6 Thoughts
1) As we often say here, sometimes it's not "who," but "when." On the second night of a road back-to-back, on the "Depressing Midwestern Cities of America Tour," with Beasley out, Chalmers out, and Dwyane Wade hobbling with a bad back, Miami got down by 18 at half. To their credit, they battled in the second half and got it to 5 with a minute to go, but didn't have enough to finish. Dwyane doesn't have enough help right now - and tonight Dwyane wasn't even Dwyane. That's a tough combo for the Heat. They are now 24-23, and clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Incredibly brutal road week upcoming - the toughest of the year, with trips to Cleveland and Boston...By the way, it's well after midnight, I'm exhausted, and still completely drunk from my trip earlier this evening to see a movie called Avatar - not sure if you've heard of it. Review down in #6. Let's do how we do.
2) Someone - I don't know who, but he is clearly a jackass - sits in the crowd in Milwaukee and blows a bullhorn, or maybe a Jewish shofar, repeatedly every time the opposing team has the ball on offense. Does it bother the players? I doubt it. Does it bother television viewers, and every other person in the arena? Most definitely. I'm not sure why they allow it - I'm not sure it's even legal. Halfway through the second quarter, M.Minutos and I noticed that he was rotating through about 5 different toot patterns, changing each time Miami had the ball - I guess you have to admire his persistence and creativity. Or something. M.Minutos is from Milwaukee, but she couldn't explain - figured it was probably a white person.
3) Andrew Bogut was fantastic, easily the best player in the game. He dominated the paint with 17 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 blocks. He is a longtime Dos Minutos favorite. We were even more excited to see old friend Jerry Stackhouse, though, back in the league with the Bucks after a prolonged early season absence due to, well, nobody wanting him. Here are the things Dos Minutos loves about Stack: long armed; when he was going bald, accepted it, but kept it low and neat, and always looked like he had a fresh trim; never scared to take a big shot; always has something to say after the game, and often times it is sour grapes - when Miami swept one of his Detroit teams in the playoffs, he asserted that the Pistons were still better; was on the Dallas team that Miami beat for the championship - probably thought they were still better; nobody - nobody - ever missed more corner threes where the ball just crashed into the triangle where the rim bracket meets the backboard; good, power game dunker; and, finally, former college teammate, and close personal friend of Mr. Rasheed Wallace! Captain - put Jerry Stackhouse on the "Our Guys" List.
4) Great new segment at halftime in which Heat players explain how they chose their uniform numbers. Tonight Jermaine O'Neal explained that he chose #7 when he went to Indiana at his brother's suggestion because it is a holy number in the Christian faith (unlike the pagan-esque 32 that another O'Neal wore here). Also asserted that when he played briefly in Toronto last year, and #7 was unavailable, that "people couldn't get used to me wearing #6." And by "people," I am pretty sure he means "Jermaine O'Neal."
5) It was our first look tonight at Bucks rookie point guard Brandon Jennings who took the league by storm by dropping 55 points in a game in his first month. He looked really quick; seemed to have a good idea of how to run an offense - loves to foray down to the baseline, distort the defense, and then spit it back out to shooters, a classic trick used by great point guards like Steve Nash and Gary Payton; scored 17 points on 13 shots; and had 5 assists. Really, really like his game. Even better: his hair. Classic high-top fade, but loose and casual. Has also been twisted up at times, and also tighter with the fade. Bringing back good black guy hair to the NBA!
6) Okay, big Avatar review! Saw it in downtown West Palm Beach at CityPlace, on the big Imax screen in 3D. Never even imagined that I would ever see it at all, but my neighbor Gary was going with his friend Barry and they invited me - would you pass up a chance to hang out with Gary and Barry? I didn't think so. Also, when I arrived at the theater, called my work buddy Brad who claims that I am too snotty to like any movie which contains either a car crash, or any shooting of any kind, and asked him to guess where I was. "In jail," he guessed, a little too hopefully. Couldn't convince him I was at Avatar...Full disclosure: my review of the film is surely affected, in what manner I'm not sure, by the fact that I smuggled in about 3 liters worth of mojitos, which I consumed before it was halfway over. With that in mind, here are my thoughts: Avatar, it turns out, has nothing at all to do with Titanic, which I also never saw - that was a big surprise to me; the actor who plays the main Avatar guy couldn't possibly be less charismatic, or have a worse American accent - I don't know where he is from, but why couldn't he just play a guy from wherever that is? It was disconcerting how bizarre he sounded; visually, the movie looked amazing, I don't know that the 3D added to it - at a certain point it became difficult to differentiate what was special effects and what was just the major, major buzz I had going - but the colors and shapes were spectacular; the plot and the dialogue were unbelievably banal and trite - I guess you need that if you want to sell a lot of tickets, but Holy God it was brutal - M.Minutos could have written that thing in twenty-five minutes during a Heat playoff game; NBC: No Bradley Cooper - I repeat, NO BRADLEY COOPER! That's just dumb; Gary, Barry, and I talked about it, and we all agreed - the blue alien girls? Not hot; it is super, super long - I think about 7 hours? I enjoyed the first two-thirds, even though it was incredibly stupid, but the last hour or so, I didn't care if the blue Indians won, or the white people won, I just wanted it over - by the way, spoiler alert - the blue Indians won, but I can guarantee you that since filming ended, the white people regrouped and obliterated every blue Indian off the face of that planet. You know why? Because that's how they do! Overall, I'll give it a 10 out of 10. Why not, people seem to love it, why should I be any different? Also, as I mentioned, I am way, way drunk...
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