1) Ahhh, finally, a good old-fashioned blowout! Finally got that half-stepper Dwyane Wade out of the lineup (preventative maintenance), started Mike Miller, and he led the Heat to an easy win. Michael Jordan's Bobcats are under-talented, but at least they don't play hard! Quite a program that Mike Jordan is running. Fun fact: no team that Mike Jordan played on ever won 26 games in a row. Ever. Ev-errrr! Let! It! Fly! For real, this time, Mike Mil-lar style!
2) It's sooo easy to take KJ James for granted. Night after night after night he is outstanding - you get numb to it. I mean, why wouldn't he shoot 11-14 for 32 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 blocks? Why? Because Charlotte is a professional basketball team - well, I mean, sort of. They're close to being a professional basketball team, and they could have made history if they stopped Miami's streak. You'd think a lot of their pre-game focus would be on stopping James...And then KJ came out and efficiently destroyed them (and that's what he does to teams game after game). He made mid-range jumpers off the dribble. He penetrated and found open shooters (13 triples, 4 for Ray Allen, 3 for Norris Cole, 2 for Miller, 2 more for Battier). He grabbed defensive rebounds and triggered fastbreaks. He dunked. He got smashed in the head with an elbow (no foul). He does everything, every night. This is about as well as a player can play. Don't take it for granted. Revel in it.
3) When you win 26 games in a row, everyone is having fun. I guess so, anyways - only one other team has ever done it, and it was in the early 70s, when a lot more white guys played in the league, so that almost automatically seems like less fun than the Heat are having. Way more white guys with comb-overs back in those days - that's not fun...After the final buzzer, Dwyane Wade, resplendent in a white sports jacket, bounced onto the court, gave the almost-equally-resplendently-attired Heat television host Jason Jackson a forearm shiver, grabbed Jax's microphone, and proceeded to conduct the post-game interview with James, as Chris Bosh snuck in behind them, balanced a towel across their shoulders like a plank of wood, then karate-chopped it to the floor (before gracefully bowing to his teammates). 'Member all those people - "experts" - who said KJ and Dwyane would hate playing together, and that Bosh would despise being the third wheel? Oops.
4) Play of the game: after back-to-back Chris Birdman flying-alley-oops, Bobcat point guard Kemba Walker tried to get to the rim. As he elevated to try to spin in a right handed-layup, Shane Battier saw it coming and slid across Walker's body, forcing him to hold the shot an extra beat, pull it back, and try to re-load it to the basket - right into the path of the soaring Birdman, who caught the shot sailing full-speed with a full-on tomahawk spike off the backboard. The ball came rocketing out to Norris Cole at the top of the key, who turned and in one motion hit a sprinting KJ James on the dead run at the opposite three point line, and James took two giant steps and absolutely pummeled the ball through the hoop for a 26 point lead with under 8 minutes to go: buh-bye. KJ didn't play any more after that: that 32, 10, 8, 3, and 3 came in only 34 minutes! Crazy...
5) Dick Bavetta on the whistle tonight. The NBA's oldest ref, not to mention Earth's oldest human, just keeps on chugging along. He hasn't missed a game in like 40 years. No matter how much those joints ache, or how badly the cataracts impair his vision, he goes out on the court and messes up calls like a true professional. Good to see him. But for goodness sake, pull your pants down a couple of clicks, you old nutter. Those trousers have to be chafing your armpits:
6) I spent a good portion of today at the beach. It was super-fun, but it was a windy day, surf was blowing in our faces, sand flying everywhere, beach towels sailing about. "Windpocalypse!" That's all I've got for you. Sorry, it's Sunday night, I'm kinda sunburnt-out, what do you want?
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We are back at it tomorrow night in Orlando. Four straight road games: Orlando, Chicago, San Antonio, Knicks. No way the streak survives those four. Right? Right? Man, oh man, is this ever a long streak. San Antonio just lost, too, so Miami is 3 games clear of the Spurs in the loss column...If you need me before tomorrow, I'll be giving Jax an MRI on his ribcage. Stay inside: WINDPOCALYPSE!!!
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