6 Thoughts
1) It was a grind, Miami didn't play well, but anytime you go on the road in the NBA, against a probable playoff team, and win - good night, no matter how you get there. Both teams on the second night of a back-to-back, and it showed - low energy. But you can never complain about 4-1 in the NBA. Doesn't matter who you played, or how you got it done...
2) Much of the night featured Dwyane Wade against Wizard superstar Gilbert Arenas, back, and seemingly quicker than ever, after two years of surgery and knee rehabilitation. Wade, for the second night in a row, seemed somewhat subdued, but on this night he subdued his way to 40 points, and a huge late block of a Caron Butler drive. Gilbert shot 15 free throws on his way to 32 points of his own, but had three straight bad possessions with 40 seconds to go: drive and miss, drive and short alley-oop attempt to Brendan Haywood which inadvertently hit the rim and went awry, drive and miss. With a Wade jumper, and two Haslem free throws at the other end, that was the game.
3) One potential explanation for why Arenas wore down late, and suffered through a tough 9-27 shooting night? The newest Presidential candidate, Quentin Richardson, hounded him throughout the second half. For a formerly roly-poly small forward to take the defensive assignment against the opponent's lightening quick point guard is unusual, impressive, and not a job for just anyone. That's why Q Rich is a Presidential candidate. Further, Q hit 5 of 7 threes, including a shot-clock-running-out-fling-from-my-hip late in the game that put the Heat up one. Q also seems to have appointed himself intermediary between DWade and the officials, often steering Wade away from confrontation during the several dozen times a game he challenges a call. Q Rich, boy, Q Rich!
4) Not faring so well in the back-to-back situation: Jermaine O'Neal. The gas tank was on empty. The wheels were flat. Bumper hanging off, driver's side window doesn't roll down. I'm saying he didn't have it. Only 4 points and 7 rebounds in 33 minutes. Did make a big jumper late, and let Brendan Haywood shove him into Gilbert Arenas' late drive, forcing a miss (and an odd no foul call) that decided the game. Let's get those knees on ice, Jermaino.
5) Quick check in on Mike "Supercool" Beasley. He's starting at the 4, but playing minutes at the 3 also, and generally not finishing games in favor of Udonis Haslem. Had 10 and 4 tonight in 24 minutes. He is finishing easy plays around the rim, and competing hard on the boards and defensively. His effort level is at a constant, solid 7 +, flashing 8 for spurts. This is a marked improvement on last year's solid 4, flashing an occasional 5. Noticeably lucid and engaged throughout the game, and always up and cheering on the bench. Good attitude out there. The offense isn't quite there yet - starting, he is now the third option to begin the game, behind postups from Jermaino, which Miami always looks to establish early, and Wade. Last year, coming off the bench, he was freer to fire at will. He can score 25 in his sleep if you turn him loose, so the offense will come. But the other stuff? So far, so good.
6) Okay, so here is my main thing about the po-lice. It is a point that I try to make to right-wing-police-state-loving The Captain all the time. How many times are you sitting around, enjoying yourself, and then you think: “You know what would really make this even more fun, just absolutely put this moment over the top? If the po-lice were here!” Never. That never, ever happens. And often it is worse.
A couple of weekends ago I was bringing P.Minutos to his 5 year old soccer game. The park where he plays soccer has multiple soccer and baseball fields, and woefully insufficient parking for busy days. On this particular Saturday, the lot was full up, by a mile. Old white-ish dads were racing around the lot in their 4-Runners trying to position themselves for the next available parking spot. People are cutting off other people, having arguments – the usual embarrassing suburban behavior. Meanwhile, little kids are scampering around the lot at the same time, going to and from their games. Totally unsafe.
I drive to the far end of the lot, far away from everything, and put my car up on a curb – there are approximately 100 cars parked around the lot in this manner. As I start to walk P.Minutos to his game, I see a sheriff’s car about 20 cars down from mine, and it is obvious he is just trolling the lot giving a ticket to everyone who is parked, technically, illegally. Unfortunately, this isn’t America, where you can just exercise good judgment and park so you aren’t blocking anyone in, obstructing any roads, etc. So I walk over to the sheriff and say, as politely as I can muster, “Hey, it seems really kind of unfair to give people who are bringing their kids to their soccer or baseball games parking tickets when there aren’t enough spots in the lot,” and he looks at me, shrugs, and says, “that’s not really my concern.” So I look at the guy and say, “I would think that it kind of is your concern, like the parking lot is very unsafe right now because people are driving all over like crazy people, and there are little kids around, and, like, I thought it was the job of the po-lice to keep people safe (I knew it wasn’t – that was a lie).” And, again, he is just, like, “whatever.” This kind of proves my original point: there are like a thousand people of all ages at this park having fun, not bothering anyone – and here comes the po-lice! Did they make it more fun, or less fun? Exactly…
So we go to the game. I am fuming because the po-lice are assholes. Oh, I forgot one part. After leaving the sheriff, walking towards the game, a very, very white dad looks at me, not knowing I just spoke to the sheriff, and says to me, trying to be helpful, “hey, be careful, they are ticketing people.” Too much to take – I told him, “good, because I will fuckin’ rip it up.” I know, it wasn’t even clever, nor did it make sense. Also, I told P.Minutos, “never talk like that to people.” So, there is a ticket on my car after the game, and on Monday I write a letter to the Clerk of the Court, disputing the ticket; to the Head Po-lice in Charge; and to my County Commissioner , whatever that is (The Captain had to explain to me that we have County Commissioners). I politely explained the situation. A couple of days later, someone from the County Commissioner's office called me to thank me for being such a great citizen because, when she did some digging, she found out what a big problem the parking over there is, and they are taking immediate specific steps to correct it, which she enumerated to me. She asked me “to keep an eye on it” for her, and to call her back next week to report how it went. I said I would, but I won’t, because: 1) soccer season is over, and 2) I’m not a po-lice, I don’t “keep an eye on things” and then report back to headquarters on it.
The sheriff’s department also called me, but didn’t reach me, and promised to call me back at some point this week, though I have not heard from them.
I feel great to have done my little part to help improve the parking at the soccer fields for white dads everywhere, and also, some Hispanic ones. As The Captain pointed out, I am “gettin’ it done.”
