6 Thoughts
1) Fantastic game, although a disappointing loss. Miami led by 11 with just under 8 minutes to go before a 12-0 Cleveland run wiped out the lead in short order. Cleveland was just a little too big, and had a few too many answers. And LeBron. Look, I thought Jamario Moon played him about as well as he can be played, and he somehow had 42 points on 21 shots. Six of seven threes - that's not fair. Furthermore, he got fouled on two other threes, so essentially it was eight of nine. I still don't think anyone is beating them in the playoffs this year.
2) LeBron: 42 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
DWade: 41 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, 7 steals, 1 block
One thing nobody thinks about enough: when you have LeBron or Wade on your team, you always get the other team's A+ effort every night. When, say, the Sixers come to town with Andre Iguoldala, maybe you get the occasional B-/C+ effort. It makes a difference. When Wade and LeBron play each other, well, you get epic lines like the ones above.
3) For the second straight game, Spoelstra went bananas. Midway through the fourth quarter, after the Heat had seen their 11 point lead cut to 6, Chalmers came up over halfcourt yelling at the official for a timeout. He was approximately a foot and a half from the guy. Somehow the ref didn't hear him. LeBron James, closing on Chalmers, gave him a little bump towards the sidelines, Chalmers, with nowhere to go and falling out of bounds, hurled the ball 50 feet downcourt where it, miraculously, hit off the backboard. With half of Miami's team congregated by the bench for the timeout that was never granted, Cleveland quickly rushed the ball back downcourt and Mo Williams made an open three to cut the lead to 3. As the ball went through the net, Coach Spo was 15 feet on to the court arguing with referee Leroy Richardson who, in fairness, was not the ref who neglected to call the timeout or the LeBron bump. It happens - it certainly didn't decide the game. But it shows how important every game is to Miami, trying to scratch out wins and get in to the playoffs - even the normally composed Spoelstra is showing the tension.
4) Mo Williams, that's the guy who is going to allow Cleveland to win the title. He gives LeBron a sidekick, a guy who can create baskets on his own. He hit innumerable big shots tonight and backed LeBron's 42 with 30 of his own. Good enough to be the second best player on a championship team (as long as the best player is LeBron).
5) Heat color commentator Tony Fiorentino continued his campaign for Dwyane Wade as MVP. It is a season long quest for Tony who is stubbornly unaccepting of the unofficial NBA rule that says you have to be on at least a 50 win team to win an NBA MVP award. It's just the way it is - you don't have to like it. The visit from LeBron - the presumptive MVP - to Miami encouraged Tony to relate a conversation he had with Knicks head coach, and Wade and LeBron's Olympic assistant coach, Mike D'Antoni before Saturday night's Knick game. "Eric, I said to him is it a fair assessment that if Dwyane Wade was not on the Olympic team that Spain would have the gold medal right now, and he said to me, 'yes, that is a fair assessment.'" Not sure if that is going to stand up in a court of law, but there you have it..."Yeah, so then some crazy guy with a bushy moustache somehow gets down on the court before the game asking me if I thought we would have beaten Spain without Wade on team." "What did you tell him?" "I just agreed with him - I didn't know what he was going to do..."
6) Finally - caught the premier of the creative and outstanding new romantic cop dramedy on ABC called Castle. Nick Castle is a wildly successful writer of crime novels, and some girl - I didn't catch her name - is a no-nonsense, by-the-book cop. Somehow they get thrown together and have to coexist throughout one hour of television every week. He is charismatic, but immature, so he irritates her, even though she finds him attractive. She is beautiful and smart, but takes herself a little too seriously. I mean, c'mon - a female cop? That's a little out there...Anyways, in the first episode they are trying to solve a crime or something, and then one evening he goes out on a date with a young, blond bimbo. There is a slightly uncomfortable scene where the two women meet, and the cop kind of gives the airhead the proverbial cold shoulder. The next day, they have the predictable tv conversation where the cop makes a sarcastic comment about his date, and then Castle is like, "why do you care who I date," and she says, "I really don't." Then he gets up as if to walk away from her, except at the last second he wheels back around and hits her with a right cross on the temple, sending her flying out of her chair to the floor, where she lies, dazed. He stands over her and says, "do you care now, you snarky bitch?" Later in the episode, she tries to bring charges against him, but the D.A., played by Robert Urich, is kind of an "old boys network" type of guy, and dismisses her claim as "ridiculous," even though she has a lump the size of a grapefruit protruding out of her head. Good show - I predict a long and successful run.
