1) Yo, Dos lives! Thought I told you that we won't stop - eighty-six straight games watched. Oh yeah - in other news, the Heat break up a five game losing streak and retain their slot in the Eastern Conference playoffs...easily. Five straight on the road next, wrapped around a week break for All-Star weekend. Oh my goodness, Rockets - that was not good!
2) Okay, so the Heat have been struggling, there has been some friction in the locker room, the media (and Faither) are on Spo - there was only one man who could turn this around: Dwyane Wade? Umm, no. Oh, it must have been Michael "SuperCool Jimmy Buckets" Beasley? Nope. Oh, I guess it was Jermaine O'Neal. Ye- no, psyche, it was Dorell Wright! DWright, DNice, if loving Dorell is wrong, I don't want to be Wright! Inserted early in the first quarter when Quentin Richardson picked up two quick fouls, Dorell went nuts, smorgasbord-style. A steal here, a stop there, a rebound, a triple - Dorell was doin' it all. And then did more: seven second quarter assists, as the Heat pushed an 8 point first quarter lead out to a 25 point halftime lead - with Dwyane Wade on the bench for much of that run. Game over.
3) Miami has played Houston twice this year and whupped them twice. And twice, one of the keys has been former Rocket and current Heat point guard Rafer Alston taking his former protegee, Aaron Brooks, out to the woodshed and beating him up. Brooks, the Rockets leading scorer and offensive catalyst, was 3-16 tonight as Rafer out-physicaled him (not sure that's a word), and made 2-4 triples of his own. Rafer's defense has been solid since he's been here. The offense has struggled at times, but the defense has been solid. Aaron Brooks, for one, is happy the Rockets and Heat are done with their season series...
4) Dwyane Wade's normal heroics were not needed tonight - only 17 points in 29 minutes. But after weeks of being frustrated by a stagnant offense, Wade led the way by passing up shots, and making a conscious effort to move the ball in the halfcourt offense. 7 assists for Wade tonight, and Miami held a 19-2 edge in assists by halftime. That's ball movement...Everyone has been on Wade, been on Beas, been on Spo, been on somebody. Sometimes players just have to play...Just make the extra pass and trust that everything will be alright. Move the ball, and shots will go in. "Basketball karma" Heat assistant Keith Askins called that at halftime. Right on.
5) Highlight of the night for the Rockets? By far, Shane Battier's new moustache! It is thirty percent bushier than in this picture, now. Ill! Old-school ill, like polio!
6) Concert Review: Thor, Rick, and I went to see Squid at The Bowl in Dania Beach on Saturday night. I got a new Dodge Charger last week, and drove it down to pick up the boys - that fired us up. Awesome early start to the show: upon paying and entering the venue - a tiny little hole-in-the-wall suitable only for, like, indie bands from Montreal - one overly fired up concert dude whooped "Squuuuuiiiid!" even though it was like two hours before they were coming out, pumped his fist in the air, promptly stumbled over his own feet, and bowled over this young girl, who promptly got up, pushed him in the chest, and screamed, "F*ing douchebag!" By the way, that guy was me. Anyways, the opening band was from Miami, a group called Mai Tie. They were aiight, like a bit of a thrash-punk outfit, but with decent melodies. We checked them out for a while, then retreated to the parking lot for a little while to "get some air." I'm not saying we got sticky or anything, but by the time we decided to go back in, God had seemingly moved The Bowl to the other side of the parking lot somehow....So we get back in, Squid comes out, and starts killing it. Thor - much to our embarrassment, goes into his Running Man dance - again, we may or may not have been sticky - and Rick and I kind of excuse ourselves to go get more beer. We get back, Thor is sweaty and talking to two hot girls. Rick and I introduce ourselves, and it seems fairly obvious that the hot girls are dudes. Ahhh, whatever, they were cool. Squid, of course, is super-squally - the dude from Broken Social Scene bleeds his Fender all over the stage non-stop for like two straight hours. Best song: "German Boy," which is like kraut electronica as played by Jimi Hendrix, and to which Rick bum-rushed the stage before taking an vicious semi-unintentional elbow to the head by a wildly gyrating guy up front. Worst song: "Isabella." Not because it is a bad song or anything - it isn't - but because it is a ballad and it made for a super uncomfortable moment between me, Thor, and the two hot dudes. Got out of there at about 2:30 am, played rock-paper-scissors to see who had to drive home. Rick lost and good-naturedly hopped behind the wheel of the Charger, but not before having one last nip of JWB, "to take the edge off." A good night for all. Squid rocks - I give the show a 9.5 out of 10, just missing a perfect score only because the number the hot dudes gave us turned out to be fake...
