6 Thoughts
1) The long slog through middle America is over! Miami finished a 6 game road trip, including a back-to-back-to-back, 5-1, winning the last five in a row by an average of 19 points. Whereas KJ James, and the whole team, looked exhausted while Dwyane Wade missed his 9 straight games with a bad foot (though they continued to win), Dwyane's return, and increasing comfort with the new offense, has eased the load on everyone else, especially KJ, and the team looks relatively fresh and energized. Let's stay out on the road! Who's with me? Not KJ James, who looked into the camera during his post-game interview with Jax and gleefully listed all the areas in Miami he couldn't wait to get back to after being out of town for so long: "South Beach! Coconut Grove! Brickell!" How about Overtown? Yeah, Overtown! Let's go!
2) This game was over when: ummm, probably halfway through the first quarter when it was 21-2. The first quarter, which Miami won 35-14, featured Wade going bananas again on the block, scoring on turnarounds and jump hooks with both hands. Wade is killing people down on the low block right now - he has adjusted and flourished in this new offense, which presents many postup opportunities. Unsurprisingly, postup basketball, which involves equal parts strength, quickness, and quick decision-making, is a strength of Dwyane's. He's easily the best postup player on the Heat (although, KJ James leads all players in the NBA on points-per-postup, so I guess I could be wrong about that - let's just agree that they are both better than Bosh). I can't think of another guard as accomplished on the block as he is. Ahh, Kobe Bryant is better, now that I think of it. Probably. Anyways, Dwyane is using the block to kick-start Miami out of the gate every game: 18 more first half points for him tonight. That is right around his average for first half points on the road trip. I think people don't quite understand how well he is playing right now, because he is barely playing in the second halves, since the games are over at halftime, and his cumulative numbers don't stand out. 22 points for him tonight on only 10 (!) shots, in only 24 (!) minutes! His brief second half stint included his first three pointer of the year, after 9 misses to start the season - he's consciously focused on posting up and abandoning the long ball. He smiled on his way back down the court after finally making one, and moments later, he okey-doked a Cav into the air on another three pointer, earning the foul. As the referees spent somewhere between 9 and 30 minutes to decide whether he would shoot 2 or 3 free throws in a 30 point blowout - valuable use of everyone's time - Dwyane, KJ James, and Mike Miller sat on the scorer's table, right in front of Eric Reid and Tony Fiorentino, where Dwyane made an impromptu on-mike appearance to talk about his first triple of the season: "It was a long time coming," he laughed, cracking up his teammates, as well as Eric and Tony, who apparently forgot they were broadcasting a game, "I'd like to thank God, and my family for sticking with me..." Thank heavens this was a rare Heat game that wasn't on national tv, because you would have been able to cue the national media talking about how arrogant Miami is in 3...2...1...dodged a bullet on that one!
3) One reason Dwyane has been able to abandon the three point shot is because Miami has so many other guys shooting it so well. Emcee Chalmers, who has spent the better part of the last three weeks campaigning to get into the NBA Three Point contest at next weekend's All-Star event in Orlando, saw his efforts rewarded this week when he was selected to participate (along with defending champion James Jones). Emcee hit three in the first quarter tonight, and 4-6 overall. He also dribbled needlessly between his legs at one juncture, which shocked me because I don't think I'd ever seen him do that before. It occurred to me that if you had asked me if I thought he could, I would have said, "Ummm, probably not, no, not without dribbling it off his foot out of bounds." He also threw, to everyone's amazement, a semi-perfect alley-oop pass to KJ in transition for a dunk, but followed it up later in the game by splitting a double-team (something else I don't remember him doing), then airmailing an alley-oop to Wade 9 yards behind the backboard, which Wade somehow got to in midair, flung it down the baseline to KJ down in the corner, ran back in bounds on the other side of the backboard, received a pass, and made an impossible twisting 16 foot rainbow over Cavs center Semih Erden...My prediction for Chalmers for the three point shootout is that he makes every triple in the first round, but is eliminated in the second round when he goes scoreless by fumbling four of the balls off his own foot, misses all the rest of the shots, and then fouls the Orlando Magic intern rebounding the shots down in the lane...
4) Also making shots, these days: Shane Battier. He spent the first month of the season shooting somewhere between 1 and 2 percent. On this road trip, he made 20-29 shots, including 2-2 triples tonight. He's always solid defensively. When he's also helping Chalmers and Mil-lar to space the court? That's when 5 road blowouts by an average of 19 points happens.
5) Random notes: I love Linsanity as much as the next guy - but all I'm saying is that if I was guarding him, I'd make him go left, and get a little physical with him, and that would be the end of the phenomenon...Norris Cole's parents and sister were at the game (he's from Ohio). Jax did a halftime feature on them. They are a very pleasant, but very slow-talking family (like Norris). And, Norris' dad looks exactly like Norris, except with a beard and a hat! Norris in disguise!...From the first quarter, totally out of nowhere, M.Minutos, who started off her writing career at the Palm Beach Post and was a colleague of esteemed Heat beat writer Ethan J. Skolnick, asked me: "Did you know Ethan is married to an Asian woman?" "No - no, he isn't, he is married to a Hispanic woman." "Whatever." Uh-oh - I think someone in Casa Dos may be carrying a little torch for Ethan J. Skolnick! Luckily, I am clearly not carrying one for Heat sideline reporter Johanna Gomez, who does not go with the team on road trips, not at all - the only reason I want the team to get back home to play after this long, long, interminable road trip is because I, umm, like watching the games from Miami more because the lighting in the arena is better! But that's the only reason! I don't need Johanna Gomez on the sideline during games - I still got Jax!!!
6) Narragansett beer. Get it in the tall boy cans. Old, old school. Thank me later. I may have had a few during the game tonight. Christ, it was 21-2 after 5 minutes, I had to do something.
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Heading home for a game against Orlando on Sunday. When is Orlando going to trade this freaking Dwight Howard so that the Orlando games are a lot easier? Selfish, Orlando, so selfish. If you need me before then, I'll be passed out (Narragansett). Bottom's up!
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