6 Thoughts
1) Miami sweeps both games this year from Shaq and the Suns. It should have been easier - Miami got easy and open looks all night. But Phoenix stayed around by knocking down tough jumpers time after time. In the NBA, the skill level is so high that usually the team that creates the better shots wins - NBA players knock down open looks - but tonight Miami got far better shots, and yet Phoenix was able to stick around all evening before succumbing...Still, that's 32 wins with 22 games to go. 40 should do it...
2) Satisfying to beat Shaq twice this year. Burned his way out of town last year, trashing people left and right. Dwyane Wade, who put 43 on him in the win in Phoenix, dropped 35 more on him tonight, on only 21 shots. Added 16 assists for good measure. And 6 boards. And a game changing, come-from-behind-in-transition-and-block-your-wide-open-layup-while-I-am-drilling-you-in-to-the-basket-support-with-no-foul-called-because-I-am-Dwyane-Wade block on Grant Hill. Wade also made it clear in his pre-game comments that he had lost a little respect for the way the Big Guy quit on his team last year. "Shaq is Shaq - everyone loves him," said Wade, with a look on his face that made it clear that Shaq being Shaq has both pluses and minuses.
3) Shaq played a pretty good game himself, continuing a bounceback year, at least on the offensive end. Asserted himself in the lane and had 22 points and 8 rebounds. Got two fouls in the first five minutes and had to sit down, though, as Miami blistered out to an 11 point lead after one quarter - I have seen that movie before. It is fair to mention that it is very difficult to be a good defensive team with Shaq on the court - he doesn't even try to defend pick and rolls, which means the other team always has the option of taking an open 15 footer. And, under two minutes to go, on two critical possessions, Wade went middle, located Shaq, careened in to him, threw his arms in the air, and walked to the line and made four free throws. Free money. He's seen that movie before. In a related story, Tony Fiorentino pointed out in the first quarter that Miami was "attacking the basket before Shaq can get over to block the shot!" Before Shaq can get over to block the shot? When is that going to happen, 1996?
4) DCook and Mr. Beasley: smoking hot, on fire, dialed all the way up. Cook made 6 of 8 threes on his way to 27 points, and Beasley had 28 points and 9 rebounds in only 27 minutes. I mean, it helps that the other team isn't defending, but still...
5) A lot of people upset about the Sully Sullenberger post a couple of games ago. Got several emails about that. I didn't imply that he wasn't a hero - obviously, I am thrilled that he brought that plane down safely. If he did it - that's all I am saying. I didn't watch Lost yet tonight, but if this episode has a pilot who looks like Ted Turner's less smarmy younger brother, who lands a plane, and then goes to the Oscars, everyone is going to be feeling me.
6) Late night tonight - will be going through The Correspondence of Daniel O'Connell, vol. VII, 1841-1845 to see if the great Irish Liberator's views on the Poor Laws changed at all with the onset of famine-like conditions across Ireland during the early 1840s...Get it? That's a joke...Of course they didn't! You must have thought I went all octo-mom crazy on you there for a second...
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