6 Thoughts
1) Standard-issue road blowout of a bad team. Philly shot jumpers well for a half and sort of hung around for a while, but the Heat got easy shots all night long and blew the Sixers out in the third quarter. Five wins in a row on the road, ten wins in a row overall, everybody is playing well, our two best players have "side projects" going, and even the Heat's announcers are rolling. Mike Miller stayed home with the ear infection - didn't need him! - so leggo!
2) Remember how the last two and a half seasons there would be certain times of the game, generally at the beginning of the second and fourth quarters, when the Heat would have "Bosh Time?" KJ James and Dwyane Wade would rest at the same time, and the idea would be to get Bosh extra offensive touches? Yeah, that's over. Coach Spo switched this up a few weeks back, and now this never happens. All three start together, then Bosh and Wade usually come out towards the end of the first quarter, and KJ stays out there. Then for the rest of the game, either he or Wade (or both) is always on the court. Umm, good idea. It seemed way harder for Spo to figure out than everyone else on Earth. That formula worked to perfection tonight. KJ played a controlled, but physically dominant, game - mostly sought out good spots on the floor, accepted Sixer double teams, and found open teammates. A very efficient night for KJ: 16 points on 7-12, 10 rebounds, 11 assists. Triple double! But Wade was the best player in the game (for once - tough when the best player on Earth is your teammate!): 33 points on 14-18 from the floor. He made mid-range jumper after mid-range jumper, and occasionally mixed in a whirling drive to the rim. KJ James is the MVP - no doubt. Dwyane Wade, though - there's not another player better than him in the Eastern Conference, right? He's averaging 21 points a game on 50% shooting from the floor, as a 6'4" guard. He also gets 5 boards and 5 assists a night, and makes all kinds of dynamic defensive plays, especially when the game is on the line. He passed the 16,000 career point mark tonight. Wow...
3) Or: WOW! New nickname for Dwyane Wade! He and his Chinese sneaker company, Li-Ning, have a marketing campaign called "Way of Wade." Acronym: WOW! Dwyane goes to Asia a great deal in the offseason with his various endorsement interests, and a Chinese sneaker company finally dropped big, big dollars to steal him away from Nike. He dropped a "WOW" on Heat television host Jason Jackson in the post-game interview, and Dwyane's long been a good marketer: you're not going to hear much else out of his mouth for the next good while. When Dwyane was a free agent two and a half years ago, alot of people thought that he would sign in New York for marketing purposes - "he can make sooo much more money on endorsements playing in New York." Yeah - you can't go anywhere without seeing a Raymond Felton ad, these days...KJ has his own little side project going as well, more of the basketball-related variety. To start every game, Chris Bosh wins the tip (you know, I don't know how he does it - this seems like something he would be terrible at - but he does), right back to James, standing 8 feet behind him. Then KJ bends over, puts the ball on the ground, like a football center, and shotgun snaps it back to Mario "Emcee" Chalmers, who then brings it up to start the game. For sure, one of these days Rio isn't going to be paying attention, and the ball is going to sail past him out of bounds, which will make it even better, although at that point Coach Fun (aka Spo) will shut it down. Remember when KJ was a free agent the same summer as Dwyane and a few people thought he might sign in New Jersey because their owner was from overseas, and he could really capture the international endorsement market? Yeah - you can't go anywhere in Europe without seeing a Gerald-Wallace-hiking-the-opening-tip-back-to-Joe-Johnson ad, these days!
4) The Sixers are not very good, and their very high-strung coach Doug Collins is not having fun. Is he ever? Answer: no. Heat play-by-player Eric Reid reported that Collins "was not happy at halftime of their loss to Minnesota the other night, or after the game." Or, anytime, ever! That's why he's Doug Collins! And he certainly was not happy when the Heat only had 5 fouls called on them through the first three quarters, at which point the game was over. Lot of jumpers by the Sixers, to be fair, and especially when there is a rim-protecting statue like Chris Bosh anchoring the defense...Also, in the first quarter, The Coach, Tony Fiorentino, broke down Sixer guard Evan Turner's repertoire: "he's an attacker, he is going to try to drive and score - he's probably not going to pass the ball." High praise!
5) So Jax has been on a roll lately: last game he slipped in a little Michel-le "Nicety" reference. I always thought Dr. Dre's (or was it Reggie Rose's?) quick rap at the end of that jam was kind of an underrated nice moment. His flow is kind of underrated in general, right? I enjoy his style more than that nasally Snoop Dog, frankly. Tonight Jax took it back even farther, and whiter - much whiter - when he dropped a "time keeps on slippin" from the Steven Miller Band on us. Say it ain't so, Jax! I once saw the Steven Miller Band at Lake Compounce in Connecticut when I was in high school - longest 8 hours of my life. A few weeks later, I saw them again at Giants Stadium, opening up for The Dead. "If they play 'Abracadabra,' I'm leaving," our biggest Deadhead friend, WebMinutos, told us as we entered the stadium. You mean like to go to the bathroom? "No - I'm leaving the whole concert, I'm walking out, getting in my car, and driving back to Connecticut. F- seeing the Dead." Haaa! I guess he really didn't like that song! They didn't play it. C'mon, Web - and Jax - you know I love you boys, but neither of you know a thing about wild mountain honey...
6) So at Dos Minutos International Headquarters this past week, The Captain announced to me that, for charitable purposes, he is volunteering next weekend at The Honda Classic, which is a professional golf tournament in Palm Beach County. Great news - was he excited? "No - I have to learn a whole manual of etiquette, and rules, and procedures and things, it's a thick manual, it will take forever. It's like slavery." Ummm, yes? Kind of just like slavery, except for the part that at the end of six hours walking around "shhh-ing" people on an immaculately manicured golf course with Tiger Woods, The Captain will drink three Jim Beam & Cokes and then drive home to sleep in his own bed in the luxurious West Palm Beach enclave known as The Acres. Gosh, the trouble The Captain's eyes have seen! Old Man River, he just keeps rollin' along!
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Fourth game in five nights tomorrow, back in Miami against Cleveland. Cue the KJ-is-going-back-to-Cleveland-to-play-with-Kyrie-Irving-after-next-season columns in three, two, one...If you need me before then, I'll be working on my "Jax' Greatest Hits" mixtape. Have a good Sunday, everyone (I'm looking at you, Doug Collins).
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