6 Thoughts
1) Look, sometimes a highly touted power forward #2 overall draft pick has a generally erratic beginning to his career, then after 150 or so games, just when you feel like he should be starting to get it, he comes out and plays absolutely awful basketball for two straight weeks. And then maybe, during a nationally televised game on a, say, Thursday night against, maybe, the Lakers, he comes out, is brutal again, and spends most of the night on the bench. And then maybe someone at Casa Dos - it doesn't matter who, really - declares, "I never want to watch him play again...He is dead to me." I mean, it could happen. But what if, say, in the very next game, that oft-maligned power forward shuffles through three quarters with minimal impact, then suddenly EXPLODES down the stretch with 14 points on two triples, an alley oop slam in transition, a tip in, and two huge steals defensively - and he wins the game, a big game, against the Hawks, while you are right in the middle of a playoff drive? What then? I think that if you are the person who claimed that the power forward was dead to him, you take credit for motivating him! Do it, Mike Beasley! By the way, I left out the part where I mixed myself a very strong mojito before the game, drawing a low whistle from M.Minutos, prompting me to look at her and say, "I need this to watch Mike Beasley play..."
2) Mike - his mind, seemingly, got right about two minutes into the fourth quarter. Did he suddenly have an epiphany about playing hard? Did he re-locate his missing swag? "Honestly," he told Jax after the game, "#3 got mad at me and punched me in the chest." Okay! Whatever it takes! Good job, Dwyane!
3) Okay, new movie out tonight: "QRich Doin' Work II...Still Workin'!" Two nights after his 25 point, 7 triple breakout on the Lakers, The Pres dropped 22 on 5 triples against the ATL. Eleven rebounds. Two huge third quarter rebounds and instant homerun connections to DWade, on the heels of two Wade triples, that erased a 12 point Atlanta lead, and got Miami back in it. I've said it before - I was the only one who believed in QRich when they acquired him last summer. Organizations have different cultures and different roles for positions: on Miami, if you can defend the perimeter, and make the open three, you can play small forward for the Heat. Then that's when the movie offers start flowing in...
4) This was Dwyane Wade's week: 35 points, 12 assists, and 6 rebounds against Golden State. 27 points, 14 assists, and 5 rebounds against the Lakers. 38 points, 10 assists, and 4 rebounds against Atlanta. 3-0. One punch to Mike Beasley's chest. If these are Dwyane's last few weeks in Miami, he's putting on a good show to remember him by.
5) James Jones and Jax made burritos at halftime in the new segment "Recipes for Success." During the piece, James became the first Heat player ever to use the word "affinity" - correctly, by the way - in any segment whatsoever, pregame, postgame, or halftime. Further, the spicy chicken and shrimp burritos did look very tasty - James looks like he knows what he is doing in the kitchen, and M.Minutos and I both agreed that we would eat food that James cooked. The player we would least want preparing a meal for us? By unanimous vote: Dorell Wright. I'd just feel fortunate if he didn't set the kitchen on fire...
6) If you have been near a television over the last couple weeks, you've been bombarded with commercials for the new Gerard Butler-Jennifer Aniston movie called...I don't know what it is called actually - "Uh-oh?" "Career Killer?" Not sure. First of all, why is Gerard Butler doing an American accent that sounds li...never mind. We're turning this over to Scott. He's from Scotland, just like Butler, we just hung out with him on his trip to the States, and he never once used a bizarrely odd sounding American accent, or did anything else that gave me the chills that kind of rhyme with "juice." Scott emailed me to alert me to stay away from movie theaters: "I forgot to bring up, which I am sure you're aware of, that another Gerard Butler vehicle looms. The vehicle I would like to see him in is a hearse." Okay, I just checked it out - it's called "The Bounty Hunter," and it opens March 19th. So if I stay away from the movie theater until, say, about March 20th, I should be in the clear, right? The 21st, maybe, just to play it safe? We'll see...
19 games left, got to get it to about 11-8 to feel pretty good about playoff chances - huge game Tuesday against co-playoff aspirant Charlotte. See you then. Leave your tv off just so you don't have to see the Butler ads...
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