6 Thoughts
1) That's four comfortable wins in a row, and six out of the last seven. Utah's not real good, but they are big upfront, the type of team Miami is supposed to have trouble with according to the so-called "experts." Whatever. The Heat aren't exactly in playoff mode, but they've juggled the rotation a little, picked up the defensive intensity a touch, and things are running a tad smoother. Say what you want about championship hangover, but 18-6 is 18-6. We'll take it...and we will let it fly! Let's go! (KJ!)
2) KJ James: not fouling; yet, getting fouled like crazy...Let's talk about this. KJ James hasn't committed a foul in six straight games. That's weird. He's the best wing defender in basketball. Maybe other guys for shorter bursts go out there and get into a guy's shirt more than KJ, but night after night, possession after possession, no one is more rock solid than KJ. He's too big, too strong, and too athletic - most nights his cover just gives it up. It's only the Melo Anthonys (Hubie-ism) and Kevin Durants who even try to go at him. He also is good at stepping into passing lanes, he's the best defensive rebounding small forward in the league, and in the fourth quarter of a close, important game, he takes the other team's best perimeter player, regardless of position, and makes life miserable for that dude. He's pretty much always in the right spot, so that limits his fouls to begin with, and guys are scared to go at him, so that limits them even more. But at some point, some how, you think he'd commit a foul over the course of six games, even if it was offensive - he does get his share of charges. Bizarre. Steve Nash went a streak of 11 games last year without a foul, but he's a much softer defender than KJ - he's below average, mostly just politely stays out of the way. Before Nash's streak, you have to go back 15 years to find a streak as long as KJ's. By the end of the game, I was just rooting for him to stay out of everyone's way: "Don't give weakside help, KJ!" The closest he came to fouling was one play under the rim when he stripped Derrick Favors on a layup try, and an offensive rebound on which he might have nudged someone out of the way. Conversely, we say this every year, but this dude gets as few calls when people foul him than anyone in the league. GFOB Dirk used to say this all the time when KJ was on Dirk's beloved Cavs - wow, that seems like 100 years ago! - but he couldn't have been more right. KJ won't flop and he's stronger than everyone else, so refs generally just expect him to play through whatever contact he absorbs. He shot 10 free throws tonight, but it easily should have been 18 or 20. In the second quarter, he got raked on a layup so hard by Mo Williams that Williams injured his thumb on the play, immediately came out of the game, and could not return - no call. KJ lost it, he went HAM (on Twitter, KJ loves to point out when people go HAM!) on the refs and got a technical foul (does not break the streak!), which he almost never does, but it didn't change anything. It never does. In one third quarter stretch he got banged on two or three drives in a row without getting a call, then in transition Al Jefferson grabbed him around the waist a step before takeoff and whirled him all the way around in a circle without a flagrant being called because KJ is so freakishly strong that he didn't fall. Moments later, Almario Vernard Chalmers started a drive, got a slight nudge, twitched his body a bit and the refs instantly called a foul. You could see the look on KJ's face, like, "Goodness - what do I have to do?..." After the restart of play, KJ got a lane to rim, scored, and took a shot - no foul again! Ha! After another possession on which Jazz (Jazz? Jazzer?) Marvin Williams put his arm all the way around his waist and dragged him out of the midpost, and several more uncalled bumps, KJ made a triple from the corner, glared down the nearest ref, and went over and sat on the bench. Another blowout win for Miami, 30, 9 and 7 for KJ. Call what you want, don't call what you want - KJ rolls on.
3) Dwyane Wade's looking a little livelier. A lot of people buried him earlier this season. Not me, I would never scream at the television for him to stop driving into traffic and throwing the ball at the rim on the dead run, or to stop shooting bad fallaways off of one leg. Okay, I mean I would do it, but only to motivate him. And guess what? It worked! 21, 7, and 7 tonight for Wade on 8-14. He definitely - definitely - suffers in one way from playing with KJ: KJ is so good, and so efficient, and so consistent, that it makes Dwyane seem worse. Realistically, on most teams, he'd unquestionably be the best player. Who else is better than him in the Eastern Conference? Carmelo Anthony? Maybe. No one on Boston. No one on Philadelphia. No one on Chicago - I mean, maybe Derrick Rose if he were playing. No one on Indiana. No one on the Nets. No one on Milwaukee. I think those are all the other Eastern playoff teams. He's shooting a career-high 51% from the floor, he's scoring a hair under 20 a game - and he's at 55% and 18 ppg in the last 5, and only once has he had to play 30 minutes (tonight - 34). That kid's alright, he may have a future in this league...
4) One thing no one ever really points out about Shane Battier: he always shoots open shots. He does all the "unselfish" things: he defends hard every possession (tonight he often was tremendously undersized against Al Jefferson or Derrick Favors, but he got the better of both); he blocks out on rebounds; he gets on the floor for loose balls - you know, all the things that guys who can't shoot do. But Battioke can shoot, and it is also unselfish of him that he shoots every open shot he gets. KJ James and Dwyane Wade work hard for him to get those open looks, and if a wing doesn't shoot the shots those two create, it throws off the timing of the offense, and also allows the defense to load the paint up against James and Wade drives. Sometimes Chalmers or Miller will pass up open looks, and that frustrates KJ, Dwyane, and Coach Spo (Mil-lar has gotten better about this). Those guys are in there to shoot it. Battier understands this, and he always shoots it. Maybe sometimes he doesn't catch it quite right, or the ball's not exactly in the shooting pocket, or he's missed a few in a row and he's just not feeling it. Doesn't matter - he's got to shoot it, and he knows it. He takes responsibility for this - that's a professional, selfless approach. It helps when he knocks them down - 4-8 tonight, and his back-to-back triples early in the third quarter pushed the lead out to 12 and put the Jazz in big trouble that they never recovered from. He's at 44% for the season, and leads the team in makes. After the game he told Jax that he can do other things, too ("it's not like I'm JoJo Sausagehead," he said), but he's not asked to. His job is to spot up and shoot: "I play with the best players in the world - no one really guards me."
5) Chris Bosh missed the game with a cold. Or did he miss the game because he was cold? Not clear. Wouldn't blame him if the latter was true, it was in the 50s today, holy crow! I almost froze my tushy off getting my cappuccino, and open-faced smoked salmon and chopped egg sandwich on Estonian brown bread this morning! Harrowing!
6) If I could have one wish for Christmas this year, it would be that the impossibly arrogant and sullen Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook not ruin anyone's Christmas (for once), that he just minds his own business, stays in his room, and watches Jet Li movies, like he does every other day of his life. Joy to the world!
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We have a game on Christmas Day against - wait, what? The Oklahoma City Thunder and Russell Westbrook? You have to be kidding me! How can that be possible, I just made my Christmas wish that he not ruin anyone's Christmas! Now we have to spend two hours playing against the NBA's biggest poop in the punch bowl? I knew Santa didn't exist, dammit, I knew he wasn't real - my mom lied to me! If you need me before then, and I seem grouchy, just know it's because I hate Russell Westbrook, and not because I am extremely angsty over how entitled I imagine my kids feel on Christmas. How do I know they feel entitled on Christmas? Because that's how I felt when I was a kid! See you Tuesday, elves, have a Happy Xmas!
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