6 Thoughts
1) Wheewwww! That was wacky! This game had the normal stuff - Wade starting fast (17 1st half points on his way to 30 on 11-16 with 10 assists); KJ James stuffing the boxscore (7-11 for 18 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 ridiculous blocks); runout dunks; and long threes by Chalmers (6-12) and Miller (2-4). That's just another normal night. But it also featured a wild third quarter, won 36-35 by the Heat in which Chalmers (4-5) and Kings rookie Isiah Thomas (5, with another one he got fouled on and made 3 free throws) trading three points bombs; a sulking DeMarcus Cousins; an electric Norris Cole; an unbelievably irresponsible zone defense from the Kings; the softest, least-inspired 20-10 ever from Chris Bosh (he looks exhausted right now); and, just maybe, the funniest play of the year for the Heat. We won't get to it all, but we'll do our best. Let's go!
2) So, last season, not one time in 82 regular season games, then 21 playoffs games, did anyone ever say: "You know who won the game tonight? The Miami Heat point guards." No one ever, ever said that. I mean, except for me, who said it every game, but only because I love Mike Bibby like a third son. Tonight, the Heat came out sloggy - Tuesday night, bad opponent, it happens - and got down 9 early, only to have Emcee Chalmers jolt them to life with two straight triples. In the third quarter, his shootout with the aforementioned Thomas was highly entertaining - Chalmers was efficient with it, though, found his spots on the perimeter, patiently hunted shots, and then took them decisively. Thomas (to his credit) was just flinging. Overall, 6-12 triples on the night for Emcee, for 20 points in 29 minutes. And his backup, Heat rookie Norris Cole, was even better! Cole entered late in the first quarter, and as is his custom, immediately fired a jumper the moment he first touched the ball - swish. He definitely leads the league in least-amount-of-time-in-game-before-taking-your-first-shot. He pushed the ball hard all night, getting to the rim and finishing, or finding teammates for open shots. It was the second unit, which features Bosh, with Cole, Mil-lar, Battier, and Haslem, which played the first 6 minutes of the fourth quarter and turned a close game into a blowout. Cole finished 5-7 from the floor for 12 points in 20 minutes, with 4 assists and no turnovers. Great game by the Heat point guards. On the other hand, I'd still trade them both for just one more game of Mike Bibby!
3) Play of the game: midway through the 4th quarter, when the second unit was just putting the finishing touches on a great run to ease the game out of reach, Norris Cole drove down the lane and drew multiple defenders. He elevated on the left side of the rim on a big, then suddenly whipped a left-handed wrap-around pass out to the right corner to Shane Battier, who was spotting up for a triple. A Kings defender closed on Battier quickly - Batt needs about 6 open yards to get his low-slung shotput up at the rim, and there was no room. So he decided to give a quick fake, followed by a drive. But whereas most guys will fake one time - like, say, fake left, then drive right - Batt threw about about 6 quick fakes on the guy like this: leftrightleftrightleftright! As the defender stood there stunned, Batt then took a dribble past him down the baseline, collapsing the defense even more, then crisply passed the ball to the right elbow to Chris Bosh, spotting up in the same coma-like trance with which he did everything tonight. As a defender sunk down on to him, somewhere through the fog in his brain he sensed Mike Mil-lar wide open back up over the left wing in three point land, and tossed the ball out to him. Mil-lar, who had just nailed a triple, fired the shot with the crowd celebrating in anticipation of another make, only to have the ball spin tightly around the rim, and then out, leading to a brief disappointed half-groan from the crowd, then a sudden explosion of joy when Udonis Haslem (10 and 7) flew in and one-hand tip-slammed the ball back through the hoop to give Miami a 13 point lead wih 6 minutes to go! Already it was the best play of the year - then the Sunsports camera panned to the Heat bench at the far end of the building, where Dwyane Wade had skipped 8 feet on to the court in joy, and was trying to scurry back to his spot on the bench since the ball was coming back at them (Kings didn't take a timeout). While Wade retreated, KJ James, with a huge smile on his face, did the, I don't know what you call it, exactly, but he was barrel-rolling his arms a la Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, while flapping his knees in a Billy "White Shoes" Johnson-modifed Chicken Dance. As Wade slipped past him looking for a seat, KJ turned around still dancing, cracking up all the fans behind the bench, one of whom looked very much like a Latino Jon Cryer, and then after Wade sat down, since he had missed KJ's dance while trying to get off the court and find a seat, KJ, still standing, did the dance for him, although he modified the arms to a more piston-like up-and-down action, making Wade crack up. "It was like a show," laughed M.Minutos, after the seventh time we rewound it on the dvr, "it was like the Globetrotters!" Exactly - except entertaining and funny!
4) The Sacramento Kings, they have a nice group of athletic, offensively-talented kids, and they had it going on that end tonight. But their coach, Keith Smart, is incredibly irresponsible. The Kings set up in a 2-3 zone defense and just sat in it all night - never really once that I remember came out and played man-to-man. There are a few problems with this one. First, Miami scored 120 points on 56% shooting, and Chalmers and Cole looked like Monroe and Frazier. That's a fairly obvious problem. But worse, the Kings are 10-22 this season. They have no chance to make the playoffs, and they are all young kids. This season should only be about developing talent. Yes, a good man-to-man defense essentially employs zone principles - but that's not the same thing as 5 guys going to a pre-determined spot on the floor, and standing with their hands in the air like sides of beef hanging in a meat cooler (Come to think of it, you know who would love this defense? Chris Bosh!). Because you know what happens when you do that? 120 points on 56% shooting, and 10-22 records! These kids aren't learning how to play NBA defense properly - that's a bad job (terrible, unforgivable job) by the coach (or whatever front office type is forcing him to do it). The franchise isn't going to be able to get better if the kids don't learn to play properly when they have a chance. Further, you are going to stunt the careers of the individual players. When they go elsewhere, to any other NBA team, they are going to be behind the curve on the defensive end of the floor - that is going to cost them money: worse contracts, shorter careers. Finally, and most importantly, zone is only for girls. I mean, really, that's what you're going to do for an entire NBA game? Play zone? Why don't you come out and play some basketball, how about that? How about the Hack-a-Shaq? You gonna try that, too? How about the hidden ball trick (baseball)? How about the pocket veto (politics)? Yeah, the pocket veto!!! You know, when the President gets a bill and doesn't sign it or veto it, just lets the ten days expire, thus creating a de facto veto, the pocket veto! C'mon! Yeah! I've been trying to work that into the blog for 4 years!!!
5) Alonzo Mourning read about the black Miami neighborhood Overtown during the Black History Month halftime segment. Zo wins the contest - that was the best performance, by far. He was way into it, he celebrated Overtown's good times with a smile and triumph in his voice, and lamented the tougher times with just the right amount of pathos. It actually didn't sound like he was reading an essay prepared by Jax (Jax writes those, doesn't he?) - it sounded like Zo had done the research himself, had written the words himself, had taken pride in doing the best job he could on the project. Just the same way, I might add, he does everything. Zo is the best.
6) I got absolutely nothing here for you. How about some Dos Minutos trivia? First car: Honda Civic (blue). First pet: Casey, a golden retriever. First arrest: fourteen years old, drug charges and aggravated assault. Dropped acid at a party, and when the po-lice arrived to break it up (you know, cuz kids were having fun), I crawled in behind one of them and had my friend BT push him backwards over the top. Seemed like a good idea at the time - acid can do crazy things to your brain. First time making love: in a strawberry patch in Avon, Connecticut. That's how we do it in Connecticut!!! First basketball hero: Earl Kelley, UConn guard from 1982-86. Greatest love: M.Minutos. Second greatest love: Mike Bibby.
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Ohhhhhh, we are back on Thursday night in Miami to play Jeremy Lin and the Knicks! There are only 6 or 7 regular season games to really get excited about as a fan, and this is one of them! Linsanity, welcome to the asylum - I'd like to introduce you to The Warden! If you need me before then, I'm going zone on O. and P. Minutos out on our court. See you Thursday!!!
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