6 Thoughts
1) Heat finish a 4 game West Coast swing with a 2-2 record after a win against a surprisingly frisky Sacramento team (8-2 at home before tonight). A horrifically blown call and Kobe Bryant 30 foot bank shot away from going 3-1. That hurts. Heat come back home 11-9, solidly in the thick of the playoff race, one quarter of the way through the season.
2) Dorell Wright has been on the Heat for six seasons. In that time, you could count the number of good games he has played in a big spot on - - well, you couldn't count them at all. He had never done it before. However, on this trip, in one of the more bizarre developments of this, or any other, Heat season, Dorell Wright has actually become the backup point guard. At 6'8". And he's playing well. Tonight was his best game in a Heat uniform: 19 points on 9-13 shooting, 5 assists, and no turnovers. Handled the ball with Chalmers out of the game. Got in to the lane, found open people. Ran back cuts to the rim off the ball, received passes from Dwyane Wade, crushed dunks. I couldn't have been more surprised if you told me Eric Reid enjoyed his road trip to Sacramento (he didn't - amongst other problems, his hotel room apparently was right next to the road, and he was awakened by a passing marathon. Not pleased - and he's a runner. He has an absolute passion for hating Sacramento.). Can DWright keep this up? Seems unlikely. He would really struggle against ball pressure. But Carlos Arroyo has been de-rotationed for the moment, and Dorell is going to get his shot...
3) It is a well-known fact on the Heat team that Wright, Wade, and President Quentin Richardson are a team clique that calls themselves the 1-3-5 Crew (their uniform numbers). They work out together in the offseason, and have a level of comfort with each other. Besides Wright's breakout night, QRich also was very good: 20, with 5 triples. Is playing at an extremely efficient level right now.
4) After shooting woes all season, DWade seemed to make a concerted effort to get to the rim tonight, and shot 10 free throws in the first quarter. M.Minutos predicted 20 for the game, but Wade finished at 16. First true "Flash" game in a while. 34 points on only 16 shots (10-16), with 10 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 (!) blocks.
5) Omri Casspi, the first Israeli player in the NBA, had 14 points and made 4-4 three pointers, including a running 30 footer to end the third quarter. As a fiercely loyal half-Jew, I say that "it's about time," and "Mazel Tov." Biggest development for Jews in basketball since players started using agents...I have always felt that in the late 60's when the former Lew Alcindor went Muslim and became Kareem Abdul-Jabber, that was our shot. If we Jews grab Alcindor there, who knows how the course of basketball history is changed? Instead, we lose out to Elijah Muhammad, and spend the better part of forty years in the basketball wilderness, like in the Bible when we were cast out of, I don't know - Egypt? - and spent a long time in the desert, apparently. Not that strong on my Jewish history. In any case, the point is: Casspi's bringing it back.
6) "Tiger...It's me, Jon. I need you to do me a favor. It's huge. Remember I met you at The Viper Room last weekend, when I walked in on you with the girl doing that thing? And then you said to me "get the f--- out, Loser," but then you got drunker, and we ended up hanging out? Well, I think I left one of my Ed Hardy t-shirts in the back of your limo. Do you think you could get that back to me? I don't want Kate to know I was hanging out with you - I'm still trying to negotiate a better residual rate on future episodes of my show. It's huge. Okay, bye."
