1) Fun! Finally! Wade was back and the Knicks were in town! All the slogging through the midwest against mediocre teams - that's not fun. This is fun! Get some!
2) People around the Heat have been saying for days that Miami held Dwyane out longer than they had to, and that he would be healthy and bouncy when he came back, not laboring on a sore ankle. So, right from the start, you wanted to see how he looked, see if he could run and jump freely, something he couldn't do in the west coast games he played before sitting down. This is how he looked: instantly stole the ball from Amare Stoudamire, steamed down the court at 90 miles an hour, and lofted an alley-oop for a crushing slam by LeBron; then cut down the lane in the halfcourt, received a pass from James, and reverse dunked; then came down the right wing in transition, Euro-stepped inside of Landry Fields, and backhand Euro-dunked it on him; then picked off a cross-court pass, and flew in for another dunk. All in the first five minutes! I guess he's okay! 28, with 5 steals and 2 blocks for Dwyane. He lifted everyone's energy, if only because they didn't have to do as much. LeBron still looked tired, but to his credit, made an effort to lower his head and barrel to the basket, especially in the fourth quarter: made 9-10 free throws, scored 31 points on only 18 shots, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. He's a decent second option.
3) I feel like I have never seen a team shoot as many threes in a game as the Knicks did tonight. You know why? Because no team has ever shot as many threes in a game as the Knicks did tonight!!! The Knicks launched a mind-boggling forty-three triples against Miami, making 18 - both Miami opponent records. For three quarters, they were ridiculously hot, and it allowed them to hang around, despite the Dwyane and LeBron Dunk-tacular going on at their defensive rim. Fringe-y wing Bill Walker, in particular, was unconscious: made 7 of 10 from deep, including three in a row early in the third quarter, including one off a screen, backing up, turning the wrong way, never seeing the basket. They went icy in the fourth quarter, and had nothing else to go to with their one big-time halfcourt player, Carmelo Anthony, out. Before the game, Johanna Gomez asked Knick center Tyson Chandler what the team would be missing without Anthony, who isn't exactly noted for his defensive effort, or his passing: "He gives us so much on both ends," claimed Chandler with a straight face. Did he mean in the different halves? Like a lot of shooting at one end in the first half, and then another barrage of shots at the other basket in the second half? Or did he mean, like, shooting and dribbling?
4) Play of the game: well, I might be biased, but for me it was when former Heat great Mike Bibby hit back-to-back threes in the second quarter. I tried to keep it low, because I didn't want to upset M.Minutos, but I was cheering inside. Unfortunately moments later, Bibs caught a pass outside the line again, upfaked, took a hard dribble, and zipped a pass...right into the Knicks' bench. Don't try to dribble, Mike Bibby!!! Oh well. Also, got a thrill in the opening moments of the game when the camera surveyed the Knicks bench and I saw Bibby - sitting right in the same spot where he threw the towel and made Derrick Rose miss a free throw, my favorite moment of last season! I miss you, Mike Bibby! Please come home!
5) Late in the first quarter, the Heat had the ball out of bounds on the side in their own end with about 5 seconds to go. LeBron was going to receive the inbounds pass - Mike Miller came running back into the area to potentially set a back screen for LeBron to spring him up court. I could see combative referee, Joey Crawford, who loves to give players quick technical fouls, then challenge them to fight, eyeing Miller (yes - physically fight - this is the referee! the league once fired him for it, then re-hired him! why wouldn't they?). "Don't do it, Mike," I beseeched him, knowing Crawford was dying to call a bizarre illegal screen foul, then glare defiantly at Miller. Miller suddenly realized the same thing and retreated. LeBron threw the ball back to Miller, who dribbled it out of bounds as time expired. "Whew, that was close - you know that Crawford makes that call, then t's up Miller, then the Knicks make the technical free throw and hit a three at the buzzer! We just saved four points," I told M. Minutos triumphantly, "Crawford lives for that call - we'd actually be better off just punting the ball into the crowd rather than try that play!" This brings up a good point. Over the course of 82 games, then another 15-20 playoffs games, I probably call for the Heat to punt the ball into the crowd somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 times. Like, if LeBron throws a fastball to a cutting Joel Anthony, and he doesn't handle it cleanly, I'll be, like, "LeBron - next time, instead of doing that, just turn around and punt the ball into the upper deck. At least that way we can set our defense, instead of having the other team run out." M.Minutos? Not a fan of punting the ball into the crowd as a strategic move: "You'd be the worst coach ever," she pointed out for the approximately six thousandth time in our eighteen year relationship, "I mean, you'd be advocating guys to punt the ball into the crowd; you'd sub guys in and out of the game every time they threw an errant pass; you'd cut guys at halftime; and you would have murdered PJ Brown halfway through his first season in Miami. You'd be terrible!" My defense? I like to think outside the box...
6) We get a lot of emails here at Dos Minutos, but this was one of the best:
Hi,
I'm Amber Paley, owner of http://www.nursinghomeabuse.net, an educational resource for nursing home abuse. As you have a related site, I would like to write a guest post for your website http://miamiheatdosminutos.blogspot.com.
I am happy to write a unique article on any topic you suggest. In exchange, I would just ask to add a link to my website below the guest article.
If you have any article suggestions that you would like me to write or just prefer me to come up with one on my own, I would be happy to do so. Your article will be unique and not used on any other website.
Thanks so much, and look forward to hearing back :)
Amber Paley
I'm Amber Paley, owner of http://www.nursinghomeabuse.net, an educational resource for nursing home abuse. As you have a related site, I would like to write a guest post for your website http://miamiheatdosminutos.blogspot.com.
I am happy to write a unique article on any topic you suggest. In exchange, I would just ask to add a link to my website below the guest article.
If you have any article suggestions that you would like me to write or just prefer me to come up with one on my own, I would be happy to do so. Your article will be unique and not used on any other website.
Thanks so much, and look forward to hearing back :)
Amber Paley
Look – occasionally making fun of Juwan Howard's age does not count as “nursing home abuse.” You can go to hell, Amber Paley!
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Another fun one coming on Sunday: at home for the Bulls, and their openly homophobic center Joakim Noah. Always great to play an opponent who mixes effort and intensity with hatred for LGBT community! If you need me before then, I'll be putting on my headband, getting in even worse shape than I already am, and launching stationary threes in my driveway, in honor of Mike Bibby! Let's get pasty!
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