6 Thoughts
1) Well, that wasn't too good. In what is likely to be the last game Miami ever plays against Dwight Howard in a Magic uniform, the Heat came out on the second night of a back-to-back with tired legs, couldn't make a shot, were lazy defensively, and worst of all, had to endure a hot shooting night from the Magic: 17-42 triples! Dang! And M.Minutos fell asleep for the second straight night! It happens - take the beating and move on...
2)...except Coach Spo would not just take the beating and move on. I love Spo; I hate people who make random criticisms of Spo every time Miami loses. Spo didn't lose the game; the players lost the game. But it seemed pretty apparent, to me anyways, that Miami didn't have it when they got down 15 halfway through the first quarter. But okay, they battled back to down 3 at halftime, only to watch the lead balloon back up to high double digits early in the third quarter. When the third quarter ended with the Heat down 16, there is no way in hell Wade, KJ James, or Bosh should have gone anywhere near the court in the fourth quarter. The schedule is insane this shortened season, and Miami was in the first night of its most daunting stretch: 6 games over the next 8 nights, all on the road, with three games in a row at one juncture. This was a night to take a long-term view of the season, to rest legs, and to keep perspective on the most important thing: to be as healthy and as fresh as possible come playoff time. Instead, Miami never made a serious run, and Wade (36), KJ James (39!), and Bosh (37) all played wayyy too many meaningless minutes. That was an error in judgement. I love Spo, but that over-competitive and silly. If I were my dad, Pat Riley, I'd be really pissed.
3) KJ looked exhausted - he could use a couple of nights off, in my opinion. He's earned them. Just couldn't get the jumper to fall at all, and finished with just 17 points (though, in fairness, he had 10 assists). In fact, Miami's only offense all night was the irrepressible Dwyane Wade, who kept ending up one-on-one in space against Dwight Howard, dribbling around him, and dunking the ball - 33 points on 15-24 from Dwyane...
4)...and it's time to say goodbye, for now, to Dwight Howard. The next time Miami plays against him, he'll probably be on New Jersey, or the Lakers, or somewhere else. He's always been a good guy to play against as an in-state rival. He is a great player, he has fun on the court, and has always been a good winner and loser. Miami's usually had good success against him, but tonight his numbers were great: 25 points, 24 rebounds, although if it's possible to have a polite and quiet 20-20 game, he did. Orlando still hopes to convince him to commit to stay when his contract expires at the end of the season, but Howard appears to be considering other options. That's where I come in. I've tried to make this point other times, in other ways, but let's try this one more time, just to help Howard in his decision-making process. Presenting "Dos Minutos' Least Favorite American Cities!" 1) Orlando; 2) everywhere else seems at least reasonably good by comparison! The end!!! Enjoy Brooks Lopez, Orlando - you're going to love him!!!
5) Emcee Chalmers missed the game tonight because he caught his hand on a jersey last night and injured it. Or, as we like to call it here at Dos Minutos, "The Mike Mil-lar." Then, tonight in the second half, guess who else came up with a "Mike Mil-lar?" That's right, you guessed it, obviously: Mike Mil-lar!!! Luckily, KJ James also seemed to lightly sprain his ankle during some meaningless fourth quarter minutes. Here we go with the injuries again!
6) Santorum on the climb! Rick Santorum is charging, and guess who was lucky enough to see about three minutes of one of his stump speeches the other day? Yes, sir, the biggest Milt Romney fan on the planet - me. That's probably pretty faint praise, by the way - not sure how many big Milt Romney fans are out there right now. Anyways, Santorum had an awesome little meeting, from what I saw. "Your choice in this election comes down to two things," he shouted, in what sounded like his campaign catch phrase, "One: do you absolutely fear and despise gay people? And, two: do you want everybody in our country to have to conform to the exact same social values, like they do in Communist China?" That is a "yes" and "even yesser" for me! Better, then he held an auction for his tie! Like, literally, he took off his tacky-looking, shiny red tie (red - like a Communist!!!), signed the back of it, then planned to auction it off to raise money for charity, or his campaign, or for straight people, or something. Wow - what an opportunity! I would like to start the bidding at "You-pay-me-$200-to-take-that-fashion-mistake-off-your-hands-and-throw-it-in-the-trash!" Santorum fever - it's catching (like, maybe - just maybe - homosexuality, if you spend too much time around gay people)!!! Watch out!!!
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We'll be back Friday for a game in Washington against the Bullards. This is, of course, BH and Taz' favorite team, and I can only pray that they can pull themselves away from their umpteenth viewing of "Death to Smoochy" long enough to attend this game. If you need me before then, I'll be auctioning off my summer-y, pink and blue madras tie over at the Five Guys on Congress Avenue, just south of Gateway in Boynton Beach. See you Friday!
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