6 Thoughts
1) True, they have all been against bad rosters. But, the Heat have blown out three teams at home, twice getting ahead by as much as 29 in the third quarter. I wouldn't have guessed they would have two games where they led by 29 all year. The Heat was +19 on the boards - the Wizards are injured, and brutal; but you still can't get outrebounded by 19 by the smallest team in the league. Besides all their other problems, Caron Butler had to be hurt or sick - I have never seen him so inactive.
2) Dwyane Wade was the model of efficiency: 24 points on 10 shots in three quarters. Fourth quarter off. He's back above 50% from the floor for the year. For a guy his size, that is ridiculous. But it also shows there is a little more space out there for him this year.
3) Alonzo Mourning was a guest color commentator for a stretch in the second quarter, pimping his memoir "Resiliance." Heat color commentator Tony Fiorentino has been reading the book all year and can apply a Zo parable to almost any basketball, or life, situation. "You know what I really like about the book?," Tony told Zo tonight, "it has its own vernacular." Indeed.
4) Another game in which Mike Beasley was unguardable early, only to fade somewhat in the second half. South Beach takes its toll on a rookie.
5) Like that second year Wizard guard Nick Young. Good looking scorer. Less good looking is second year, seven foot Ukranian center Oleksiy Pecherov, who looks like a taller, gawkier, more foreign Chris Elliott. He also has the approximate offensive game of Mark Blount. As Pat Riley would say, "he has an absolute passion for shooting bad threes."
6) League notes from Friday night:
Nets win - Brook Lopez going large for 25 and 9. That's hard to believe, as much as I like his potential. My friend, Nets fan Plumber, has never been angrier at coach Lawrence Frank than he was this afternoon, which is saying something because Plumber generally hates Lawrence Frank with the passion of a thousand suns. Perhaps Frank will get some credit from Plumber for Lopez' breakout game, but I suspect not. Plumber has an absolute passion for hating Lawrence Frank.
Chauncey Billups looks odd in a Denver uniform; Allen Iverson, conversely, looks totally normal in a Pistons uniform.
