I know what you were thinking, Heat fans. You wanted a reassertion of your dominance to close out the month, after such a topsy-turvy couple of weeks. You wanted an old-school thomping. And you wanted against the Knicks Christmas day. Well, better late than never, right? Happy St. Stephen's Day!
The Heat jumped out quick, finished the half strong and kept the pedal to the floor in the second half. The Pacers were suffocated, and the Heat emerged victorious, 114-80.
There's almost nothing bad to take away from that game (please ignore the three-point shooting percentage of 9.1 percent, thank you very much). Turnovers were few. Assists were high (Carlos Arroyo dishing like a teenager with a secret). Wade getting his (25 points) then getting a rest (27 minutes). But my favorite angle of the game involves one of my two adopted sophomores, Michael Beasley. He grew up a little today, my friends. From the AP:
Michael Beasley was under siege in the Miami Heat postgame locker room. Some teammates went with verbal jousts, more daring ones tried to unbraid his hair. All in good fun, a reward of sorts for taking his first charge of the season. "Felt like we won a championship," Beasley said afterward, braids still attached.That's defense, holmes! Wall Street Journal feature be damned, he's learning people! So before the year ends, the Heat have a road back-to-back against the New Orleans Hornets and San Antonio Spurs. Two touch Western Conference challenges, but two teams that are among the top-10 in the league in assists per game, something that no team in the league limits better than the Heat. A clash of styles this week, but after such a rough opening to the last month of the calendar year, you have to like the Heat's chances a bit better in the closing days.