First off, I just wanna say you guys look real tough in your little suits. Real classy, but like I said, tough too. It's been quite a ride this season. There's been times when I thought you guys were on the verge of a real break-thru (Coach Spoelstra buzz word) and times when I thought you guys might wind up under .500 and out of the playoffs. Turns out you were somewhere between the two. I guess you just weren't quite fluid (another Coach Spoelstra buzz word) enough. Now, I'd like to have some parting words with each one of you guys.
Dwyane Wade: Simply put, you are phenomenal at playing basketball. Sure, your fashion sense is iffy at best, but so is Jordan's. Although you didn't have a season that was as transcendent as last year's, the Heat finished with a better record, so who cares. It seems like you'd like to stick around in Miami, but I know that you have to see the front office make some big moves before you sign on the dotted line. I just hope Pat Riley knows what he's doing this summer, because it'd be a damn shame if you left.
Michael Beasley: I just can't figure you out, bro. I know you're young and have room to grow, but I'm just not convinced you're the guy everyone was gushing about before the Heat drafted you. You've got all the talent in the world, but you just can't seem to get your head in the game. I'd love to see you turn into a 20-10 guy and win multiple championships with D-Wade in Miami, but it's starting to seem less and less likely.
And a new Dank Game nickname is born! Arising from the abyss of a poor shooting season that has put him out of the Heat's rotation, "The Dayton Kid" Daequan Cook is officially back!
Maybe it was Dwyane Wade's recent comments that coach Erik Spoelstra needs to "mix it up" on offense, maybe it was an opportunity allowed by point guard Mario Chalmers' absence, or maybe it was encouragement for Daequan to represent Miami with pride in the Three-Point Contest. Whatever it was, Spoelstra let Daequan play and the Dayton Kid responded.
Cook was instrumental in opening up the Heat's lead in the fourth quarter while Dwyane Wade rested. The Dayton Kid hit back to back three-pointers to take the Heat up 77-71. Cook would continue to strive throughout the fourth as the Heat closed the game out in convincing fashion. He finished the game going 7-12 from the field and 3-5 from distance for 17 points.
Equally instrumental in Miami's win was center Jermaine O'Neal and power forward Udonis Haslem. Jermaine made big plays down the stretch, finishing the night 9-13 for 19 points with 10 rebounds, while Haslem also helped keep the Hawks at bay going 7-9 for 14 points with 12 rebounds. A great night for the Heat's front court, despite Beasley having an off night. No matter how much Heat fans (myself included) question coach Spoelstra's use of Haslem over Beasley in fourth quarters, you can't deny Haslem's consistency in rebounding, defending, and shooting the ball. The guy is committed to this team, and I'd hate to ever see him leave.
Dorell Wright continued to make a case for the starting small forward position, as he hit 4 of 5 shots for 10 points and dished out two assists. Quentin Richardson's decline from his impressive start to the season continues, as he shot poorly from the field and finished with just 2 points.
Dwyane Wade was unable to score 20 points for the second night in the row, scoring 18 on 7 of 15 shooting. But who cares if other players can pick up the slack. Despite being held in check most of the first half, Wade did help seal the deal down the stretch while also contributing a double-double with 11 assists.
What a great win for the Heat heading into the All-Star Break. For the first time in a while, I feel relatively proud to be a Heat fan. They held the Hawks to 37.5 percent shooting while shooting over 50 percent. They also held Atlanta's marquee player Joe Johnson to 16 points on 7-21 shooting, with the Dayton Kid guarding Johnson for many stretches. What stood out most was that the Heat bench outscored the Hawks 48 to 8. In Atlanta's defense, they were without Sixth Man of the Year favorite and notorious Heat killer Jamal Crawford, but a win's a win.
The Heat are now just a game below .500 (which sucks, but it could be worse), lead the season series against the Hawks at 2-1, and now hold the 7th seed in the East after the Bulls fell to the Magic tonight.
I just want to point out the Hawks' "every guy" names: Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and Joe Smith.
Get the title? It's a play on that Gloria Estefan song, "Turn the Beat Around." I know, it's terrible. But that's mostly what we do here at Dank Game: make terrible titles for posts that are marginally less terrible. If I got that song stuck in your head, my bad.
Now, onto the Heat, turning it around.
The Heat had lost five straight coming into last night's game against the injury ridden Rockets (Trevor Ariza and Kyle Lowry both out), and they came out and took care of business at home by embarrassing Houston 99-66. The Heat played some of their best team basketball of the season, with six players in double figures and 27 assists on 41 field goals. Wade only posted 17 points and the Heat still won by 33. Usually this season Wade has to be nearing 30 for the Heat to even be close to getting a win. Even Daequan Cook got involved, scoring 10 points. Maybe Erik Spoelstra just wanted to remind everyone that he's still in the league before he defends his Three-Point Shooting crown during All-Star Weekend.
The first half was all Miami, with the Heat up 56 to 31. With Quentin Richardson picking up two quick fouls trying to guard the bulkier Carl Landry in the post, Dorell Wright came into the game and helped sparked the Heat to its big lead. Wright was aggressive in driving to the hoop and finding the open man. He closed the half with seven assists, but didn't get anymore in the second half. Udonis Haslem was also a big part of the Heat pulling away early, as he drilled 18-foot jump shots over and over again. He was 7 of 8 from the field to start the game.
The Rockets came out in the second half hitting multiple three-pointers which got the lead down into the teens, but the Heat pushed it back into the twenties by the end of the third quarter. From there on out, the Rockets seemed to accept the loss as they just went through the motions.
Typically, the Heat have trouble matching up with other team's height, but with the Rockets missing Yao Ming for the season, they're one of few teams Miami actually has a height advantage against. The Heat used this advantage, as Joel Anthony blocked 5 shots and JO blocked 2. I think this weakness will keep Houston out of the playoffs, as they have 6'9" Luis Scola and the big bodied 6'6" Chuck Hayes taking turns at center. 6-footer Aaron Brooks, who's a high volume scorer, couldn't seem to get to the hoop all night without meeting one of Miami's big men. He struggled to get anything going, finishing the game with only one assist and 3-16 shooting for 10 points. This attempted fast-break more or less summed up the game for Brooks:
I love me some two-handed blocks.
Another thing worth noting is that the Heat had plenty of fast break points against Houston. According to TeamRankings.com, the Heat rank second to last in the league in fast break points, averaging only 9.6 a game. I wish the Heat would get out and run more off of turnovers and defensive stops, as it makes for more exciting basketball as well as easier buckets, like this one from last night:
It was a great rebound game for the Heat, yet it can't be overstated. With the way things have gone this season, I expect them to get blown out or lose at the last second tonight in Atlanta. A win against the Hawks tonight would be huge, as the Heat would go into the All-Star break just a game below .500. Plus, if Chicago loses to Orlando and Charlotte loses to Minnesota, the Heat could find themselves with the sixth seed in the East. Although Chicago losing to Orlando is highly probable, I wouldn't put money on the latter.
This season's Miami Heat team has been a huge flirt. They start the season out strong at 6-1, and before you know it they fall back into a middling team struggling to remain above .500. Then they have those games when they look poised to turn a corner, only to be put in their place by a buzzer beating freak shot by the best finisher in the game. Then they come out and get embarrassed by the Grizzlies on their home court. Less than a week after that, they blow out Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic at home.
And then there's games like last night, when they trade runs with the KG-less Celtics and let a sizable lead in the 4th quarter disappear, putting the game up for grabs in the waning moments. And then, when Wade seemingly has the game sealed after a an improbable steal and dunk putting them up by 2 with .6 seconds remaining, Paul Pierce executes a perfect mid-court inbounds alley oop to Rajon Rondo for a tip-in that would tie the game and send it to overtime. And of course, the Heat collapse in overtime. What makes this even more heartbreaking is that the game should have ended after Wade's dunk. The time keepers mistakenly stopped and restarted the clock after a Celtics turnover with about 8 seconds left, as they anticipated the Heat to call timeout. I don't know how much more of this I can take, and when you factor in the Bengals' gut wrenching season, I'll probably be going grey by the time the NBA Playoffs roll around... but I digress.
Dwyane Wade seemed livid after this loss, and you can't blame him. Dude posted a season high 44 points and basically had the game won only to see it go to waste because Mario Chalmers couldn't keep up with Rajon Rondo on that final play in regulation. In a season that's been all about assessing the Heat's youth, you have to wonder if this single play has made Chalmers' future with the Heat all the more questionable. While Chalmers did have a few big plays (mostly steals), he shot poorly from the field and crumbled on defense when it mattered most. Is this really the type of running mate Wade is hoping to spend the rest of his career with? Can Chalmers really contribute to a championship team? The answer to those questions is seeming more and more like a resounding "no."
As for the rest of the Heat's youth movement, Dayton's Daequan Cook has basically been banished from the rotation as he still struggles to find his shooting stroke, which he lost all the way back at last year's All Star break. Dorell Wright has been pretty solid this year, but it's doubtful Heat management will resign him unless he's willing to settle for a meager contract. Michael Beasley still looks to be an All Star in the making, but you have to wonder if he can maintain consistency in the playoffs if the Heat do retain Wade and become contenders with a big free agent signing this summer. I even have my doubts that Beasley has what it takes to contribute throughout a single playoff series, although I'd like to think otherwise. If only coach Spoelstra would give Beasley minutes when the games matter most so we could have a better idea. Lord knows his offense could've been used last night in overtime. With that said, you can't blame Spo for sticking with Haslem last night as Udonis had the hot hand in the second half, nailing baseline jumper after baseline jumper to finish with 19 points.
And so Dank Gamers, I'll end this long overdue Miami Heat rant with more or less no conclusion, because it's hard to make any sense of this team thus far. Maybe the inevitable return of Rafer Alston (who's contract was bought out by the lowly Nets) to South Beach can bring some perspective to this motley cast of characters, or maybe he'll make the roster all the more confounding. I just hope Pat Riley has a better idea of where this team is headed than the rest of us Heat fans.
The Heat have finally come back down to earth after an unexpected 6-1 start, but first I want to address something else: that dick Teenage Mustache spreading lies about me. In his recent Thunder vs. Heat Dank Game Showdown post, 'Stache claims that as a child I thought the Miami Heat were a local team based in Oxford, which is widely known as Miami of Ohio. While it was meant to be fun and games, more people than I'm comfortable with have taken 'Stache's silly joke seriously. So let me clear the air and make it known that I have always been aware that the Miami Heat were based in Miami, FL. I'm sure 'Stache is off in Newark, OH (pronounced "Nurk") cackling with satisfaction as he reads this. Now, back to the Miami of Ohio Hea... I mean... the Miami Heat... of Florida. I swear, I've known all along.
The Heat have dropped two straight back-to-back games, which seemed due to happen at some point. In the Dank Game Showdown between the Heat and Thunder, Oklahoma City's height was just too much for the Heat. Thabo Sefolosha has been gaining a reputation as a lockdown defender, and he looked the part guarding Dwyane Wade who couldn't seem to get a good look at the basket. Sefolosha's length pestered Wade, as Thabo kept Wade in check and at one point stripped the ball from him as he was driving which led to an easy fastbreak dunk. Another matchup in which height gave OKC the advantage was 6'9" Kevin Durant against 6'6" Quentin Richardson. I thought that coach Spoelstra should've utilized 6'9" Dorell Wright against Durant, who's played some good perimeter defense when given the chance. Dorell guarded LeBron better than anyone else on the Heat. With the young point guard showdown, Russell Westbrook picked up where he left off last season in murdering Mario Chalmers. Westbrook more or less finished the Heat off halfway through the 4th after hitting a deep three to put the Thunder up 87-72. The only bright spot was that Daequan Cook found his three-point stroke in the fourth quarter, almost making it a game. But of course, it was too little too late.
I only watched the second half of last night's game against the Hawks, so I don't have much insight on this one. With Udonis Haslem out and Beasley finding himself on the bench due to foul trouble, Shavlik Randolph (pictured above) played a lot more than I would've liked. By the way, I mainly just used that image because Shav (which I can only assume he likes to be called) has that certain white bread look that you can't find outside of Oxford's campus. Anyhow, Shav had yet to play a game this season and he looked pretty shook out there. Again, coach Spoelstra went with a lineup at the beginning of the fourth that made no sense to me. For some reason he saw it fit to throw Shav, Carlos Arroyo, Daequan Cook, James Jones, and Joel Anthony on the floor together. The Hawks' lead would go from 7 to 12 in a matter of minutes with this group. By the time Spoelstra put a real lineup on the floor, the Heat looked like they had already accepted a loss. This team really needs to get it together, as the past few games they haven't played with any urgency.
First off, I just wanna say you guys look real tough in your little suits. Real classy, but like I said, tough too. It's been quite a ride this season. There's been times when I thought you guys were on the verge of a real break-thru (Coach Spoelstra buzz word) and times when I thought you guys might wind up under .500 and out of the playoffs. Turns out you were somewhere between the two. I guess you just weren't quite fluid (another Coach Spoelstra buzz word) enough. Now, I'd like to have some parting words with each one of you guys.
