6 Thoughts
1) Easy win in Minnesota for Miami, over the league's second worst team. That's eight wins in a row for Miami, and 43 on the year, equaling last year's total with 5 to go. Chicago beat Charlotte tonight, so Miami now leads Charlotte by 2.5 games for the sixth spot. Good night. Dull game, so we are rolling through in a hurry.
2) Dwyane Wade: 43 last night, 39 tonight. That's 82 in two nights, by my count. Had 8 more rebounds, and 6 more assists tonight. With Jermaine O'Neal continuing to sit with strained knee-like symptoms, Dwyane Wade is the primary scoring option, the secondary scoring option, the thirdly scoring option, the forthtuple scoring option...
3) ...because they still can't get it from Mike Beasley. Scored three straight hoops right at the beginning tonight, then instantly committed two fouls so he had to come out. Came back in the second quarter only to immediately commit a fourth foul. Also, decided to stop attacking the basket and settle for missing jumpers, mostly shot standing on or near - but not behind - the three point line, which is the most ill-conceived shot in basketball. Then someone apparently told him to move behind the line, because he did that, and missed a couple of jumpers from there. Overall the number didn't look horrible: 6-13 for 12 points in the 20 minutes he could stay out there, but believe me, it didn't play that well on the court.
4) A third quarter close up of the bench showed Beasley, Chalmers, and Daequan Cook bunched together, wearing their NBA "Green Week" t-shirts, and enjoying a nice conversation while Wade, Udonis, and QRich were winning the game. "Hey - you finish that new Jonathan Lethem novel yet?" "Nah, I found it a little pedantic, so I put it aside. Plus, I got caught up in The Pacific miniseries on HBO." "Cool. Can I get the Lethem novel as soon as I finish this Truman biography I'm reading?" "No doubt."
5) Best moment of the game. Two parter. First, former #2 overall draft pick (three spots ahead of Dwyane Wade) and major, major, major bust Darko Milic came out and scored five easy baskets in the first half. After each one he would run down the court rubbing his jaw. "What's wrong with his face?" asked O.Minutos. Nothing that a second half in the locker room holding an ice bag to his face couldn't fix, apparently. I wouldn't exactly call that Darko a gamer. So he was replaced by Ryan Hollins who started the third quarter by committing multiple fouls in the rim area, getting an offensive three seconds call to wipe out a basket, setting an illegal screen for a turnover, having a dunk try caught by Joel Anthony, and missing five straight free throws. Nine minutes into the quarter, with the Heat now up 20, he finally caught a ball in the basket area and viciously flushed it while QRich fouled him, giving him at least a small moment of redemption. Ryan Hollins was doin' it all that quarter...
6) O. and P. Minutos were on spring break this past week. Took Monday off to hang out with them. It was pouring rain and cold in Florida. It's been freezing all winter and early spring, actually - I guess Obama has stabilized the economy, passed a health care bill, and solved global warming! So instead of going to the beach like we planned, we went to see How to Save Your Dragon, or Train Your Dragon, or something like that. It is about Viking dudes living in the olden times and fighting against dragons. Except that these Vikings had Scottish accents. And the main Scottish Viking? Yup, you guessed it: Gerard Butler! Like a wooden stake through my heart! I told you I never should have had kids...
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Five games left, boy, then the playoffs! Off until Wednesday! See you then - try to avoid Scottish Vikings!
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