Two Of Us
The first game in which LeBron and Wade both scored 30+ in the same game off an efficient 59% from the field was quite the show for Bobcats majority owner Michael Jordan (and the source of their motivation?). Of course, it was the perfect night to have a tandem showing of dominance after co-winning the Eastern Conference Player(s) of the Month earlier in the day. LeBron was in vintage Cavs form in the presence of his first NBA coach Paul Silas with 17 points in the third quarter. Wade shook off some early foul trouble in the first quarter and picked his spots as he freely attacked the basket against the likes of Kwame Brown. When that many points are scored by the team's top two players on a team that is ranked 9th in the league in scoring, Chris Bosh was bound to have a dip with only 11 points on 9 field goal attempts. Although he was quite solid defensively, you still want to see more than 4 rebounds though.
Wade and LeBron scored 58 of their combined 69 points in their last three quarters and they also combined for an impressive 20 rebounds. LeBron had another long-range shooting display quite similar to his outburst in Cleveland and New York, making him virtually un-guardable.
We Can Work It Out
In a familiar scenario that has played out in several games much like their last game against the Golden State Warriors, the first punch was thrown by the opposing team. The Bobcats kept making shots in the first quarter en route to 28 first quarter points but the Heat’s defensive intensity then cranked up and helped force them into 19 straight missed shots in the third quarter. What was once an offense that was intent on sharing the ball and making the extra pass to get a good look at the basket was nonexistent in the second half while the Heat defenders scrambled to effectively cover the court and harass the Bobcats into taking long jumpers.
Not helping their cause was the absence of guard Gerald Wallace and center Nazr Mohammed (who had been effective against the Heat earlier in the season) and the loss of center DeSagana Diop for the season.
The Heat didn’t take their first lead until two minutes were left in the first half and never looked back. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra isn’t surprised by the quick starts from their opponents.
Teams get up for us and our guys are very competitive and they want to step up to the challenge. A game where the ball sticks on one side of the floor for too long is not going to be successful in the long run for us but our cutting and movement without the ball is getting better.
The Heat have now won six straight overall, 11 in a row on the road (2
nd best in franchise history), and 18 of their last 19 games.
Nowhere Man
Joel Anthony deserves credit with some solid defense to go along with 3 blocks and a season-high 11 rebounds. At one point, he even got an offensive rebound and in one motion dropped the basket inside the rim! One wonders why LeBron and Wade still try to get him involved in the offense when he never expects the ball to be thrown his way and usually bobbles it away as a result but he is contributing in his special way, almost Ben Wallace-like.
