Courtesy of Diego: For the Miami Heat’s opening preseason game against the Detroit Pistons, LeBron James had the stage all to himself. Dwyane Wade strained his right hamstring just three minutes and 17 seconds into the game, so James asserted himself in the offense, leading the team to a 105-89 win. Although fans saw very little of the Big Three, any observer could witness that this team has hit the ground running. Miami has more talent than Detroit even without Wade, but the fact that James received his first rest at the end of the first quarter with his team up 10 and returned to the game midway through the second quarter seeing his team up 18 speaks volumes. Udonis Haslem and Carlos Arroyo were particularly effective. Haslem had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and looked competent running with a more fast-break team. In previous seasons, Miami has run a more half-court offense. Yet Haslem was very comfortable running down the court and setting up for a catch-and-shoot tonight. Arroyo, who started even though some people do not see him fitting well with this team, drove into the lane to get his baskets. He finished with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. Arroyo may be the point guard, but James played multiple roles and fired on all cylinders against the Pistons. He finished with 18 points on 9-of-18 shooting and was clearly motivated to perform well. Wade’s hamstring injury could be an early lesson to James that he will need to take on more of a prominent role in the offense at times. Today, he answered the bell. His biggest play came when he took a screen from Dexter Pittman at the top of the key, spun towards the basket and finished with a two-handed jam to end the first quarter. Miami’s 2010 second-round pick could clearly help this team; Pittman can utilize his 290-pound frame to set screens. Make no mistake; James’ highlight play came from a Pittman screen for a reason. He did not play well in the summer league, but Pittman has showed some promise in training camp and the early stages of the preseason. He finished with eight points in 17 minutes of play. Chris Bosh, the Heat’s best big man, can be a player who averages 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat if he plays the way he performed tonight. Bosh grabbed three offensive rebounds and used those offensive boards to put up high-percentage shots, finishing with 20 points on 13 shot attempts. Moreover, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra already ran a pet play several times: Bosh setting up a pick at the top of the key and rolling to the baseline for a jump shot. Mario Chalmers added 10 points and James Jones had eight points. Miami already looks as if it has created chemistry in the open court. When James ran the ball up-court, the other players ran on the baselines, creating open lanes for James to pass to. The bad side is that Wade sat out all but three minutes, Eddie House sat out with his sore shoulder and early foul trouble plagued Mike Miller. Nonetheless, Miami came ready to play tonight. The road to a championship will be long and arduous, but the Heat clearly benefited from its camp at Eglin Air Force Base. Every player looked ready to play. This season should be fun.
no one will stop this team. not at least for a few seasons. only team i see that could make a run at them is the thunder. wade and lebron im afraid will be running circles around kobe. only thing lakers have is a better front court. but i think gasol is softer then bosh and it will be pretty close.
wade will miss games so lebron will still have to carry a lot of this load. and we all can see he is the leader of this team already. they didn't miss a beat when wade went out, and players actually elevated their level of play even in a preseason game. bosh and the 3pt shooters will benefit a lot from lebron and wade. A LOT.
With the load he was used to carrying in cleveland, this is a cakewalk. Bosh is enough of a sidekick for him to win a ring, Wade uninjured would just be gravy.
There's no way that Bosh can compete with Pau. Gasol is just so damn big and has glue on his hands. The way that Lakers frontline toyed with the Celtics in game 7 was just humiliating.
I dont think Miami is quite as unstoppable as everyone else. Lets see where their at by the last week of the season. In the meanwhile, im pulling for every one of their opponents. Preseason? Who cares. Let them have their blowout wins. 3 minutes into the season, their down to 2 for a while, already. OK. I want to see Miami fail miserably. But its not the players or the town. Its the precedent it sets if they succeed. I dont want to see the future NBA have 12 of its best 20 players on merely 4 teams.
I watched the game last night and I think Bosh got more open shots in that game than he did all of last season. Ok, I'm stretching it....kinda. Bosh did get tons of wide open looks last night, and Wade wasn't even on the court. LeBron's skills as a playmaker are really underrated.
You mean game 7 where Kendrick Perkins, bostons best big man, did not play? Everyone knows, KP doesnt go down, Boston wins the series, just like they did when they beat the lakers in 08.
What exactly do you remember? 2000's were all about LA, SA and then Boston. When Miami won they had Shaq and Wade. The 90's were all about Chi, Hou, SA and Utah. The 80's were really only about 4 teams (Bos, LA, Det, Phi). I'm not seeing the difference. There really isn't that much parity in basketball.
So then whose to say that Bynum and healthy Ariza don't change the outcome of the 08 series. Purely speculation.
The Celtics and Lakers ruled for a very, VERY long time and had almost every significant player in the league. Just think about the past decade. How many "surprise" teams made it to the finals? Every year, there are 4-5 title contenders and every year one of those teams wins it all. This isn't baseball or football where wildcards win it all routinely, you'll rarely even see a 6th seed advance to the conference finals (Yes, 95 Rockets were a big anomaly). How many title contenders are there this year? Lakers, Heat, Magic, Celtics, Spurs, Thunder...the same as every year. The Heat did not change parity in the NBA.
I watched His interview after the game, and he said the exact same thing you said. He got a whole heap of open looks, and you could tell he was excited. Even Lebron said he got open looks. I think Wade Lebron Cbosh will see more open looks for themselves then they have ever seen. Lebron also mentioned that for once he wasn't forced to make a shot or make a play, as he has other players who can make plays instead.
Where are the haters saying that the Heat will suck? I remember there were quite a few people who said that earlier in the offseason.
