6 Thoughts
1) "Hey, ref, see the giant white guy standing in the lane on defense? CAN YOU PLEASE MAKE HIM GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE LANE?" Kevin Love, Minnesota's all-star forward who was terrific in this game, never, ever left the paint in this game defensively, making it difficult for Miami to run their slashing offense...until, the very last play of the game, tied, side out of bounds, when Love's cover, Chris Bosh stepped up out of the lane, Love decided to go with him, Wade slipped in behind, and from out of bounds LeBron threw a direct line alley-oop to the rim for the game winner. Damn, that was frustrating..right until the end! Two games in a row, DWade with the winner on the last possession - lost so many games like this last year. Regression to the mean. LeBron's birthday - Let's GO!
2) These Wolves are pretty good, I really like them. Love is great. He is a terrific rebounder, we already know that. But he has become such a good shooter, and the threat of his shot has allowed him to develop all kinds of counter drives, and post-ups. They hired Rick Adelman, the best offensive architect in the NBA, to coach; surrounded Love with a bunch of bouncy, athletic young kids; a couple of slick, white point guards; and Mike Beasley. Annnd, they were great...except The Beas who struggled to a 2-6 in only 22 minutes, and got lit up by LeBron for 15 in the first quarter. Look, getting lit up by LeBron can happen to anyone (34, 10 assists, and 8 boards, with 4 steals for the newly 27 year old LBJ). But Mike struggled with the same stuff he struggled with here - he got to the rim, but he can't finish because he can't jump and he looks to avoid contact and finish from impossible angles. It's a tough conundrum for him - he knows he can't elevate over people, and he knows he has good hands. But he is making the shots too tough. To be an efficient player in this league, he simply has to figure out a way to get to the line. This is his fourth year now - if it was going happen, it probably would have happened already. I do give him huge credit for this: after getting positively toasted in the first quarter, after a rest on the bench, he came back in with a new determination and effectively bodied up LeBron for several minutes. He could have given up, but he didn't. After the game, Dwyane and UD stood with him for a couple of minutes at midcourt, having a serious conversation - Dwyane, talking quietly, leaned forward forehead to forehead like Tom Cruise and the Rain Man. Everyone loves Mike because he's a nice kid. Everyone wants him to play hard, be focused, and get his mind right. We don't play Minnesota again this year, thanks to David Stern's ham-handed lockout strategy, so we will be left to root for Mike from afar. Be easy, Mike Beasley. Be easy...
3) Yeah! Rookie point guards! With huge cojones! For Miami, Norris Cole - another aggressive night for the kid, 12 points on 6-10, 4 assists with only 1 turnover, and 2 steals in 30 minutes (Emcee Chalmers was having another foul fest). He's fast, he's feisty, he loves to shoot. Love this kid! And for Minnesota, Richard Rubio! What do they call him? Rick? Dick? Rick, I think. Rick Rubio! He is wild. He dribbles all over the place, he's pretty tall, fairly fast, he makes great passes, he goes behind his back, he carries it, he throws it out of bounds at ninety miles an hour, he dropped a huge triple - he is going to be fine, he is going to be really good. He mixed in 6 rebounds with 12 points and 12 assists, though he also mixed in 5 turnovers, one of which was incredibly costly. But all the stuff he does wrong is stuff he will learn how to do. He will be an all-star someday, I believe.
4) This probably is going to jinx it, but we're 4-0 with the Dos Minutos Official Notebook that my dad, Pat Riley, gave me for Christmas. Damn, M.Minutos was right...By the way, here is one entry in the notebook: "Shane Battier just checked in, will probably be looking to draw a charge. 3, 2, 1...charge!" He was, literally, on the court 6 seconds before drawing a charge, and drew three on the night. He is going to shatter the all-time Heat record in limited minutes. To be fair, on a huge late possession, he shot a curving, wide open triple that missed the basket by sixteen feet. That was terrible. However...
5)...I was sitting in Dos Minutos International Headquarters today feeling incredibly stressed out about the sheer volume of tasks, work-related and otherwise, that I have to accomplish over the next two months. The Captain has been on vacation since, like, October, so I had nobody to talk to, and actually - literally - had this thought: "I wish Shane Battier were here. He would know what to do." What a comforting presence. Just knowing he lives in South Florida now made me feel better. Mentioned this to M.Minutos. "Call him, I'm sure he's available," she pointed out. Don't want to bother him, but if it gets any worse, I will.
6) So yesterday a friend of mine who grew up in Haiti was trying to convince me to take a trip there. And I was, like, "Oh, I've been to a couple of islands, like I went to Puerto Rico, and I've been to Barbados, and I have also been to Belize (not an island). Is it different than any of those places, or do all Carribean places kind of have the same vibe?" And he was, like, "Well, they all kind of have the same vibe, you're right, but one thing about Haiti, if you stray too far from the resort where you are staying, you might get kidnapped." Heyyy, you don't say! I'm in! "How was your trip?" "Awesome - the hotel was amazing, I ate all sorts of sweet Carribean-fusion meals, and I went ziplining. Also, I got kidnapped! How u?"
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I'll be away this weekend, so chances are 99% that I won't see Sunday's rematch vs Charlotte at The Trip. I'm trying to be more relaxed this year after obsessively watching 188 out of 190 games (including playoffs) over the past two seasons - over 100 straight at one point. If you conservatively estimate it takes about 2 hours to watch a game on dvr, that's over 15 days the past two years only watching the Heat. That's totally healthy. I should be back Monday for the Atlanta game. If you need me before then, I'll be seeing if Shane Battier is an approved provider for the mental health portion of my Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance. Happy New Year everybody!
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