back to back, right? Good for him. I like it.”

This is what is cool about basketball and I guess sports in general: on any given night any team can beat any team. It doesn’t matter who is playing. Even the Washington Generals have beaten the  Harlem Globetrotters once or twice. Granted, this is no Washington Generals, it is a young and eager 2-0 Bobcats team that really wanted to play the upsetter against the Justice-League of Ameri… I mean, Miami Heat.

I will be honest, I need to get a DVR, I didn’t see much of the first half. But what I did see of it was a flat Heat team overall with mostly Bron keeping Miami in the game using his new post-game and a variety of other moves.  Bosh had his moments in the second quarter as well, but it was the 3rd quarter where Miami flashed it’s game seriously. Bron continued toying with Charlotte’s defense by making some intense reverse layups, then Bosh countered with some strong, aggressive drives to the hoop resulting in major throwdown slammas. And then … BOOM …just like that, it was a 24-10 third quarter and Miami had comeback with Chalmers and the rest of the squad feeding off of the energy of the superstar playmaking and providing strong defense. This was happening despite Wade having a terrible game for the most part: missing a dunk and falling on his ass and even going back to the locker room to check out a bum foot for injury.

Once the Heat were in striking distance Wade came back to the game and was able to shake out of his slump just in time to hit the game winning J, of course. It was literally a “fall down 7 times, get up 8 times” moment for Wade, for those who remember his Converse days.

Grasping victory from the clutches of defeat with punishing playmaking.

This is the magic of “Los Tres Grandes” on the basketball court.

“It’s good to see us show some resolve, some toughness,” coach Spoelstra would later say about the game.

Notes:

The craziest thing in this game wasn’t Wade falling on his ass or Bosh almost hyperextending his knee on a dunk, it was LeBron’s dunk making the ball bounce off a defenders head and back out of the rim. The referees didn’t even count it as a made FG. Evidence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDNEuXlgcCE

Also, Bron may have the out-of-bounds save of the year (decade?) on this one:

http://www.nba.com/video/games/bobcats/2011/12/28/0021100024_mia_cha_play9.nba/

Boston came into the ol’ AAA for an early season test against the number 1 contender, Miami Heat.

The Heat came out of the gate hard, flying around and making all-world plays with spectacular consistency to the tune of 69 first-half points. Bron and Wade were pushing the tempo  and the whole team was feeding off of their energy. Highlights included a few spectacular drives by Wade in traffic and some ‘Cavs-era’- style windmill crushers by Bron. The magic was in the air.

On closer inspection, you may notice that outside shooting kept Boston at a distance in the first half, led by James Jones 3-3 shooting.

It was a huge deficit for Boston at halftime, but the Celtics are entirely too well-coached and have way too much championship experience to not make a run and they made a couple of plays to bring it close and make it interesting.

Coach Doc Rivers switched to a zone since the Celts were not getting any kind of stops on Miami’s penetration and the strategy worked. Boston closed the lanes and Miami had a little bit of trouble. Not enough trouble for Boston to take the lead, but it was enough that Miami was taken out of it’s comfort zone and were forced to use strategy over athleticism for the first time in the match.

This is where Miami is still evolving and working out some issues so it was encouraging to see some role-players step up. Shane Battier hit a key 3-pointer late and rookie Norris Cole was able to take advantage of the attention that Wade and Bron were getting to be able to hit the key shots to bring Miami it’s second win of the year. Excellent work by the promising new point-guard for Miami. Cole even recieved MVP chants from the dog pound, thats a long way from Ohio.

It will be very interesting to see the next match in the season series as both teams will be able to adjust a bit more.

“They went zone and we didn’t get too many defensive stops,” James said. “We’ll continue to work on our zone offense.”

Welcome back, NBA.

After a longer-than-expected offseason the NBA is back.

Basketball reasons.

Many happenings have happened. The champion Mavs lost their starting center, Tyson Chandler. He’s a Knick now. Barea left Dallas too and is with the TWolves, I think. Chris Paul was going to the Lakers but joined Blake Griffin on the Clippers.

Basketball reasons.

The Dallas Mavericks ended up with Odom.

Basketball reasons.

So here we are picking up where we left off.

“We” as in the people that follow basketball in general and the Heat in particular.

It’s Heat vs Mavs. Game 7.

And even though ‘Game 6′ was for the title, ‘Game 7′ was just as important to the big picture.

With a half-year to sit and stew about their ‘Game 6′ loss the Heat come in as a sharpened knife.

Think about it: if they had won the title they would have sat content as the Knicks and the Thunder and Bulls look to improve. The Mavs did Miami a favor, it has pushed them to improve.

Miami cut the fat and picked up veteran glue-guru Shane Battier and young guns: Dexter Pittman, Norris Cole, Terrell Harris and Mickell Gladness. Veteran post-presence Eddy Curry comes in as an experimental project. Udonis Haslem returns with his typical athletic presence and grind game.

But that’s not all that has been tweaked. I can think of three things:

1) Spoelstra is comfortable now in the second year of the ‘Big 3′ era to implement his new offensive gameplan which has been described as “free-flowing” and “triangle-on-steroids”.

2) Wade and LeBron have both been motivated to not only work on their games but re-evaluate their whole approach, LeBron has added a mid-post look and Wade looks to keep his agility and add endurance to his overall approach.

3) Uhh…. wait I forgot number 3. I’m sorry. oops.

Anyways, enough horse shit lets get to the game:

The Heat looked fantastic in their 105-94 opening win. They were routinely up by 25 before Dallas cut the deficit in garbage time. LeBron was loose and scoring with a strong mid-range game (37/10/6) , Wade was making great cuts to the basket and finishing well (26/8/6 including a double alley-oop from James), Cole was finishing with a Wade-like prowess (could Wade be teaching Cole some moves? Or is Cole this ill?), Haslem was rebounding to the tune of 14 boards…this is a team showing signs of maturity and excellence.

Does it have the potential to compete with 90′s Bulls or 80′s Celtics/Lakers, etc? We will find out when the time comes, but the potential is there. And the competition is gearing up to go after these guys.

You mad?

Well now that the country has had a few weeks to calm down about the Heat crash, it seems like public opinion is still against the Heat for the time being so Miami will need to become enemies with the media. It is not like the media is doing the Heat any favors either, as close as Broward the Heat are being poked, prodded and dissed at high levels. It’s gotten to the point of post-ironic comedy as this video will confirm.

As I have contemplated what went wrong for Miami I am finalizing on this theory for now: Miami hesitated. Yes… Miami had problems, but it was the timing of Dallas playing consistent rotations while Miami struggled with it’s rotations that ultimately did not give Miami a chance to finish the series playing their strongest. And that’s just on a team ball standpoint.

The Big 3 were shut down because both LeBron and Wade were contained and the blame has to go to Wade for not putting Miami on his back with the scoring. A combination of he and Bosh should be enough to neutralize Bron being contained offensively. Let’s face it Wade is the better scorer as of now for Miami and Wade underperforming was the major setback for Miami.

So what I am trying to say is yes, I am criticizing the Heat after criticizing critics of the Heat.

Anyways, all of this is calculated nonsense, but I try my best to decipher it to you.

On to the grades:

Center: The position was in flux again. Spoelstra’s inconsistency with the starter bit him in the ass in the finals. He was good with Z, but couldn’t trust him towards the end of the year. Spo went with Mags, Damp… and could not trust either. Spo’s quick lineup with Bosh at center is effective at times but it can be problematic defensively. Anthony has solidified his position on the roster with amazing energy and a selfless attitude.

Grade: B

Power Forward: Bosh had a banner year, and you have an effective Haslem coming off the bench. For years. They are good.

Grade: A

Small Forward: LeBron and Miller handled the duties in the most important minutes of the season but Spo’s insistence on sitting Jones in the Finals, who accumulated a major amount of charges for Miami, was questionable at best.

Grade: A

Shooting Guard: Wade’s the best in the league and he is also maddeningly unfocused at times. This is why Wade’s career is at a bit of a crossroads right now. Is his approach and preparation the best that it can be? Is he keeping his mind at ease during the game and at crucnchtime? Now that he has lost in the finals and did not dominate consistently is he going to drop off ? Or is he going to take his preparation to the next level and rely less on his athleticism? Time will tell.

Grade: A

Point Guard: Spoelstra was not comfortable with his talent at this position either. He shifted from Arroyo, to Chalmers and ultimately to Bibby, who did not have a good post-season. Chalmers had a good year and played great in the finals, perhaps earning a contract out of Miami.

Grade: B

Coaching: Spo handled many things well, some I have issues with but overall he is a great young coach and as long as Miami feels it does not need a veteran coach to push the team Spo is in position to win, eventually. I don’t like the comparisons to Spo and Riley’s backgrounds though because Spo never played in the NBA while Riley did, so there is experience there as a player in the trenches that Riley has. It’s not easy to find. Now, you have Adelman out there, and he seems like a perfect fit. Let’s not forget those Kings teams… oh, those Kings teams. If they played defense like Wade and Bron did it would have been multiple titles…am I fantasizing aloud?

Grade: B

The Heat should not hold their heads in shame but be proud of what they accomplished in their first year. Losing will just be poetic justice in the longrun, this is a great team that will only get better… unless Gilbert’s curse is not stopped… then… a title may never come.

In a dark room somewhere, Dan Gilbert is eating a XXL Taco Bell burrito. Gilbert’s wife is passed out while Guacamole drips from Gilbert’s mouth. Surrounding him are “15 strong” playing cards from 2006. He seemingly collected them from various parts of the world during the latter stretch of the regular season. Plans of Gilbert’s motives and his supposed curse were hinted at after ‘The Decision’ took place last summer, and now the spell was in place. Surrounding Gilbert were the 15 strong cards of course … but there were also photographs. Photographs of Wade and Barkley in a t-Mobile ad. Photos of LeBron and his United Way charities. Photos of Shaq. Even photos of the Heat celebrating it’s first title in Dallas with Wade, Spoelstra, Jason Terry and Dirk. Chris Bosh, was spared of any photographs even though a pic of Scottie Pippen did make the cut.

With a maniacal laugh Gilbert burned each photograph, along with a 15 strong card, one by one. And the last card was in his pit burning when the Dallas Mavericks , along with the rest of the United States, defeated the american military-backed Miami Heat and supervillains extraordinaire LeBron James and Dwyane Wade by shooting them down one jumpshot at a time.

The young Heat played extremely well to get to the finals, but once in, the Mavs presented too many matchup problems that the Heat were not ready to deal with. The zone defense seemed to knock the Heat out of it’s comfort zone, and Miami did not really have an answer for it.

“You’re never really prepared for a moment like this,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That’s certainly not what we were expecting.”There’s certainly an emptiness right now with our group.”

“Dallas earned it and they should be congratulated,” Spoelstra said. “When it was time for them to make tough plays . . . they did.”

“When [James] was able to be aggressive, the zone took him out…”

The Big 3 processor and the “evil anti-american” robot that it was powering finally burned out from being over-clocked.

“This isn’t a good feeling,” Bosh said. “We just have to move forward. We can’t do anything about it right now. We can never do anything about it. All we can do is look ahead.”

Somewhere, Charles Barkley is bitchslapping Kenny Smith, telling him “I told you they’d lose” and rapping about Taco Bell with the T-Mobile rapper.

“Hands down they were the better team in this series, and they played together well,” Bosh said. “We have a lot of work to do. We have to go back to the drawing board. It hurts to come this far and come up short.”

Somewhere, Zydrunas Ilgauskas is thinking that at least he had a good tan this year.

“We worked so hard and so long for it,” Nowitzki said. “The team has had an unbelievable ride.”

Somewhere, Michael Jordan is rocking a Charlie Chaplin mustache and telling Stewart Smalley that he is still the best to ever do it and that Scottie Pippen knows nothing.

“Their time will come,” Carlisle said about Miami. “But now, it’s our time.”

Somewhere Dan Gilbert laughs to himself, rubbing a picture of Jason Terry’s tattoo before  mumbling to himself repeatedly:  ”Old Lesson for all: There are NO SHORTCUTS. NONE.”

“All the people that were rooting for me to fail, they have to wake up and have the same life that had before they woke up,” James said, “the same personal problems they have.”

“I mean, sometimes you got it, sometimes you don’t,” said James.

LeBron did not attack on offense the way everyone expected him too, instead he delivered a triple-double.

But it didn’t even matter.

A 3rd straight game in Dallas had the Miami Heat playing with a lower energy-level but the Heat played the type of unselfish ball that gives lesser teams fits.

But the pace the Heat were playing in was almost like trying to outplay the Dallas Mavericks at a tempo the Mavs like to dictate. And that played into the Mavs hands.

It did not work. The Mavs just played better, with one determining factor: shooting.

Dirk got the support he needed with Terry , Barea and Marion providing relief.

Sure, losing Wade to injury made it that much harder for Miami, but Chalmers stepped up and gave a strong performance in relief until Wade could get going again.

Dallas shot extremely well. Lesser teams would have lost by twenty tonight but Miami was right there until the end. Miami’s main problem seems to be that Dallas has figured out Miami’s defensive scheme.

They are letting Miami overpursue everything and drawing fouls. They just have to twirl around in the lane and let Chalmers, Wade, Haslem or whomever run into them. It’s all mental. Since Miami has to close out larger gaps, they keep getting trapped with the overpursuit. Miami’s help defense was flailing arms with little focus, resulting in sloppy fouls. This is extremely bad news for Miami because the Mavs are hitting Miami at a philosophical weakness. This is the team defense Miami employs, and again, overpursuit is one of it’s main features as well as it’s main weakness. I am not sure changing schemes is in the cards (although you can’t tell me these guys should not be able to play man on the perimeter).

Also, for the first time this year, the Big 3 may not feature the best player on the court.

That honor would go to Dirk Nowitzki, his length and shooting is winning the series for Dallas.

And unless the Big 3 can recharge at home and get back to being the dominant 75+ point machine that it can be, Dallas is good enough to steal this thing right from Miami’s fingertips.

“This certainly is a series of mental and physical endurance,” Spoelstra said, “and that’s why it’s a seven-game series.” ”We were able to steal one here and they did what they needed to do,” . “We’re going back to Miami and we have to do the same thing.”

This is the final challenge.

Miami’s biggest yet.

Free-throws are a bitch.

Miami had control of this game for 3 and a half quarters but give the Mavericks credit, they matched Miami’s defensive effectiveness with desperate intensity.

It was Dirk vs Wade in the end… and Dirk pulled through at home, not a huge surprise. That Dallas is struggling this much to stay in it is surprising to me and is still indicative of Miami as the superior team overall.

Yet, Dallas is hungry for it, and hunger trumps all sometimes.

Meanwhile, the media has officially completely jumped on the ignorant bandwagon and has villainized LeBron James, even going as far as some local media being infected with ridiculous harshness and negativity.

Here are two examples:

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2011/06/miami_heat_vs_dallas_mavericks_1.php

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/08/2256258/disappearing-act-brings-about.html

Bron and Wade have effectively switched role’s from the ECF’s where Wade received limited criticism from riding LeBron’s hot hand. The same media that expects nothing, yet everything from Bosh. The media wants more, demands more from LeBron. If Mike Miler  had hit his threes noone would be talking about this,but it’s relevant now, and the amount of disrespect towards Bron is overwhelming.

Or is it respect?

It’s not respect. It is sensational in nature.

The media wants LeBron taking those shots, not Mike Miller, even if Miller was open and Bron wasn’t getting the ball enough.

The media wants a show. I think game 5, they may get a show.

Does a show fall into the Mavs hands?

But I digress, free throws are a bitch.

What a day.

I am posting a bit after last night’s hot win to let the situation have a chance to simmer down…

I am happy to report that the state of the NBA is excellent and that, even if the Heat win or lose, the league is in good shape because there is some top-notch ball being played in this series.

This Heat team has the fortune to not only be young, athletic and gifted but they have an unselfish disposition and a thirst to win.

Last series, it was Wade struggling while the bench came through along with a hot Bosh and hotter Bron. Wade was crucial in the clutch, but struggled throughout.

In this series the balance is there again as Wade is hot and scoring, Bosh is still coming through in the crunch, and Bron is anchoring a Miami Heat team that looks better than ever…

“Fundamental basketball,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “at its best.”

“Tonight,… D-Wade had it going offensively, so we allowed him to handle the ball, we allowed him to bring us home offensively.” said Bron, who was excellent. His work ethic and athleticism fuels Miami, and when finding a wall of defenders, his passing kept the Mavs off balance all night.

Bosh, getting hit hard in the eye and having a tough night early, recovered to hit a clutch J in crunchtime, complimenting Udonis Haslem’s defense on Dirk for a solid offensive/defensive 1-2 punch.

“If they kick it to me,” Bosh said, “I just have to be aggressive. I have confidence in my shot, and my teammates have confidence in me, too. I just have to let it go.”

“I don’t care if he missed 15 in a row, he was wide open and that’s his sweet spot,” LeBron James said. “It’s the trust we have in each other’s ability, no matter what point of the game is at.”

“It went just how we thought it would,” Haslem said. “He stepped up with confidence and knocked it down. He’s a great shooter. He’s a tough, tough shooter. He knocks down shots. He has a feathery touch. I’ve got confidence every time he shoots the ball that it’s going in.”

Miami was able to make plays all night and make them in the clutch, where they had failed just one game before. The Heat’s bench is consistently contributing (Chalmers 4 3-pointers, Haslem’s 6pts/4 rbs) and keeps Miami from scoring droughts.

The Mavs played well, but there is nothing they can do but just try to ride Dirk’s MVP play because Nowitzki has little offensive support and certainly less than what Rose had last series.

“We have to have somebody step up besides Dirk,” said the Mavs’ future hall-of-famer Jason Kidd.

“Our problem tonight was we were digging out of holes all night,” added Carlisle.

That’s not supposed to happen at home.

Would Haywood and Butler make a difference in this series? Maybe, but it may be too late now.

Miami looks too good.

“We have some athletes on this team that are just off the charts,” Rothstein said. “The amount of ground that we cover, the amount of space that we can cover, getting back in transition and running people down is remarkable.”

And barring injury or a “Shaq/Kobe” type feud, the future looks very bright because this Miami team looks like the best in the league, by far.

So what does Miami need to do to close this thing out? It only needs to play it’s game, play with fire and make smart decisions for 48 minutes.

“We felt this was a must-win,” Wade said after grabbing 11 rebounds. “We had to put it upon ourselves to try to take home court back in a sense, and by any means necessary.”

“For me, it started in practice [Saturday],” Wade said. “I was very aggressive going to the hole practicing. My teammates seen it. They can tell that I wanted this game, and I came in with the same mentality today. I’ve been here before, so just trying to lead. My guys did a great job of following that lead.”

Stay thirsty my friends, this is just the beginning. Soak it in.

“Now we just have to move on,” Spoelstra said. “The tough part right now is amnesia. Both teams are highly competitive, this is a competitive series as you can see. We have to really gather ourselves in 48 hours and get right back and do this again.”

In a way, Dirk needed this. And in many ways, the Heat needed to be reminded of bad habits.

Lets face it, the Heat were bored, and they began to play a little too loosely. The competitive spirit that turns the Heat into a basketball machine was gone… replaced with a “let’s be cool and jog to the end” -type mentality.

It’s bad behavior…rebellious even!

Wade should have gone for 50 tonight, but he relaxed too.

Some think he didn’t get the ball enough… I dunno.

But this bad behavior exhibited by the Heat was definitely naughty. It’s a mark of a young team to do this, and the Heat already have shown the propensity for these serious infractions.

“We had a lot of breakdowns,” Wade said. “And we’ve learned from it, that’s why we’re the team we are.” “Obviously this one hurts. We made it a lot harder on ourselves and we’ll see what we’re made of.”

“We just didn’t execute down the stretch,” Bosh said. “There’s no shock. There’s disappointment. But the reality is the reality. We might as well get used to it and focus on the next one.” ”The reason we lost the game,” Wade said, “was because of our defense.”

Sure, the Mavs defense needs to get some credit too… I guess.

“Defensively,” Dirk said, “we really got into them, pressured them full court. When we get stops, move and play off the flow, we can really get going.”

Not much of a verbal spanking is going to be needed to remind the Heat to focus for 48 minutes… these guys know they got caught with the hand in the cookie jar.

Spo is already backing up his players’ performance, knowing they had a minor slip and are resilient enough to work their way back.

“We’re a resilient group,” Spoelstra said. “By the time we get on that plane, we’ll get our minds and bodies and spirit ready for Game 3. This is a long series.”

Spo was in vintage form as he critiqued his team with the usual Spo-isms that we have come to love.

“We were not efficient.” , “Execute”,  and “I’ll check it out on the video” as well as other typical Spo-isms were all on display to the international media for the first time. And that’s a good thing.

Indeed the loss is just the kick in the ass the Heat need to re-awaken the next level switch that Miami displayed against the Celtics and Bulls. In fact, I still think they can take 2 games in Dallas if they play up to their standards. Maybe even all three.

We will see.

But really, tonight belonged to Dirk. Seemingly dominated all game, his will and his will alone wore Miami down slowly and methodically. This game was a long-distance sprint and the turtle won (or was it the hair?)

“Definitely a huge comeback for us and we never gave up, and that was big,” Nowitzki said.

Nowitzki seized the moment, quieting many critics that find his inability to take his aggression to the next level an ongoing problem. But the Zen-like approach worked as the Heat left the backdoor open by not making enough plays to close this baby out.

“Just a different series, but we always believe we can come back regardless of the score,” Shawn Marion said. “The game is over when the final buzzer rings.”

“Tonight,” Jason Terry said, “the moment was ours.”

Indeed it was, Terry you ridiculous bastard. Indeed it was.

This game was about two teams feeling each other out. It was a first date.

The Heat cannot really get too excited about any kind of result knowing that they themselves were down 0-2 to Dallas in 2006 before winning the Finals.

“It’s one game, and that’s it,” Spoelstra said. “We’re already moving on.”

I hate to say it but the Mavs were not going hard this game. Sure, they were trying unsuccessfully to turn it on a little at the end but it was not enough of a focused effort to make a serious dent against the Heat.

“By and large, we’ve got to play better, just overall,” said Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, especially noting Miami’s 16-6 edge in offensive rebounds.

It’s a sound strategy for Dallas.

They reserve their energy in the early round and let the Heat burn some of their extra energy with a little showtime, then in game 2 go hard and try to steal.

“We’ll play better. I’m very certain of that,” Carlisle said. “We had some opportunities. Shots we normally make, they didn’t go down. Look, it’s a long series. We’ll adjust.”

Dallas taking game 2 would mean homecourt advantage leading to the 3-game home stand.

But, it seems the Heat is keen to the strategy, because instead of a blowout it was more of a jog for the Big 3 and co. It could be good for Miami because they are going to need to push hard to defend home-court and attempt to steal in Dallas.

“That’s kind of the way we’ve been winning games, of late,” Wade said. “You’ve got to stay with it. You can’t get frustrated because the ball’s not going in. There’s other ways you can dominate the game and we was able to do that tonight. I thought we did a great job in the second half of rebounding the ball, limiting them to one shot as much as possible.”

The job may or may not have become easier for Miami as Dirk allegedly tore a tendon in his finger.

“I have to wear a splint, probably, for the rest of the playoffs, for a couple of weeks.” said Nowitzki.

Are injury reports even accurate this time of year? I doubt it. Teams will go to any extra lengths to get an edge, so I take them with a grain of salt.

After the Mavs’ domination of the Heat in the regular season, the Heat are now on a 5 game post-season winning streak against the Mavs.

“For the most part, we think we had chances to get a hold of this game,” Marion said. “And we let it get out of our hands.”

Wow, wow, wow, wow.

If you would have told me after game 1 that the Heat would go on to win four straight games against the regular season champion Bulls and the league MVP Rose… I would have thought you were nuts.

If you would have told me with 3 minutes left in this game that Miami would be able to correct a double-digit deficit in Chicago… I would have thought you were nuts.

If you would have told me that Dwyane Wade , (who was playing more like Dwayne Wayne), was going to again come alive in the crunch, this time with an exhausted LeBron (who missed 9 straight shots before crucnhtime) to close this thing out… I would have thought you were nuts.

You are nuts.

But you are also right.

In a an impossible test of stamina, endurance and poise the Miami Heat has passed… and they are going to the finals for a rematch of the 2006 Finals.

What seemed impossible, was made plausible.

The United Center was venomous, the fans were vicious. Carlos Boozer was wearing out Bron with painful forearm shivers to the face, reminiscent of a street fight. The Bulls were pushing hard, clawing, punching, screaming…they were taking it personal. Hacking wasn’t just going to be a hack to be a foul, it had to hurt.

It must have been brutally exhausting.

It seemed like Bosh was the only player that could consistently score as the Heat were being worn down by Chicago’s physical tactics. The Heat were hesitating on every shot, passing up open jumpers regularly. I wondered aloud how tired their legs must be. When your legs are tired, you don’t feel like you are going to hit rim, so sinking a shot seems like insanity.

Wade’s six first-half turnovers tied the franchise playoff record Wade held for both a first half and a second half.

A 3-pointer by reserve forward Ronnie Brewer at the shot-clock buzzer with 3:53 left put chi-town up 76-64.

And then, magic.

Wade hit 2 acrobatic drives (one a classic banker) to start the damn thing.

James followed by hitting a 3 to bring it to 77-72.

Then Wade hit a 3, and was fouled by young Rose. 79-76.

Then Rose, trying to lead his squad to the finish, missed a J.

Bron, continuing his brilliance, answered with another three to tie the thing at 79.  (say wha?)

Then Rose missed again as James calmly hit a J to answer back. Heat up 2. (yes!)

James then fouled Rose with 26.7 seconds to play, with Rose hitting only the first, leaving the Heat up 81-80 with 25 seconds to play.

It was Rose’s only missed FT.

Bosh, playing with a champion’s poise poise all-night, drew the foul and hit his free’s. 83-80.

And it was all over for the regular season champions.

“We had to go through the fire again tonight,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But this team has built up a lot of resilience and toughness.”

“It was an amazing, amazing performance by all these guys,” Heat owner Mickey Arison said. “It was a very shocking performance.”

Up next, hall-of-famers J-Kidd, Big German and the return of the Matrix.

FAN-tastic.

The ship was beginning to stall, but the reinforcements arrived.

While Dwyane Wade was having the worst game of his playoff career, the Heat was able to count on the production of the “Florida Boys” to bring just enough of that missing punch to help the Big 3 keep the boat floating closer to it’s next destination… the NBA Finals.

DRose was the regular season MVP, but in this series Bron has been the MVP. When either team needed a play to take control of the game, James has stepped up every time. Bron willed this win. He provided the leadership and playmaking needed to keep Miami within striking distance all night.

“It was about enduring and staying with it mentally and physically,” coach Spoelstra lamented afterwards.

Facing the toughest defense this year yet, the Heat’s combination of Miller, Chalmers and Bosh’s timely shooting kept the offense from becoming stagnant, with Bosh’s jumpshot looking as pure as ever in one of the game’s biggest stages. Mike Miller had his best game of the postseason.

“Mike gave us a real boost, really aggressive, looking for his opportunities, and we loved it,” coach Spoelstra noted.

But there was Wade, driving and shooting bricks, missing dunks… looking a step slower than usual. His game a mess.

“He struggled,” Spoelstra said. “He was having a tough night for 30-some minutes.”

“This series is an absolute bloodbath,” continued Spoelstra,”and that game tonight was a total grind. It is very challenging for either team to get into any kind of fluid offensive flow. It is about as competitive and physical as it could be.”

Wade had never looked this out of rhythm before. With the moment so large, there was Wade, looking unsure of himself. He was stumbling… reeling. It was almost like Wade was not used to being so small in such a large game. Wade certainly has always had to play the role DRose is playing now, being that one guy that the whole team depends on to win.

Not anymore. And this is the beauty of the Big 3 philosophy.

As Chicago relied on Rose to get them points in crunchtime, Bron wisely smothered the league MVP with tough defense, daring Deng and Boozer to beat them and giving Wade just enough time to finally get right. Wade finally did with a sweet stepback J late in the 4th.

“He made huge plays down the stretch,” Bosh said. “Once he hit a step-back jumper, he started to get into it. He made huge defensive plays, got rebounds, got blocked shots, and he was the Dwyane Wade we need him to be.”

Said Wade: “I stuck with it and was able to do some things to help us get a victory.” “I was happy I had another five minutes to make up for the other 48.” “If you’re a fan of the game,” Wade continued, “this is a great basketball game. This is will, and both teams showed that. We made the plays at the end to eventually pull away.”

In overtime, the Big 3 was clicking again as Wade, Bosh and Bron scored all 16 of Miami’s points.

“We kept fighting, but all it took was five minutes,” said Bulls forward Luol Deng.

It was a thing of beauty…

The power of James. The grace of Bosh. The fire of Wade.

The class of 2003.

“We’re looking at Game 5 as a must win,” said James. “They’re going to feed off their fans. We’re going to try to play as desperate as we did the last three games. We’re not taking anything for granted.”

Heat critics like to talk about Chris Bosh.

As the only one of the Heat’s superstars that did not make it out of the first round when he was the first option, Bosh has his doubters.

They call Miami’s trifecta the Big 2.5. ( here’s looking at you Boozer )

“Of course, I’m not going to get as many plays called with two other great players and a great team,” Bosh said. “I’m just trying to be the best player I can for this team.”

They call Bosh’s game “girly”, …”finesse”.

“I’m human, I really don’t care for it,” Bosh says of criticism. “There’s always going to be somebody throwing rocks. But I know I’m a good ballplayer.”

Well, Bosh may have just shut his critics up for good.

In a display of maximum concentration, Bosh shot 13-18 FG’s and 8-10 Ft’s for 34 points, carrying the offense for Miami and allowing DWade to concentrate his effort more on the boards and help defense.

“I was seeing two defenders all night, two or three defenders,” James said. “I came into the game knowing they were going to try to load up on D-Wade and myself. The great thing about it, C-B had it going.”

While Bosh carried the offense the Heat played the type of swarming defense that has not been seen since Jordan, Pippen & Rodman’s outstretched limbs terrorized league offenses with the Bulls 15 years ago.

“I think, defensively, what we’ve done all year has worked,” James said.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Derrick Rose said afterwards.

And so the Heat’s defensive mastery of Rose and the Bulls continues.

As for Bosh’s finesse label… it’s not a bad one, really. Wasn’t Kareem Abdul Jabbar a finesse player as well? The skyhook elegantly floating above the outstretched arm of defenders?

I’m not really sure, but I suspect Kareem was.

Anyways, finesse label or not, Bosh was aggressively driving to the hoop and devastated the Bulls morale with a spin-dunk crusher to push Miami to a definitive lead in the 3rd quarter.

“We allowed him to get his confidence early, and he’s hard to slow down after that,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau would say post-game. ”We have got to get up and challenge their shots better,”.”The rebounding was good, challenging their shots wasn’t.”

So with Bosh hot, LeBron continuing to hit his jumper, specialists’ timely shooting, Wade leading the team in rebounding and the Haslem-led bench stepping up Miami now has an opportunity to go up 3-1…

“There’s not going to be a lot of breathing room,” Spo concluded, ”It’s still all about enduring, sustaining and finding a way to grind it out.”

The Heat looked to gain the momentum going back to Miami by stealing a game in Chicago and used an explosion of energy from the return of Udonis Haslem to beat the Bulls in Chicago 85-75.

Chicago did not play at the energy level of Sunday’s game, perhaps their nuts softened from the easiy game 1 win.

Big mistake.

On the court, it was Wade attacking from the wing and Bron up the middle that got Miami a lead in the early parts of the game. Behind the scenes, Spoelstra basically de-validated the regular season by benching Z and Dampier and going with a smaller and speedier lineup.

“They’re bigger than us as far as height,” James said, “but rebounding isn’t about height. It’s about will.”

At first the move looked like it had backfired as Miami again was struggling on the boards…

But then UD came into the game and just when the TNT announcers were detailing the reasons why he would not be productive, played the kind of inspired high-energy basketball that usually only Anthony provides the Heat.

“I didn’t know what I was going to bring,” he said. “I thought it may be 10, 15 minutes at the most.”

If that was the case, you wouldn’t know it as Spo rode Haslem to extended minutes.

“When the ball was up on the board, they were in the fight,” Thibodeau said.

And now you can start to see how losing Haslem was a bigger blow to Miami as once thought, and how now the roster makes perfect sense again.

“I talked to him two days ago, and there was a look in his eye,” Spoelstra said of Haslem with a gleem in his eye. “I’ve been through a lot of battles with that warrior, and I knew it was time to put him in.”

The fourth quarter featured the kind of defense reminiscent of 90′s NBA playoff basketball.

“That fourth quarter is what’s going to epitomize this entire series,” Spoelstra said of the Heat outscoring Chicago 14-10 in the final period.

“It was a great collective effort of endurance,” Spoelstra said. “We were able to play more to our identity.”

Said James, “If you don’t like defense, if you like offense and high power, you didn’t like this game.

But lets not overlook the returning brilliance of Dwyane Wade and Lebron James, who broke out of their Thibodeau chains for a very productive night.

Wade was smooth with his drives to the basket, able to find seams while James seemed like he was there to bail Miami out all night with his timely playmaking.

“I put it all on the line tonight and did whatever it took for our team to win,” James said.

As dangerous as Chicago is, I still underrated them myself when I chose the Heat to take them out in 5 games.

That’s looking very unlikely.

Miami played a good first half, racing up and down and getting the usual amount of transition points… but endurance was an issue as Chicago’s intense defense made it hard for Miami and their main processor (Big 3). Ultimately the spinning beachball appeared as Miami began to depend on more roleplayers to find a rhythm and contribute after being frozen for the first two rounds. So the bench needed to get some laps in the pool to melt the ice on their game. This didnt help Miami as it was unable to make a strong enough push in the second half and lost 82-103.

The Bulls had their way to end the third as they attacked the Heat with one of their main weaknesses: rebounding. Thiboudeau’s gameplan systematically disrupted Miami’s defensive and rebounding schemes.

“We took it on the chin, in virtually all the effort areas,” Heat coachErik Spoelstra lamented.

“We’ll adjust. . . . Certainly the fistfight under the glass will be a start.”

Derrick Rose’s speed was able to cut through Miami’s defense, and it gives Rose an advantage that Miami does not normally deal with both on offense and defense.

“You need a lot of speed out here.” Spo would go on to say, “our athleticism will be important.”

“Just trying to find the opening,” Rose would say, “That’s the biggest thing: Attacking, knowing when to pass the ball.”

Bosh had an especially strong game  (30 points) as his length did give the Bulls starting unit some fits inside for a while, but Chicago’s depth and gameplan eventually wore down Bosh and the rest of Miami’s bigs.

“We just have to do a better job of competing on the boards,” Bosh said, “that’s where this series is going to be won.”

Coach Tom Thibodeau would concur: ”Our guys up front are very active,”

The Heat did not necessarily play bad, but it’s game is not at it’s strongest when James and Wade are contained. That will be Miami’s next challenge to be able to get over “the hump”. Ironic that Miami really does have that next “hump” to get to the champions level, as we mentioned last entry.

“LeBron is such a tough cover,” Thibodeau said. “You don’t guard him individually. You guard him with your team.”

“They put a lot of pressure on us,” Wade said. “They extended their D a lot. I thought we didn’t move the ball enough.”

With rumors that the next collective bargaining agreement does not necessarily seem to have an empire state of mind, the Big 3 might only have the chance to  take the next step this year if they want a title in their current incarnation… who knows really, so Miami should feel hungrier than ever to get this done this year, but they will have their hands full with Rose’s Bulls.

Chicago put on a good show tonight.

Good sublpots in this series:

Chalmers vs Rose: Rose got the best of Chalmers with his elusive speed several times, proving Bulls GM’s wise for taking Rose over Beasley based on upside because Rose didn’t have that speed in college when Chalmers checked him in the championship game.

Bosh vs Boozer: These guys were both in the market at the same time and both could have went to either team at one point.

Thibodeau vs Spoelstra: Scheme philosophies are polar opposites right now.

Return of Haslem: It was good to see Udonis Haslem out ther, getting his first game action since the first half of the year. He moved well and was able to work some rust off in garbage time.

It was a frustrating game to watch at first: the Celtics out thinking and outplaying Miami for 3 quarters as DWade brilliantly attacked the cup and kept Miami striking. Then James Jones’ 3 pointer began a resurgence that was capped by  LeBron’s clutch-shooting as Miami finally broke Boston’s spell.

For one night the country is calling the Heat a winner and LeBron’s decision a smart one. LeBron , feeling euphoric, even slipped out some condolences to Cleveland:

“I apologize for the way it happened,” James said. “But I knew that this opportunity was once in a lifetime.”

“Everything went through my mind at that point,” James said. “Finally getting over this hump against this team. Everything I went through this summer, with ‘The Decision’ and deciding to come down here to be a part of this team … because I knew how important team is to this sport … and all the backlash I got from it.”

Shivering shit balls.

It’s all sweet and good but the job is not over yet.

Here’s a reality check Miami: The Celtics stumbled into the playoffs before taking care of a severely lacking Knicks team.

Yes, the Celtics are a proud team, one that will not go out without a fight.

“It’s a great team,” James said of Boston in the on-court celebration. “Like I said, I got the utmost respect for that team. They’re the reason why all three of us came together, is because of what they did, that blueprint they had in ’08 when they all came together.”

“They make you fight for everything,” James said. “You can never take the foot off the gas. You can never take a second off against that team.”

“I knew I couldn’t do it myself against that team,” he said, “and I knew that was the team I had to get over the hump against.”

But, not so fast James, there is a certain number 1 seed that is going through growing pains against the Hawks, and they just may be a greater challenge than these much-respected Celtics… and certainly, there are a couple of west-coast upstarts ready to get down.

The hump is still in full view.

12 o’clock.

Rejoice. Rejoice.

The Boston Celtics are almost defeated.

It’s not an easy thing to do beat Boston at their house, even with Rajon Rondo playing with virtually one arm.

“There’s no doubt, obviously, that this was the biggest game yet for this team,” Dwyane Wade said.

The Celtics didn’t have enough Pierce fadeaways tonight, not enough of Garnett pushing through the paint for scores.. the age of the big 3 is looming infront of Boston’s Danny Ainge as he sees the slow dropoff in production, not able to put Boston on top.

The Heat had just enough of Bron’s power, the right amount of Wade artistry… seasoned with Bosh putbacks and paint play. Miami had little contributors on offense tonight against a tough Celtic D, and after a subpar game 3, the Big 3 were able to get it rolling again:

After a shaky first half, Bosh was able to assert his game again after last game’s Garnett explosion.

“It’s always good to bounce back.” said Bosh, “You know, I don’t think much of it but bad games are necessary if you want to grow.”

“That shows a lot of growth from Chris,” Wade said. “No matter if he struggles again, he can always pull back from this moment.”

Sounds like a good plan.

Even LeBron James’ much maligned year at the crunch was offset by a couple of huge plays down the stretch by LeBron, among them a clutch three to keep Miami alive and a layup in traffic deep in the paint.

Even after a turnover late in regulation, the All-NBA defensive SF redeemed himself on the other end with tight D on Pierce.

“The only way to redeem myself was to get a stop,” said Bron.

“I looked at it as one of the most important games of my career,” James said. “We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to just do whatever it took.”

“Us winning this game just means we have more hard work ahead of us and that’s what the playoffs are all about,” Bosh said. “It’s going to be twice as hard to beat this team from here on out.”

“So many of us have never had a win in this building, it’s a tough place to win,” Spoelstra said. “But what we’re going to face on Wednesday will be our toughest challenge of the season . . . to put away a champion.”

It was a weird one tonight in Boston as the Celtics were able to regain it’s footing in the series after almost being knocked out for good.

“If we want to go to where we want to go to,” Spoelstra said, “we have to outplay them when they are at their best.”

And the Heat were doing just that… and had Boston on the ropes.

But when the crack in the Celtic armor appeared to open and it’s defenses looked penetrated like a certain house in Abottabad, one man put it all on his shoulders and delivered a career-defining performance.

That man was Kevin Garnett.

With the Celtics down a PG and the Heat starting to go for the jugular, Garnett dominated his matchup against Joel Anthony and Chris Bosh single-handedly to keep the Celtics comfortably ahead of Miami.

Hall-of-Famer Garnett showed the younger all-star Bosh that he still has much to learn.

Garnett had 28/18 compared to Bosh’s 6/5 and Anthony’s 12/11.( Not to mention Z’s 2/2.) and basically kept the team going while Miami’s went cold after a good start offensively.

“I can do a lot better,” Bosh said. “I’m not going to make any excuses. It is what it is and nobody cares about it.”

In the first half, Miami was playing it’s offensive game smoothly, Boston was setting the tone but Miami was out-executing the Celtics. The Heat were on the cusp of taking their game to an even higher level.

But the Heat could not sustain the level of play … the mark of a young team. The second half proved that Boston’s defense can be hard to score on if you don’t hit your shots, and Miami became allergic to the rim in the third quarter. This created a serious scoring drought and Boston regained control.

“At halftime we had a two-point lead,” James said, “and they busted it open.”

“We’re trying to take down a champion,” Spoelstra said, “and it will be one of the toughest things we have to do collectively.

“In the second half, they just kept on coming. We understand, fully, now, how tough it is to take down a champion.”

LeBron was the catalyst for the downturn as he missed various attempts to the rim which resulted in transition and open three’s for Boston’s shooters. Meanwhile, the Heat’s other shooters also found the iron unkind.

“I will evaluate everything A to Z,” Spoelstra said in a postgame comment.

“This is a championship team and they played at a championship level,” Wade said of Boston. “We come back Monday and try to learn from our mistakes and not let them outplay us. For most of the game, they did a good job of outplaying us, and that can’t happen.”

The Celtics had a memorable if not dangerous performance from Rajon Rondo, who rode the adrenalin and pain killer from a reattached, formerly dislocated elbow to a gutsy defensive performance and a few stellar drives to the cup.

“The first report was ‘dislocated – out,’ basically for good,” Rivers said. “Thirty seconds later, I was in the huddle and I saw Rondo walk by me, and it looked like he was going to play. Clearly, that got everyone excited. It was awesome to see him back out on the floor.”

“He showed he’s a really tough young individual,” said Kevin Garnett, “I don’t know what he’s going to be like when he’s 35, but right now he’s playing pretty well.”

“Thank God it just popped back in,” Rondo said of his elbow.

I’m not so quite so sure Rondo is not double jointed.

Well, what can you say about a game that has not been said a million times on a million different media outlets? Yes, the Heat handled the Celtics pretty much from start to finish. Yes, another slow start had Miami with a very early deficit. But when Miami’s gears started turning, the machine went to life.

The Celtics played as well as they could on the road. Rondo needed to have a big game to boost the Celtics aging core and he did with 20 points and 12 assists.

Yet it wasn’t enough.

Defensively, Miami’s speed and athleticism is giving Boston fits and Wade and Bron’s playmaking is coming through as the killer weapon that it was advertised to be all along.

Wade had the more spectacular performance in Game 1 and was equally as brilliant in Game 2 with a Tim Hardaway-esque dribble move that completely turned KG’s torso the opposite direction. Except, instead of the killer-crossover it was the euro-step.

But, LeBron branded Game 2 his own with a fabulous shooting display as well as brute-force aggression to the rim.  If there were loose-balls around the rim (and there were plenty, due to Joel Anthony’s activity) James was finding them and dunking them quite violently.

“LeBron was physically, mentally and emotionally tough, and that set the tone for everybody,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Criticized much of the season for an inability to close big games, Miami gained their lead and protected it through every push the Celtics would make. Miami closed quarters strong, and when Boston tied the game, 80-80, in the fourth quarter, the Heat responded with a 14-0 run and sustained the lead through to the end.

“That’s the part where we showed growth,” Chris Bosh said. “That’s a great team that we’re playing. They’re going to make runs, they’re going to make plays and they’re going to take the lead. It’s just going to have that up and down effect. It’s all about how you react.”

“They can’t be so efficient, and that’s on us,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said. “We have to do a better job of shrinking the floor. On the free-throw line, we’re getting crushed.”

“Everyone has each other’s back.” James would go on to say. ” If one guy gets beat, another steps up. They made a run, a heck of a run … but we just kept grinding, kept playing our principles, and we finally wore them down.”

“The series is far, far, far, far from over,” James said. “It’s really just beginning for us. We did what we wanted to do, and that’s protect home court. I don’t have any emotion right now. It’s a long series. I’m not getting too high or getting too low.”

If anyone knows what it is to come back from 0-2 it’s Miami, with the Heat’s one and only title coming in the form of an 0-2 rally.

“Now the mental discipline begins,” Spoelstra said. “This thing is just getting started.”

Any doubt Wade could not play his game at his highest level against Boston was squashed with one spectacular play. Wade broke free from the pack, faked left, went right and then found LeBron for a 180 hip-turning alley-oop dunk.

Stuff of legend.

Not only that but there were floaters and bank shots in traffic, three-point daggers and mid-range brilliance as well as acrobatic finishes to the rim.

When talking about Wade’s struggles against Boston, Spoelstra was not worried: “Probably better than any player I’ve been around, he is able to figure defenses out. There more he sees it, the more he is able to crack the code.”

“It’s a big game. It’s Game 1, at home,” Wade said. “You’ve got to take care of home court. These guys expect this from me. I wasn’t giving it to them in the regular season versus them and I wanted to come out today and be a leader.”

The Heat got the early edge and continued strong, geting productive contributions from it’s bench and role players to win 99-90 and take 1-0 lead in the 2011 Eastern semis.

“Everyone understands what the moment is,” Spoelstra said. “We’ve prepared a long time for this.”

“I thought they were prepared, they were ready, they played with unbelievable intensity,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who called the Heat’s play “chippy” and said Wade and Jones instigated situations with plays that should have been flagrant fouls.

“JJ probably had the best game of anybody,” James said.

LeBron was a juggernaut, he was all over the court defensively with brilliant blocks in traffic and completely took Pierce out of his game. Bron finished with 22 points, six rebounds and five assists as his motor kept going the whole day… he owned the court.

“He was our primary post-up player tonight,” Spoelstra said of James’ role.

The Heat’s defense was stellar, although it did have the occasional  breakdown for a three… but seriously, the Heat were swarming and getting turnovers at a good rate. The bench was boosted by some playmaking by Mike Miller, who found James Jones for a key assist.

Chris Bosh had a quiet but huge 12 rebounds, which against Garnett is an accomplishment. In fact, you can see the respect the whole Heat squad has for Garnett when it is time to meet him in the paint in single coverage. But respect is all it is as the Heat was able to get to the rim on the Celtics most of the day.

“I thought [Rondo] and Kevin played the game today in thought, instead of just playing,” Rivers said.

The Heat nonchalantly finished off the Sixers last night in a game I would like to call a “not good enough to beat a top team” type of game…

The Heat won the game. The Big 3 played good enough to win and the bench was productive:  Chalmers put the team on top with a 20 point output on offense while Joel Anthony continued his steady supply of defensive playmaking.

“That’s something me and Joel always talk about,” Chalmers said. “Everyday we come in here, we talk about we want to be those energy guys.

“When I get the open shot, I’ve just got to knock it down.”

Many were surprised the game had to even be that close, but Philly is respectable, if not experienced.

“I think it was good for us to have that stress,” said Chris Bosh of the competitive series. “It gets harder from here.”

“Very difficult,” Wade called it.

“We were pushed,” said coach Erik Spoelstra. “But we showed resolve.”

Yet after watching the Heat play another tight game with Philly, playing a brand of half-ass basketball I would personally call “unfocused”, I would not be very surprised if the Heat get swept by their next opponent: The Celtics.

“We always felt it would happen at some point,” LeBron James said after the Heat finished the Sixers Wednesday night. “At some point, we would have to go through Boston to get where we want to get. I’m looking forward to the challenge.” “This is the series everybody wanted to see.”

I think the Heat are a better team on paper than the Celtics, and I know the Heat are at their best when they play the right way.

What is the right way? I will tell you what is not the right way:

1. Avoiding the paint like the plague. The Heat continuously keep the paint wide open, maybe it is by design… and playing Z will change the equation, but last night the Heat were not even trying to bring a post game, will this work against the Celtics?

2. Idiotic technicals. Here’s looking at you, Wade. Dumb. And you know it.

3. Missing free-throws: Bron, Wade… close the games out , we know you are tired but seriously points will be scarce against the Celtics ( and Bulls (?) )

4. Crunchtime hero bullshit. Bron this one is for you. Make the right play.

5. Sloppy turnovers. The remaining teams will make you pay for this…dearly.

6. The hoisting of the threes. C’mon guys, seriously.

7. Spo’s erratic, sometimes too undersized lineups. Spo started Anthony and Chalmers in the second half, has he already lost faith in the starters that produced a 20 point victory just two games ago?

“It will be interesting to see in the next series what Erik decides with his lineup,” 76ers coach Doug Collins said.

BUT…

The thing is with this Heat team is that even though they have moments of sloppy play, they usually keep winning games anyways. Let’s hope they realize they need to take it up a notch, just like before the last LA.game. Truth is even if Boston has truly regressed the Heat should not even try to find out by not playing up to their highest standards, because Boston has shown it can still close with the best of them. Now is the time to go all out (while still staying zen).

“Very difficult,” – Wade.

The Heat have been many things in this high-profile season, perfect has not been one of them. A nearly flawless first three games gave notion to the thought that yeah, this Heat team can sweep this Sixers team. But this team is not at the level of perfection, not yet.

“Bottom line,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after his team’s 86-82 loss at Wells Fargo Center, “is it’s never easy in the playoffs, it never is.”

And Miami’s major weakness was there tonight in Miami’s first playoff loss, CLOSING EXECUTION: After trailing early, the Heat charged back in the final frame to get in position to win, but a lack of cohesion was evident when trying to force the offense through a single channel, and the extra pass was not being executed. The Heat are now 1-19 from the field in the final 10 seconds when trailing by 3 or fewer (or tied)

“Our offense got stagnant,”  said Bosh. “We took all contested shots. We stopped moving the ball. That played into their hands.”

Spoelstra doesnt buy the statistics:

“We’ve proven all year long that we were able to close those types of games out,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We were not able to tonight.”

So the Heat chalk up the loss to a learning pain and continue to move forward quickly:

“We’re not going to hang our heads all the way to the ground about it,” James said.

“We will learn from this and get better,” Wade said. “It’s only going to make us stronger.”

Game 3 was very similar to game 1 as the Sixers started hot and pushed their game as hard as it could. The Heat took the flurry of scoring runs by the Sixers right on the chin, and like the Terminator, continued undaunted to systematically dismantle Philadelphia little by little.

“We wanted to just, somehow, stay in it,” Spoelstra said. “There wasn’t any panic. We were disappointed about our start. “

Yeah, like the Terminator. You see…  it was as if you hit the Terminator with your hardest hit, and unharmed, the Terminator slowly started walking towards you.

“When I’m playing basketball on the road I like to play that villain,” James said. “When I go into a building I want people to fear me.”

And all Philly could do was close their eyes and prepare to get terminated.

“We’re a desperate team right now…”, said LeBron “…we want to continue to play that way.”

Indeed the Heat still need a game to close the deal but Wade was fuego tonight . He scared the crap out of me in the 4th by walking out of the tunnel in a shoulder cast… and then all of a sudden he was on the court playmaking again.

“He’ll probably feel that tomorrow,” Spoelstra said.

Tonight, he was different,” Spoelstra said of Wade’s deferrence in the first 2 games. “He understood we needed something a little more. He was in attack mentality, right from the very beginning. His aggressive mentality was something that kept us in it.”

“I felt a lot better,” Wade said. “My game felt better. My body felt better. The first two games, I didn’t feel like my regular self.” Wade finished close to a triple double with 32 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.

Heat forward LeBron James made sure Wade got the ball when he needed, finishing with 15 rebounds, as well as 24 points and six assists.

“More opportunities presented themselves for me tonight,” Wade said. “I was a little more aggressive at times. I was able to get the ball on the move and not so much in the pick and roll.”

“Eventually,” Bosh said of Thursday’s game, “we settled down and started playing our style of basketball.”

Miami’s transition game was going  full force with Bron hitting Wade with a fullcourt pass for a layup as well as doing his best Tim Hardaway impression by breaking down his defender and dishing to Wade for the sweet assist.

“It definitely started a run for us,” James said. “Luckily I was able to get rid of the ball before I traveled and D-Wade was able to slam it home. “On the road, you’ve got to be even more aggressive on defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds,” James said. “I know I don’t have to do a lot of the scoring, being part of this team, so I can always focus my attention defensively and on rebounding and getting guys involved.”

“It was a gutsy win, we didn’t take control until the 4th. It wasnt pretty, wasnt clean..but we found a way. That’s the most important thing.” said coach Spo.

In game 2, Miami was able to shut down the Sixers pretty much the whole way using their defensive scheme to disrupt any kind of cohesion Philly was trying to find.

I always felt,” Sixers coach Doug Collins said, “that when they wanted to, they were as good as any defensive team in the NBA.”

“Our energy tonight was much better, from beginning to end,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It was good to see us get back to that disposition.”

The offense was not bad either, hitting 94 points in a game of this tempo was very sound.

“It was a really complete game for us at both ends of the floor,” Bron said.

Miami has shown in these last 2 games that it is a higher class of team, even with the Sixers playing well in game 1, Miami was able to put it away. And now a blowout in game 2.

“If they’re playing great, they’re a better team,” Collins said. “OK? If they’re playing on top of their game, they’re a better team. I mean, they won 58, we won 41. That doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to play and compete and fight. But when they come out tonight and defend the way they did … it’s going to be very difficult for us to beat them.”

Nuff said.

The biggest drama of the series thus far has beenb Wade suffering Terrell Davis-type migraines. His numbers are down, but it may be because the team has not needed his usual 26 to 30 point output.

“It was great to have him out there,” Spoelstra said. “He had to go through a lot in the last 24 hours.”.

“I wasn’t able to eat yesterday, really low energy,” Wade said. “I think I did my job.”

“He controlled the game,” James said of Wade. “He had two people on him so he just got off the ball and let other guys make things happen and it’s good to have him on the court than in a suit.”

Miami’s inside game has been a strength with the center duo of Z and Anthony playing well and Bosh’s attempts/fg% and ppg all up from his season avg’s. James Jones provided 7 crucial points.

“It looked like they were going to run us out,” Collins said. “But we fought back.”

And fought back they did, after a slow start, the Heat were able to apply a choker hold on the Sixers for the second (outscored Philadelphia 35-18) and third quarters playing loose, making smart plays and hitting their jumpers.

But the Sixers were able to make a run in the fourth and were able to come all the way back from double-digits. The 76ers scored 12 straight points in the fourth quarter, closing to 88-87 .

“I told our guys with four minutes left and down three, if we could write the script, this is where we want to be,” 76ers coach Doug Collins said.

But the Sixers never got the lead back. Bosh made two free throws and Wade hit a tough bank shot to give Miami a five-point edge. And after Young scored Philadelphia’s final points with 1:24 left, Wade sealed it with a pair of foul shots 14 seconds later.

“The only number that matters right now is 1-0,” Wade said. “That’s all it’s about.”

True. Most teams make a run, and the fact that the Heat not only withstood it but were able to regain it’s supremacy in the clutch showed how far this Miami team has come since those days early in the season when they were losing leads to teams like the Jazz (Milsap!) and Pacers.

“No team is just going to lie down,” Bosh said. “You’re not going to play an 82-game season and work this hard just to lie down when you get there. They’re a very gifted team. … We do expect this series to have all close games. As long as we prepare for that and get that in our minds, we’ll be fine.”

“You know this team is going to keep fighting back,” Wade said of the 76ers. “We understand this is the kind of series it’s going to be.”

“We’ll take this first win,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, whose team has won 16 of its past 19 games overall. “Hopefully who we’ve been the last few weeks will be more who we’ll be the rest of the series, particularly offensively. We were not very efficient tonight.”

“We thought if we could keep those three stars under 75 points we’d have a chance to win,”  said Elton Brand, with the Heat’s three stars closing with 63 the Heat were able to continue the trend of getting a complete contribution from the whole team.

The two teams traded jabs for the first 3/4′s of the first half before a flurry of shots put the Heat in command at halftime. Mario Chalmers hit Bron with an alley-oop. After the Hawks turned it over, Wade went in for a thunderous slam. Bosh hit a sweet 20-foot jumper, then Wade finished it all off with a euro-step in the the lane, faking one way, then another and finally laying it in against a confused Wilkins.

The second half was about holding the lead and squashing any Hawks runs and Miami did that until midway in the fourth when the Hawks subs came in with a fresh demeanor and cut the 20 point lead to single digits and eventually a tie.

“It’s a confidence booster for the second unit,” Teague said. “If we get in during the playoffs, we know we could actually make an impact.”

But the charade ended quickly as James Jones stepped up and hit a pair of threes to seize the lead… and the game from the Hawks.

“He stepped in with confidence,” Spoelstra said, “as he always does.”

“That’s my job,” said Jones, who is shooting 42.3 percent from 3-point range this season. “My teammates rely on me to make shots. That’s my primary responsibility. So if I’m not making shots, I’m failing my team. For us coming off the bench, we have to consistently be consistent with inconsistent playing time and an inconsistent rotation. I don’t know when I’m going in. I don’t know how many shots I’ll get. But when I get one, I know they’re relying on me to make them. That’s just my mindset.”

The win, coupled with the Celtics’ loss to the Wizards clinched the #2 seed for Miami.

“It’s not always about talent,” Heat forward LeBron James said. “It took a long time — basically the whole year, 81 games — to get to this point, so we got time to exhale a little bit but we still have more work to do. It took a lot of work, a new team coming together like this.”

With their first three points Monday, Wade and James became the first pair of Heat teammates to combine for 4,000 points in a season. The achievement was last done in the league by Allen Iverson (2,164 points) and Carmelo Anthony (1,978 points) for the Denver Nuggets in 2007-08.

James again is poised to stand as the lone player in the league to average at least 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. It would be the fifth time in his career he has finished a season with those averages. He is the only player to have done it since Michael Jordan did it in 1988-89.

But, back to the Celtics for a second. They rested their stars and paid the price with a loss. Could Boston be more secure playing against the Knicks than the 76ers? The Sixers are a seemingly more complete team, with good chemistry and depth and a propensity to overachieve. Basically they can be a pain in the ass in the playoffs. The Knicks have major holes they are still trying to patch and it will be interesting to see NY try to put it together against this new Celtic chemistry. But anyways, the Heat do get to avoid facing Carmelo, Amare and the Garden in the first round, and that does count for something.

Early in the game , the Heat were beating themselves with turnovers and overpassing, and it seemed the mental edge was still in Boston’s favor.

But this time the supporting cast stepped up and were able to knock down shots while the attention was on the Big 3. Bibby, Chalmers, Jones, Miller, Howard and Z all had their moments.

“This is a team game,” Chris Bosh said (13 pts/8 rbs). “I think a lot of people get caught up in just us scoring the ball, but we have other guys that can score.”

“We are a more dangerous team when more people are involved, more people are active and engaged in the game,” Coach Spoelstra said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean scoring. Those guys can bring a lot of different intangibles.”

“I think if our bench plays well we’re a pretty good team,” James said.

“Obviously we understood that there was a lot at stake with this game,” Anthony said ( 10 rebounds and 7 crucial points). “We understood what position we were in and what position we wanted to put ourselves in. Everyone just came really focused for this game and made sure we executed and do the things we needed to do.”

“We can beat ‘em,” Dwyane Wade said. “Just getting over that hump we’ve been talking about. We got over it today, but we move on. Today we proved we’re a much better team than we were when we played them earlier.”

Celtics coach Doc Rivers wanted to have nothing to do with the notion of Sunday being a “message” game. Going in, he said, “The whole message thing: If we win this game, I don’t think that’s going to make them not want to play us in the second round. If they win, I don’t think it’s going to send a big message to us.”

“I think we were covering up a lot of mistakes with our energy, disposition, saving possessions,” Spoelstra said. “I think against great players like that, that’s what you have to do. Ideally, we’re trying to do the same [thing] that we did in the previous three games, but we were a little more conventional.”

“I’m not going to overreact to one win,” Bosh said. “Just like if we would have lost today, it’s one game. I’m not going to read into it too much.

“This is cool and all, but we still have two more games. We need to close out the season strong to be where we need to be.”

Bosh is right. The Heat should not read too much into this win. This Celtic team right now is not what it was. ..

But it has to feel good to knock the Celtics on their ass for once.

Apparently “discipline” was the key word stressed on the pregame strategy board before this matchup of lightweight and heavyweight NBA teams.

And true to form, the Bobcats were able to push only mildly as the Heat controlled this one from the opening tip. The Heat would need discipline to stay focused and not get too sloppy.

James controlled the pace early, setting up DWade for multiple baskets in the first quarter and closed with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, nine assists and seven rebounds.

The return of DWade didn’t make it any easier for the Bobcats. Wade returned from injury to score 27.

“They’re happy he is playing. I could have done without him tonight. We can’t score as much without a Jackson, a Tyrus Thomas and those guys,” Charlotte coach Paul Silas said. “That’s the downside of where we are right now.”

Chris Bosh scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and the Heat held off the  Charlotte Bobcats 112-103 on Friday night.

The victory, combined with Boston’s 104-88 win over Washington, kept the teams tied for the second spot in the Eastern Conference with identical 55-24 records. They play in Miami on Sunday, with the winner taking a huge step toward securing home-court for the first two playoff rounds.

“Boston continues to give us an opportunity to get the No. 2 seed, so why not go get it?” said LeBron.

The Heat entered Milwaukee to battle the Bucks for the last time this year. The Bucks, previously 0-3 against the Heat and wanting to make a statement, saw the opportunity with Wade out.

“Nobody said this was going to be easy,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

“Every time you play them, it’s going to be one of those grind-it-out tough games,” James said. “They make it very physical. … I’ve played against Scott Skiles teams when he was in Chicago and now in Milwaukee, and it’s always the same effort.”

After trailing most of the game, the Heat made a push late in the fourth, with LeBron making multiple plays to put the Heat up one, but Miami’s lack of cohesion without Wade cost the team at clutch-time.

“They disrupted us from the paint attacks that we’ve been getting and I think that deflated us,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat outscored 42-26 in the paint. “Our execution wasn’t where it could be and that’s something we have to learn from.”

Carlos Delfino hit a late three to keep the Bucks ahead, as the Heat were late on the defensive switch.

“It was a shot that they gave me and I’ve got confidence from all of my teammates, the coaches and everybody,” Delfino said. “And I just made it.”

“We just have to stay the course and take care of our business and take care of our games one game at a time and stay in the moment,” Spoelstra said. ”This is a tough, painful loss and it feels like the playoffs right now, as it should.”

Bosh was pretty much contained against the Bucks feisty defensive frontcourt play.

“You have to give credit to their defense,” Bosh said. “They play good defense. … Things are going to happen like that sometimes.”

With the lack of a center to open the game up for Bosh, will the defensive pressure be too much in the playoffs?

“Getting into important games, I know I’m going to be open,” Bosh said. “I’m going to have to knock down those 15-footers.”

Bosh said he is particularly struggling with his hook shot. ”That hasn’t been going in for me lately,” he said.

Hitting his jumpers will help Bosh be more effective, but penetrating and being effective in the paint will also be important as the Heat have previously learned.

“We’re making progress,” Spoelstra insisted. “I wouldn’t call this a step back, but it is painful.”

Of course, having Wade back will open up spacing for Bosh and Bron.

“He’s still very sore,” Spoelstra said of Wade. “We want to make sure he’s as healthy as he can be down the stretch and for the playoffs. ”He wanted to play. This is a collective decision. He wanted to play the other night in the second half against New Jersey and he was hobbling around in the locker room. But he understands this time of year and it shows you how much he’s committed to this team and to his teammates. He wants to contribute. It’s day to day, we’ll see how it goes.”

“If he doesn’t feel like he’s able to go out there at least give 100 percent, then he should take the rest,” James said. “I don’t think it’s even the Boston game, either. I think it’s about the playoffs.” “We want him as close to 100 percent as possible before the playoffs start. And if he’s ready Friday, he plays, and if not, he should sit. If he’s ready Sunday, he should play. If not, he should sit then, too. I think D-Wade had his fair share of injuries in career. He knows when he’s ready and he can go out there and produce.”

It is the fifth game Wade has missed this year. Stats-wise, he entered Wednesday’s play ranked third in the league in scoring at 25.7 points per game.

The Heat clinched the division title tonight, which is not very exciting with the championship aspirations of today. But fans that have been through tough seasons can probably appreciate the milestone.

The Heat needed to put the foot on the gas somewhat in the second half to close out a Nets team with no continuity, little chemistry and a lame-duck arena.

“It feels like we were on the road for three weeks,” Spoelstra said. “None of us wanted to have any more regrets.”

No worries Spo, the team got it done.

The Heat have quietly played excellent ball to stay ahead of the pack and is in position to creep even closer to the 2nd seed.

The Heat’s penetration and transition games overwhelmed the Nets early and often:

“We definitely had some makable shots but I thought we rushed them,” said point guard Deron Williams, who had 18 points and 12 assists. “They got out in transition and got layup after layup, and they’re tough to beat when they’re doing that.”

All signs indicate that this team is ready for big things, but no one wants to jump the gun yet…

“The postseason is going to tell,” said James, who was 13 of 18 from the field. “We’re a very good team right now and we believe we can beat anybody in a seven-game series. We’re ready.”

So in the meantime, cruising (while getting wins) is the m.o. and trying to rest and improve their game is essential to get ready to climb that set of stairs called the NBA Playoffs.

A “Charlie Horse” to Dwayne Wade’s thigh was concerning, considering that a similar injury took 2 years for Shaq to shake off:

“I just kept asking him when he kept coming in and going out, if he was OK,” said James, who finished three assists shy of a triple-double. “He knows at this point that he doesn’t have to push it. We need him more later than we do now. Dwyane needs to be as close to 100 percent as possible. No one is 100 right now.”

Wade could have sat out, but worked the leg out in the second half with some minutes.

“I just wanted to play,” said Wade, who was hurt in a collision with Nets forwardTravis Outlaw. “I couldn’t hurt it any more, unless I got kneed again. I thought I was pretty effective helping my team get a victory. I just wanted to play basketball, one leg or not.”

Miami went to Minnesota for the late-season matchup.

After hanging close for a half, Miami was able to assert itself and blitz the less-talented and visibly shorter T-Wolves to coast for the victory.

“We played two tough ones with Cleveland and Washington and to come out here in the second half and really get a lead and coast to a win was great,” said Dwyane Wade, who finished with 32 points on 14-of-21 shooting.

“It was about continuing to be aggressive, and we did that,” James said.

Wade was especially sharp in the third, getting ahead of the pack in transition for 5 3rd quarter dunks.

“I just used my aggression,” said Wade, who scored 16 of his game-high 32 points in the decisive third quarter. “The good thing about having anger in the first half is that you can use it in the second half. When you get angry at the end of the second half, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Apparently, the Wolves had taken some cheap shots.

“My whole life’s been knowing about how to channel my anger,” Wade said.

The Heat, and Wade in particular seem to play better when they are loose and relaxed, but with a little bit of edge. The playoffs will be hectic and stressful, and the Heat will need to remain zen.

“How we manage our frustration,” Spo said, “will be important as we move forward”.

Spo also had other things in mind, probably defensive lapses in the first half:

“It was not a complete game,” Spoelstra said, “but we’ll take it.”

James finished with 35 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, Wade had 33 points and nine assists and Chris Bosh scored 26, helping Miami avoid what would have been a second consecutive embarrassing loss:

“I sucked last night,” Bosh said. “That’s all I was really thinking about. As players, you always say when you play well. When I don’t, it really bothers me. I just wanted to bounce back.”

“We took two steps backwards last night,” James said, “and we took a step forward tonight, and we have to continue that.”

“Coach (Erik Spoelstra) did a great job of helping us move on,” guard Dwyane Wade said. “We didn’t even watch film on that game. He came in and he talked to us about moving forward. …That helped our team mentally.”

It was a physical game from the beginning but things got dirty in the second quarter. That’s when Wall, the star rookie, punched Ilgauskas in the ribs after Ilgauskas elbowed Wall in the mouth.

“It’s part of the game,” said Dwyane Wade, who had 33 points on 11-of-17 shooting. “Aggressiveness, hard fouls — sometimes they escalate a little more than others. We had a similar situation last night in Cleveland.”

“We understand this time of the year that teams are playing for pride, especially when we come in the building and they want to prove something.”

The Wizards pushed hard to try to steal a win against a Miami team just trying to finish out the regular season without  any more major injuries to any of its players. But, in the end, Miami’s talent was able to push just enough to get the win.

“We’re still trying to play at a high level,” James said. “We’ve still got a lot of habits that we’re working right now to continue to get better for the stretch run.”

Well, the Cavs got their revenge, and it’s only right.

The kind of blue-balls that Cleveland had to beat LeBron and be heroes in their hometown had them playing like a game 7 of the NBA finals. And thats the way it’s supposed to be.

The Heat are in late-season mode, preparing for the playoffs.

Pardon the Heat for not being up to it. They have earned it.

Miami made a good run, but couldn’t close it out. The Heat have played well lately and as a fan you give them the benefit of the doubt.

But Miami has to expect this and more come playoff time.

Will they be up for it?

On a positive note: Bibby is looking good.

On a negative note: I do fault Spo for doing the undersized lineup thing again and putting all the pressure on Bosh when it is clear that Bosh was having some trouble. An adjustment was needed, none came.

The Heat noticed late last game that Bosh had 28 points, and after Miami’s star trio combined for 91 points Friday in a win over Philadelphia, they talked about what it would be like for each of them to score 30.

That chance came exactly one game later. And Bosh needed two trips to the foul line, but he got it done — only to learn afterward of the historical ramifications.

“That’s what makes great players special,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They can be great during the year and still find another gear and another level to go to. I think that’s what you’re seeing with those three guys.”

Much like the 125-119 Heat win at Houston earlier this season, this was another track meet. Miami’s 38 first-quarter points were its second-highest total of the season — and Houston’s 37 points after 12 minutes were the third-most the Heat had given up this season.

“Too many points,” Scola said. “When you play a team with Bosh, James and Wade, that’s very dangerous.”

Scola played off James at the top of the key with 3:35 left, the two-time reigning MVP made a stepback jumper, and the Heat lead was 116-106. Lowry tipped in his own missed layup with 51 seconds remaining to get Houston within 118-115, but Wade came through on the next Miami possession, and the Heat survived.

“Unbelievable,” James said.

“That’s why we get paid the big bucks,” Wade said.

Each of them had 30-10 nights — James with 33 points and 10 rebounds, Bosh had 31 points and 12 rebounds, and Wade shook off a bruised tailbone to finish with 30 points and 11 boards — as the Miami Heat beat the Houston Rockets 125-119 for their eighth win in nine games.

It was the first time since February 1961 that three teammates finished with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in a non-overtime game.

The last time a team had three players score 30 in the same game was Feb. 26, 2010, when Houston had Martin, Aaron Brooks and Scola combine for 94 against San Antonio. Before that, you’d have to go back all the way to Nov. 14, 1997, when Portland’s Isaiah Rider, Brian Grant and Arvydas Sabonis all had 30-plus points and 10 or more rebounds in a quadruple-overtime win over Phoenix.

But doing it in regulation, the last time that happened was a half-century ago, when Oscar Robertson, Jack Twyman and Wayne Embry — Hall of Famers all — did it for the Cincinnati Royals in a loss to the Philadelphia Warriors.

“One of the things we talked about when we came together was making history,” Bosh said.

Mike Bibby added 14 points for the Heat, who beat Houston by the same score on Dec. 29.

The Heat came to Philly to play a very sound Sixers team that has some firepower. I can partly describe Philly most like a non-dysfunctional, overachieving version of the Pistons. Jodei Meeks, Iguodala, Brand all play well enough together to make this team respectable.

If Miami underestimated Philly it would get in trouble. But as the well known machine known as the ‘big 3′ (or ‘Superfriends’, ‘Team 2003′ or ‘Heatles in some circles’) warmed up, a slow start pretty much guaranteed early trouble for Miami. And this time  a Mike Tyson-esque power flurrly of Wade, Bron and Bosh in the second quarter brought Miami back in spectacular fashion, and kept Philly on the ropes.

The Heat made  eight shots, seven of them either layups or dunks, on the way to a 23-2 run over the next 5 1/2 minutes to take a 49-44 lead in the second quarter.. Wade had 13 points, Bosh and James combined for the other 10.

“They just had another gear,” 76ers coach Doug Collins said. “Those three guys got 91 points. That’s tough to beat.”

Miami led 51-50 at the half, a score that could provide a misleading impression that the opening 24 minutes were nip-and-tuck.

The third quarter was steady as the Sixers again stayed ahead with good execution and defense…

But it didn’t last long.

Starting the fourth, Miami again came alive as the Heat got out in transition and delivered in the half-court sets. They had a 24-5 spurt to erase an eight-point hole and put the game away.

James Jones, and House were hitting their perimeter shots and making smart passes with the rock, that opened up the floor even more and helped the Big 3 explode again, with Wade the hottest of the Big 3. Wade was gliding, cutting and dunking his way inside with a type of peak dominant form not seen in the NBA since… LeBron James last week haha!

Wade finished 39 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, five blocks and three steals — an effort matched only by Shaquille O’Neal in the last 25 seasons, according to STATS LLC .

“I really had no clue what I had going,” Wade said.

The 76ers apparently had no clue how to stop it, either.

LeBron James finished with 32 points, Chris Bosh added 20 points, with both grabbing 10 rebounds. Wade’s stats somehow managed to overshadow both those efforts, especially after he personally outscored Philadelphia 18-17 in the fourth quarter.

“It’s so hard to guard those guys when they’re rolling like that,” Elton Brand.

The win, combined with Boston’s loss to Charlotte, moved the Heat (50-22) within a half-game of the Celtics (50-21) for the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference.

It was Heat vs Pistons in Detroit tonight.

It’s not really the kind of matchup it was a few years ago, but Detroit has some interesting pieces it can use to rebuild with.

Right now they are just overloaded and unbalanced. Too many wing players and slashers, not much of an inside game and not one guy that demands a double team.

Dumars has some work ahead of him.

Tonight, Spo was noticeably tinkering with the lineup after the loss of Chalmers for 2 weeks.

He went with a whole lot of Miller, who delivered with good production and solid defense.

He went with some James Jones, who looked poised by hitting some quality 3′s and some steals and FT’s.

He went with Dampier and Anthony mostly inside. They were able to handle Detroits interior effectively and keep the lanes open for slashing.

The Big 3 were steady in this one with the dagger being a thunderous transition dunk by LeBron set up by Wade and co.

One noticeable thing: Bibby got a good amount of playing time and, to me at least, looked the form of what this team needs at the 1. Bibby hit clutch threes, distributed well when called upon and controlled the flow of the game nicely. I’m sorry to say it because I like Arroyo, but this seems like a definite upgrade right now for Miami.

I like the Heat’s chances in a 7-game series against anyone when they play their asses off and play smart.

A brutal stretch of 11 straight Miami games against playoff-contending teams finally ended, with the Heat having won five of their last six after an 0-5 beginning.

“A lot of ups and downs, but I think it’s been good for this team,” Bosh said. “After the smoke cleared, I think we’re better.”

The Heat scored the game’s first 10 points, while Denver missed its first seven shots. Wade connected on his first four shots, the last of which gave Miami a quick 14-3 lead, and James had consecutive dunks to put the Heat up 25-9 in the early going.

James picked up where he left off in Atlanta on Friday night, shooting 6 for 8 in the opening quarter for 13 points and helping stake the Heat to a 29-21 lead. But by then, Denver was finding its groove, and actually got within one on a 3-pointer by Smith with 7:20 left until halftime — with Miami’s thoughts stuck on Chalmers.

Chalmers, who has started 27 straight games since Jan. 22, went down, holding his right knee. He will be re-examined on Sunday.

Bibby will have to step up and showed flashes of his form tonight.

“I think Mike fits right in,” Wade said. “He’s a guy who’s great when he gets the ball … a very good shooter and most importantly, he’s a veteran guy who’s very smart. He’s going to be big for us in the playoffs.”

Chalmers’ health concerns clearly seemed like the most pressing issue tonight, if he is out for an extended time Wade and Bron will man the point for more minutes.

Ps . Bron and Wade’s jumpers are both clicking… when that is happening beating Miami is almost impossible.

Funny how things coincidentally even out for Miami. Just last game Kevin Durant was completely unconscious , displaying a sniper’s aim as he took out the Heat systematically with jumpshots. Tonight, it was Bron’s turn to unleash the jumper game against a Hawks team that seems tamer this year compared to years past. Could complacency be hitting this Hawks team?

“We got a little discouraged when LeBron was making all those shots,” said Atlanta’s Al Horford, who said his team “just kind of lost sight of going inside.”

James made 16 of 21 shots, including five 3-pointers. He outscored the Hawks 23-20 in the third quarter.

Wade was impressed… “Every time he does it, you kind of don’t know what to do,” Wade said. “It’s surreal.”

Wade concluded his best course of action was to “get out of the way.”

Added Heat coach Erik Spoelstra: “Sometimes you have to sit back and let those guys do that.”

James said he “absolutely” could see his big third quarter break the Hawks’ will.

“You make backbreaking 3s and pull-up jumpers and things like that, you continue to get stops, you can see that you start to wear them down,” James said.

A great effort on a night Miami appeared to be dead legged, and with the Heat’s demanding defensive system, tired legs are understandable. Yet, Wade and Bron provided the most exciting half of the year on pure playmaking ability. Durant’s shooting along with minimal shooting support from the bench doomed this very entertaining game for the Heat.

I’m going to break it down to my main criterias:

Wade/Bron: Absolutely spectacular in the first half, just ordinary after the break.

Bosh: Had his moments against the lengthy OKC frontline.

Miller/Jones/House: Right now Spo is only giving Miller burn, and Miller is struggling. I would like to see Spo balance this baby out by riding the hot hand. Miller’s playmaking is tempered by having Bibby now.

Bibby/Chalmers: An average night. Bibby did hit a clutch 3 late.

Center position: A below average night. Had problems with OKC’s quickness and length. Anthony was very active and impressed.

“It’s huge for us, really, just getting even with this team,”…” They beat us pretty good and I’m happy that we were able to respond by playing a complete game tonight. But at the same time, it is just one game.” – Chris Bosh

Good perspective on the big picture by Bosh but the signs were there, in this game in particular, that this Heat team has what it takes to win in the playoffs.

The Heat showed a defensive pressure that gives merit to Spo’s swarming defensive strategies. If the Heat cover for each other effectively (especially at the 3 point line), the defense becomes pretty much impossible to crack. And with the Heat’s athleticism, it can cover alot of ground quickly.

Wade is now covering point guards, which shows that he is dedicated to shutting down a player throughout the course of the game. With Miami tuning up for the playoffs, this role will be critical to push Miami’s defensive intensity.

Bosh is being as aggressive as ever. This is the biggest change to turn around Miami’s fortunes as Bosh’s change of attitude has him making the most of  his possessions. Spo has given Bosh the support by going large with his 5 rotation by starting Damp and giving Maggs some run. This buffers the physicality of the opponent and gives Bosh more freedom.  A wise move which he should give more consideration to.

LeBron has been the steady rock and has cut the turnovers, which allows Miami role-players more room for error.

Another welcome change is how the ‘Big 3′ are getting the role players more involved on offense and the role players are responding by doing more with the rock instead of shooting 3s all night.

By the way, the pick and rolls from Bron and Wade to Bosh have been beautiful.

The stretch run has begun and Miami again is in an underdog position, probably it’s best position heading into this thing.

The Heat are supposed to have problems with traditional half-court teams.

Not this time.

It was one of Miami’s top defensive displays of the season, holding the Grizzlies to 39 percent shooting and forcing Memphis into missing its final 10 shots of the first half.

Wade was the catalyst, with a stretch that started when he blocked Tony Allen’s jumper with 7:56 left in the first quarter. Another Allen layup was blocked 17 seconds later, and then Sam Young started getting Miami’s attention. He had three shots swatted away in 36 seconds, the first by LeBron James, the last two by Wade.

Wade’s final line: 28 points, nine assists, five rebounds and five blocks. The last NBA guard to have numbers like that in a game? Michael Jordan, in 1988.

James scored 27 points while taking the fourth quarter off for Miami, which got 18 points and 10 rebounds from Chris Bosh and 17 from Mike Bibby — who was 5 for 5 from 3-point range. Bibby has now hit his last seven 3′s overall, and is now 13 of 14 from long range against the Grizzlies this season.

Bibby continues to show the veteran PG game that he was brought here for.

His acquisition may be the move that will push the Heat over the top.

“Crap to awesome to awesome,” Bosh said, trying to sum up the Heat play of late.

This is the beauty of sports.

The Lakers came into Miami as arguably the hottest team in the league.

Miami, struggling, looked discombobulated and unconfident in losing it’s last few games in frustrating fashion as we all know and have documented.

And, of course, Miami got it done.

Quotes from the aftermath:

“He went full speed,” Spoelstra said of Bosh’s pace during what, for everyone else, was essentially a walk-through in preparation for the Lakers. “He was also very demonstrative and vocal to everybody. It almost caught everybody by surprise. It was a great step in leadership on his part.”

“This was a very big game, and we had everything riding on it,” Bosh said when asked if he felt vindicated by his performance. “I put everything I have into it. When it’s time to play, the way I know I can play, I just go out there and let it happen. I know I can help this team in a different way. I told [Spoelstra], I wasn’t playing around.”

“He did a good job of mixing it up,” James said of Bosh’s approach against Gasol. “He didn’t limit [himself] to out on the perimeter. Those are two of the best forwards we have in this game, and they went head to head. Chris did a great job of being in attack mode. We need that out of him.”

“We didn’t want to run away from this,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We didn’t want to hide from any of this. We want to get better. We want to make sure our game is right and ready when it really counts.”

“Good game,” Jackson said in a very hasty postgame availability. “They played better than we did. I’m sure we’ll see them again sometime, I’m sure.”

“D-Wade accepted the challenge,” – LeBron James

“We didn’t protect the rim,” said Kobe Bryant, whose team shot 29 percent in the second half. “We’ve done a good job and then in the fourth quarter we let Wade get all the way to the basket on those screen-and-roll actions and it cost us.”

“We knew this game was going to come down to the end … We had to figure out a way and find a way, and we did that,” Wade said.

“We’ve got to keep on moving forward,” Spoelstra said. “The important thing of going through a stretch like that, the guys did not collapse. The guys want to make this work.

“The more we’re in this, the more confident we’ll get. But this is one game, we’re not over the hump. We still need to improve and get better.”

“I guess we still haven’t closed a game where the outcome is within 5 points” joked LeBron.

Well this one felt like a hangover after the energy and emotion spent after the Bulls game.

I looked for signs of improvement and I did not really see any difference at first.

The first half featured the same unfundamental play that will cause you turnovers. And it did. Portland capitalized and held a slim lead.

Miami settled down in the second half.

Wade and Bron were ripping it up offensively.

But Spoelstra’s continuing tweaks to the lineup has his guys out of rhythm and looking more lost than ever.

James Jones used to give you 3′s and take charges.

Thats now gone.

Arroyo used to hit the midrange consistently, he’s gone.

In their place you have a struggling Mike Miller and another SG type game in Chalmers. To make matters worse, it seems like Chalmers is allergic to giving Chris Bosh the ball.  Bosh needs to continue to demand the ball.

People that label Bosh “soft” have no idea. Bosh would be ideal next to a Bynum or Marc Gasol. He will have some issues when paired with a 5 that does not command respect offensively. And that is another issue that has been ongoing since Shaq left.

Bosh looks like he is starting to lose motivation, and his post-game comments seem to echo that.

Mike Bibby is still getting acclimated to everything, but he does hold promise.

Defensively, the open 3s continue to haunt Miami like a guy with a sordid past.

I just hope they can put it together.

“The Miami Heat are exactly what everyone wanted, losing games,” Wade said. “The world is better now because the Heat is losing.”

The Heat seemingly have the weight of the world on its shoulders, a ridiculous statement with everything that is going on in Lybia, Egypt and other countries. But yeah this is sports and sometimes it seems like the only thing that matters.

Yesterday, the Chicago Bulls came into Miami and were able to steal a win on the Heat’s home court as Miami again succumbed to late game pressure and blew yet another solid lead after getting it right in the first half.

With the “ESPN panic-meter” now set at 9.5 the Heat are looking for answers there were even reports of players crying in the locker room. Meanwhile, everybody is looking for a scapegoat.

The reality is this: everyone is at fault.

The Heat are playing fundamentally poor basketball right now. They are playing the game way too fast in their minds and are making poor decisions with the ball.

I am going to play deushbag coach for a second, here are my pointers:

Mike Miller, James Jones: Relax, slow down, hit your open shots. Continue trying to step in and take the higher percentage FG instead of trying to always hit the 3. Mix it up. Stay infront of your man on defense, dont gamble too much.

Mario Chalmers: Stop trying to attack so much, see the court. Continue to try to feed Bosh at the elbow instead of going baseline and driving. Establish your bigs. Get more assists, move the ball.

Chris Bosh: Continue to try to be aggressive, do not stop. Demand the ball all the time. You can blow by most bigs with your speed, that must be your first option. Once the D adjusts hit them with the J.

LeBron James: Stop trying to beat the opponent by yourself. Slow the pace down if you are finding resistance. Trust your teammates, get Wade going. Stop trying to make the spectacular pass and make the easy one, especially in transition.

Dwyane Wade: Stop passing the ball in mid-air. Stop trying to make the spectacular pass instead of the easy one. Stop fading away on almost every jumpshot you take. Use the glass, use your floater. Concentrate and finish your layups and hit your free-throws. Get back to basics on defense, stay infront of your man. Stop cheating on defense, it only hurts your team. Lead your team, Bron is a natural leader, but the Heat need you to step up and lead in every way, you are the elder of the Big 3 and need to show it. Demand greatness. Stop wasting your time and energy getting mad at the refs, they never reverse calls. Be the voice of reason on the court, be mental.

My deushbag coach instincts even has advice for the coach:

Spoelstra: Stop getting away from lineups that are working for you. If the team is playing too sloppy slow them down and simplify your schemes. Get back to basics if there is too much chaos. Sit a guy if he is not making the right play.

On a positive note, the Heat are showing great effort and have improved their rebounding in crunch situations, which is a problem of the past.

The defense is still stellar and, except for a ridiculous shooting performance by the Spurs, has kept Miami in a position to win in every game.

Again, there is no need to panic, the effort is there. The Heat only need to play smarter and stick to the fundamentals. Their talent will push them to the top once they get back to it.

As for the pressure and weight of the world , Miami would be wise to listen to this line from the Notorious B.I.G.:

“Fuck the world, don’t ask me for shit
And everything you get ya gotta work hard for it”

Sleep.

It’s an important part of life.

We all need it.

Sleep in wikipedia is defined as:
” a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but it is more easily reversible than hibernation or coma. Sleep is a heightened anabolic state, accentuating the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, nervous, skeletal and muscular systems. It is observed in all mammals, all birds, and many reptiles, amphibians, and fish.”

Unfortunately sleeping while in the middle of a pro bball game is gonna cost you.

It cost Miami a 25 point lead.

Wade and Bron were balling in the first half.

Perfection in basketball is hard to achieve for long periods and for a half Wade and Bron were pretty much there.

Then the law of averages reared it’s head.

Wade and Bron fell asleep, the crowd (as quiet and tennis-like as it is) fell asleep. The Heat role players fell asleep.

And the Magic went to work.

By the time the Heat knew what hit them it was too late.

The Heat still struggle with its base offense when in the halfcourt, and no immediate answers can be drawn.

People in the organization talk about Heat culture.

I witnessed this culture.

It was about overachieving players leaving their guts out on the floor every night for 48 minutes.

It was about team defense anchored by a shot-blocker and postup in and out offense. It was robotic in its execution, but it would get guys open looks in the right spots..

Sure the game has changed but the Heat still remain about team D and Miami remains one of the best (even though the defensive strategy seems flawed when it always leaves a shooter open for 3 ). But that offensive consistency is sorely needed again.

The scores were excruciatingly low, the pace was prodding and slow. But there used to be an automatic score after almost every Riley timeout. That was execution.

As for overachieving players? ( Ike Austin, Bimbo Coles, Keith Askins, Zo, Bruce Bowen, Dan Majerle, PJ Brown, Anthony Mason, James Posey). Im still waiting to see if the new guys can do it consistently.

Haslem’s return is starting to look more important with every loss.

A little Heat culture would go a long way right now.

48 minutes.

The “Return of the Knicks” continues as New York was able to rally from 15 down to upset the Heat in Miami.

The Heat, especially when able to get out in transition, are playing unstoppable basketball. A pure joy to watch. The triple threat of Bosh/Wade/Bron is proving to be an effective engine to possibly bring a title back to Miami.

But the train is throttling just a bit on the way to the top of the association..

Sure, the Heat’s loss to the Knicks can be attributed to Billups outplaying Wade, which just cannot happen if Miami expects to win without needing any help from its role players. But that begs the question: why is there no security blanket in the case that Wade ( or any of the big 3 ) is off-rhythm?

Actually there is : Miller, House, Jones and Chalmers.

They collectively combined for a 6-20 FG shooting night.

They could have shot better combined if they had stopped settling for threes and started pumpfaking and driving more when finding themselves in open situations.

Sure it’s one of a myriad of problems, but it is one that can be easily corrected and is urgently needed to be identified.

3 questions before I go:

When will Wade take over at the crunch “96 finals style” again?

When’s Udonis coming back?

If Spo wont play Arroyo, will Bibby be the answer? Where will Miami find the ’11 version of the ’06 Gary Payton role?

(Yeah the Gary Payton that won a game or two for Miami in the 06 playoffs with his clutch shooting and veteran confidence)

Im sitting here thinking about what to write that you have not heard a million times already.

Yes the Heat are not beating the elite teams.

Yes the Heat look bad when the game is close and theres under 5 seconds left in the fourth.

Yes Bosh looked intimidated to penetrate against the length of Noah and the strength of Boozer.

Yes Wade made a mistake trying to go for a steal instead of staying at home in the final minute.

But really, the Heat can correct many of the various mental errors that they are committing and beat these elite teams when the playoffs come around.

Yes the Bulls are elite.

And you can thank the will of Derrick Rose.

The Heat kept rolling after being well represented at the 2011 All-Star Game.

(Bron triple-dubb/Jones 3pt champ/ Wade,Bosh played well…)

James scored 31 points, Wade added 23 and the Heat opened their post-All-Star schedule with an easy 117-97 win over the Sacramento Kingson Tuesday night. The Heat never trailed, jumping out to a 35-16 lead after the first quarter and eventually going up by as many as 29 before the starters got pulled.

“I don’t think we have the type of guys that would let this be a trap game,” Bosh said. “We’re focused on our goals.”

Bosh had a 22-point, nine-rebound night and Mario Chalmers added 14 points for Miami, which won for the 11th time in its last 12 games. The Heat made seven straight shots on the way to shooting 64 percent in the opening quarter, setting the stage for a rout.

“Me and D-Wade talked before the game … and said ‘Let’s go out and dominate this game,’ ” James said.

James said that before the Celtic game too, but the Kings are far from the Celtics.

Samuel Dalembert had 18 points and 13 rebounds off the bench for the Kings, who are 1-8 in February. Jason Thompson and Jermaine Taylor each added 13 for Sacramento.

Well, back to business after the Boston fiasco.

The Heat’s ‘Big 3′ have to play large every night because the support they are getting remains the occasional 3 pointer and Bosh assist to Dampier.

It is probably my largest reason for asking for a trade.

Last game they were good but not great… against the Pacers, the Big 3 were unbelievable.

They made plays all over the court.

Dwyane Wade dominated the first half, LeBron James and Chris Bosh took over in the fourth quarter and the Miami Heat‘s star power overcame Indiana’s youth and determination.

Wade tied a franchise record for most points in a first half with 31, and he finished with 41 to help the Heat defeat the Pacers 110-103 on Tuesday night.

James scored 27 points and Bosh added 22 points and eight rebounds for Miami. They combined for 19 of Miami’s 28 points in the final 12 minutes to help the Heat recover after squandering a 24-point lead.

“We’re one of the best fourth-quarter teams in the league,” Wade said. “With the caliber players that we have, especially myself and Chris and LeBron, we’re able to run the full-court offense, get good shots, high percentage shots.”

Wade also finished with 12 rebounds for the Heat.

“It was amazing,” James said. “That’s part of the reason why he’s D-Wade. We saw him get going early and we just kept giving him the ball. It was an unbelievable first quarter and an unbelievable first half in itself.”

Miami held Indiana to 6-for-23 shooting in the fourth quarter.

“Our fourth-quarter defense is tremendous,” James said. “When it’s winning time, we know how to get stops.”

You have probably heard all about it by now. The momentum-gaining Heat-train rolling into Boston, ready to face a fatigued and struggling Celtic team as LeBron preached his team to “dominate” before the game.

But basketball has proven throughout it’s lifetime that it is a game that is as much mental as it is physical.

The old, wily Celtics (which include newly crowned all-time 3 point champion Ray Allen) were more than ready to display a lockdown defensive halfcourt disposition.

Shutting down the passing and cutting lanes with pure grit, Boston forced Miami out of their comfort zone and into turnovers.

The frustration boiled over when Dwyane Wade uncharacteristically charged Garnett for a boxout… earning a technical.

The reality had made itself apparent.

The Boston Celtics have a mental edge over the Heat. Something similar to what New York had over Miami in the 90′s.

The Heat cannot continue to feel inferior to Boston and it will need to figure out what it needs to do to break this psychological barrier.

Perhaps a trade that can fetch point guard Andre Miller and Marcus Camby?

Because as Rondo proved by standing at the Heat huddle during a timeout: the Celtics are ready to punk the Heat over and over.

Relentless.

The Pacers gave Miami a nice punch in the jaw in this one.

The Heat, continuing to show that its developing a champion’s resolve, took the hit head on.

But the knees didnt buckle.

The league’s two-time reigning MVP had 41 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, Chris Bosh added 19 points and the Heat rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers 117-112 on Tuesday night for their seventh straight victory.

Miami held Indiana to 28 percent shooting in the fourth quarter, giving up only 15 points after yielding a 97 in the first three periods, and saw Mario Chalmers force Dahntay Jones into a key 5-second violation with 8.9 seconds remaining.

James took care of the rest, and Miami moved within a half-game of idle Boston for the Eastern Conference’s best record.

“We figured it out in the fourth quarter,” James said. “Held them to 15 points and we executed.”

In his last 20 games, James is averaging 29.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 7.5 assists. Not coincidentally, the Heat are 17-3 in those games.

“We would have been up by 40 if it wasn’t for him,” Granger said. “He was unconscious.”

“At the beginning of the season, nobody really knew each other, nobody had a feel for each other.

“I think we’ve got that now. You can kind of feel when a guy’s going to make a pass. Guys know where certain guys are at now. That’s why it looks [ better ].”

“What we’ve got going on is what they envisioned in the summertime”.

Those blurbs were from Eddie House who has been hot as of late and after having issues with Blake G and Baron Davis, House finished with 15 points, shooting 6 of 11 from the field and 3 of 7 from three-point range.

“E. House cannot shoot the ball all game and then as soon as he touches the ball he’s hot,” LeBron James said. “E. House has probably been the most consistent player for us the last two weeks.”

Dwyane Wade had 28 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and the Heat stretched their winning streak to six games on Sunday afternoon with a 97-79 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Chris Bosh scored 16 and LeBron James had a season-low 12 points for Miami. The Heat started the fourth quarter on an 18-4 burst to pull away.

“Finally in the second half, we got it going,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

//////////////////////////////////////

1 San Antonio Spurs
2 Miami Heat
3 Boston Celtics
4 Chicago Bulls
5 Los Angeles Lakers
6 Dallas Mavericks
7 Orlando Magic
8 New Orleans Hornets
9 Oklahoma City Thunder
10 Denver Nuggets
11 Atlanta Hawks
12 Utah Jazz
13 Memphis Grizzlies
14 Portland Trail Blazers
15 New York Knicks
16 Houston Rockets
17 Philadelphia 76ers
18 Phoenix Suns
19 Milwaukee Bucks
20 Indiana Pacers
21 Golden State Warriors
22 Los Angeles Clippers
23 Charlotte Bobcats
24 Detroit Pistons
25 New Jersey Nets
26 Toronto Raptors
27 Washington Wizards
28 Minnesota Timberwolves
29 Sacramento Kings
30 Cleveland Cavaliers

////////////////////////////////////////////////

Thoughts after Bron’s 50 and Wade’s Trible dubb:

“I kind of stopped trying to get triple-doubles,” Wade joked after the game. “I used to try and I wasn’t succeeding. I’m like one of those guys who always get close to triple-doubles. I’ve got to be leading the league in close-to-triple-doubles. It feels good to finally get one after five years off.”

“Looking back on it, it was certainly an MVP-type performance but it was such a quiet — if you can call it that — a quiet 51,” Spoelstra said. “It’s about as efficient as you can be. At some point in the second quarter I recall turning to Ronnie [Rothstein] and asking, ‘Has he missed yet?’” “[James] was in such a flow but what we’re encouraged with is it came within the flow of the offense and it came within what we have been trying to accomplish the last couple weeks,” Spoelstra said.

“We’re playing great basketball right now,” James said. “To feel whole, finally, it’s good for our team. Everyone is feeling confident that they can make a contribution to our team.”

The Heat come into Orlando with LeBron emerging as a somewhat more aggressive floor-leader as of late.

Off the floor Bron has stayed aggressive too.

He even mentioned not forgetting about the Orlando GM’s comment about James not being “competitive enough” to win a title in Cleveland.

Whatever motivation taken from that comment seems to have worked as James came out “en fuego totalmente”.

James had it all going for him, the J’s, the distribution, even the post moves.

The Magic were paper-thin in the frontline with Brandon Bass out of the lineup but with the way James was going, it wouldnt have even mattered.

James had the first 50 point game of the season for Miami, and it was a true beauty, no plastic surgery needed.

Not that I frown on plastic surgery. I havent had any work done myself…

… anyways, Bass being out made it cake for Bosh to carve Orlando’s innards, but both Wade and Bosh were able to relax a little with Bron in the zone. Miller and Damp were notable.

Notes:
Wade averted a major injury tonight, hitting the floor hard after getting taken down by D ( Superman 2 ) Howard. After taking a hit at the peak of his flight, Wade went down and avoided using his wrist for support. This resulted in a bruised back, but it saved Wade’s already bruised wrists. It also helped Wade avoid a dislocated elbow. Skateboarders could learn from this… it’s how you take a fall.

With the struggling Cavs in town, the Heat were able to work on their game with minimal pressure:

This had the Heat in showtime mode.

WADE: Best display of driving ability yet. The balance, coordination… uncanny. The whole skill-set was displayed in its purest form. The best shooting guard in the game.

BRON: Had his optics in full court mode. Managed the game perfectly, got his points inside and out. Brons game keeps growing to unprecedented heights. He is the ultimate glue guy. Points, rebounds, defense, you need it he brings it.

BOSH: Getting healthier. Sniper-like jumpshot was going all night. Got the tough rebounds tonight in traffic.

BENCH: Productive and was able to get a groove going against Cleveland’s developing talent.

¡Ganadores!

With the Heat inconsistent with players available, lineups and performance they were probably nervous facing a young, tough, versatile team with the Durant-led Thunder.

And a packed OKC Arena was not going to be easy to win in. The Thunder had won six straight home games and were seeking their longest home winning streak since leaving Seattle.

But the Heat recieved good news at gametime when not only Dwyane Wade returned, but Chris Bosh too. Sunday was the first game with the Big 3 since a Jan. 12 loss to the Clippers.

Miami’s CORE3 was back in operation and they played their roles masterfully as they went hard against the Thunder.

Wade attacked the rim to the tune of 32 points and added 9 rebounds.

LeBron was the court general, scoring and finding others: 23 pts./13 as/3 blck

Bosh was back, taking care of the inside offense: 20 points/7 rbs

And the support was there, keeping the progress from last game going:

Miller: 6pts/8rbs/2 as

Anthony : 5 blks

Chalmers/House/Miller/Jones: 6/12 on 3pters

When it was crunch time the role players made it happen WITH LeBron as Miller got the key board and Bron had the trust to give it to the specialist House. Smart play.

Big win.

“They’re not all the same,” said Heat forward LeBron James, who finished with 23 points and 13 assists. “This was a good win for us. We’ve been struggling as of late because we have different lineups but to come against a very, very good team, a very athletic team and just get a road win — it’s a huge, big game for us to win.”

With the Heat still “reeling with injuries”, the woeful Detroit Pistons came into town.

The Pistons are shades of what they used to be as Joe Dumars has had trouble rebuilding after last decade’s championship run.

Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Tay Prince are still on the team but are obviously not what they were…

But last night Detroit competed well against a Miami squad still without Bosh and also keeping Wade out as a precaution because of a sore wrist.

The game itself featured LeBron carrying Miami to the tune of 23 first half points, and Miami needed every bit of Brons output.

LeBron does pace himself well, scoring at a productive clip with 39 points and managing the game with ease with 9 assists as well as grabbing 8 rebounds.

Mike Miller provided versatility with 12 points and 10 rbds in support and Eddie House’s shooting was key late.

But this is a Miami team that is still very fractured and is out of sync. The team struggles to move the ball on offense and find easy shots. There are still too many questionable iso posessions.

Applaud Miami for grinding out another defensive east coast style win, but worry that it is struggling to find a comfort zone within itself to find easy offense.

This one featured a blazing hot D Wade for the first three quarters.

Bankers from deep, with a hand in the face. Sweet misdirections after blowby first steps.

It was a joy to see the smoothness in Wade’s game.

The shades had Wade in superhero garb, and he was about to deliver the superhero performance.

Then the fourth quarter happened.

It wasnt only about Wade missing all of his attempts. The team tried hard to get LeBron going and by the time he did, Wade had lost his rhythm and, again, his focus.

Wade doesnt seem to have the ability yet to dominate for a whole game consistently the way Jordan would get 60 or Kobe 81 points. Maybe it is a pacing issue with himself, but lately he releases the accelerator and starts holding back his game (and may goto the 3) instead of riding the fire and keeping the penetration and midrange attack balance going.

Why does Wade holding back? Fatigue? ?

( or Spo’s game management? )

Team-wise, the 3 pointers stopped falling in the fourth and although Bron kept the team within striking distance, it just was not enough as NY hit the shots to close the deal.

With Wade and Bosh out, the Heat were led exclusively tonight by LeBron.

LeBron played his game to perfection to the tune of 38 pts and 11rbs.

Consistently driving the lane, Bron disrupted the Raptors defense enough to make up for the lack of interior postup offense. LeBron was Miami’s inside offense.

Last game the Heat were missing their Js but tonight they were hitting them as Miller finally got into a groove for an explosive 32pt contribution to go with 10 rbs.

The good shooting was contagious as Jones, House and Chalmers had no issues putting in the basket tonight, helping the Heat blow out the Raptors.

Anthony continued his strong contribution of late, with 4 blocks.

It was Wade’s birthday yesterday, so maybe we can blame that for Wade’s most unfocused game of the year.

A bit harsh, but it’s the reality.

With Chris Bosh resting that bruised leg, the Heat were without much in the way of inside scoring.

This led to an abnormally high attempts from beyond the bonus arc.

Wade and Bron had moments of individual excellence but their chemistry together failed when the game was on the line.

There is work yet to be done.

Tonight may not have seemed like a big deal coming in, but alot of major things went down.

First of all it was the return of Wade to his hometown after spurring them over the summer… and he got heavily booed. It was like the LeBron/Cavs situation again, and again Wade thrived off the energy as he putup 21 in the first half.

That kept the Heat in the game, but the bench was able to push the Heat over the top with some production. House. Miller.

Wade looked fired up in the 3rd and that may have affected his game. Wade went on a mini-slump and eventually recieved his 4th foul as the Bulls gained a larger lead.

Luckily, Bosh was able to step up. Bosh’s shot had not been falling all night but when he was needed he exploded offensively to bring Miami back.

But then Karma (?) hit.

Omer Asik dived right into Bosh’s knee, crushing CB1s lower leg.

Great strategy for Chicago, really.

Things looked bleak for Miami, but the bench made some plays to stay with Chitown until Wade got back.

Once Wade came back, he made his usual outstanding plays to pace Miami.

But it seems Wade nutted too early as the Heat shot it’s way out of the game yet again. Too many threes.

Or maybe they were just trying to get out of chicago in one piece.

The Heat looked fatigued and out of sync as they were missing LeBron, out with that sore ankle.

Denver looked light and lively and had the 3 pointers going.

Not a good recipe for a win.

JR Smith tried another one of those 360 degree layups, probably the most eventful happening of the night.

Statistics were irrelevent in this one, it was a good old-fashioned ass kicking.

The Clippers came out of the gate with a playoff-like intensity.

Eric Gordon helped lead LA to an early 20 point lead.

Sure, the Heat’s core 3 started a bit slow but LA was just Fn ridiculous.

We have seen this before, an excited team pushing the Heat early only to succumb to Miami’s consistent firepower… would it happen again?

The Clippers sure look promising. Deandre Jordan, Griffin, Gordon… all quality.

As halftime approached Miami was already working that lead down to 10 using an improving chemistry on cuts to the basket between Wade and Bron as well as a spark by Mario Chalmers.

Wade especially moved well and finished at the rim aggresively to 20 first half points.

Bosh was strong in the 3rd as his consistent perimeter barrage cut the deficit like the Clinton administration.

Yet, the Clippers continued getting the loose balls with a little luck and hustle to push their lead to 12 midway through the 4th.

LA is a fast, athletic team and play very physical, similar to last year’s OKC team.

In the 4th quarter LeBron made a 3 pointer after tweaking his ankle on the posession, bringing Miami within 2 but that would be the last push as Miami shot it’s way out of the game at the end, ending the Heat’s latest impressive winning streak.

This is a confidence builder for the Clippers as Miami will regroup and check on LeBron’s ankle.

First quarter featured scoring at a fast pace.

The Heats core brought it early and often led by Wade’s 15 in the quarter.

The game slowed down in the 2nd and 3rd quarters as the Blazers’ Batum, Matthews and big frontcourt play by Aldridge and Camby helped the Blazers stay ahead.

The Blazers stayed in control midway thru the fourth, apparently able to withstand flurries of brilliance by Miami’s core 3 with Aldridge able to keep responding with key baskets.

Down 9 late, LeBron got hot late and ignited Miami’s response with a 9 point burst of his own.

Miami used strong half-court execution on offense and defense to send the game to overtime.

Once in overtime, The Heat finished the job with Wade and Bosh providing high-skill finishes at the basket, punctuated by LeBron’s tray from downtown to put the Heat up 7 with :45 remaining.

Portland played extremely well, the Heat just would not let itself lose.

The Heat’s core finished with a combined 96 points and 29 boards.

I did not see this game, I admit it. I missed it to go to Hialeah to check out their 4k screen. It was a sweet experience watching ‘Tron Legacy’ on that screen in 3D. Just a tremendous image exposure that you cannot experience at home. And having some of the best all-time effects in a movie really helped the screen shine.

I did listen to the game on the radio, courtesy of 790 am and their fine announcers. They give you a different feel than the TV guys since they have to be more descriptive… and they also give you a frankness not found with the television commentary.

From what I was hearing, the game was a struggle for Miami as Wade and Bosh both had a hard time of it offensively, especially Wade. He appeared to have a tough time hitting the layups.

Looking at the stats, the Heat’s “CORE 3″ had a subpar outing. And listening to the game it was really about Bosh and Arroyo at the end of the fourth and OT pushing the Heat over the top.

Arroyo’s production was especially needed since the core was having a rough night of efficiency.

“It’s not always going to be a bed of roses for us three and for our team. We shot less than 40 percent from the field as a team, but we found a way to win and continued to get stops, especially in the fourth and in overtime,” said James, who sang Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses at Night” loudly on his way to the shower.

With the game tied at 95, Bosh hit two free throws and after John Salmons missed a 3-pointer, Carlos Arroyo added a layup that made it 97-93.

“I like these type of games,” Spoelstra said. “This is where you grow. I know we’ll learn from some of these situations going down the stretch. And the guys had to gut it out. Things were not going our way.”

No. 7

The 613 processor continued its relentless statistical crunching at a high rate.

This triple core processor is achieving high performance through extremely efficient numbers.

Wade: 38 pts / 4 rbs / 2 steals / 10-19
fgs
Bosh: 19 pts / 12 rbs / 6-13 fgs
James: 25 pts / 6 rbs / 9 assists / 8-15 fgs

This performance included 9 rbs from Dampier and 9 pts from Chalmers.

The Heat came into Charlotte looking like the up and coming powerhouse that it is.

Wade was like the right hand, jabbing the feline early and often.

LeBron was the left fist and with it came powerful blows from ’3 land’ and midrange.

The left/right combos have never looked this good.

Wade to Bron , Bron to Wade.

Then Bosh comes in with the uppercuts and its over.

Notes: Air Jordan was at the game.

How do the Heat integrate Mike Miller into the lineup?

The 2 players that are contributing at this point and could be dissected relevantly would be James Jones and Mario Chalmers.

What James Jones gives you is 3 point shooting, defense and a certain chemistry that has developed with the Heat’s superstars.

In Mario Chalmers, you have an improving defensive player that is starting to give you a similar energy that players like James Posey, Keith Askins and Bruce Bowen brought to the Heat lineup in years past.

The case for playing Miller before either of these guys is that Miller is a “weapon” that needs to be integrated into the lineup. A weapon surely because he brings veteran poise, three-point shooting and, most importantly, a greater playmaking ability than Chalmers or Jones possess.

The thing is , though, that in Miller’s short stints in previous games he looks like he has yet to get his legs back (he was  falling on the floor frequently). So, Im sure that is a variable as to why Spo has not played him much yet.

But when Spo does play Miller, where will the minutes come from and is it crucial for the Heat to play Miller?

2011.

Golden St. came to the AAA tonight looking to steal a game from the Heat.

The Heat were a quarter step slow defensively.

The formula produced a big 20 point lead for the Warriors early. It wasnt that Miami was very lethargic on D, the Warriors were just hitting everything they threw up.

It happens.

It’s all about how you respond as a team.

After Bosh kept miami afloat with his 17 point first half brilliance, the rest of the engine ( Bron and James ) formed like Voltron and ignited the Heat again.

James Jones kept the Heat hot from outside the 3 line with timely bombs from downtown. He is back to his Portland-era game.

In the past, Miami did not have the firepower to withstand a first half like the Warriors had. But, those days are over as the Heat did it with offense and defense.

There would not be a letdown tonight.

The trap was set.

Second of a back-to-back.

High energy opponent on the upswing…

Uptight refs.

Road game.

Didn’t matter.

The Rockets attacked Miami early with a series of flurries. Their smaller, quicker guards sliced through Miami’s defense with precision.

Miami’s defense was compromised so it had to keep up with Adelman’s crew… and the playmaking again came early and often.

Wade was on, bringing the type of vintage production critics would wonder if he still had in him.

Yeah, he still has it.

45 points on 17-24.

Some of it coming late after taking a punch to the face.

Oh and did I mention that the Heats Big 3 combined for 86 points? Yeah.

Look, with Houstons defense causing Miami all kinds of turnovers, the Heat should have lost this game… they just would not allow it. And thats awesome.

The supporting cast helped make it happen with Jones 3 pointers and charge-taking ability, Chalmers D, Zs length and Joel Anthony’s timely rebounding among the contributions.

Chalmers especially will benefit if he can continue to bring a James Posey type of defensive aggression to the lineup.

This run has been the best the Heat have looked since Shaq’s first season here.

I hope I dont jinx it.

Nahh.

1. Spurs
2. Celtics
3. Mavs
4. Heat
5. Bulls
6. Lakers
7. Jazz
8. Magic
9. Thunder
10. Nuggets
11. Hornets
12. Hawks
13. Blazers
14. Knicks
15. Rockets
16. Suns
17. Grizzlies
18. Pacers
19. Bucks
20. Sixers
21. Warriors
22. Raptors
23. Clippers
24. Bobcats
25. Pistons
26. Nets
27. Wolves
28. Wizards
29. Cavs
30. Kings

A vehicle is only as good as its engine, really.

You can have the nicest rims and paint but if that engine cant get you where you want to go, your going to be in some trouble.

Luckily the Miami Heat are rolling with a good vehicle, featuring one of the best engines.

And that engine is purring along nicely now.

D Wade, C Bosh and L James powered Miami to the tune of 76 points and 29 rbs and with it another win over the resurgent Knickerbockers.

The Heat kept it rolling as they never trailed and kept their 16th straight team under 100 points.

“D-Wade had it going,” James said. “It takes a lot of pressure off myself and D-Wade” when one of them has a big scoring game.

The long awaited xmas day battle of Lakers vs Heat.

Chris Bosh was a rock early, setting a good tone in the paint and on defense and stealing the Lakers mojo with a devastating flush inside, courtesy of Wade.

Lebron had the jumper going, making him deadlier than usual. He finished with a triple-double.

Lebron and Wade took turns making play after play as the Heat wore down the Laker D.

The transition game nailed the coffin for the Lakers as they could not contain Miami’s running game, especially off turnovers.

With Kobe and Gasol held to pedestrian numbers Los Angeles did not have enough firepower to make a run.

Not a good showing for LA.

Quotables:

“We’re not trying to make a statement to anyone,” James said. “We’re trying to show each other that we can play at a high level and try to get better every game. This is one game. … We’re happy because we got better today.”

With the Suns missing VC and still integrating Gortat this was, in some respects, a weakened Suns team and maybe even a glorified practice game for Phoenix.

Miami tried making it a fairer contest by holding out Wade, who is nursing a swollen knee (ouch).

With Wade out it was an opportunity to dissect what Lebron can do a bit more and his game seems to be a blessing ans a curse at times, but his payoff is a stronger explosion of play.

Case in point:

Posession 1: The Curse
LeBron walks it up court and holds the ball until the 5 sec mark, he cannot get open so goes to the pic and pop. This time, the D saw it coming and closed on the first and second passes resulting in a bad posession.

Posession 2: The Gift
Bron holds the ball again until the 5 sec mark, but this time he finds the seam in the D and finishes Dominique-style in traffic. Explosive.

Sure Wade brings this too, but with more finesse.

The trick is to have both of these guys cutting and passing in motion and making that work with Bosh.

Bron finished with 36/6 on a high percentage and I liked what I saw. Bron knows how to control the tempo.

Speaking of Bosh… he was butta tonight. Smooth, precise and very productive. His 23 points were on a high percentage and he saw the bounce and rebounded well with 11.

Before I close:
I have a solution to NBA ref woes: Each team should be able to assign one captain to work the refs.

It ends at 12.

The Mavs are one of 5-6 squads that I have as teams that will be true tests for the Heat, along with the Lakers, Celtics, Thunder, Magic and Spurs.

Unfortunately, the Heat didnt have it’s best game tonight.

LeBron struggled for the most part, he looked sluggish and had some issues with his point play, shooting and spacing.

Wade was not particularly aggressive while Bron was in the game again and Wade looked like he was not part of the game for the most part except for a brilliant sequence at the end of the first quarter while Bron was on the bench.

The Mavs defense was good against Miami as the rejuvenated Tyson Chandler and zone strategies made it difficult to drive inside as the Heat put up alot of outside shots.

A head-scratching moment occurred when the Heat again used Bosh to attempt a clutch 3. I dont know why they keep doing this, but with all of the shooters on this team it’s really unorthodox.

Jason Terry torched the Heat in the 4th, getting to his spots and hitting the J’s for 19 in the fourth.

The positive things to take from this game is that as bad as Miami played tonight they only lost by one basket.

Notes: Spoelstra’s late-game management was as poor as it gets. He didnt save time towards the end of the game by demanding quick fouls and did not demand a defensive switch to cool off J Terry.

Theres a saying:
You know your a good team when you play bad and you can still come out with a win.

Make no mistake about it, Miami stole this game tonight.

This was supposed to be the night that David defeated Goliath and the post-Arenas era would happily begin in Washington.

The Heat just didnt let the hollywood ending finalize and Washington proved that yes… they are a bad team.

It’s not that Washington played bad, they did everything right for 3 and 3/4 quarters, they just could not find the poise that good teams need to close the game.

The Heat were playing the second of back-to-backs and were playing with their nuts half-full after unloading them last night at the Garden.

Even so, the Heats Big 3 are proving to be a dependable combo. James went for 32/7/6 Bosh had 20/9 and Wade struggled to hit 20. Wade was getting hacked all night but couldnt finish on some layups.

But Wade drove hard and hit the free-throws when it counted most.

Notes: At a crucial point in the game Bosh hit a 3 pointer and got fouled attempting another. James’ dunk sparked Miami’s late rally from an 8 point deficit.

No.11

The first half of this game was complete bananas as noone played defense and everybody was making plays all over the place. It was high-energy, exciting ball.

You had a powerful alley-oop from Wade to Bron.

You had fantastic finishes around the rim by Bosh.

You had Felton feeding Amare for flushes and even an Amare facial to Zs face.

Wade was dunking and finishing gorgeous drives.

Then the Heat got serious.

After the Heat played the Knicks even using D’Antoni’s own game, Miami used stifling defense to shut down Amare’s game and the Knicks went cold.

Game, set. Match.

Bring on the elite.

Miami’s ready to climb that mountain.

Notes: the big 3 were awesome again. Bosh was a huge catalyst inside and Bron played one of his best games of the year and nailed a triple deuce. Wade was crossing everybody over and was effective even though his percentage was a little lower than usual. With the crowd chanting “overrated”, Bosh outplayed Amare.

Interesting night in the NBA this evening.

As Miami won it’s 10th in a row using a late burst by Wade, Miami’s next opponent, the Knicks, were playing the Celtics tougher than Miami has been able to.

The Celtics once again proved to get the upper hand with flawless execution.

Miami has yet to thrive in that situation… but havent really gotten into the situation either, blowouts being the norm.

Seems like when an opponent gets close Miami just knows how to knock the opponent out.

That was the case again against the Cavs. Cavs wanted this game badly. They played as well as you could expect them to on a night the Heats Big 3 were not forcing themselves and the Heat looked beatable as a whole.

3 point shooting was crucial for the win, with J. Jones leading the sniping.

Next: The return of the Knicks.

About a month ago, it was clear:

To beat the Heat you have to do it with strong point guard play and physical play up-front.

Now?

Well, maybe not.

The Heat were able to ride the James/Wade perimeter dominance and Bosh’s inside/elbow scoring to get another win and run their streak to 9.

So the question is:

How has Miami improved if the only difference between the last loss and this win is UD’s absence?

Is it Wade’s improved play? He went from a major struggle early in the season to his usual MVP-calibre play.

Is it Bron off-the-ball? Bron is playing less at the point-fwd position and playing off the ball more.

Is it the rebounding? Miami has been winning the battle-of-the-boards as of late.

Whatever it is, Miami is clearly improving.

Dwyane Wade led the Heat with 36 points, shooting 15 of 23 from the field. It was his second game in a row with more than 30 points. He added six assists and six rebounds.

LeBron James scored 25 points and, for the second night in a row, simply took over in the third quarter. He made 6 of 7 from the field in the period for 14 points.

James, who finished with 10 rebounds, put the game away with 10 consecutive points, including back-to-back three-pointers, to finish the decisive quarter.

Chris Bosh quietly had one of his most productive nights with his new team. He finished with 14 points and 17 rebounds, a season high.

The Heat outrebounded the Kings 57-36. Miami has won the rebounding battle throughout its eight-game winning streak.

Heres a somewhat overly-negative sideline report from BigBoi Baller @ insidehoops forums:

-Lebron wasn’t even playing hard tonight. He let the Kings defense look good in the 1st half because he spent most of it joking around with teammates/refs/fans. He scored everytime he wanted.

-Sam is a beast in the middle. Almost single handedly, he kept this game from turning into an even bigger blowout. They just need to keep the ball far away from him on offense.

-The only two players on the Kings who played hard today were Casspi and Dalembert. Evans, Garcia, Udrih, Greene, and most all the rest were just going through the motions and making the easy plays without really going the extra step. Thompson put some work in tonight but the guy just can’t seem to play to his potential.

-Cousins looked disgusting. His body language all game was awful. He picked up some early fouls (one was a horrible call) and after being taken out of the game, he threw his headband and towel on the ground. Basically, threw a little tantrum. Got back in the game and forced shots nearly every time he touched it.

-Wade and Lebron have yet to develop any chemistry. Lebron was decidedly taking the night off it seemed like, but there was only 2-3 plays in the entire game that those 2 played off of each other in the way everyone was hoping for.

-Spoelstra has no presence on the sidelines. His players didn’t show him a whole lot of respect as he was speaking during the timeouts. As he was yelling at Lebron about leaving Casspi open, Lebron game him a look and haughtily walked past him.

-Westphal seems like he’s really laid back and quiet during the game. However, as soon as the cameras are off during timeouts, he rips into players and gets really into it. Every player except for Casspi seemed oblivious to the screaming though. Seemed like they’re tuning him out.

-Greene is hilarious. He was joking around and pulling pranks all game long.

-Evans’ foot is really hurting him. He was getting no elevation on any of his drives and he’s taking a ton of plays off on defense.

-Garcia and Udrih both look like they didn’t care out there. Garcia’s known as a energy guy and a hustle guy. During the game, he did everything he could to prove the obvious. He made bad decisions and often just watched the ball go right past him on loose balls/rebounds. Pregame though, it was obvious that he was one of the respected leaders on the team.

Win no. 7

Dwyane Wade: 34 points, nine rebounds and seven assists

LeBron James: 25 points, nine assists and seven rebounds

“Me and D-Wade have figured it out,” James said. “We just started going back to our games, what made us who we are in this league. It’s resulted in us playing good basketball, offensively and defensively.”

James scored nine consecutive points to end the third quarter.

Last time these two teams met R. Milsap had a once-in-a-eon game and the Jazz stole a W in Miami.

Tonight, Miami took care of business.

The score is not indicative of how well the Jazz played, they competed hard.

Utah made the runs to stay with Miami but rebounding and 3 point shooting were huge advantages for the Heat…

Miami’s 3 big men: Bosh, Z and Damp had a dominant rebounding game in the first half while Wade and Bron supplied most of the scoring. The offense was efficient and the Heat shot over 40% from the 3 point line.

In the second half, the Jazz got it together with the rebounding situation but were horrid from dwntn. The long rebounds led to the Heat’s explosion in transition offense punctuated by a showtime alley from Wade to Bron.

Bron flirted with a triple-deuce.

Bosh had crucial rebounds.

On to the next one.

Heat back in action tonite vs the Bucks.

Im just glad to see Bogut back on the court after that nasty fall last season.
Bogut still doesnt look all the way back from the elbow and wrist injuries.

This game was about the Heat’s main 3 dominating and getting the shooting support from Jones and Arroyo to keep it a comfortable win.

When things got tight Wade, Bron and Bosh continued making plays.

This is where chemistry is built.

Wade had a surprisingly high number of boards and an impressive fadeaway on the baseline.

Bron had some eyeopening flushers.

Bosh looked smooth from the elbow, not only bringing the footwork, but sweet reverse finishes.

The Cavs win was emotional but this win vs the Hawks was more impressive.

The offense was flowing nicely with smart passing and good cuts.

Miami’s all-stars continue establishing their identity and with it, the Heats “matrix of leadership” ala Optimus/Rodimus with a bit of Ultra Magnus thrown in for good measure.

But I digress:

The Heat were up at halftime and the Hawks made a good run of it in the second half, cutting it to 2.

But Miami’s trifecta, led by an inspired Bosh, were able to close the win.

Bosh had a great sequence of exceptional footwork in the third quarter and yelled to the crowd in exultation.

Fine work.

You know who the big winner was tonite?

Cleveland t-shirt vendors.

The whole arena had the Bron hate shirts on and the overall vibe of the arena was hilariously hateful tonite in Cleveland. I have never seen a celebration of hatred like this… and Bron thrived off of it.

Everytime Bron touched the ball the boos rained down with a fervor previously only seen in Cleveland with Mike Jordan.

It was, in essence, a passing of the “Cleveland-villain” torch.

Cavs fans laid decades of sports frustration on LeBron’s shoulders as ringleader Dan Gilbert watched stonefaced— no doubt pinching his “McFarlane toys LeBron” doll in the crotch after every point James scored. All 38 of them.

Not surprisingly, none of Gilberts voodoo could do anything against:
A. an attacking James
B. a back-to-midrange-brilliance Wade (who flirted with a triple deuce)
C. A consistent Bosh
and
D. hot shooters.

Especially when the Heat are finding the right combinations to stay consistent on offense… and especially when the Cavs made LeBron still look like their leader.

Please Gilbert, dont curse me.

Ball movement was better than it has been. Bron looked especially loose and confident against this Detroit team again. In the pre-season Bron absolutely annihilated Detroit by his lonesome and this may or may not have contributed to his night tonite… not sure really.

Wade had some foul trouble which had him on the floor for less time than usual and this may have sparked LeBron’s night too… because it allowed Bron to stick to his game.

Wade played well in garbage time, showing signs of that mid-range again… but still: the chemistry with Wade and Bron is slow-going and that is the big elephant-in-the-room situation here so far with this team.

But baby steps are happening… will the team begin to eventually walk?

Other notes:

Bosh continues his consistent tear and Chalmers sparked the bench a lil with inspired play.

Well the drama was in high gear and we all had a good time of it.

Will shoulder-gate be the end of Spo?

What is wrong with Wade?

Can Wade/Bron work? Will it be a bitter divorce ala Shaq/Kobe?

Will the Heat trade Bron for Dwight Howard, giving Bron his shooters and Riley his center?

And most importantly… is Rothstein back as coach!?!?!????

Meanwhile in the real-world the Heat had to go and attempt to beat the sorry Wizards.

And they did just that.

The Heats big 3 continued its excellent production and Dampier showed that he can still man the middle with a solid outing.

Other than that Chalmers was on the up and ups.

Happy 100th victory Eric Spoelstra, you torture Miami’s thoughts, its nights, its dreams. Miami thinks of you when it wakes.

Oh, and I fear Dan Gilbert’s curse.

this game was pretty good. Very enjoyable.

Miami had moments where they did some good things, moments of head-scratching.

The Heats three stars got their numbers but neither one necessarily had the dominance of a prime Shaq or Barkley…or Magic.

Miami just did not have the sharpness to make the crucial plays to complete the comeback.

Turnovers showed up when least needed.

Wade’s midrange finally showed up succesfully for a quarter. The Heat need that the whole season.

Wade and Bron are still not totally in sync. It surprising to see these two play like this together.

Editors note——————–
Today I am adding scores as the headline to each entry. It only makes sense as the blog grows. I will slowly update older logs with scores as well. These updates will enable the blog to be used as a better resource.

Some points from tonites win ( brought to you by my robot: H003 ):

The Heat’s main three were solid and powered Miami tonite.

There were perimeter issues with Meeks.

The shooting was pretty decent.

The best thing to come from this win was that the Heat were able to build their lead late from +2 to +11, with the all-stars making plays for each other.

If you dont like pic and pop you are not going to like this team.

Carlos Arroyos 17 points from the Pg position was crucial.

Big game against Dallas tomorrow , Heats have generally played crappy against the Mavericks.

I like battery acid, its sterile and I like the taste.

It has now gotten ridiculous.

Are you telling me that if you put together Bird, Jordan and Magic you would expect to see them lose 3 games in a row?

Ok, reality, then.

Bron, Bosh… welcome to Miami.

You have your work cut out for you.

Not only do you have a depleted roster, the 2 players you traded Beasley for are out of the lineup til the second half.

Oh, and your coach has trouble adjusting and adapting, and is allergic to rookies.

Other than that, Wade is playing as he he was Rocky in Rocky 3.

And its still all good?

Wade, Bron and Bosh need to get this thing going… Wade and Bron are playing the same role and are cancelling each other out. This is bad for the league.

The upside to this is that if their games evolve, they will be…

unstoppable.

Okay this was a bad night. Thats all I can say about it really.

No UD and Wade was rusty. Wade has to remember to goto his midrange.

Defenses are loading up on Bron especially. Bron needs to cleanup the TOs.

The shooters were not having the best night, either.

Nobody is having fun anymore. What happened to the cobra fists?

Why doesnt Spo have a heart and let the youngns in? Ahhh, Spo. If you wont let young enthusiasm lift you in the doldrums of the season, why do you think Riley hired you? For puppettry? You were once the young enthusiastic lift, remember?

Give a Pitt a chance.

Ps. LeBron dominates the ball way too much for only 6 assists. With the way he holds the offense hed better be Steve Nash in assists.

Both teams shot well to stay even but the loss of Udonis Haslem hurt Miami’s already thin depth enough for Memphis to steal the win behind a superb shot from Gay. Gay made the first and last baskets of the game. It was Gay’s game.

Miami was already missing DWade.

Even after tight D by LeBron, Rudy Gay hit the J with no time left.

House was on fire all night, making up for a rare off night for Jones.

“Coming from a Miami fan, the Heat are looking like a 6-8th seed in the Playoffs right now. They don’t look anything like Champions. No body should even be talking about the Playoffs until we can actually beat a legit team.”
enough said – insidehoops forums

“How can you guys act like you are satisfied with 8-5? The team I like, the Cs, is 9-3 and I think they should be 12-0. Or maybe 11-1. A team like Miami… that was so ‘good’ that they made a “Heat Index” part of espn.com should be “pretty satisfied” with being 8-5? No way. If their schedule wasn’t such a cupcake fest to start, they might not have won that many.”
Illsmak – insidehoops forums

“You trolls are hating on a last second loss sans Wade/Ud/Milla? SMH like P Redwood.”
305baller – insidehoops forums

I did not watch this game, I did not realize it was a game night… but I like what I heard. Miami was able to overcome a flu-limited Wade and a ffurious Bobcats rally to win the game. The hardcore fans got their wish as Bosh got 14 boards… a welcome stat. It appears that the rally was due to a shooting slump by the Heat… which has me wondering if Miami’s low rebound totals are a result of good shooting. Nevertheless… I just wanted to write nevertheless.

This was showtime.

Yes the Suns were coming off an emotional high in Los Angeles and were ready for the letdown, but leave the doom and gloom for the haters ladies and gentlemen. The Heat were able to blowout the Suns decisively using play after play of exciting basketball.

LeBron got his point-forward on, hitting Wade and establishing Bosh for easy baskets.

Dwyane Wade was able to continue his relentless 2010 attack towards the rim as well as having some great looking assists himself.

Chris Bosh was able to play his game against the run-and-gun Suns and hit for 30+.

The rest of the Miami team fed off of this and managed to outgun the Suns at their own game.

Yeah, Chris Bosh is not a banger, deal with it. Stop expecting Zo 2.0.

It is what it is.

Spo made a move by inserting Big Z into the starting lineup. This gives Miami some added offensive relief as now Miami is rocking two shooters in the frontcourt. Z also gives you some length to help with long rebounds. Will this help with the interior woes? Time will tell, but the move paid off as Z missed only one jumper all night. Wade and Lebron did their own version of Jordan and Pippen again tonite. LeBron certainly dominates the ball more than Pip did and the comparisons to Magic could be more legit, but Magic played at a faster pace… LeBron brings more brute strength to his skillset. Wade is not Jordan but he is the best slashing guard in the game today and can get a midrange going for those times the lanes are closed… which was not the case vs. the Raptors. He and Bron drove Miami to an effective offensive night as Miami scored over 100 pts again. These guys made plays all over the place, working together and trying to keep up with each other at the same time. Yes the Raptors made a strong run but the Heats lack of depth (or lack of using its players) merits it somewhat… and Bargnani had it going. The production of Haslem and Z offset Bosh’s somewhat pedestrian night.

I just saw the loss to the Celtics and the Heat came out flat. Not a good sign for Spoelstra… and the speculation of his ouster is all over the place. (Also it could be that Miami was not loose and started uptight…). But whats going down on the court? The team still looks a lil fractured to me. You have Bron and Z with great chemistry and Wade and Haslem of course… and then everyone else. Will they come together? Tonite was a test to see if there was any improvement against a stacked squad and Miami failed. Wade had trouble scoring with the lanes clogged and had a bad night… Bosh looked overwhelmed early but improved as the night went on. Bron was good but turnovers and suspect defense lessened his efficiency. In fact, the whole team’s defense looked uncharacteristically bad, but you have to give credit to Bostons execution…it was pretty damn flawless. This game could have been much worse for MIA. Bron and Haslem were tough against a brutal opponent tonite… Bostons big 4 brought it.

Im feeling a lil queezy. To any normal team this game was a classic “took the foot off the gas” game. Or perhaps a “had them by the jugular and let go” game. Maybe even a “they are who we thought they were” type of game. But this is not an ordinary team… This is a superteam. This team is supposed to be a juggernaut right out of the gate. But something is not right… and the honeymoon is about to end. At this point the team is not very good, but it has very good players. Sure, it has an explosive perimeter game and defense… but it also continues to be downright frustrating to watch this frontcourt continue to be bullied by opponents. Statistically the Heat outrebounded the Jazz but watching live will prove that this is a frontcourt that gang rebounds using collapsing guards and gives way to hustle and muscle when it really counts. Why Spo continues to go small is beyond me. Why Spo does not even look towards Mags or Pitts direction on the bench is also confusing to me. Up by 18 and with Millsap going off our frontcourt consists of 2 power forwards, 2 bench shooters and a pg. Again, I dont get it. Is the team supposed to run and gun? Isnt this a defensive team? Why the undersizing? The kick and shoot game took over in the third and any semblance of ball movement was lost not only with this lineup, but the following lineups as well. One thing is for sure… Paul Millsap went bananas. Wade went for 30+, Bron had a triple double, and Bosh had 17/9… but no win. What does it mean?

In Miami’s second matchup with New Jersey the Big 3 really carried the load. The rest of the team was shooting a lower percentage in the first half. Wade , Bosh and Bron had it going in the first half… the apex of this being masterful sequences of basketball being played at a high clip. If it wasnt Bron blowing past the defense with speed, it was Wade dribbling behind his back for a backside crossover and a point blank lay-up. If it wasn’t Bosh dunking a Bron setup, it was Wade recieving an alleyoop… only to pass it back up in the air for a LeBron crushaa. This is NBA Jam in real life, ladies and gentlemen. The outcome didnt really even matter after that… an immature thought.

Notes:

“It took Bosh, James and Wade seven games before each of them scored 20 plus points in the same game. When it comes to other notable trios, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce accomplished that feat in just three games while Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon did it in their first game together.” – Truehoop.

First game where Miami comes out flat.

After the first quarter I was furious.  This was inxcusable… Wade, Bron and Bosh on the same team… looking flat???

“They can’t play every game perfectly… they are only human, after all.” I told myself, so I was patient to chillax until the second half.

Chris Paul really put on a show… he is an elite point guard, one of the greats. Excellent court awareness and vision for the pass. Also, an excellent finisher… although Wade was able to alter many of Paul’s shots. David West and Emeka Okafor showed that they can still put up all-star numbers.

In the second half Miami pulled close and led for a few trips, but the Hornets got the timely end game shots.

It was the Hornets night.

Excellent all-around team play continued against the Wolves. LeBron had a nice time of it at the point-forward position with 10 first-half assists while Wade continues his stellar guard play. As the Heat cruised to the victory two things stood out to me: Michael Beasley’s aggressive play, including another one of his patented authoritative put-back slams… and Kevin Love’s seemingly underused role as a 6th man. Love was an instrumental force in international play, his rebounding and low-post craftiness were crucial to USA’s success… how this translates to a 6th man role is a little confusing to me. The Spurs, in particular, had this kind of thing going with Manu at one point, but that was a deep and talented San Antonio squad. Minny is a lower-tier team this season. One last thing, I gotta mention this James Jones shooting sitution… this has been a great display of skill… he and House continue to hit the outside shot as well as Arroyo, which is a good sign for them to stay in the lineup. Hopefully, these shooters can keep the stats up when true pressure hits.

Heat went into a 2-0 New Jersey that features an up-and-coming Brook Lopez. Similar to the Orlando game, New Jersey stayed close on great center play , but the speed and attack of the Heat overcame any kind of front-court advantage that New Jersey had. Scaling back the offense seems to have worked for Miami as the only turnovers still popping up from time-to-time are from the point -fwd position. That comes to be expected, though, as it is one of the harder roles on the team to perfect. The whole team is in a good groove right now, but his was the first game where Miami’s Big 3 were able to dominate their positions offensively without a shadow of doubt as all 3 scored at will. It is (cue Jersey’s mayor) … New Jersey… but a 2-0, improving New Jersey, nonetheless. Has coach Spo’s adjustments been effective? So far so good. The defense does look elite so far… I know I have given Spo a hard time, but the pattern of opponents shooting over-the-top of the defense has been a problem in the past and I had to call it out… other than that, yes the defense does look incredible.

I didn’t get to see this game in it’s entirety and that kinda pissed me off. But I came through for fam so thats always nice. Anyways enough about me… What I saww in this game in the second half did not really convince me that this team can play championship ball but the verdict is still out. The great thing is that Wade is now in preseason form which is a step forward for sure. His 30 points against a pretty shitty Sixers team is par for him. This was a different look to last nights game with both Bron and Bosh not really dominating their respective positions… wait let me check the stats. Yeah, seems like Bron and Bosh played efficient, unspectacular ball, while Wade did his thing with the scoring (except for Bron’s turnovers… can he play the point-fwd role? not sure). A good result for a work in progress. This team’s potential is sky high so the Heat have to stay loose, play smart and they will continue to improve. James Jones 6 three-pointers are a good sign he can fill the necessary shooting role along with House/Miller. Stack got some minutes and he looks to be another playmaker off the bench. Arroyo looks like the odd man in the starting lineup because more of a shooter-type player is needed to hit open corner shots, unless Arroyo suddenly starts hitting 60% of his shots.

The Heat are the hype of the NBA. This is undebatable. It is in many ways a deserved hype. What Wade, Bosh and James accomplished as olympians merits the moniker of the Big 3. Is hype real? Does it affect teams’ psyche and confidence? In the Heat’s case, I dont know. But I do know that the hype made two teams play hard on this NBA opening night, and to the Celtics especially, this was beneficial. The Celtics were in mid-season form and needed every bit of extra motivation to eak out a respectable win against a Miami Heat team which can be considered… a baby. This Heat team returns D. (dont call me Flash no more) Wade to game action after he had his mind on other things just last week and it was not even enough to lift Miami out of a funk. A funk that began after Wade left with a bad hammy and got funkier when Miller injured his finger. Wade was supposed to provide a lift to the shitty pre-season grind and unfortunately played his worst game as a Heat player. Wade’s timing was off as he missed layups, turned easy plays into difficult ones and got re-acquainted with Shaquille O’neal deep in the paint. Boston’s execution really is something to marvel at… constantly getting Garnett open at his sweet spot, the 3s over the top of the zone, the alley-oop game between Rondo and Shaq… excellent, excellent strategy and execution. Doc Rivers outclassed Miami’s preparation and coaching. That said,

Miami was in this game the whole second half as it put together a couple of weak runs that got stronger the more the game passed. Wade and LeBron need to force the issue with each other and make it work as well as establish Bosh inside… there’s a ton of work to be done. Now, onto the issue of Spoelstra… I definitely don’t like the strategies I see here so far. It appears that Spo is making no adjustments to his game-plan to best fit the talent as well as taking the continuity aspect from last year to this year way too seriously. Not having the big 3 as co-captains is something that shows way too much faith in continuing last year’s results and that is something that I just don’t think is the right approach. The big 3 had a coronation at that pep-rally when they signed… instead, they are not even the captains on the team… Wade and Haslem are. What does it mean? A suspect defensive strategy as the focus and inept offense? Unfortunately. It will rain threes all year (again) as Miami never defends the three line properly and noone will even notice. Also, this mindset means more undersized center play and more getting bullied inside… which Boston aptly took advantage of. Good job, Doc. As for Bosh, he had his hands full with a massive, physical Celtic frontline. He and Haslem were not enough. Why Pittman and Magloire saw no time escapes reason… especially with Magloire taking up a spot that could have went to the best PG this preseason… Pat Beverly. Again, Spo coaching like he only has power forwards on his roster. I hate it. What wasn’t to hate? LeBron’s steadyness. He did it all night. (no homo). But alas, even he had turnover problems. If Bron eliminates those you will probably see him at the point-forward more often.

Most older citizens in South Florida like to gamble, the older ladies play slots, some older veterans will hit blackjack or poker… Pat Riley likes to gamble too. You see, Riley likes to play poker, with human beings as the chips. Maybe he knew something we didn’t , maybe he’s just a lucky man…whatever. It doesn’t matter why. Why ask why (try Bud Dry)? Pat Riley has just remodeled the Miami Heat roster the way he likes to do it. Not by developing babies, but by hiring basketball assassins. And he has hired the best 3 on the market to bring him (and them) some loot: Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and… LeBron muthafucking James! The 3 superfriends apparently have had the plan to play together all along… maybe I have it wrong… maybe Riley is just the benefactor of the friendship and respect that Wade, Bosh and Bron have for each other as friends and colleagues… and lets face it… they want titles NOW. And NOW you have 4 teams to deal with each with their own “Big 3″. In the West you have the Lakers Bryant, Gasol and Odom/Bynum/Artest (a semi-Big 5), and Oklahoma City’s Durant, Westbrook, Green (among others)… in the East you still have the veteran Celtic big three (you know already who) and Orlando (Howard, Lewis, Carter) these teams are not going anywhere, they will compete… And really, LeBron had an easy choice… Rose/Boozer or Wade/Bosh… no brainer…especially when they are your friends.

So the big BIG 3 are here… time to get back to work.

Notes:
The team needs some shooting, and supposedly Mike Miller is ready to sign on. Miller is a great shooter, who has shown some toughness in the past… I think he would be a great addition. The Heat have some good young draft picks for the big BIG 3 to develop: Pittman, Butler and Varnado. Pittman is -6-10, 300 lbs and the Heat are going to need some girth to clean up the boards when Bosh is doing his thing in the outer paint.

Michael Beasley was traded to the best place I feel will give him a chance to focus squarely on bball: Minnesota. Although I am sad to see him go, this is the best move for him. Goodbye sunshine, hello cold frigidness… it will give him the focus.

Stupidist hate on LeBron seen yet:
“I would have stayed in Cleveland and be the guy and win the championship. LeBron made a bad decision.”
-Charles Barkley. 0 rings. Joined Drexler and Olajuwon as a has-been and lost.

Well, it took a little bit more drama than originally anticipated, but thanks to Ron Artest and Nate Robinson, the Lakers and Celtics will meet for the 12th time in NBA history for the championship trophy. These two squads, when tested, clearly were the class of the league during these playoffs.

Will it be the fearsome foursome with their deep, big, hard-working frontcourt rotation to go along with outstanding perimeter play led by the penetration of Rondo and the shooting of Pierce and Allen? Truly a perfectly assembled roster… yes it sounds like a gang-bang but it is not…this is a damn good team.

Or will it be the skilled LA golden boys… led by Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol’s masterfully skilled 1-2 punch… along with the versatility of Odom and the grit of Artest?

This is the finals you want to see as an NBA fan. No doubt about it.

Last night I saw game 6 of the East Semis and witnessed LeBron get taken out of his game by a veteran Celtic team that is peaking at the perfect time. Many are saying that the Cavs 60+ win regular season was a mirage, but thats just spitting on the grave of a great team that is just not ready to take the trophy yet ( It’s funny to see the ESPN talking heads turn on James and take pleasure in the upset, especially after kissing James ass all year ). This is 80′s Pistons/Celtics, Bulls/Pistons all over again. The Cavs are formidable, but just don’t have the grit yet to get passed a championship-tested, hungry Celtic team. And there was nothing LeBron could do… it’s just not the Cavs time yet.

Well, a week has passed since Miami’s season ended and I have been enjoying the playoffs. Especially in the western conference where the Jazz have been playing some excellent ball and took the juggernaut Lakers down to the wire before folding in last nights Game 1. Kobe was phenomenal, his skill and passion is unmatched in the league and he used his big men with total efficiency. It makes me wonder how good could Wade really be with some dominant big men again… Kobe has got it good in LA. Boozer had some trouble with LA’s length but he has had a badass showing in the post-season this year. That being said, I wanted to grade the Heat’s overall year in terms of success versus expectation:

POINT GUARD:
The expectation here was that Mario Chalmers would be a viable starter by now and be able to provide lock-down defense as well as timely 3 point shooting. The reality was that Chalmers provided 3 pointers aplenty, but his game is not really suited for the point and he does not run the offense well. Carlos Arroyo played well enough to earn the starting nod but was exposed by Rondo in the post-season.
Grade: D

SHOOTING GUARD:
Wade. He improved his 3 point range, but took alot more attempts in doing it. His back to the basket game had issues, but slightly improved.
Grade: A

SMALL FORWARD:
Quentin Richardson did his best impression of Keith Askins…. hitting the open corner threes on kick-outs and trying to play tough D. I think the expectations of Q were that he was going to be a bench player, and he exceeded expectations, he played solid as a starter. Dorrell Wright was written off in pre-season as a longshot but he finally had a consistently productive season.
Grade: C

POWER FORWARD:
The combination of Beasley/Haslem had it’s moments against opponents of their height, but when the competition got long and/or physical, this duo just didn’t have what it took to get to the next level. Beasley’s inability to get crunch-time play led to an emotional depression that led to poor late season play.
Grade: C

CENTER:
The combo of Jermaine O’Neal and Joel Anthony was also effective against average frontlines and had potential to become a decent tandem of offense and defense until Jermaine O’Neal’s late-season knee-sprain led to ineffectiveness on offense from the position and a lack of a go-to player.
Grade: C

OVERALL:
The Heat modestly improved from last-years record with Dwyane Wade having to carry a little less of a load, especially early in the season when Beasley was motivated and productive. When the team started sputtering Wade turned it on and the team responded with a good win streak (as documented on this blog). Overall, the team did not develop it’s young players to be great players and the vets did just enough to keep the team respectable.
Grade: C+

It was not a blowout, Miami showed some grit by pushing the Celtics late in this game, but more was needed to beat a superior Boston team. Boston’s interior play and chemistry again proved that team play trumps a one-star system every time… Boston could do anything it wanted against Miami inside plus they had Ray Allen shooting lights out on one end and Pierce hitting J’s on the other end. That’s a well oiled machine. As for Miami, Wade delivered and everyone else was a question mark… Jermaine O’neal and Michael Beasley, two players that have their Miami future up in the air did not deliver and were severely outplayed (J.O may be injured) … but , I digress. This team played well enough to get 47 wins this year and was used by the Celtics as a warm-up to real competition in the second round. Boston needed this kind of performance to get it’s confidence up for the next round, and it was successful… Miami now goes home to rebuild. As of now I stand on my position that this team needs a legit defensive presence and length in the frontcourt to go with a low-post offensive presence as well as a defensive perimeter stopper and a versatile, athletic scorer.

Meanwhile in Utah, Carlos Boozer just had an outstanding series against Denver.

It had to happen. The volcano known as Dwyane Wade was able to erupt to help Miami get over the hump and finally take out the Celtics in Miami. An everyday D-Wade game became an excellent one in 2 ways. Wade’s teammates found Wade cutting to the basket for major dunks (one which was a Varejao-esque thrilla on Garnett) and, then in the fourth, Wade’s jumper was money as he went on a three-point barrage.

“Step-in 3s are a shot we’d usually give him because he’s known for his drives and his midrange,” Paul Pierce said. “On a normal day those are shots you want him to take, but it wasn’t a normal day.”

“I know a lot of people expected us to roll over, and that weighed heavily on my mind. We didn’t break, even when they took the lead, and that was the turning point and what made this different from every other game,” Wade said. “I’m sure they feel going back home they’ll be fine.”

Wade didn’t do it alone, as QRich and Beasley provided timely plays, but it was #3′s night to shine in this series and he will have to do it again and again if Miami wants to stand a chance with an ineffective O’Neal and a struggling Beasley.

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There is not much I can say to temper the disappointment after this loss other than to say that it was a passionate, exciting NBA playoff game. Being back home, Miami finally played with some real confidence again. Boston and Miami went at it evenly for the first three quarters, but just like the previous matchups, Boston was able to get the upper hand with superior strategy and execution. Wade was excellent, consistently cutting into the lane and making floater after floater… and some Shaq-like putback dunks. Beasley stepped up and finally had a decent offensive game in this series, shooting an efficient 7-11 on FGs. But as documented time and again on this blog, Miami just didn’t have it this year to get it done late in big games… but hey, it was a good game. Props to Pierce on the game winner, Boston has done this to Miami consistently now, so it’s not even shocking.

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This game was pathetic. Miami did not step up, it stepped down. Miami has now regressed back to it’s pre-March form in this Boston beatdown. Ray Allen was able to catch fire and that was enough for Boston to pull away, as the combination of girth and hustle proved too much for Miami’s soft interior. If this playoff series is a microcosm of Miami’s season, perhaps Miami will have a good showing from here on out… but it does not look good. Looks like the vacation bags are packed at this point, and perhaps Spoelstra’s time as coach. This could also be the series where the Michael Jordan comparisons end for Dwyane Wade. Wade will be an all-time great, but the flashes of Jordan potential continue to be that…flashes. The Kobe era will turn into the James/Durant era probably, with Wade looking more like a transitional icon at this point… still the best in Heat history, though, and Miami is blessed to have him.

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Welcome to the playoffs.

Miami looked good for the first two and a half quarters. The team was aggressive with it’s offense and rebounding as it knocked a sluggish Celtic team around and eventually took a double-digit lead. Wade was at his best in the first-half of the third as he was able to break through Boston’s defense at will.

But then something happened.

Boston started trapping Wade in the paint and, as the pressure went up, Wade and his teammates started shrinking considerably.

Udonis Haslem uncharacteristically started missing lay-ups, Arroyo started passing up open J’s (that he was draining earlier), Beasley became passive… everyone just started playing really scared basketball. This is the same kind of behavior the Heat showed in mid-season before playing with more confidence down the stretch. They could not figure out Boston’s length by any means and just started to self-destruct.

Wade is to blame as well, his turnovers were crucial in Boston’s run in the second half. Instead of going for the easy pass, Wade continued trying to hit the home-run assist… to ill results.

Luckily, the basketball gods appear to be with Miami as Garnett and Q-Rich got into a heated scuffle and Garnett was suspended for game 2… look for the intensity of both teams to pick up, but can Miami keep focus when times get rough?

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In the final game of the season, the Heat worked out the backups and the most intriguing thing about the game was Carlos Arroyo’s attempt to lead the league in TO.ratio and the Brooke Lopez / Michael Beasley 2008 draft 1st round showdown. The game was pretty much a competitive affair as it went 3 overtimes.

Spoelstra’s final words on the season:

“The key point is it could have gone the other way,” said Spoelstra. “We found strength in the adversity, in the schedule. When you do that in this league that’s when you make your biggest growth. Collectively, we have a stronger spirit having survived that stretch.”

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Philadelphia, city of brotherly love. These is a certain mystique to playing here and I think Miami felt the spirit a bit. With Philly shooting well , Miami had it’s hands full defensively. Wade sparked the Heat with some excellent penetration in the third after the Sixers took an 8 point lead. Miami responded well to the Sixers runs and the final answer was a Wade-to-Haslem drive-and-dish. A good warm-up for the playoffs. Sixers played well.

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The team was back to firing at all cylinders against the Knicks. Wade was at top form and Beasley was especially efficient. U.D. , Arroyo and Wright were extremely productive against D’Antoni’s “up tempo/no-defense” strategy. Wade could of went for 50, probably.

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NBA 2009-2010 through games of 2010 April 9 Friday
HOME ADVANTAGE= 3.13 RATING W L SCHEDL(RANK) VS top 10 | VS top 16 | ELO_CHESS | PREDICTOR
1 Cleveland Cavaliers
2 Orlando Magic
3 Los Angeles Lakers
4 Utah Jazz
5 Denver Nuggets
6 Phoenix Suns
7 San Antonio Spurs
8 Atlanta Hawks
9 Oklahoma City Thunder
10 Boston Celtics
11 Dallas Mavericks
12 Portland Trail Blazers
13 Miami Heat
14 Milwaukee Bucks
15 Charlotte Bobcats
16 Houston Rockets
17 Memphis Grizzlies
18 Toronto Raptors
19 Chicago Bulls
20 New Orleans Hornets
21 Indiana Pacers
22 New York Knicks
23 Golden State Warriors
24 Sacramento Kings
25 Philadelphia 76ers
26 Detroit Pistons
27 Washington Wizards
28 Los Angeles Clippers
29 Minnesota Timberwolves

Early Off-Season Speculation:
I think the Heat should let Beasley goto a team where he will be the no.1 option (Nets) and pick up Brooke Lopez. Then if Bosh can be added, you have a great start to build a championship team. With Wade and Arroyo in the backcourt and perhaps QRich or Rudy Gay at your starting 3… and Haslem, Wright and perhaps Chalmers getting the bench, you have a good chance to compete for that 1 to 2 seed next year. But if this team performs to eastern conference finals/finals level, it of course, has a chance of staying intact.

Well, the winning streak is over. Miami’s old nemesis Ben Gordon exploded for 40 against a half-motivated Wade, who is probably looking to save some juice for the playoffs. Statistically, Miami was decent offensively.

“Now the team feels that no matter what happens or who we play against, however the game is developing, that we have a chance to win every time out,” Spoelstra said before Friday’s game against Detroit. “That state of mind can also be dangerous and can also be a trap.”

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This one really is about the progress of Dorrell Wright. Once a castaway, an afterthought, a player the team was close to giving up on… Wright was a huge catalyst for Miami in this game as Wade was off with his shot and Beasley continued to struggle with his game. Wrights’s 3-point shooting and aggressive drives kept Miami in this along with Udonis Haslem’s always consistent production and Wade’s defensive play (a huge block on Iggy was a thing of beauty in an otherwise grimy match). When the rest of the team woke up, it was in position to close out the win. Carlos Arroyo’s clutch free-throws at the end of the fourth sealed the deal.

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Last time Miami played Minnesota the Heat looked in disarray… but what a difference a few weeks makes. Dwyane Wade continues his stellar late season run in eye-opening fashion producing this gorgeous statline one night after his 43 point outburst: 39 points, 8 rebs and 6 assists. Thats some damn good work right there… and Wade is doing it by displaying a mid-range scoring prowess that he has not necessarily been working with for a short time. I am talking consistent lane penetration coupled with feathery floaters to go along with the quick footwork to beat the double and get in position to dunk. That, plus the fact that his 3 point shot is falling and you really have Wade’s best stretch of ball all year. Okay, okay so what about the other guys on the team, right? Well QRich, Arroyo and Beasley provided double digit scoring while UD produced a stellar 17 rebound night off the bench to go along with his 13 points. D. Wright’s 7 rebounds were crucial to the overall sceme of things too. Miami continues to play serious ball… 1 more win and they are locked in for the postseason…

Meanwhile in Milwaukee:
The much improved Bucks suffered a major blow to their campaign tonight as Andrew Bogut appears to have dislocated his elbow in a brutal fall after a dunk. Milwaukee and Miami have been battling for the 5th seed. You never want to see a guy go out like that. Ever.

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Miami cannot understate this win by any means. This is a Pacer team that is playing very good ball right now, led by Danny Granger, who was averaging 30+ in his past 10 games. Miami struggled in the first half , but in the third quarter Dwyane Wade awoke from his game-and-a-half slumber to produce 29 points in the second half and OT to lead Miami to their 7th win in a row. Finally, a healthy win streak…Miami has been needing this all year and has finally achieved it… moving into 5th place in the east and sweeping Indiana for the first time in franchise history. Wade had a vintage back-to-front cross dribble that he hasn’t pulled since his second year in the league (and something D. Williams of the Jazz copied in the Heat’s house, perhaps as a tribute). Wade was named player of the month in the East at halftime.

Notable:
Dorrell Wright continues his solid play off the bench with 11 points and 7 boards, UD was a point short of a double-double.

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Okay this was a flip from the status quo, but the result was consistent with the March 2010 Miami Heat resume. On a night that Wade was in decoy mode after missing his first 5+ shots, Michael Beasley emerged as the offensive catalyst for a Heat team that continues to get great contributions from the whole squad. It seemed like Wade was the only player missing shots as Beasley, Haslem, QRich, Arroyo and Wright provided a good foundation for Miami’s offense. The point guard position was effective tonight as Chalmers and Arroyo combined for 13 assists. An odd night statistically, but a good result overall. Heat fans are probably wondering…”when will Wade AND Beasley erupt for a dual scoring assault as well as having the rest of the team perform well?”… playoffs maybe?

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Behind Dwyane Wade’s continued excellent play and a late push by Haslem and Arroyo, the Heat were able to even up the season series with their 5th win in a row. Wade continues his tear to the playoffs contributing not only 32 points but 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals and 3 blocks. Wade’s footwork in particular looks as good as it ever has in his career.

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This was a game marred with injuries and Miami was able to stay within their game using defense to pull away against the Bucks in Milwaukee. Jermaine O’Neal, who has been having a strong second-half of the season, hyper-exended his knee and Carlos Delfino got his head stepped on by Udonis Haslem in a scary moment for the Bucks… both players will be fine. Luckily Dwyane Wade was able to continue his MVP-type play and lead Miami to the win. Carlos Arroyo and Dorrell Wright were notable in this one as Miami looks balanced and as cohesive as ever… looks like the team is finally gelling. A test against an elite team would be nice right now to gauge how far Miami has come…. as long as O’Neal gets back in the lineup.

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Heat are rolling. Behind Dwyane Wade’s 10 assists and Jermaine Oneal’s 24 points in 25 minutes Miami was able to outclass the Bulls with little resistance. The Heat are starting to get some strong momentum and are looking as cohesive as they have ever been…both Beasley and Haslem had good games, too. The next game against the Bucks will be a good test to see if Miami can keep the momentum going.
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The Heat remained sharp as Jermaine O’Neal (11-16 FGs, 9 Rebounds) and Dwyane Wade (12 assists, 27 points) were able to power Miami early. Carlos Arroyo, Dorrell Wright and Mike Beasley also chipped in to close it out as Miami was able to avoid an upset against a desperate Nets team using their 3rd coach this season. Wade was able to drive at will with a few beauties and both DWade and Dorrell Wright had some acrobatic finishes as Miami put on a good show. Especially notable was a Carlos Arroyo alley to DWade, and a behind-the-back dribble to blow by an opponent by Wade.

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This was a very successful outing for the Heat and i cannot understate the word SUCCESSFUL. Yeah, the Heat have been looking to gel all year but what makes this game a good sign overall is that Wade struggled with his shot, Jermaine O’Neal was out and yet Miami still got enough support from their role-players to keep the score ahead and squash any late runs by a Bobcats team that has been a pain in Miami’s ass. Along with Wade’s stellar shot-block clinic you had QRich hot from the edges (QRich is the X-Factor for Miami to play at top performance) and Michael Beasley and D. Wright providing enough production to get Miami the win. Udonis Haslem quietly contributed extremely important defense and rebounding to go along with UD’s typical offensive production. Excellent play from the forwards combined tonight to offset a weak offensive perimeter showing from the guards.

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This one had playoff intensity in large spurts. It is hard to get mad at this loss: the Heat were able to come up with a good rally in the fourth quarter after trailing a bit but the Magic got serious, and behind Rashard Luis, they were able to get just enough of a push to come out with the game in overtime. Wade was prime, just missing a trible-dubb with 36/10/7 and assisted on a tremendous alley-oop to Dorrell Wright after a great effort by Wright to keep the ball inbounds after stealing the rock from Vince Carter. This would be an intriguing match-up in the playoffs for Miami.

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Dorrel Wright 1-4 FGs. Michael Beasley 3-10 FGs. Carlos Arroyo 3 assists. Q-Rich 0 pts.

Thats just not going to get it done. Heat made a decent run in the 2nd half , but Miami just could not come up with a compelling enough effort against a focused and deeper Spurs squad, even sans Tony Parker who was out with injury.

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This was a game Miami was supposed to win, and with Wade powering them, they did just that. But what is most impressive about this performance (or maybe this is how bad Philly is) is that even with Jermaine O’neal getting ejected, D. Wright suspended and Beasley out with injury Miami was able to coast behind Wade. Wade is rounding into late-season form and looking good as are his teammates.

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With no more Marcus Camby to deal with Miami was able to pretty much ride Dwyane Wade’s perimeter excellence to a big lead and then comfortably keep the pace up. This is a timely win that shows that Miami is able to bounce back from a difficult loss. A couple of wins strung together in this current 6-game homestand will say alot about this team heading into the playoffs.

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This was going well for about three quarters and then Wade and crew started playing unfocused basketball. Bad passes, bad shot selection… the Heat really just stopped focusing. Was it fatigue? Maybe. Was it bad coaching? Dunno. But Miami stopped playing good basketball and shot itself in the foot over and over. Charlotte did not play well but their depth kept the pressure on Miami and they did just enough to outlast them for the win.

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Last time these two teams met, the Heat beat Atlanta in a game that Jamal Crawford sat out and was mainly considered a pre-all-star fluke. But with Dwyane Wade providing the spark along with a surprising clutch explosion by Michael Beasley and some good rebounding Miami outlasted the Hawks tonight. Wade continued his MVP-calibre stretch with 38 points/10 assists and 2 steals. Beasley had 22 and QRich had another good night with a 22/10r double-double. This is probably the best stretch of basketball for Miami since early in the season and this has been an impressive set of wins to bring Miami back over .500. Some bad news though: Jermaine O’Neal may be out with a knee injury.

Notes: With the Heat trailing 68-56, Wade took over. He hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to cut Atlanta’s lead to 68-64. He dunked,  then scored on back-to-back breakaways to make it 70-70.

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I have to tell you that I was not shocked with this result. Coming off a strong performance against Golden State, the Heat were primed for a shot against the world champs and with a solid team effort, Miami was able to shake off a scorching Kobe Bryant (who rallied the Lakers late and got them into overtime). Kobe was in total assassin mode while Pau Gasol had a sub-par night (that’s a good formula for a Lakers loss) and when you have Q-Rich playing the way he did and Carlos Arroyo back at the controls as your starting point guard along with Wade not trying to force his shot too much and finding his teammates (and vice versa), you have a Miami team that has not only been able to stay with the champs for two games now, but were able to put their best stretch of basketball together since the early weeks of the season. Maybe Riley is right about this team having the potential to make some noise in the post-season.

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And so the Miami Heat has started another home stand. Will they improve on their poor home record? With nights like these, it is definitely possible. Dwyane Wade was absolutely in vintage form tonight and it was a pleasure to see his teammates effectively use him to total efficiency as he drove the lane masterfully, executed backdoor alley-oop perfection and hit his jumpshots to the tune of 35 points, 12 assists, 4 steals on 15/23 shooting. This is a game that reminded me of why Wade’s career has been a joy to follow. Seemingly injured after a knee-on-knee collision… Wade seemed to get a second wind and continued to drive the lane at will and finish some difficult angles on layups and J’s. Of course Wade did not beat GS on his own, his team played well enough to keep the game in hand (JO, Arroyo and Beasley as well as others…)… but … damn Wade…. your the best…around…. wheres Joe Esposito at ??!!.

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In a surprise, Wade came back early from injury to try to give Miami a better chance to beat the steady-but-not-great Magic and early on Wade provided a huge lift with a spectacular spin-to-alley oop combo to Anthony that was as good as your going to ever see in a basketball game.. And Miami competed for about three quarters until ultimately succumbing to Orlando’s shooting and drive-and-kick game. Howard was taken care of and was more in a decoy mode tonight for the Magic.

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After a jolt of energy provided by the excitement of proving themselves with Wade out … the Heat find themselves again going through the motions and being outplayed by a still-improving Bucks team. Has this youth movement finally reached its course… a sub-.500 team? Only two pieces seem ready for this Heat team to compete for a championship next year: Wade and O’Neal. Silver lining: D.Wright continues to improve.

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I hate to make excuses for Miami but this was a classic trap. After playing hard on the road they came back home, released the accelerator a bit and needed some time to get back to their usual ebb and flow (after so many blog entries, it’s hard to come up with new adjectives, but, I digress) and there were a few flashes of it. After a late push to make it tough on Minnesota, Miami finally folded. I’m not really going to put too much stock on this loss, it is what it is. This is just a young, developing team… at least Spo is finally playing the younger players more minutes.

“Everybody needs to feel the sense of urgency right now with this playoff push,” Spoelstra said. “If that doesn’t shake you up and we don’t understand how important each game is, then we’re not going to get it done.”

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If there ever is such a thing as an encouraging sign after a loss this is a game that had one. Usually this season when Miami is not easily blowing out an opponent , or playing tough as an underdog, it will not show much backbone as blowout losses earlier in the year will attest to. But Miami looked hungry and cohesive against the Mavs… even on the second of back-to-backs. This team is finally improving… and if it can peak entering the playoffs anything can happen.

“We believe we’re a playoff team, that we can be very competitive and that maybe this team might be a better playoff team than it is in the regular season,” – Pat Riley.

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The thing about the Grizzlies is this… they have hit something of a wall since that win streak they had a month ago. They looked lethargic for the most part… a typical cycle. Timing counted for something because the Heat are now on the upswing. A defensive intensity is starting to look apparent as Miami defended very well the whole night. Beasley supplied the points with an efficient 30 on 13-25 shooting. When the Heat looked like it was about to let go of the game in OT Haslem stepped up and closed the deal. Beasley’s game sometimes reminds me of DWade stylistically. But shooting 50% should be the norm, not the exception for Beasley…especially for a frontcourt player. Anyways, these games are crucial from a chemistry standpoint and maybe Wade is observing some things out there where he can bring more efficiency as far as the team is concerned. Up next, Dallas Mavericks. I feel this is the biggest winner from the deadline trades. Picking up Butler and Haywood is a huge infusion of talent to the frontcourt. This is a solid basketball move by Dallas…reminiscent of old-school Riley.

This was not an ordinary night by any means. Things were going along smoothly until Wade strained his calf… Wade has been extremely durable this year so when this calf injury thing happened it was a little bit of a surprise. It seems to be minor and with rest it should be fine… I have a similar thing going from skateboarding. Don’t ever skateboard and play basketball for extended periods…it is very taxing to the calves. Anyway, back on subject… The Heat won this game by staying with the Cavs and then overtaking them with a decisive 8-0 run that was fueled by Michael Beasley’s block in crunchtime. With Wade needing a breather to get his calf right, this will be the time for Miami to gel without Wade, which can help in the long-run. I have to mention that Cook had another strong outing, perhaps the all-star curse is finally gone. Spoelstra has finally been doing some pro-active tweakery of his lineups… he may not be done just yet.

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Miami easily took care of business against Philly using suffocating defense and balanced offensive production from the supporting cast. Wade set the tone early in the game with a few assists and then Miami was able to keep making shots to stay ahead in the second until Wade and Beasley sparked the team to a blowout with some great drives by the end of the 3rd. A decent team win to keep building momentum, but this is a struggling Sixers team…

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Big night for Miami basketball and the NBA in general as Dwyane Wade was able to set the pace and lead the East all-stars to a victory against the West in a surprisingly competitive talent showcase. Wade was able to take some frustrations out from playing with a .500 team as he relished running with the type of playmakers he can only dream about playing with on a regular basis. Wade finished with 11 assists (many of the spectacular variety) and 28 points to go with 5 steals as he walked away as the most valuable player.

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In Atlanta, Miami faced a Hawks team with a depleted bench needing to continue the bit of momentum that it gained from it’s win against the Rockets. Udonis Haslem was able to take advantage of the Hawks misfortune with his second double-double in as many games. Wade had a little trouble against Joe Johnson’s length but was able to get the better of the matchup by the end of the night. Dorrel Wright and Daequan Cook were major factors in this one with Wright pacing Miami in the first half and Cook closing the Hawks out in the fourth. If Cook can continue this resurgance Miami will be a much more effective team. And now, the all-star break.

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The Heat were at home tonight looking to regroup against the Rockets, whom they had success against in their last meeting, and they showed a different approach this time. Udonis Haslem and DWade were the catalysts in this balanced attack which had DWright, Cook, Arroyo and Anthony playing extended time and producing at a high level. Wright, in particular, was excellent with a season high 7 assists. Miami needed this win to feel good again…now ATL looms.

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The malaise continues as Miami plays good enough to stay in games but does not have the character or strategy to make a strong push to finish and come out with a win. This is a team that has no will. Where there is no will, there is no way. Seems like Wade is hip to the scenario: “We’ve got to find a way also to mix it up, stop being a team that everybody knows exactly what we’re going to do and they just play us the same way,” he was quoted as saying over the weekend. “We should be much better,” Wade said. “I’m not going to say we should be number one in the East, but we should be a little better.” True, Wade. This is a team that continues to underperform… the first big test in Spoelstra’s young career.

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1 Cleveland Cavaliers
2 Los Angeles Lakers
3 Orlando Magic
4 Boston Celtics
5 Atlanta Hawks
6 Utah Jazz
7 Denver Nuggets
8 Dallas Mavericks
9 Phoenix Suns
10 Oklahoma City Thunder
11 Portland Trail Blazers
12 San Antonio Spurs
13 Houston Rockets
14 Charlotte Bobcats
15 Memphis Grizzlies
16 Toronto Raptors
17 Milwaukee Bucks
18 Miami Heat
19 New Orleans Hornets
20 Chicago Bulls
21 Los Angeles Clippers
22 New York Knicks
23 Sacramento Kings
24 Philadelphia 76ers
25 Detroit Pistons
26 Golden State Warriors
27 Washington Wizards
28 Indiana Pacers
29 Minnesota Timberwolves
30 New Jersey Nets

Wade/Lebron III was a lot quieter than Wade/LeBron II on heroics as Miami did not show much on the second half of back to backs (the first quarters of these last few games have been good but then….pfffttttt) . I know alot of press people are shitting on the players that Miami has, but I don’t think Miami has bad players, just maybe not the right players for what they are trying to do as a ballclub. Does a trade need to happen? Yes. There needs to be some momentum built for next year, some fresh faces may bring a spark. Do I think Spoelstra needs to be fired as coach? Yes. His erratic substitution patterns, lack of creativity with personnel and inexperience put him at odds with a team that is trying to get to the next level. This team should be improving, yet this may be the lowest point of the season as the Heat have regressed. Miami needs a quality win.

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The Heat went into Boston in a funk and played relatively well. The starting lineup had a balanced scoring output and the teams played close for the first 3 quarters. Boston was able to get the best of the Heat in the fourth quarter, outscoring Miami by 5 to take the contest.

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The Heat shuffled it’s lineup yet again as Jermaine O’Neal sat this one out. Beasley came back and had a nice left-handed lay-up from Wade and Wade scored the first 11 points in the game. But that was about it, Miami looked lethargic and tired while the Bucks came in and with alot of energy as they prepared for Wade to go off. Didn’t happen though, Milwaukee continued pestering on the perimeter with speed and had noone able to contain Andrew Bogut as he showed that he can be a steady presence in the paint.

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With the absence of Michael Beasley in this one, the Heat started Joel Anthony in the middle and Jermaine O’neal at the 4…O’Neal’s natural position. O’Neal responded with 11 rebounds and the Heat went on to blowout the Pistons in Detroit. Rafer Alston had 7 assists and was particularly active. Spoelstra kept Haslem in the reserve role and Haslem played well against Detroit’s front-line with 16 points and 8 rebounds, much of it coming early, as O’Neal went out with an injury-scare. Wade continues his recent stellar play with 22 points in 24 miniutes.

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This game was significant because Michael Beasley suffered the first injury of his career, injuring his knee in a collision as he was going for an alley-oop. This deflated the team somewhat and gave Miami a huge blow to it’s depth. With Wade playing the entire fourth, Miami again could not sustain the energy for a late push (although Wade was in top form). And the Heat could not contain Bargnani or Bosh. So it is, another loss. Jermaine O’neal was notably sharp in this game.

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Wade vs LeBron II was everything it was supposed to be. Looking to show that he is still one of the elite players in the league Wade went bananas in the first half, hitting long jumpers, fades, and dunking his way to 30 points as he sacrificed his body and energy to keep the Heat going in the first half. And the Heat needed every point because, especially in the second quarter, the team could not get anything to go in the damn basket. Wade’s pace was exhilirating and LeBron stepped up to the challenge, exchanging buckets at a torrid pace. Bodies flew and ricocheted as LeBron crashed into the paint, Wade flexed his muscles in apparent tribute to Alonzo Mourning and power and finesse went head-to-head as the O’Neal’s (Shaq and Jermaine) battled inside for paint supremacy ….it was exciting, it was unprecedented, it was for Wade and Bron… exhausting. I had a feeling this game was not going to remain at the extreme pace that it had in the first half and I was right. Both Wade and LeBron slowed down in the third as fatigue and defensive adjustments set the tone… and their supporting casts went at it… playing even basketball the whole way. The Cavs especially begged anyone else other than Wade to beat them and the Heat responded with gusto as Michael Beasley exploded offensively in the second half, punctuating a productive third quarter with a massive slam dunk on a grandiose putback. The LeBron and Wade duel picked up steam again at the end of the fourth as the all-world players dueled in the final posessions both offensively and defensively with LeBron barely edging out Wade. One of the many classic moments included a sequence where Bron posted up Wade and Wade blocked Bron’s attempt, followed by Bron making a steal on Wade’s behind-the-back pass. Wade’s exhaustion against the massive 6-8 frame of James proved too much as he was too tired to first hit free-throws, then the final jumper, to put Miami on top. I am sure both superstars are feeling some pain this morning with the way they sacrificed their bodies.

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