6 Thoughts
1) Ahhhh, Toronto. It was good to see them. Life's a lot easier against the Torontos, New Jerseys, and Philadelphias of the world than the Bostons and Utahs. Dull, dull game, but good to win one. Miami got up big, let off the gas in the fourth quarter - again - before DWade regained control and Miami cruised in. Let's Go...Actually, let's not go, let's stay right here, and just play Toronto over and over...
2) Offensive Report: The offense still looks stagnant. But, yet, against Boston it scored over 100 points against the best defensive team in the league, and it dropped 109 tonight. Wade had 31 on 11-16 and James had 23 on 8-21. Of the 13 shots that James missed, about 10 were plays that you were characterize as "a brutal decision," bad, stagnant jump shots. Other times, he probed into the lane, got to 10 feet, and instead of elevating and finishing, opted to pitch out to shooters. He is still problematic with his decision making. Overall, Miami shot 50% from the floor, and 36 free throws, so it's tough to be too critical. Doesn't look fluid yet, though.
3) Defensive Report: Defensively it is a different story right now. The results are not there, and it is obvious why: the effort level was a little low. Both LeBron James, and to lesser degree, Dwyane Wade, have to lock on their man more, and make it more challenging for the opposition to move the ball. There is nothing wrong with Toronto as an offensive group - they can shoot it - so you have to make it more difficult for them to get it to the spots on the court where they want to shoot from. James, in particular, had the defensive intensity dialed up to about a 1.5.
4) One Thing We Learned About Tony Fiorentino Tonight: 6 feet 2 inches tall. I would have guessed 5'10". Good for him - that's solid height.
5) Best Moment of the Game: When Toronto's Italian big man Andrea Bargiani missed a tough jumper off the dribble and Tony said "He just forced a bad shot, even though he's Italian." Trust me - it was a really dull game...
6) Earlier this season we recounted a story in which we pointed out that Lenny Kravitz' second album, "Mama Said," is a classic, just an old-school-y emotion fest about challenging relationships, while his third album, "Are You Gonna Go My Way," is a hacky, gimmicky step back for Kravitz which mostly signaled the beginning of the end for him as a really important artist. Also, that someone associated with this blog hurled it across his lawn in a (justifiable) moment of rage against an ex-girlfriend...This led to an interweb conference thread between two Dos readers, M.Minutos and T.H.A. which resulted in one of them asking whether it was possible that Lenny Kravitz had knocked around his one-time wife, Lisa Bonet, at all, to which the other replied that if he had, it was probably because she was so annoying. First of all, I'd like to say that I would have commented on this sooner, but I was busy answering racist emails from R.Minutos. Second of all: how dare you two? Never, ever, ever say anything derogatory about sweet, sexy little Lisa Bonet again. Ever! Let me tell you something: for a young white ingenue growing up in Connecticut with no black people around except for the occasional basketball player bused in to the public high school, which I wasn't even allowed to go to because I had problems with my ability to focus, when Lisa Bonet first exploded on to The Cosby Show, and into my consciousness, wearing armpit-high parachute pants and brightly colored berets, proudly flaunting her obvious racially mixed heritage, and sassy Earth-girl persona, it was a sexual revolution in my mind, and in my trousers. I was, like, Oh, you mean there is something out there beyond prepped-out Jennifer Grey look-alikes who wear sweaters, slacks, and care about their careers? Really? I'm in in - Let's Go!!! And just look at me now, boy, just look at me now!...
Not even sure when the next game is - I think Wednesday against Phoenix. Let. Us. Go.
-----
