6 Thoughts
1) Pretty entertaining game, both teams played hard, and pretty well. One of those nights Miami got down 7, stayed down 7. Could never get that one electric run to get them over the hump. That can happen against really good teams. It is a shame Cleveland had a game in Orlando last night - they came out like a team that definitively did not spend the previous evening on South Beach.
2) Unlike many NBA games, the most entertaining quarter was the first. Shaquille O'Neal returned to Miami, where he helped win a title then burned every bridge on his way out of town, received a smattering of boos, posted up Jermaine O'Neal, unloaded about a quart of sweat on Jermaino, and scored three hoops in the first 2 minutes. Moments later, sufficiently amped up, Shaq came steaming down the court in transition, received a drop pass from LeBron James, and ran over President Quentin Richardson like an eighteen wheeler blowing through a hot dog wrapper. On his back, clutching his chest, Q Rich waved off the guys trying to help him up - "I'm all right," he seemed to croak, but it was tough to hear him with a double collapsed lung. Finally hauled himself off the floor, and took a seat on the bench clutching an ice pack to his chest. Moments after that, Dwayne Wade took a defensive rebound, rolled up court, got to the free throw line, found no resistance, took one more dribble and suddenly elevated on 6' 10" Cavs power forward and professional irritant Anderson Varejo, who realized about a half second too late that Wade was going to try to flush it on him - ewwww, STINKY! Wade's dunk brought the crowd and the Heat bench leaping to their feet, most notably Quentin Richardson, who skillfully managed to clutch the ice bag to his chest with one hand. Two trips later, Varejo, a little stung, got in Wade's face and wouldn't leave, and the two of them ended up with double technicals after several heated moments of jawing. Finally, LeBron ended the quarter with a weaving, floating, 21 footer off a full court dribble with four seconds to go, to give the Cavs a 35-33 lead after one. Whew! Has the game ended there, I think we all would have been okay with that...
3) As time wound down, and LeBron drilled a back-breaking three in President Q's face with about a minute and a half to go, M.Minutos took it hard. "Anyone can win in November," she pointed out, referencing the championship tally for Wade and LeBron, which, updated to the moment to include this game, still stands at: Wade - 1 LeBron - 0. She said it, not me...
4) Cavs new starter at power forward, second year man J.J. Hickson was active, fluid, and athletic with a career high 18 in 31 minutes. Looks like a keeper. He and Mike Beasley did their best to not guard each other most of the night - Mike found his stroke and finished with 24 of his own, although he still made several questionable shot decisions on dribble drives. Had a long email exchange with Scottish fan Faither today - he thinks we here at Dos, as well as Coach Spo, are too hard on Mike. I love Mike. He's funny, he can shoot, he can dribble - did I mention that he can really, really shoot? But if you watched him against young J.J. Hickson, if you didn't know, you wouldn't be sure that Mike was the second pick and Hickson was a late first rounder. You just wouldn't - Mike is a little underathletic in that matchup, and not quite as long. The advantages Mike has over Hickson are more subtle than raw athleticism - he is a better shooter, and a better dribbler. But right now, Mike is struggling with when to shoot and when to dribble; and when he dribbles, when to pull it up and shoot; and when he shoots off the dribble, what shot to shoot. He's going to set some kind of international record for getting his shot blocked in a season - had two or three more tonight. That's the part he needs to figure out. I think he will - he is only 20. But I want to point out that I love him. And Faither, too, for that matter...
5) Cavs guard Delonte "Redz" West was inactive tonight after missing the team flight to Florida earlier in the week. Coach Mike Brown said that Delonte "is having a problem reaching a base level of accountability." What? Just because he was arrested this summer after a high speed chase on an interstate highway riding a custom retro-fitted three wheel motorcycle, carrying a guitar case, sans guitar, but filled with guns? Is that the standard we are using? Because that seems awfully strict.
6) Okay, time for a new segment, an idea that was suggested, although in slightly different format, by our other Scottish reader, my good friend Scott. Note: anytime anyone from Scotland tells me to do something, I'm doing it. Unless it's Gerard Butler. Anyways, the segment is called "Where in the World is Dwyane Wade?" In this segment we will be assessing where Dwyane Wade is. Not physically, mind you, but mentally, especially with an eye towards this summer's impending free agency. Tonight Dwyane Wade is in a vague state of frustration - he played a good but not great game, LeBron played a good but not great game, and Wade didn't get enough help at home to win. That can't feel good. Miami has a ton of cap room this off-season, so the plan is to convince Wade to re-sign, and also bring in another star to help him. Target # 1: tonight's visitor LeBron James. Prompted by his trip to South Florida, numerous articles have surfaced on ESPN.com over the past week pointing out that: 1) Wade and LeBron are friends; 2) They are the two best players in the league; 3) Miami can offer LeBron a ton of money - not as much as Cleveland, but more than other teams in states that have a state income tax; and, 4) Miami is the coolest city on earth. That being said, watching the game tonight, I estimate the chances of LeBron coming to Miami as a free agent at approximately zero percent. 1) LeBron and Wade each need their own team; 2) He's not leaving 25 million or so on the table; 3) I don't think he can speak Spanish; and most importantly, 4) He's LeBron. He can either be on the Cavaliers, his hometown team, or the Knicks, in the most important city on earth. That's it. And the Knicks are brutal, so that isn't happening. So Dwyane may be wishing that is going to happen, but it isn't going to happen - that's where Dwyane Wade is tonight.
Next game: Saturday, against loyal Dos reader Plumber's Nets. They are 0-8. That makes you nervous - never want to play a winless team, because you know that they are going to come with everything they have to get a W. And Miami will probably take them lightly, and end up in a dogfight. I expect the Nets to win handily - did I jinx them yet? In honor of Plumber, until then, all you Dos readers: keep it real.
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