Big game on right now, if people need links to watch let me know. Heat should win this, but will be a fun game.
it's scary to see the two best perimeter players clicking at the same time TOGETHER. hopefully lebron and wade stay in the midrange 95% of the time. nobody can guard them like that. let their 3pt shooters shoot 3s; they create. this was why they lost to the knicks when they start trying to look pretty with the 3s.
i'm not sure i've seen 2 separate guys this on fire for this many shots at the same time before. just unbelievable. on the other hand, lebron and wade are due for about 15 straight misses and with the magic's 3 point shooting, i'm sure this will be a close game again at some point, unless the magic just lay down.
Bibby has played some solid D, and has looked pretty good out there. This is what a lot of teams in the playoffs are going to be worried about, when James and Wade start hitting everything.
thank goodness miller protected his meaningless field goal percentage instead of trying to add 3 points to his team's total.
lebron hasn't taken a 3 yet. he's been in the post a ton. hopefully this past break has forced lebron to change his game. this team needs an inside presence. bosh is not it.
The Heat cannot win a championship this way. In the playoffs, the Celts and Bulls will make it much more difficult for the Big 2 to explode like tonight. This is a fun game to watch but, if anything, it confirms to me the Heat might be just another (better) version of Phoenix Suns teams of the past. What I mean by that is they destroy lesser teams and are among the leaders in blowout wins because of their style and/or athleticism but run into big trouble against good teams. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they say the Heat were 12-15 against teams above .500? If that is the case, their record against sub .500 teams is 31-2. That's extreme. I'm not saying the Heat won't improve and start clicking better later on, but I still doubt they will make the Finals, much less win the championship.
The Heat are nothing like the Suns. Fans focus way too much on offense; defensively the Heat are the best team in the NBA. This is partly due to Spoelstra's emphasize on D (his offensive gamplan needs some work) and partly due to having long, athletic wings to be able to hedge and cover. When the Lakers played the Heat on Christmas, they were unable to exploit all of their so-called big-men advantages due to the Heat's intense ball denial and pressuring. This is the kind of thing that will win them games in the postseason, not Lebron/Wade/Bosh going for monster games.
They are better than the Suns because of their defense, but they way their offense bogs down against good teams is a very bad sign for the playoffs. Whether you want to admit it or not, there is a reason they are 12-15 against teams with a winning record.
WOW... Btw, The Magic just beat the Knicks, and are one the better teams in the NBA. Everything else you said, will be picked about by other posters.
Pick away. I don't believe the Magic are one of the better teams in the NBA. They have almost no chance to make the Finals. At best, they are 4th best team in just the Eastern Conference. Beating the Knicks in Orlando proves exactly what?
while lebron did do a lot of work in the post, in terms of made shots, he and wade both hit 7 jumpers from at least 15 feet out (going by the play-by-play on espn). that's 14 of their 18 made shots. orlando's D may not have been great, but lebron and wade were taking shots you want them to take and just hitting at a crazy rate. of course, orlando doesn't look any more interested to start the 2nd half so lebron and wade may not be due for anything.
They have lost to Boston by a total of about 6 points and about the same for the Bulls. They were very close to winning those games, if it wasn't for the last few minutes. The heat will be the number one seed come playoffs in the East, and no team will wont to face them.
watch how they are scoring in this game. if lebron will operate in the post and midpost a ton, the heat will be better for it. wade is doing the same. although those 2 are scoring a lot, it's b/c they're not being doubled a ton in the post. and their point differential vs those top teams: a measley 2.5 points. let's see if lebron/wade stick to this recipe of staying in the mid to low post to create an inside presence. comparing them to the suns is false b/c they play top notch defense. they can win games with defense. and they CAN be more disciplined offensively, and they are better when they are. tonight they have played extremely disciplined offense: run their sets, no heat checks from wade/bron despite being hot... this is a good sign for them. but orlando isn't very good so we don't know they'll face the spurs and bulls in the next 2 games so let's see if they can sustain this offensive efficiency
do you guys see how lebron going into the post forcing dwight to double, really messing up the defense. he needs to do this ALL THE TIME. hopefully this game will be the turning point in his game and the team. bulls? celts? lakers? spurs? no one can check him in the post. he needs to be their inside presence.
and once again no one will ever accuse spoelstra of being proactive with timeouts. took about 6 straight possessions of the heat playing with no fire on offense and defense and just shooting jumpers (especially that possession where chalmers apparently thought he should take a pull-up 22 footer) and the magic making a 7-0 run before he finally called a timeout. and they got lucky with some orlando misses on good shots on a few other possessions.
This game provse zippo about the Heat. I told my son before the game started don't get excited about whoever wins. Orlando should be ashamed of themselves. Howard has called his teammates out about effort and they are letting him down again. The Heat are feasting against this tissue paper defense in a game where both Wade and LeBron are on fire. The Bulls and Spurs games may not indicate much either because playoff basketball is so different than the "passing ships in the night" nature of the regular season. I think the Bulls and Celts defense will give the Heat major league fits in a 7-game series. The Spurs defense this year hasn't impressed me so much. In fact, they haven't impressed me the last couple of games since TP went down. I agree with Charles Barkley they are overrated a bit. t_mac1, LeBron is the best player in the NBA, but you need to take a chill pill and don't read some much into this game against a team that doesn't care. Calm down.
this is something the heat have to fix. they let down their intensity with big leads. got big leads vs boston, bulls, knicks, let their guard down and lost all the momentum. they have 20 games left to learn how to sustain their intensity and go for the kill. it also helps the magic are doubling lebron at every opportunity now
