What’s up with the Heat? Chris Bosh sat this one out, but LeBron came back after missing two games, and Miami still dropped their fourth in a row. Scoring hasn’t been the problem… the Heat are averaging 98 points per game during the losing streak, just 3.64 fewer than their season average. Their shooting percentage has been down about five percent from their season mark, but that’s to be expected when you suddenly have Mario Chalmers firing shots that LeBron James normally takes. What has certainly been missing during this losing streak is that stingey defense that held 16 consecutive opponents under 100. The opposition is putting up an average of about 108 points during this string of Ls. That’s 18 PPG more than they allowed during the dominant 21 of 22 stretch. For the Heat to get back on track it looks like they’ll have to buckle down.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: Decent top five from a two-game Tuesday. Check out the MONSTER putback slam by Gerald Wallace… I haven’t seen anything like that from him in a while.
- Lowlight Recap: DJ Augustin gets away with 17 steps on a fastbreak layup, then draws a phantom charge on Derrick Rose. That’s as poor as officiating gets. Imagine if this happened against the Celtics… I think old Tommy Heinsohn would’ve had a heart attack.
- LeBron James, who turned his ankle against the Clippers about a week ago, returned from a two game absense to score 34 points, grab 10 boards, and dish seven dimes on the Hawks. The problem was that it took him 30 shots and six turnovers to get there. Miami sputtered offensively, shooting just 28-77 (36%) from the floor. Joel Anthony, who replaced Chris Bosh (ankle) in the starting lineup, contributed 16 boards and three swats but didn’t attempt a single shot and put up a goose egg in the points column. Even with Joel’s effort on the glass Miami was outrebounded offensively 15 to 11. Combine that with a six-turnover deficit and the result is an 18-shot advantage for Atlanta. The Birds did waste a lot of their extra opportunities gunning threes–they only made 7 of a season-high 31 attempts–but it’s not like Miami was any better at 7 of 30. LeBron was responsible for eight of those misses. ATL ended up shooting about six percent better than Miami, which was good enough to eek out a four-point victory in OT on the road. Wade and James scored 61 of Miami’s 89. Without Chris Bosh they simply didn’t have enough firepower. I think Miami will always struggle when missing any member of their big three as their role players are so weak offensively. Eddie House is probably the best thing they’ve got going for them off the bench as far as getting buckets, and he hasn’t even been in the rotation lately. They could really use some contributions from Mike Miller, who’s been ice-cold all season long. As for the Hawks, this is a good win even though Chris Bosh was absent. Atlanta has struggled to beat good teams all season, but over the past couple weeks they’ve beaten three of them now (Clippers, Jazz, Heat).
- The Bobcats ended a three-game skid with an 83-82 win over the Bulls, who they’ve now beaten twice in seven days. Oddly enough, the ‘Cats are the only team to beat the Bulls since January 8th, a stretch that includes wins over the Celtics and Heat for Chicago. Derrick Rose was forced to carry the Bulls on his back with two starters (Noah, Boozer) out and poor offensive performances from pretty much everyone else (Luol Deng went 2-11). Rose dropped 33 on 14 of 28. The rest of the team accounted for 49 points on 49 shots. Derrick damn near got it done anyway, but front rimmed a fading jumper at the buzzer. The Bobcats didn’t play too well offensively either–40 percent shooting, 0-13 from three–but they only turned the ball over seven times, which was key in getting them extra looks. DJ Augustin was their leading scorer with 15.
- Marcus Camby apparently has a torn meniscus and will become the fifth Blazer to have knee surgery this season. Man, when will this team catch a break? It’s been a never-ending stream of surprising injury news coming out of Portland since 2007.
Quote of the Day: Well, I don’t have much to choose from. Here’s LeBron James with a quote that doesn’t irk me, even though it’s a blatant lie…
“My teammates did a good job keeping the game close.”
That’s nice, LeBron, but your teammates (aside from D-Wade) didn’t do a damn thing, and they never will, because they suck.
Photo of the Day: Once again, not much to choose from. I’ll give my guy Jamal Crawford a little face time…
