6 Thoughts
1) Standard-issue home win for Miami against mediocre-to-poor Philadelphia. That's six in a row at home for Miami, now 35-32 overall, and a three game lead on Chicago, who now sits in ninth, out of the playoffs. It warrants mentioning that in the last eight games of the season, Philadelphia is the best team, record-wise, that Miami will play. Tough week ahead: San Antonio, Orlando, Charlotte - just have to keep plugging away.
2) Best player in the game: Dwyane Wade, easily. Had 38 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals. There is nothing wrong with the Sixers supporting cast: Iguodala, Dalembert, Lou Williams, and Thaddeus Young are all contributors, and Jrue Holliday looks like a promising rookie. The problem is, there is no one for them to support - in games like this one, Miami, whose supporting cast is arguably less skilled than that group, has Dwyane Wade, and that often is enough...
3) Most interesting thing that happened: Early in the third quarter Jermaine O'Neal got an offensive rebound, turned to the rim, and got popped in the face by a lunging Elton Brand (more on him at #4). Stood Jermaino up - a foul was called. Miami called a timeout while Jermaino ambled over to the sideline to have the trainers look at him. Seemed okay - to be honest, it almost seemed like he milked it a little, when he was late coming back on the court, holding everyone up so that the trainer could get one more look at him. I mean, do I think it hurt? Yes. But you just got whacked in the face - butch up a little, Jermaino. It didn't seem like that big a deal...Except, you know who it was a big deal to? Jermaino! Uh-oh, here comes "Tilt Jermaino!" So Jermaino shoots his two free throws, and is running back downcourt next to Samuel Dalembert. Jermaino put his arm out in front of Dalembert, who smacked it away. Jermaino, I guess still angry from the face-whack, got right in to Dalembert's face, who put his hands in Jermaino's chest to stop his advance. Whereupon Jermaino raised one of his hands and, as correctly described by M.Minutos, "smushed" Dalembert in the face. He didn't punch him, or push him, really, just "smushed" him up high. Overreacting referee Bob Delaney instantly sprinted in to the fray and ejected Jermaino. It seemed like a quick ejection, but in a previous career Delaney famously did undercover po-lice work infiltrating the mob, so, one, he knows how these things can escalate; and, two, he's a po-lice, so he really doesn't care about doing what's right, or fair, or sensible. You might say to me, "that was the most interesting thing that happened in the game?" And I would answer you, "yes, pretty much."
4) The NBA can be a super-cruel place at times. If you can't play, you get exposed. Period. There is nowhere to hide out there. Elton Brand, who was the number one overall draft pick coming out of Duke in 1999, is only 31 years old. He has had a productive, if slightly underachiving career, with little team success. Two years ago, he blew out an achilles tendon and missed the entire year, then missed most of last year with an injured shoulder. He is never going to be productive again - he was undersized to begin with, and now he is overweight, slow, and has absolutely no explosion off the floor. We have been looking for frontcourt guys that Jamal Magloire can outquick all season - we just found one. Brand's game now consists of the occasional fifteen foot jump shot, which he shoots with below average success; random attempts to bull his way to the basket by lowering his shoulder, bumping guys out of the way, and then arm-barring them off to be able to create space for a shot; and pushing guys in the back, or, alternatively, smacking them inadvertently in the face because he is too awkward and too slow to do anything else (see above). His spinning, second quarter foray into the lane, where he tried to shoot a twelve foot fallaway over similarly undersized Udonis Haslem, but ended up somehow drilling an awkward line drive off the bottom of the rim as he fell backwards, was one of the singularly bad - and, worse, sad - plays of the season. He ended up with 8 points on 3-10 shooting in 30 minutes, and is an absolute minus defensively - can't move quick enough to help, can't jump high enough to contest shots. This was a good, good NBA player. And he is a young man. Just a cruel, cruel place...
5) One of the favorite traditions in Casa Dos occurs every game just before tip-off, when Sunsports shows the names of the three referees for the night's game. I see the list and say, "oh, no..." Occasionally add, "Welcome to the suck," which is a Jake Gyllenhaal line from Jarhead. Tonight, sans Jarhead/suck line, M.Minutos laughed, as she always does, and asked if there has ever been a game where Sunsports showed the list of referees and I was happy? Oh, no...
6) I don't have any jokes, or made-up stories, or anything for tonight's game. I thought about listing the five best U2 songs, but we have a lot of younger readers, and they probably don't even know who that is. I don't even like them that much (but, by the way, their best song is "Runnning to Stand Still;" also, underrated, "Lemon"). But I do have something I would like to say: late in the second half, as we were tivo-ing through the commercials, I am almost positive I saw Dick Vitale in a Hooter's ad. I didn't go back, because if Dick Vitale is in a Hooter's ad, I don't even think we are going to make it to 2012. I mean, honestly - what the f--- is wrong with Dick Vitale, or Hooters, or any of us, really? What the f--- is wrong with America? This is more than just why the terrorists hate us; stuff like this is why people even become terrorists in the first place, just to try to harm us for putting ridiculous crud like this out in the world. For real: if you actually saw Dick Vitale in a Hooters, on a "creepy scale" of 1-100, where 1 is a young family taking a walk in the park on a beautiful day (not creepy at all), and 100 is...no, that's it...100 is Dick Vitale in a Hooter's! We did it, we reached the pinnacle! Goodnight, America!
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Tuesday against the Spurs - haven't seen them since New Year's Eve, and, honestly, that game was pretty much a drunken, tivo-ed blur...
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