6 Thoughts
1) Tough loss on the road to a struggling Clippers team. It was the first true close game Miami has played this year - they hadn't had a game decided by 4 points or less to date.
2) It was also the first game of the season in which refereeing was a huge factor. The Clippers, especially Al Thornton and Zach Randolph, were allowed to be very physical inside on the boards, which led to a +8 Clipper rebounding edge. However, the perimeter was called very closely. A bad combination for Miami as the Clippers had 35 free throws to Miami's 11, and Miami only forced 13 turnovers. Miami shot only 2 free throws in the second half. Any game in which Miami is not allowed to be handsy on drivers is difficult for them - they can only get stops by being allowed to be physical before the ball gets to the lane - once it's there, it's too late for them.
3) The refereeing problems were compounded in the last seven seconds of the game on one the oddest sequences of events in recent memory. With 7.2 seconds to go and Miami down one, the Clippers were attempting to inbound the ball from their frontcourt. Nearing (or exceeding) 5 seconds and having a tough time getting it in , the inbounder tried to slither one back up the sideline towards the Clipper backcourt. Dwyane Wade shot the gap, intercepted the pass, and as he leaped up to avoid falling out of bounds, threw the ball up the court to Shawn Marion who went in alone for an uncontested score. Wade landed on official Courtney Kirkland who blew his whistle as they crashed in to the scorer's table. Marion stopped short of the rim. Kirkland called Wade out of bounds and signaled Clipper ball. This happened roughly in front of the Miami bench which exploded into Kirkland's face. He then seemed to admit that he hadn't seen the play (which was likely since it happened literally on top of him), and waved over the other two officials. They huddled for a long minute, then emerged and declared it Clipper ball. The Spo went bananas - Kirkland came over to him and explained that he hadn't seen the play, but that one of the other officials had called Wade out of bounds. At this, that official, Ron Elesiak, came over to the discussion and Wade started screaming at him that he was "way the hell over there" - across the court - when the play had occurred (which was true). Spoelstra demanded that they go to replay, which the officials started to do before getting intercepted by Dunleavy, who pointed out that was not a reviewable play by rule, which is also true. So the officials huddled again, and re-emerged declaring it now Heat ball, inexplicably. The Clipper bench rightfully went bananas. Though that was actually the correct call (Wade was clearly not out of bounds), it is impossible to imagine what was said in the second officials' huddle that wasn't said in the first. The only thing I can imagine is that they halved the difference - Miami got penalized by the inadvertent whistle because it took away an uncontested dunk which would have put them up 1 with a couple of seconds to go. I'm guessing in the first huddle, though, they made the argument that Wade really didn't have possession of the ball when the inadvertent whistle blew, so possession reverted to the Clippers. In the second huddle I suppose they reconsidered and decided that they didn't want to penalize the Heat twice by denying them the go ahead score, and giving the Clippers the ball. Seemed somewhat fair, but incredibly inefficient, and unsatisfactory to both teams.
4) You think it would be done there, but it wasn't. After a protracted timeout in which Dunleavy, rightfully, complained the entire time, Miami came out with 7.2 to go. The Clippers, much to Heat color commentator Tony Fiorentino's chagrin, had a foul to give. I knew I shouldn't have made fun of him last game. In any case, the ball is inbounded to Wade who immediately drives on Baron Davis, who gives the foul with a right forearm shiver to Wade's hip which sent him stumbling to the right wing. Everyone stopped, waiting for the whistle, which didn't come. As Wade stood in place with the ball, semi-stunned, Clippers guard Mike Taylor ran over and tackled him with 2.9 to go, which was called. The Heat took time out, and the bench went bananas again arguing that they should have about 6 seconds to go, not 2.9. Incredibly, the officials huddled to consider this notion, then ruled that, no, they hadn't called the Baron Davis foul (which was true), so 2.9 was correct. If the officials made any mistake, it was not realizing that the Clippers had a foul to give. They clearly were tying to let the players make the last play, which would be fine, except all the players knew that a foul was coming and stopped when it happened. Judging from their reaction, the officials couldn't have realized that there was one to give. While that is somewhat egregious on their part, they had just come off a traumatic 5 minute stretch of huddles, messing up an inbounds play to both teams' dissatisfaction, and were probably a little shell shocked. It happens. In any case, the Heat's 2.9 play went awry and Wade ended up with a bad look three that he missed. They got their shot, which is all you can ask for on the road, and missed it. Bizarre night.
5) Left over from last night's game against Phoenix. I meant to mention that now that Cleveland's Eric Snow has retired, the mantle of "Dirtiest Player in the League" has been assumed by Phoenix's Raja Bell. The guy only stays in the league by being feisty, but often takes it over the line. Somehow he had back-to-back plays in the Heat game which involved him turning his back to a Dwyane Wade drive and belting him to the floor with a shoulder, and punching Mario Chalmers, intentionally, in the face on a leap for a loose ball, without getting ejected, or even a flagrant foul, on either one. Some would argue for Bruce Bowen, but Bowen is more of an irritant than he is dirty. Still probably the only player who has ever made Vince Carter when he tripped him on purpose and Carter chased him all over the court trying to grab and throttle him. Snow's raison d'etre, of course, was the late slide in front of a perimeter dribbler in which he would slide in from the side, and then fall backwards in front of the guy, who would then trip down on top of him. It rarely was called a charge - usually a block on Snow - but it was used more as a intimidation tactic, planting the notion in the opponent's mind that at any moment his defender might suddenly insanely lunge in front of him and fall down, causing him to trip - and thus measure his steps carefully. It worked to greatest effect in the year the Sixers beat the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals, when, in Game 7, Snow pulled it on Ray Allen, injuring him on the fall, and knocking him out of the game early in the second half of a game the Sixers squeaked out. Also, worth a mention that there was always the threat that Snow might miss his line drive jumper off the bottom of the rim and injure a potential rebounder in the lane. We'll miss you, tough guy!
6) Rookie report: Mike Beasley snapped back from a week of lethargy to drop 17 in the second quarter on his way to a 24 point night. And Chalmers battled Baron Davis admirably. The last couple of nights The Spo has been changing his point guard rotation. Whereas Emcee and Quinn had been roughly splitting minutes, now Chalmers is playing 30+ (37 tonight), and Quinn has been ratcheted back to backup minutes 11 tonight). Chalmers, who is improving his jump shooting (4-9, 3-7 on 3's tonight), has earned the extra time. The Clippers Eric Gordon started and looked heavy, but springy, like a 2 guard version of Charles Barkley. Only made one jumper, but flipped it effortlessly from 3 point range. Was relatively ineffective (7 pts 2 assists and a board) in 30 minutes. Tough to tell whether he is a player or not based on tonight.
Next game, Monday in Golden State
