6 Thoughts
1) Ouch. Second night in a row. Just, ouch. Second night in a row a team was too long and too athletic. Don't know how this occurred to me, but every Heat starter is undersized for his position - and only Wade and Chalmers are plus athletes. That's disturbing. Ouch.
2) The Hawks, who vanquished the Heat in the playoffs last year, are flying, off to a very impressive 10-2 start. It is a talented group that has grown up together, suffered through tough times as youngsters, were considered wildly enigmatic, and now they have started to put it all together. Heat sideline reporter Jason Jackson asked the most enigmatic Hawk, Josh Smith, what the key to the hot start has been: "We have made a conscious decision that we are going to play defense every night." Okay! Good idea! By the way, this is Josh's sixth season!
3) Yes, where in the world is Dwyane Wade? Third straight poor - very poor - game for Dee Dub. 15 points on 6-18 shooting. On the road, against a good team - Miami has no chance if Wade scores 15 on 6-18. No chance. He seems tired and lifeless over the past week. I think Mike Beasley's poor play might be depressing him...
4) Okay, the Mike Beasley joke was just to make sure Faither was reading. Mike was pretty good tonight. Had the opportunity to play more minutes - Udonis Haslem out for a game or two as the result of a bad fall last night. Mike played 33 minutes - would have been more but he was saddled with foul difficulty. Tough matchup against Josh Smith, who is taller and far more athletic - and more experienced. Also, has consciously decided to play defense this season..Mike got the ball in the hoop: 21 points on 8-15, and grabbed 9 rebounds. Did a little better with his decision making - several times squared up to the basket, took a hard dribble or two, and shot the open shot. That should be his bread and butter right now. Let's just leave it at that. He wasn't perfect, but he got some stuff done.
5) Heat play-by-player Eric Reid seemed a little down due to the beatings the past two nights. Failed to finish stories with his usual panache. Late in the third quarter rookie referee Marat Kogut was caught on replay making a call. "He has a fascinating background, Tony," Eric advised his partner, Tony Fiorentino, "he was born in the Ukraine..." That was it. Quite a facinating background indeed. Okay!Let's cheer up! There's a book review coming up in # 6!
6) Okay, great, time for another book review: Been readin’ Goin’ Rogue by Sarah Palin. And I have to tell ya, it's pretty gosh darn interestin’. One of the most awesomest sections is when Sarah is tellin’ her husband Todd about thinkin’ about runnin’ for Vice President, and why she is havin’ such a hard time decidin’. Here’s a little piece of it:
“Lawz a-might-y, Pappy, I do declare, I’z jus’ cant decides what to do.”
“Uhhn.”
“Ol’ man McCain, he’s a sayin’ that’s wez can beats Obammy and Massa Biden, but I’z ain’t too sho. I do declarze iff’n I run, I wud be missin’ you and the younguns so powerfulz much.”
“Uhhn.”
“You knowz Bristol , she bin tomcattin’ aroun’ theze parts, tho’ I shorely do likes this Levi, he sho’ nuff seemz like a bright boy.”
“Uhhn.”
“Why, Pappy – so whatchu thinks?
“Uhhn.”
“Thankz, Pappy, youse right! I'z gon' do it!”
Powerful stuff! Can’t wait for Chapter 2!
