6 Thoughts
1) Dos Minutos took this game in live and saw the Heat get smoked for the second night in a row. There were open shots for Dallas, sure, which they made. But they also made contested shots, and even accidental shots - on one play big man Erik Dampier rolled to the rim, got stripped by Mario Chalmers, batted at the loose ball, and watched it ricochet in to the hoop. Dallas shot 60% from the floor for the game. That's ridiculous. Or, rather, ri-Dirk-ulous: Nowitzki made 12 out of 14 in an unbelievable shooting exhibition.
2) Old Plumber favorite Jason Kidd now mans the point for Dallas. A little slower, certainly, but still an incredibly sophisticated understanding of the game. In person you appreciate that even more than on tv, as you can watch plays unfold in their entirety, unrestricted by television's limited range. Kidd made at least half a dozen unthinkably good passes tonight, to angles I either didn't see, or didn't think he could make. And he made them look easy, run of the mill. Had he ever become even a decent scorer, it is unfathomable how good a player he could have been - as it is, he is still an all-time great, and it was a pleasure to watch he and Nowitzki have really good nights in person. For a basketball fan, one to remember.
3) If you are an NBA fan, it is always fun when your team turns out the lights, run its team video on the giant scoreboard, and then introduces the players. Even more so on a sold out Saturday night against a rival, and especially when the last player you introduce is one of the best and most exciting players in the game, and an unparalleled Miami icon, with a name easy for Heat arena announcer Michael Biamonte to draw out: "Dwyannnnnnne Waaaaaaaade!" Watching 6 year old O. Minutos lose it with excitement at watching his hero Wade introduced, while wearing one of his approximately thirty Wade jerseys (tonight: black road jersey for O), was another moment to remember.
4) Emotional halftime ceremony in the arena featuring a tribute to Heat players who have won Olympic gold medals: Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, and Dwyane Wade. Hosted at midcourt by Heat lifetime announcer Eric Reid, who interviewed each of the medalists. Or, so I hear - I was getting ice cream for O. Minutos. Food is expensive in those arenas: two soft vanilla ice creams in a cup? $42.
5) I am sure I have said this before, but I love the city of Miami. It is a big cosmopolitan city, except at the beach! Man, was that a good idea! Beautiful white, brown, and black people, speaking all different languages; beautiful weather; blue, blue water; great music; bright colors; great food; DWade - it's the best. Some day, if I live long enough, I am going to retire there, and spend my days taking strolls on the beach, eating Caribbean food at impossibly cool local restaurants, and, at night, watching Eric Reid and Tony Fiorentino broadcast Heat games.
6) Still, it was disturbing leaving the arena and walking through Overtown to the car with O. Minutos. The original Miami Arena, built in the late 80s, was intended to serve as a cornerstone for the development of one of Miami's most desolately poor neighborhoods. For whatever reason, it never happened, and a decade and a half later, the Heat moved to a shiny new arena just half a mile down the street on the bay. Half a mile geographically, but light years economically, with high rise condos and office buildings sharing the waterfront view with the American Airlines Arena. O and I parked in between the two arenas tonight, a block away from the Camillus House, a notorious homeless shelter, and a symbol of Overtown's woes. As we walked by tonight, the shelter was packed with people seeking refuge from an uncharacteristically chilly Miami night. Several were out front, lying on the ground, completely cocooned in filthy old blankets. Those inside in the shelter were seated on rows of benches, with those individuals on the facing bench maybe four feet away from their counterparts - like a jam-packed subway car. There was no dignity to be seen, no real measure of humanity to be afforded any of these people on this night. It was hard not to feel like a bit of a jerk, having just spent a couple hundred dollars to watch a basketball game, walking with a son wearing a $50 Dwyane Wade jersey, getting ready to climb into our warm, comfortable car for the ride home, during which we would be listening to Judy Blume read Fudge-a-Maniac on our ipod. We still, clearly, haven't solved this basic problem of how to provide some minimally acceptable level of existence for all the members of our society, and I spent most of the ride home wondering about how we could have failed at that, still be failing at that, and what can be done to fix it. And I have nothing, except a personal resolve to try to treat everyone, but especially those less fortunate than myself, with respect and care. And then to hope that future generations, like O's (who asked: "what do you mean they don't have houses? That doesn't make any sense."), do it better than we did.
