6 Thoughts
1) Miami has played Indiana three times this year, and blown them out three times. Love seeing those Indiana Pacers right now! Before the game, Pacer coach Jim O'Brien, sporting a suit and Adidas flip flops due to a broken toe, explained the reason for his team's struggles to Eric Reid: "We are not good defensively."
2)Miami is 21-19. Midway point of the season tomorrow night, with a big showdown in Charlotte - who is white hot - for the 5th spot in the playoff standings. Dwyane Wade looked prepped and ready for that game, scoring 25 in the first half, and 32 for the game, before sitting out the fourth quarter. DWade is in noticeably better shape, and getting better lift on the jumper - as a consequence, he is scoring more easily: shooting 57% in his last five games. He has played his way into shape.
3) Great to see Pacers rookie, and beloved Connecticut Husky, A.J. Price tonight. A.J. survived a brain hemorrhage, a suspension for stealing laptop computers, and, most impressively, five years under ultra-demanding UConn coach Jim Calhoun, to lead Connecticut to the Final Four last year. A.J. is now the Pacers backup point guard. Great to see him, that is, until late in the third quarter when he inexplicably grabbed a speeding Dwyane Wade by the shoulder, sending him helicoptering sideways into a sprinting Mike Dunleavy. Goodness gracious A.J. - the game had been over for an hour at that point. A.J. received a flagrant foul, Wade bounced up, and the Heat Nation breathed a big sigh of relief.
4) Supercool Jimmy Buckets: 21 and 10 tonight. Yes, it was a blowout, but I'm just saying...
5) We are introducing a new segment tonight called: "Jax, Jax, Jax - What Are You Thinking?" Ira Winderman and Jason Jackson picked their midseason award winners at halftime. Ira, correctly, cited LeBron James as the MVP. Frankly, it's not even close - but, Jax chose Kevin Durant. Okay, we can live with that. If you swapped Durant and LeBron I think you'd find out just how good LeBron is, but whatever, at least Durant is a top 5 or 6 player in the league. But after Ira, also correctly, selected Dwight Howard as his defensive player of the first half - again, not even really close - Jax cited OKC shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha as his top defender. Jax - I mean, come on. Yes, Thabo has been nice on Wade in their two meetings this season. But are you telling me that if you are starting a team, and have to pick one player strictly for defensive purposes, you are taking Thabo Sefolosha over Dwight Howard? Really? Really? Jax, Jax, Jax - what are you thinking?...Jax - you've seen Orlando play, right? You know which guy Dwight Howard is, right? He's the chiseled 6'11" guy in the middle of the court blocking everything in sight. Even Dwyane Wade doesn't venture in there - he's the one guy in the league who just shuts down the middle. Jax - please apologize to your viewers for this egregious error...
6) Okay, made the annual trip yesterday to the South Florida Fair. Here is what was consumed: fried pickels; fried macaroni and cheese; funnel cake; corn dog; cotton candy; hand-churned ice cream; homemade ice tea; three-flavor, self-poured icey freeze; roasted corn; and, of course, chocolate-covered cheescake. Also: rode on a roller coaster, and spent somewhere between twelve and eighty dollars on O. and P. Minutos' carnival games so that they could win stuffed animals with a combined value of $6.75. It's the best day of the year, and it's not even close...
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