Friday, April 9, 2010

Pistons 106 Heat 99

6 Thoughts

1) Blaaaaahhhhhh. Le. Thar. Gic. Nine game winning streak: over. Dwyane Wade: waiting for the playoffs. Jermaine O'Neal: returning from injury, out of rhythm. Mike Beasley: umm, still terrible!

2) Okay, playoff reset: the Heat are two games ahead of Charlotte for the 6th spot with 3 games to play. If they end up tied, Charlotte wins the tiebreaker. The only thing that matters is staying out of 7th, and avoiding Orlando in the first round. Miami plays New York Sunday, and Philly Monday. Win those two games, and you've got sixth - Charlotte can't catch them.

3) During a third quarter stint with Eric Reid and Tony Fiorentino, Heat President Pat Riley said Mike Beasley has sometimes "been judged too harshly." Okay, okay - when I threatened to electrocute myself with M.Minutos' flat iron in the tub, that was a little harsh. After all, he did play Pistons rookie second round draft pick Jonas Jerebko to a virtual draw tonight. Although, when Mike was somehow reinserted in to the game with three minutes to go, facing a four point deficit, I momentarily thought Coach Spo was crazy for giving up so soon until I realized he actually was still trying to win the game in some bizarre manner. And with 45 seconds to go, down 6, when Mike caught the ball on the wing, wheeled baseline off the dribble, and then stepped out of bounds while he fell down without any contact whatsoever, I was looking to make sure the tub was still filled with water...Jesus. How can we keep starting him? Do we have to be down 7 at the end of every first quarter?

4) The Heat caught 39 from Ben Gordon tonight - 7 out of 11 threes. They also caught 28 points and 7 assists from Tayshaun Prince. I'm not saying that I believe in jinxes, but in the first quarter someone in Casa Dos may have said "when your primary offensive option is Tayshaun Prince, that doesn't bode well for your basketball team." I don't want to say who said it - I am not even confirming that it actually was said. I am just saying there is a possibility...

5) On a second quarter drive Dwyane Wade warded off Ben Wallace's block attempt with his free arm, made the layup, and the foul went against Wallace. The replay showed that a foul on Wade probably would have been the correct call. "That foul should have been on Wade, Eric," said Tony, "especially because one of the points of emphasis this season for referees is the ward-off offensive foul." Every year we hear about some so-called point of emphasis for the referees, but somehow it seems that every year it still comes down to the same crappy group of refs making the same terrible calls in the same unconscious manner. Do I seem grouchy tonight? I am just tired - it doesn't even matter that Miami lost. I mean, sure, Mike did make me want to electrocute myself, but overall, as long as we get 2 out of the next 3, we are fine - I wasn't upset by the loss or anything...

6) Movie pitch: A remake of "The Flamingo Kid," the old summertime classic starring Matt Dillon, called "The Flamenco Kid." You get a hot young Hispanic actor who can put teenagers in the theater, shift the setting from New York to Miami, have the kid lusting after Rosario Dawson, and instead of a card game, have him taking on Edward James Olmos in a dramatic dance off in a cheesy Kendall night club. Flaw in the pitch: there are no hot young Hispanic actors who can put teenagers in the theater. Maybe Twilight's Taylor Lautner - what is he? He doesn't look that white. I mean, he doesn't look that white if I even knew who Twilight's Taylor Lautner was, or what he looked like...

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Game Sunday night in New York. Nuuuu Yooooork! By the way, someone emailed us today to ask if we will be watching "Treme," which starts Sunday night on HBO. Word up, of course. And you should, too. It is David Simon's new project, and his last show, "The Wire," was only the greatest television show ever, by a mile. The second greatest television show ever? "Major Dad." Third best? "St. Elsewhere."
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