A truly bizarre, unforgettable night where the Heat managed to surpass 100 points despite getting 11 combined points from everyone not named LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. Those three combined for an unreal 96 points with Wade leading the charge in the beginning with 15 of the team's first 19 points and LeBron almost singlehandedly erasing a 7 point Blazers lead late in the game.
Winning covers up a lot of issues but it's another DNP for Mike Miller and Eddie House - two Heat players who could potentially help out with scoring - while James Jones, Mario Chalmers and Carlos Arroyo get playing time but hardly did much tonight. The inconsistency from the supporting players lately has been frustrating but the individual and collective brilliance from the Big 3 have been enough to save the day again. Simply put, the Heat will either beat teams handily by double-digits or outlast them if all else fails.
Joel Anthony's only contribution to the box score in 29 minutes was four personal fouls and a turnover. Yes, he does a ton of things that don't show up in the box score but not one rebound?
Blazers coach Nate McMillan didn't help his team in crunch time by taking out reserve guard Patrick Mills and inserting a largely ineffective Andre Miller back in the game and killing his team's momentum. This is in direct contrast to Erik Spoelstra's preference in the fourth quarter to stick it out with whichever of his point guards has earned it. LaMarcus Aldridge had a terrific game against Bosh but the same iso play from the wing over and over again late in the game showed little imagination from the Blazers coaching staff. Just because Aldridge can have his way with Bosh doesn't mean he has to do it alone at the beginning of every possession in crunch time. There's plenty of time in the shot clock to swing it around to get the best look at the basket and still give it to Aldridge to keep the Heat's defense guessing. Nicolas Batum had a superb night but hardly had much of a chance to contribute late because of the focus to get Aldridge the ball and get out of his way.
For all of LeBron's impressive shots that were raining down when the Heat needed him the most, perhaps his most brilliant play was a quick back tap to a trailing Bosh for the easy dunk on a fast break opportunity.
With a little more than three minutes remaining in regulation, LeBron scored 13 of his team's final 15 points to tie it and send it to overtime. Two jump shots, a layup, a three pointer and four free throws at the end from LeBron was one his more dominant bursts of power in a Heat uniform in such a short amount of time. He ended up leading the Heat in scoring, rebounding and assists.
The Heat never led in the second half after the Blazers scored 13 seconds into the third quarter to tie the game. Their first lead after that actually came in the first basket of overtime off a Wade jumper.
The Celtics are now 0.5 games behind the Heat for the #1 spot overall in the East but are percentage points ahead because they've played three less games than Miami.
