6 Thoughts
1) An exhausted-looking back-to-back win for the Heat after winning yesterday in Toronto, and staying over late to watch the Super Bowl before flying home. The Heat were 1-12 from three point land, and couldn't get any rhythm going. So what did KJ James do? Pound. The. Paint. 31 points on 13-14 from the floor, the first time in his career he's only missed one shot. Didn't take a jumper the entire game - every basket was in the paint, drives, left-handed jump hooks, right-handed baby sky hooks. The only shot he missed was when he okey doked Charlotte 7 footer Bismack Biyombo into the air, and Biyombo fell on him for an obvious foul which, of course, went uncalled. KJ added 8 rebounds and 8 assists. There have been six 31-8-8 games in the NBA this year, five by KJ, and one by the reprehensible Russell Westbrook (and it probably took him 35 shots to do it). Goodness gracious - KJ is almost as good as Kevin Durant! Let it fly! Speaking of letting it fly, would it kill Spo to put Mike Miller into a game for a minute, especially on a back-to-back when none of the other shooters have their legs? Oh, it would kill Spo? Okay, never mind!
2) Chris Bosh was good down the stretch for the second straight game. Yesterday, after the game he told Heat sideline reporter Jason Jackson that he wanted to apologize to the fans, to the team, to everyone, for his less-than-stellar play as of late, and promised to play better. You know what? Forget the talking about it. Just do the "playing better," and we'll all notice, I promise you. Down the stretch, Charlotte tried to guard him with the, umm, shot-conscious Byron Mullens, who was only too happy to let Bosh score in order to get the ball back for the Bobcats, so they could get another shot up. And by, "get the ball back for the Bobcats, so they could get another shot up," I mean, "so Byron Mullens could jack it!' A very efficient 11-18 for 23 for Chris, including several big hoops down the stretch to help the Heat pull away. A less efficient 5-14 for Byron Mullens - he was limited to 14 shots because he only touched the ball 15 times (more on this in #4). I'll say this about him, he doesn't get cheated, he gets his money's worth out there. Let it fly, Byron Mullens, let it fly!
3) Play of the game, runner up: in the second quarter, when Dwyane Wade got out in transition and threw a perfect one-handed, cross-court, bounce pass to a sprinting Shane Battier (with Byron Mullens in, sort of, pursuit). Battier took one bounce, elevated, and stuffed the ball home as the Heat exploded off the bench! There was an attempted "hold back" celebration by Mike Mil-lar (you know, when a dude has to mock 'hold everyone back'), but he wasn't quick enough to stop a resting KJ, who made it past Mike onto the court as Battier laughed, and pointed at the bench. During his post-halftime interview, Assistant Coach Tone Loc (David Fizdale) claimed it was Battioke's first dunk in four years. After the game, Battier told reporters: "that was for all the suburban dads out there. I might release a DVD of that...I got up there and I honestly didn't know what to do." Hey, Shane Battioke: less joking, MORE DUNKING!
4) Play of the game: duh. On Byron Mullens' 15th touch, he iso'd against The Birdman, Chris Anderson, tried to put the ball on the floor, and before he could even get it out of his hands, Bird, bringing the things that a Birdman brings and that a Birdman does, poked it free, scooped it up, and for the second time in a week, went coast-to-coast, Euro-stepped the other team's point guard, and dropped the ball in the bucket! In the Sunsports Lounge after the game, Bird told Jax that he sits there and watches Dwyane and KJ make similar plays, "and it trickles into my mind, then I rip it, and I go with it...Then I drive a Red Range!" Bird-man! Still isn't dunking it, doesn't quite have his legs yet, told Jax he's another week away from dunking those coast-to-coast forays, although as he pointed out to (the best) Heat beat reporter Joe Goodman before the game, "you don't need legs to fly, baby!"
5) Even all these years later, it is still irritating that Bobcats guard Ramon Sessions pronounces his name, "Rah-mahn," instead of its proper pronunciation, "Rah-mone." Listen, none of us were born yesterday, Hot Stuff, we all know R-A-M-O-N is pronounced "Rah-mone." Solution: from now on, I'm calling him "Rah-mont." I'm halving the difference for him, and he's lucky to get that much.
6) Some people are tripping out about the Super Bowl commercial where the dorky white dude was talking in a Jamaican accent, saying it was racist because it stereotyped Jamaicans? So dumb. C'mon people, get real: Jamaicans don't get upset about stuff like that, they're wayyy too stoned to get mad.
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I don't know when the next game is - I think Wednesday against Houston, but you might want to check your TV Guide. If you need me before then (if that is when the game is), I'll be making out with Bar Refaeli. I don't want to, we're just filming an ad for Dos Minutos. See ya!
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