6 Thoughts
1) I'm drunk (ice cold vodka mixed with cranberry and lemonade together, sipped - okay, gulped - out of a thermos while taking kids trick-or-treating), I'm exhausted, and for a third straight game, it was over by halftime. In fact, tonight it was over 5 minutes in - the Nets scored the first hoop of the game before Miami scored, seemingly, the next hundred, and that was that - Nets never made even a semblance of a run. That is seven straight halves of basketball, including the second half in Boston, where Miami has badly outplayed someone. And I wouldn't even say they are playing that well. I have a feeling there may be a lot of games like this during the season...Let's do - quick!...
2) Neither Wade, James or Bosh had to play during the fourth quarter. Wade and Bosh were efficient: Wade 17 points on only 9 shots, with 7 assists and 6 rebounds, and Bosh 18 on 10 shots. LeBron struggled again: turned it over 5 more times - he might be on some kind of record pace - although he did score 20 on 12 shots, including at least 2 or 3 ridiculous coast-to-coast drives through the entire Nets team. James also had 7 rebound and 7 assists. Nets' fan Plumber said it best: "it looked like j.v. versus the varsity."
3)Zydrunas Ilgauskas - FEEL IT! Dropped several looooong jumpers on the way to 10 points and 4 boards in only 18 minutes. He's been really good so far. He comes in and gives a totally different look than Joel Anthony. Anthony is undersized, and scrappy, and tough, but has butter emanating from his very soul, thus making it tough for him to catch passes, let alone score a basket. Z comes in and is, well, tall, and sets a high screen for James, spots up at 20 feet, and swishes jumpers. Well, they aren't exactly jumpers. He made one early tonight, which was the classic - "we-already-can't-stop-Wade-James-or-Bosh-and-if-a-bald-giant-Lithuanian-center-is-going-to-come-in-and-start-ripping-20-foot-set-shots-all-night-just-tell-us-now-and-we'll-go-home-since-we-have-no-chance" shot.
4) Until a late fast break hoop by the Nets, there was some bizarre stat that the Heat hadn't allowed a fast break basket since early in the first game of the season - can't remember exactly what it was. But you can see the mindset of the team - they don't crash the offensive boards much, even though guys like Bosh, Wade, and James all could. Instead, you often see them retreat rapidly when shots go up. Has to be by design - they can match up so well defensively in the half court, really the only way an undermanned team like the Nets can beat them is by getting out and getting open looks in transition. The Heat know if they get back in transition and make you play halfcourt, they are going to make it tougher on your offense than your offense can make it on their defense. Wait - yeah, something like that, you know what I mean. The organization has been defense-first since Riley arrived and this is, by far, the most athletic group they have had. They swallow drivers, run wings off open looks and make them dribble, and then re-swallow those drives. So, so hard to get a good look against Miami in the half court. Case in point: Miami, 29 assists and 8 turnovers; Nets 16 points and 15 turnovers. It isn't the numbers as much as what they represent - Miami is going to get better shots than their opponent almost every night.
5) We have our favorites at Dos Minutos, and then we have our guys who make us want to slit our wrists. With all apologies to Plumber, this Terrence Williams, the Nets backup - well, I don't know position he plays, but when he comes in he starts dribbling all over the court like a crazed lunatic, launching odd-looking jumpers that he releases while still on the way up, and hunts over-ambitious passes. You would definitely show a video of him to your high school team and tell them - "never do this." He plays hard, no doubt, but his decision-making is brutal. Just the over-dribbling alone is brutal. Hit the rare trifecta tonight when on three straight Nets' possessions in the third quarter threw a pass that Wade intercepted for a runout, then a pass LeBron intercepted for a runout, then another pass to Wade for another runout. It was tough to watch. And by "tough," I mean "kind of hilarious." Even M.Minutos, who only has a vague-ish sense of the talents of Terrence Williams, was like, "what in the hell is that kid doing?" Captain: put him on the bad list...
6) I love basketball. It is the only sport I really like. But you know one thing I hate about basketball? I mean, besides Terrence Williams? This blog. You know why? Because for like 7 months out of the year, I feel like this is all I do. And then, like, when you take your kids out trick-or-treating with another dad and his kids, and he is like a dad who knows stuff, this is how the conversations go: "Hey, have you seen that new video on Human Giant/the Nick Swerdlove Show/Laugh or Die (I messed up the names, I am sure, don't f-ing email me that)?" "No, is it good?" "Yeah, it's awesome, I'll email it to you." But guess what? He'll never email it to me, because he will forget, because he will be watching other cool things online, or playing interactive Men of Glory, or Honor, or something on a Playstation or whatever, which I would like to do, too, but instead while he is doing that, I will be writing this dumb blog. And then, because he realizes I don't know any cool online stuff, he goes mainstream for my benefit, even though he thinks it's lame, and then, because I am feeling rattled, and I don't get to see a lot of movies, when he's like, "If you could sleep with any movie star, who would it be?," I'm like, "oh - Paul Walker," and then there is a really awkward silence, and then he is like, "I meant which woman," and then I'm like, "oh, yeah, right - ummm, I can't really think of one right now..." That's what can happen, that's what this blog does to me.
Okay, tonight was a bit of a lame game, but...start the over-aggro emails!!! The prodigal son returns on Tuesday!!! Mike Beasley is in town with his new team, the Minnesota T-Wolves!!! See you then! HIDE YOUR STASH!!!
-----
