1) Tonight's game starts at 10:30 pm. Same thing with tomorrow night's game. Since I don't want to be up until all hours of the night, I am going to ramble some stream of consciousness thoughts quarter by quarter, in #s 2-5. Then, a very brief book review in # 6. Meanwhile, to kick things off, here's what my dad looked like in the 70s.
2) First quarter: Dwyane Wade starting, out last few games with a sore foot. Occurred to me while I was taking a shower this evening -- very, very few people have seen Dwyane Wade play as many NBA games as I have. I bet you I have seen him play more NBA games than my dad, Pat Riley. For sure. Spo has probably seen him play more. Total joy to watch him play so many games -- he's a great player, but he's also a super-entertaining player...Former announcer Mark Jackson coaching Golden State, Stephan Curry out, our old boy Dorell Wright starting at power forward. Miss that kid, although he was a huge tease here. Kwame Brown, the Boy Genius, at power forward...Alley-oooop, Wade sky-high to LeBron!!! Damn!!! LeBron's 18th dunk of season, according to Eric!.. LeBron just got grabbed on a layup, no call, but he made it, Heat 8-2, GSW timeout. LeBron so upset about non-call, Joel Anthony beat him to bench for timeout...Eric and Tony have spent a couple of off days in San Francisco - turns out that's where Golden State is. They love that. Due to lockout, NO TRIP TO SACRAMENTO THIS YEAR!!!...David Lee, GSW pf, is a fucking sieve -- he doesn't even pretend like he's playing defense -- just let LeBron straightline dribble from 20 feet to rim for a dunk...Emcee Chalmers just threw a lob into Dexter Pittman's armpit for a turnover, then next time down court airmailed a cross court pass to LBJ into the 8th row. Ohh, Chalmers! Heat not sharp, GSW 21-18...GSW 27-22 after one q. Dwyane looks fairly bouncy. Chalmers, Bosh, and UD terrible that quarter. Not sure UD has made a jumper yet this season...Need to write less, already tired of this, and it's boring.
3) Second quarter: Chris Bosh has missed 2 uncontested layups and 3 free throws in 13 minutes. It's a "Bosh Spice" night -- so far. Kill'em, Chris!!!...Oh, no, one possession later: now he just bounced a jumper over the backboard! Lord!...GSW coach Mark Jackson told media before game they would be playing some zone, and they have. At least he told the truth, unlike Pacers coach Frank Vogel -- Tony likely still steaming about being lied to...Any time we get called for a defensive 3 second call, like just now, I want to punch the tv -- no team has ever played us straight up,we get zoned all game long. We'd win every game by 30 if teams weren't allowed to sit down in the paint on us...Dwyane has 20 with 5 minutes to go in half, but Heat defense not sharp, look tired in middle game of 5 game road trip, down 3...Norris Cole has passed up two open shots this quarter -- that's two more than he has passed up the rest of the year, combined...We are getting killed on the offensive boards right now -- it's everybody, not just Chris. This never happens in the playoffs, because Dwyane and LeBron rebound, but in the middle of a long road trip, in a meaningless game, they kind of leave it to the bigs, since it's their job, but right now they aren't doing it. David Lee -- that's one thing. But Kwame Brown shouldn't be getting offensive rebounds. Boy Genius! Heat 48-47, 2 mins to go...Miami playing Cole and Chalmers together last couple of minutes, looking a little more active defensively, pushing ball hard...M.Minutos is upset because I am taking the "s" off "Chalmers" while watching the game and calling him "Chalmer." You've got to keep the people guessing - don't want anyone getting too comfortable, and especially not M.Minutos...Norris Cole flying all over the place right now, with decent results - my boy Snets recently compared his style of play to Bob Cousy. Very timely reference from Snets, who is one of my favorite musicans since Benny Goodman...Heat 57-53 at half, did not play well defensively. Dwyane with 20 in 14 minutes, and LeBron with 15 and 6 boards. Norris with 6 and three dimes. Bosh was awful...Just saw an ad for a movie that looks like Top Gun with black people, quickly dubbed "Black Gun" by M.Minutos...I hate writing during the game, I will not be using this style tomorrow night. Back for the second half soon -- it's midnight!..-- JAX JUST NAME CHECKED DOS MINUTOS ON AIR LIVE!!!!!!!!! HAAAAA!!! I'M A HUGE SUNSPORTS TV STAR NOW, LIKE JAX!!! That made me shake my head -- Jax lauded our coverage of "Hot Seconds With Jax," which, admittedly, is somewhat self-serving of Jax!!! Bosh is playing now -- his favorite wedding gift: an Aston Martin from his wife! Wow, she must have a good job!!! Bosh was on Law and Order, needs to name all the franchises for 5 points, can't do it, CHALMER STILL LEADS WITH 7 POINTS!!!
4) Third Quarter: Jax just interviewed Assistant Coach Loc -- only thing better would have been if he just kept mentioning Dos Minutos "Coach Loc -- Dos Minutos is not happy with Chris Bosh's first half play. What can Chris do to clean that up?"...ChalmerChalmer, tripped over Charles Jenkins' feet, but Jenkins fell, Chalmer kept going, eschewed pass to LeBron, finished. Heat by 10...Eric and Tony talking about how they are twitter newbies, but that they are "getting better at it every day." You type a sentence, you press send. "Tony, let's get some more reps in."...Chalmer and Cole back in together again. Off an inbounds, no one guarded Chalmer, he tossed it to LeBron, stepped on to the court, LeBron flipped it back to him, Chalmer made an uncontested 3. Monta Ellis first Warrior to bench in far corner, kind of feel like Chalmer might have been his guy. 3 mins to go in 3q, Warriors no hoops yet (a few free throws), Dwyane with 26, Chalmer is 5-8 for 12, Miami +17...Someone just emailed me and pointed out I will not cover Jax objectively now that he repped the blog on tv. Objectively? I'm calling a guy named "Mario Chalmers," "Emcee Chalmer." This isn't exactly the New York Times...Sloppy play by Miami to end q, a few heat check settles by LeBron after two long jumpers. Heat + 12 after 3.
5) Bosh has now missed 3 uncontested layups and a dunk -- so terrible tonight, lead down to 10...Nate Robinson just threw a 90 mile entry pass off the backboard which led to a run out layup for Wade -- don't see that every day...Wade a couple of bad turnovers, GSW down only 8...Kwame just hurt his shoulder on UD -- fuuucckkk, another missed ft, by UD -- we've missed 12! Heat +9, 6 mins left...Chris, somehow, just turned it over twice on the same possession! Layup for Ellis on other end, +5...Battier just stopped an iso on Ellis, but UD dropped a rolling ball out of bounds, GSW scores, +6...UD just missed an uncontested dunk -- he and Bosh have stunk the joint out -- but GSW with wild turnover on other end, Heat still +6, with ball with 3 to go -- I'd go LeBron post, but he doesn't like to do it late, so I'd go Wade/Bosh screen and roll, let Chris shoot 18 footer. It's a guaranteed open shot, you live with the results from your best shooter...wild game, lots of crazy, high-speed turnovers!...We ran a screen for Chalmer, he missed a jumper, offensive foul on UD in ensuing scramble...LeBron passing up shot after shot -- he is in a coma -- threw the ball to UD, he got blocked, GSW with a runout hoop, UD got a t, GSW will shoot a ft to tie with 2 mins to go. No one is guarding LeBron at top of key, he could shoot a wide open three whenever he wants last 5 possessions. He passed them all up, then Nate Robinson just banged the exact same shot on the other end. To me, if you're going to lose, lose being aggressive...On replay, Ellis absolutely hammered UD -- see why he was mad and got t...Steal by Battier, run out, 2 free throws for LBJ, 1 minute to go, makes only 1, we've missed 15 or 16...Battier causes another steal on Ellis, another runout, Wade will shoot 2. Battier!!! Wade makes both, +3...Warriors get off reb, Dorell with 3 to tie!...Awful step back by Wade while everyone watched him, GSW ball with 13 secs to go in tie game...Battier just shut down a third straight Ellis iso, didn't even get a shot off! Battier!!! Overtime. What a terrible 4q by Miami, only 12points -- got too involved with refs, LeBron won't go to block, just standing on perimeter again, rotating ball. Sometimes, like against Boston and Chicago in playoffs, LeBron is aggressive and incendiary in big moments. But sometimes he is so passive -- it's not one or the other consistently, that's why it is so weird...
5b) Overtime: Bosh with another posession where he turned it over twice (traveled, no call, then got stripped). LBJ with a tentative layup, but Chalmer missed an open 3 -- even with 2 to go, GSW ball. Building is madhouse, it is, literally, the biggest game of GSW's season, since they won't be in the playoffs. Miami looks exhausted...My heavens - Dorell 3, then LeBron threw the ball right to Nate Robinson, while looking right at him. LeBron is in an absolute coma. I'd get him out of there before he hurts himself. GSW +3 with 1 minute to go, Miami ball. What a lame loss, this game was over in the third q, and Miami went to sleep...Wade with a postup, he has 34, Warriors ball up 1 with 40 secs left. It's 1:18am. Please, win or lose, just no more overtimes...Ellis with a step back on Battier, tough shot, made it, 1 for 5 against Battier down stretch, but had the confidence to keep shooting...LeBron missed a triple, ballgame. Weird game, bad loss, if ultimately meaningless. Dwyane looked pretty bouncy on his foot, that is the most important thing. On the whole, though, it was a group loss -- got way up, got lazy, missed free throws, UD and Bosh both horrific, and they got bitten. It happens in the NBA, no matter who you are. Best player of game for Miami was Battier: took one of the quickest players in the league down the stretch, stayed all over him, causing bad shot after bad shot - super impressive by Battier, who needs some kind of nickname...8-2 is 8-2 -- we'll take it...M.Minutos just blamed the loss on the fact that I changed up the format for the night. You know what? She's probably right! I'll take the hit for this one fellas!!! And gals!!!
6) Book review: The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach. It's a friendship/coming-of-age book set at a small college for over privileged white kids in Ohio. It's really, really good. Written in a style similar to uber-popular author Jonathan Franzen, only the characters aren't reprehensible. The characters in The Art of Fielding are earnest, sincere, and likable. They all play on the college baseball team, but I wouldn't think you have to know much about baseball to enjoy it. It is an easy, comfortable read, but not without depth. I especially recommend it for Mike Miller - feels like a book he might enjoy.
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Back at it late night again tomorrow, in LA against the Clippers. If you need me before then, I'll be watching that movie "Awakenings," where Robert DeNiro comes out of a coma briefly, realizes that Robin Williams is his doctor, then wills himself back into a coma One of the all-time great movies. Feel like LeBron might have been bummed out by Chris Bosh tonight, and willed himself back under. See you tomorrow!
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