1) The Heat sat Dwyane Wade, KJ James, and Mario Chalmers again - surprising because it was a home game. Chris Bosh and the backups - Shane Battier called them The Expendables tonight - played one great half of basketball (Mike Miller!), but fell short down the stretch when Carmelo Anthony kept pouring in shots, and Norris Cole turned the ball over like, well, like he was Norris Cole. Entertaining game, though meaningless (for Miami). Guess what? Mike Miller was so good that even in a loss we're doing it: LET IT FLY!!!
2) It wasn't only the Heat who took the game lightly and rested their starters. So did TNT - it was a national television game only tonight, and it was a brutal crew. BRUTAL! Ernie Johnson was stuck in the studio with Dennis Scott and Brent Barry, I think - one of the Barrys, does it matter which one? I didn't watch that: TNT studio show is unwatchable, even when Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley are not there. But you can't really get away from the play-by-play and color team. Play-by-play veteran Kevin Calabro, in lieu of actually using multiple adjectives to describe anything that happened in the game, just carpet-bombed every action with "outstanding." Carmelo Anthony is an "outstanding" scorer. The Miami Heat have had an "outstanding" season. Even things that were clearly not "outstanding," Kevin Calabro still described as "outstanding": Norris Cole is an "outstanding" second year player, and that was an "outstanding" pass he just threw into to Chris Bosh's back 40 feet from the basket. Nuclear war is "outstanding." In fairness, he did redeem himself somewhat when he referred to the Birdman as "Bird Anderson!" HUBIE-ISM!!! But nothing redeemed the animatronic version of former Knick point guard Greg Anthony, whoneverstoppeddroningoninthesamevoicetoneandcadencenevervaryingitonetimenevertakingabreathbecauseifIdothisbuswillexplode. Holy cow was he brutal. He also pointed out late in the game that, "honestly, it does have a bit of an impact that Wade, James, and Chalmers are not playing." Really? Honestly? I don't feel like you are being honest about that. The Heat choosing to sit Wade, James, and Chalmers in a totally meaningless game for them has "a bit of an impact?" Greg Anthony seems like a smart and nice dude, but he isn't too good at this specific job. Final grade for TNT's coverage: "outstanding!"
3) That was kind of negative - it actually made the game more enjoyable, we were laughing at the announcers all night long. I even enjoyed Carmelo Anthony's performance. He was on fire, scored 50 ("I'm 50, and I like to kick!")! He didn't even bother driving to the basket. No need to, just kept pouring in jump shots over Udonis Haslem and Rashard Lewis all night, finished 18-26 from the floor, 7-10 on triples. Down the stretch, with the game over, and Battier taking over defensively and challenging him a little, Melo willfully demanded the ball and went for his 50 - hit an incredibly tough pullup, total-ballhog jumper on the last Knick possession to get it. It was his night, he earned it - you don't see a guy that hot very often. Little different with KJ James guarding you, though (as Melo found out in last year's playoffs).
4) Well, Melo had 27 in the first half alone, but I think we all agree that it was the Mike Mil-lar show. Late in the first quarter, someone missed a jumper, and Miller came flying in and tip-slammed it home! Hard! The bench exploded (With laughter! And excitement!). But he wasn't even close to done. In one long second quarter stretch he: had a crazy, spinning reverse tip-follow; snatched a defensive rebound one-handed; after a Heat miss, snuck up behind Tyson Chandler, who had grabbed the rebound, swiped the ball, reset the offense, relocated, and drilled a triple from the top; made another quick triple; then a driving, one-handed scoop shot; then stole a pass, headed up court, but got the ball stolen while getting knocked down by Pablo Prigioni - no foul, what the hell, don't we protect the superstars in this league?; bounced right back with another triple! DOING! IT! ALL! Finished the half with 18 points on 7-8 shooting, 4-5 triples, and 6 rebounds. "Outstanding," exclaimed Kevin Calabro. "He'srelivingtheglorydays," droned Animatronic Anthony (Hubie-ism). Reliving the glory days? How dare you! THESE ARE THE GLORY DAYS!!! Mil-lar ended the game with 18 points, also, so he, you know, dropped off a little...Still, in all seriousness, it was a glimpse of how good a ballplayer this dude was at one time. When Miami signed him to support the three All-Stars, they probably hoped he wouldn't break both thumbs and require shoulder surgery that season. And as it was, they came up one guy short, right? In those Finals against Dallas in 2011, if Miller is healthy, maybe they win that series. Last year, they found the extra guy: Battier. When they also got a vintage Mike Miller performance in Game 5 of the Finals, it was curtains for OKC...
5) A quick pre-game look in at the warmups found Birdman Anderson in deep conversation at center court with Kenyon Martin. They were former teammates in Denver, because of course they were.
"Did you read the New York Times review of Nathan Lane's new Broadway show 'The Nance?'"
"Read the review? I went to opening night!"
"Seriously? How was it?"
"Outstanding!"
6) Time for another episode of "Who Is The Racist?" This is when the black M.Minutos and the (very) white me have a racial dispute, and then right here in this blog we try to sort out who was the racist in the situation. Ready?...There is a new movie about Jackie Robinson coming out, apparently. I kept seeing the ads for it during the game. M.Minutos kept missing the ad, then was mildly offended when she asked me who was playing Jackie Robinson and I answered, "I don't know - some black guy." Listen, I saw the ad ten times: I don't know who the guy is. I know tons of black actors: Wesley Snipes, Hill Harper, that Boris dude from the tv version of "Soul Food" who looks like former Dolphin Jason Taylor but way more handsome...I know a lot of black dudes. This dude playing Jackie Robinson wasn't any of them, to my eye. But he was definitely black. Oh, what, only a black guy could play Jackie Robinson in a movie? You don't think a Jeff Bridges could pull it off? Bullcrap. So, who is the racist, me or M.Minutos? Always remember, you have to apply orignal MTV Real Worlder Kevin Powell's time-tested formula: "race plus power equals racism." Jackie Robinson played 10 years in the big leagues and hit 137 homers. That's decent power, but not great. So he's not the racist. But by the same token, I hit zero major league homeruns, and in fact, while pitching in high school, gave up a titanic first-pitch homerun to future big league power hitter Mo Vaughn (I thought I could slip a quick fastball by him and get ahead in the count). So it can't be me, I don't have any power. I can't be the racist in this situation. M.Minutos, once again, you are the racist!
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I'm going to Savannah tomorrow! Holiday! I'm skipping the games against Charlotte and Philly this weekend - no blog. I'll be back next week to grind out the last few regular season games, and prepare for the playoffs. If you need me before then, I'll be on Tybee Island, drunk. Have a good weekend, y'all!
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