6 Thoughts
1) Brutal back-to-back: home in Miami against the former champion Dallas Mavericks last night, with an extra late start since 90% of our games are on national tv so America can hatewatch us; then leave right after the game with a long flight to Toronto, which I believe is somewhere in Canada, maybe in the Winnipeg-Nova Scotia area. Team reportedly got to bed around 5am, then an early start in Canada, 7pm, since I think folks there have to be up early the next morning to go ice fishing. Not exactly sure what goes on up there in Canada, but I feel like I have a pretty solid understanding...It was a grind for 3 quarters, dead tied, but Miami won the fourth quarter going away, thanks to...
2)...Dwyane Wade, who scored 13 in the 4th, including a pullup three over the top of the Toronto zone to put Miami ahead by 8 with 6 minutes to go, then a floater on the next possession, then a breakaway dunk when Chris Bosh fell down in the defensive paint area, sat on the ground for about 9 seconds, then happened to get up right as Toronto assumed he was just going to sit there the entire possession and threw an entry pass to where he was. The ball hit him, and deflected out to Wade, who got a runout dunk. Ballgame. 30, 6, 6, with 3 steals and a block for Side-part Dwyane. How u?
3) Bosh had a mixed night. Numbers looked great: 30 points (on 11-18) with 8 boards and 3 blocks. Had 12 of his own in the fourth (he and Wade combined for 25 of the 30 in the quarter). Basically, after Wade got it going in the fourth, every defensive player on Toronto started chasing him all over the court, and Bosh kept slipping to the rim for dunks. However, I don't think it was a surprise that Raptor forward Amir Johnson, whom Bosh checked most of the night, had 12 points and 12 rebounds on 6-8 shooting. 6 of the rebounds were offensive, as he beat Bosh to the ball over and over early...For most of the first three quarters, I thought Coach Erik Spoelstra made a really poor tactical choice by having Joel "Butter" Anthony guard Toronto's best scorer, the jump shooting big Andrea Bargiani, and having Bosh guard Johnson. Not only did Johnson go to work on the glass, but Joel tends to help to the paint too much to be effective on Bargiani. Toronto kept putting Joel in pick plays, he would help on the ball handler, then Bargiani would slide to open space, receive a pass and fire - he scored 25 through three quarters...
4)...but in the fourth quarter, Spo adjusted. He put KJ James on Bargiani, with occasional spot duty from Battier, and that was pretty much the end of the big Italian - only had 2 in the fourth quarter as Miami pulled away. Again, I thought KJ looked exhausted. He seemed to lack explosion off the floor, and didn't attack the rim with much (any?) gusto, although he did pass the ball crisply. Still, his line at the end of the night, 11-18, for 26 points, with 4 rebounds and 9 assists, was more than solid. Still think they should sit him down for a week or so. I might be wrong, maybe he's fine, or maybe he'll just get his legs back under him - but I'd sit him...Nothing really to be gained over this next month - can't win the title now, but we could lose it if he doesn't get his quicks back.
5) Ronny Turiaf had 17 more energetic minutes: a bucket, 3 boards, 2 steals, a block - basically a lot of energy. More importantly, we noticed he is the anti-KJ in terms of bench attire. Watch how many layers KJ has to strip off to check into a game. It goes like, towel off from around the neck in scarf-like fashion, then warmup, then light sweatshirt, then long-sleeve t-shirt, then t-shirt: check in. Sometimes Spo has to take a timeout just to have enough time to get all his clothes off. Turiaf sits and watches with only a muscle-shirt on over his jersey, which is especially odd because he is a large, barrel-chested man with absolutely no arm muscles whatsoever. He could check into a game in about a second and a half if he had to. I didn't even know the Heat had muscles shirts - I can't remember another player wearing the one he wears. Maybe he had his own made...He's not from America, you know.
6) I think we have covered this before, but do you know what the best song ever written is? Of course, it's "Train in Vain," by The Clash. They are the only band that ever really mattered; everyone else is superfluous, to some greater or lesser degree. They broke up at the peak of their powers, resisted any temptation to get back together for years and years, and then Joe Strummer, one of the two leaders of the band, died far too soon. That sucks, but maybe not as bad as it would suck to watch them murder their legacy, like the Rolling Stones have done over the past 30 years or so. So, imagine my horror when earlier this week I saw the following video. By the way, yes, this is what I do - sit around and google "The Clash" and watch grainy old concert clips of them. This is Mick Jones, who with Strummer, wrote all The Clash's songs, and sang a lot of them including "Train in Vain." He never could sing at all, but he had more heart than anyone who could sing, and he is one of the best rock stars ever, which is what makes this video so disturbing. Jesus, Mick Jones - you're Mick Jones. What the hell are you doing? I think this was at the Boynton Beach Public Library. And why are you so happy? This is an f.u. song!!! What happened to the f.u.???? I can't unsee this...
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Next game is Sunday in Boston. Somehow, in our last 16 games we play Boston three times, which is utterly bizarre. Nice job, NBA schedule-makers! Not only that, they are our most likely first round playoff opponent, which means we could play them like 10 times in the next 40 days. Who is ready for Doucheball!!!! Kevin Garnett - douching it up 10 more times against us! Great! If you need me before Sunday, I'll be trying to figure out the second greatest song of all-time...
