Heat outwork the workers: Heat 115 Houston 106

Wow!

Without Yao and Tmac, Houston have no stars. You look at the lineup on paper and you think no problem. However this Rockets team were 22-17 and had only lost 4 at home before the Heat came to town and they play in the west. I expected a loss, but again, after a competitive first quarter the Heat pulled away and the game was never in doubt. Wade was supreme again, the defense hounded Houston relentlessly and the offense was very, very efficient. The Heat played like contenders, not a team who will only make the playoffs because they are in the East.

Early on the game looked like it could be difficult; the Heat were scoring well but so were Houston, Luis Scola was terrorising both JO and Beasley. Spo brought Anthony on and that was the end of Scola and the Rockets. Wade finished 37 and 8, JO again had good stats; 16 and 13 (actually fighting Beas for rebounds early on) and being the tallest player on the court dominated the boards. Beasley had a quiet game but Alston stepped up against his old team with 17 and nearly faultless shooting early on. Alston also defended Brooks very well whilst Chalmers replaced him to slow down Kyle 'the bulldog' Lowry. Q also found his shooting stroke with 15 mostly stretching the floor with his 3 point shooting.

The 9 man rotation is looking good again and James Jones has now bought a sports jacket in order to watch the games, oh how we'd love to get a trade that"ll move his contract from the books and bring in a minor piece (perhaps a big C - but really any expiring will do). Wade was perfect on his 7 FTs, that's important too. Wade's head seems to be back in the game and this road trip is turning into a success. 3:2 now with Oklahoma (a very difficult proposition) tonight.

After those two disasters these last two games have been a wonderful balm for Heat fans. When Wade is on, the Heat can beat ANYONE!

Wrist Injury. what Wrist Injury? Heat 115 Warriors 102

Wade came in focused and that was the end of the game. When he's in the attacking mode, when he's concentrating on the game; there is no-one better. The Warriors held it close in the first quarter but after that it was always the Heat. Wade had 35, 9 and 7, JO made a liar of me with a buoyant 24 and 7; Beasley was 19 and 6 and Wright chipped in with 11.

Corey Magette was on fire in the first and Wade picked up 2 fouls which meant he had to sit for quite a time, but once Wade came back and Magette had to sit, the game was as good as over. Only thing to add - Biedrens seems to be well overrated or he just had a bad night. he made JO look good.

Golden State - You're up.

So, After two terrible defeats the Heat play their ninth game in 15 days against Golden State. Yes, Nellie's Golden State, a team even less consistent than Miami but now on a good run as they get players back from injury. Biedrens and Turiaf seem to be back in the flow and when added to Monty Python, Corey Maggot and a little Curry Spice; they could be more than a tired looking Heat can manage. On top of that Wade hurt his wrist again against the Clippers and he is questionable.

With Wade playing the Heat have the chance to beat anyone, without Wade we'd be looking at Beasley dominating a game and pushing his trade value through the roof in order to beat the Warriors. The Heat need to find the energy and the defence which has been so lacking in recent games. JO needs to re-find his youth (from the beginning of the season), though personally I'd like to see him sit out and rest for a week or so, Alston needs to read a few pages of the playbook and Q needs to score some threes. Considering that the Rockets and the Thunder are next up the Heat need a win here or face a possible 5 game losing streak.

My Prediction: doom and gloom : Heat 95 Warriors 107

Eugh! Those were bad.

So too much work to update for the last two games, but they were bad. Very bad. I don't even want to think about them again.

JO looks like he needs a couple of week's rest. He has lost his little lift and is missing easy baskets. Wade probably needs a few games off - sort out the wrist and the head. Beasley needs to step up - he has the offensive skills but not the mental attitude to take over a game yet. He needs to sort out the ticky tacky fouls too. Cook just needs to sort himself out, full stop.

Two terrible games but when added to the great win over Phoenix probably sum up the Heat pretty well at the moment.

Too hot for the Suns 109:105

Great game, Great score.

They are nearly always great games against the Suns. Steve Nash is a miraculous PG and the team overflows with skill and fun. Last night the Heat matched them and beat them. A poor first quarter where the Heat gave up 33 was quickly overturned in the second half. Beasley again started hot and went cold in the second half but here Wade always started hot and even though he cooled in the second half, we fans always knew we had the game for our taking.

JO didn't look good, he missed a lot of easy baskets next to the basket and didn't have the rise needed to rebound at a high level; but when it mattered he came through with a crucial basket near the end, old heads in crunch time!! Rafer Alston arrived from the wire waiver and immediately started. He was good and should only get better. Carlos Arroyo disappeared to third string and didn't get on. I can understand and agree with that. Q was out of sorts again but that didn't matter because Dorrel was incredible. He played 28 minutes, went 7 of 13 for 15 points with 7 rebounds but even more impressively 4 steals. Defensively Dorrell was everywhere, his long arms caused problems and it was great to see. UD had a great game too and Joel Anthony was sterling in defense changing shots and hustling everywhere.

I've only one other question. Can we have less Jaylon House adverts on the screen please.

Next up: Phoenix Suns

So the season takes to the road. First stop Phoenix!

Phoenix have won five of their last seven and sit third in the west. Nash is still fantastic and he's lined up with Amare, JRich, Grant Hill and Channing Frye. They score a lot of points and have fast thrilling games.

The Heat? Who knows who is starting and whether those who start will be great or poor? Not me! I guess JO is playing and Rafer will probably come off the bench even though he's only been to one practice. I'm not saying any more. I'm just going to sit back and watch. Heat suns games can be very exciting.

My Prediction: Heat 95 Suns 115

(I'm going for that pessimistic thing again).

It's Official

Rafer is back.

Alston played in all 82 games of the 03/04 season (Wade's rookie season); where he averaged 10.2 pts , 2.8 Rebs, 4.5 Assts, 1.4 stls in 31.5mins. He still holds the Heat record for consecutive games scoring a 3 at 48.

His job this time round is to give some leadership; make veteran decisions at important times in the game; play D and knock down the 3. If he does that we could see a transformed Heat that truly is a 5 seed and not a playoff bubble team this season.

Rafer signed a 1 year min scale contract and is playing for a contract somewhere next season. Let's hope he can bring the same positivity that he did last time round. 03/04 was the start of the modern era in Heat basketball, we made the playoffs for the first time in four seasons and watched the germinal seeds of Dwyane Wade.

Heat go cold in OT

This is the type of game which shows the Heat how little they need to become an elite team as long as they keep Wade. Wade easily put up 44 points (along with 7 ass, 5 ORbs, 3 stls and a block). He still isn't on his top form but he nearly won the game backed up only by Udonis Haslem.

In fact if it wasn't for a pointless technical foul called on Richardson for being unable to shut his mouth (over a decidedly poor call - but that's irrelevant) Wade's performance could have been enough to beat the Beasts of the East (without KG). Beasley and Richardson were incredibly poor offensively and the other two starters JO and Carlos were not up to much either. Wade and the bench could probably have won the game but that's basketball. Rondo made a great basket from a sideline ball with .6s to go to take the game to OT and JO was too tired or too injured to win the game in OT.

Perkins, Rondo and Allen all scored in the 20s. Perkins 70%, Allen 60% and Rondo 75%.

The Heat drop to 17 and 16 as they head out on their 6 game road trip but the signs are that they can beat anyone on their night and just as easily lose to anyone on another night.

It was a good game until OT. The heat are a fun team to watch.

Arroyo gets contract guaranteed.

So Pat Riley managed to swing the Quinn trade in order to keep Arroyo on the team. It seems pretty likely that the Heat will pick up Rafer as soon as he clears waivers but the Heat have rewarded Arroyo financially for the hard work he has put in this season.

Let's allow Puerto Rica to celebrate but let's not fool ourselves; Arroyo is a bit part who could easily be wearing a suit for the rest of the season. Last night, after receiving his guarantee, Arroyo scored 2 points (again) on 1 of 5 shooting and was on court for 19 minutes. It was rightly 15 minutes less than Chalmers who had a good game and personally I think it's a sign that if Rafer comes in and proves himself the best PG on the team (which I'm pretty sure he will) Carlos becomes the third string PG.

Carlos won't complain. He'll earn as much this season as many of us can only dream of earning in 15 to 20 years and he'll have the possibility to impress another team enough to get another contract next season. If he's lucky he'll be involved in a trade before the deadline to a team which may give him a few extra minutes because of injuries. In the end Miami did what was right and it cost them money which they didn't have to spend, it's also the best move for Miami - at the moment.

Next up: Boston Celtics

Tonight it's a re-match with the 2008 NBA champion Boston Celtics. The Heat lost the first game 92:85 at the end on November when KG went off for 24pts on 1 of 12 shooting. Good news for the Heat is that KG isn't going to be playing tonight. On top of that Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce missed the Celtics last game but are unfortunately likely to be back tonight. However it's likely that Eddie House will miss the game and possibly Kendrick Perkins too.



For Miami, starting Center Jermaine O'Neal is likely to be out and starting PG Carlos Arroyo's future is uncertain, he may not even be on the roster at tip off time. So where does that all leave us? I really don't know. Pessimistic worked last time but I find it very hard to type a Heat loss.



So my prediction is: Celtics 82 Heat 86.



Beasley to come out on fire in the first again and Wade to lead the Heat to victory after that with Joel Anthony blocking the rim.

Goodbye Mighty Quinn, Welcome back Rafer

Our inside man at the Heat came up big time with a scoop on the arrival of Rafer Alston. We were told about it in the early stages as Pat was trying to trade for Rafer (particularly trying to trade James Jones). In the end the trade negotiations broke down. The Nets didn't want Jones and for some strange reason Pat didn't want to let Daequan go to the Nets. So the Nets have bought out Skip who, as long as he passes through Waivers, is excitedly waiting for a Heat reunion and they have traded with Miami for Chris Quinn (also cash and a 2012 2nd rounder) in exchange the Heat receive nothing.

Chris Quinn was much ridiculed by some Heat fans for both his elf-like features and his play but I liked him. he was a genuine guy who gave it his best all the time. In between seasons he worked hard to improve and this year he benefited with a $1.1m salary. His defense wasn't that great but his TOs were low and he succeeded in his main job which was to bring the ball up and give it to Dwayne - then get out of the way or shoot the odd three when asked to. This season he has spent every game on the bench dressed in a suit - but he's looked good doing it.

Thank you Chris and all the best at the Nets, hope you get some PT.

The deadline for releasing Arroyo is later today, he still hasn't received a contract for the rest of the season but with the release of Quinny it's possible, though still unlikely, he'll receive one today. More news on him later as well as a look at Rafer, if he passes through waivers.

What do I know? Hawks 75 Heat 92

I think I need to be more pessimistic in the future, reverse psychology/jinxing seems to work. The Heat murdered the Hawks in the first quarter last night and then held onto their lead for the rest of the game to record a very good and very large victory.

Michael Beasley shredded Josh Smith and the Hawks in the first half and his colleagues made sure of the victory in the second. Beasley's first half display will probably capture the headlines but his poor second half performance sums up Beasley at the present time in his career. Magnificence for short bursts without the consistency. Still he's not 21 until later this week, so we can accept that.

The Heat's superstar let the hot hand work the first half and steadily accumulated his usual team/game topping score. wade finished with 28 on 11 of 20 shooting including all 6FTs (thankfully he missed his 1st 3 pointer last night). He attacked the rim better than of late and also got 8 rebounds, 4 assists and a block and crucially only 1 TO (and that was a pass to starting center Joel Anthony who looked away at the wrong time). It was nice to see Wade hitting 55%FG and 100%FT again. Haslem also refound his steady shot with 6 of 10. Dorrell Wright got 18mins for 6 and 6 and the Magloirinator got 10 rebounds and 5 points in 21 minutes as a result of JO sitting about a little banged up. Arroyo (in possibly his last game for the Heat) played 19 minutes for just 2 points and no assists whilst Mario came off the bench for 28 minutes, 7 points and 6 assists. The other good news was cook only played 1 minute.

I don't know if it was all good defense or some bad Atlanta shooting but even at game end they had only shot 32% and more incredibly Miami had out-rebounded them 52 to 30. I like what JO gives us but he lets us down on rebounds, it'd be nice to have a rebounding Center on the Heat. No surprise in who was the top Atlanta scorer - off the bench Jamal Crawford more than doubled the second best scorer Joe Johnson who was the only other Atlanta player to score double figures (11).

One other note to make - can someone please shop (or shoot) the miami whistler. He is driving me crazy with his continual whistling.

Next up: Atlanta

Well I optimistically thought we could beat both San Antonio and Charlotte and look what happened there. I honestly think that we match up terribly with Atlanta, perhaps worse than any other team in the league and I expect a big defeat. Of the "big 4" in the East, Atlanta are the team that I least want to meet in the playoffs. Okay they only just beat us in 7 last year but they are so athletic that they have the ability to simply run us off the court.

Let's look at the starting 5's:

Miami

PG Carlos Arroyo

SG Dwyane Wade

SF Quentin Richardson

PF Michael Beasley

C Jermaine O'Neal

Atlanta

PG Mike Bibby
SG Joe Johnson
SF Marvin Williams
PF Josh Smith
C Al Horford

And then Atlanta have off-season acquisition, Heat killer, Jamal Crawford on the bench (the Heat have Mario Chalmers).

I think it's going to be a long night. For the Heat to have any hope then Beasley is going to have to step up both offensively and defensively and outplay Josh Smith; Wade needs to stop the turnovers, attack the rim and annihilate Johnson's performance and JO is going to have to play mind games with Horford unless spo lets the Magloirinator loose for a few early minutes.

Got to expect this game to mean we are still winless this decade come tomorrow morning. Still isn't that when the Heat surprise everyone and pull off a win?

My Prediction: Hawks 115 at Heat 93

Arroyo - Still not guaranteed

Poor Carlos!

He's taken over the starting spot from Mario, he's igniting the offense but with only a couple of days to go before the deadline he still has no guaranteed offer. The Heat have had him playing without a guaranteed contract so far this season. Riley is a crafty beggar and he doesn't want Arison to pay the extra luxury tax if it isn't necessary. Sure he'd prefer to get rid of Chris Quinn, but his contract is guaranteed for the season, Carlos's isn't so it could be "bye bye Carlos".

Our insider contact reckons that a trade for a veteran PG is in the works which'll mean Carlos is not signed before the deadline. I've been calling for a Vet PG for a while but is the return of Rafer Alston the answer? Can Skip play lock down defense? Could we trade James Jones' contract away in return or will it be the TPE? Is our insider speaking rubbish.

All will soon be revealed, but you heard it here first (maybe).

Jackson > Wade. We need the rim attacker back.

A ten point loss after leading by 19 in the 1st Q. That's not good. Wade and Beasley started well and then the Heat stopped. Beasley and JO got into foul trouble. Wade settled for 3s and stopped attacking the rim. 8 Three point attempts but only 7 foul shots (and 3 of those on a 3 pointer). It's just not right. We need Wade to attack the rim relentlessly and especially early in quarters. Last night Charlotte had 31 FTA we had 16. We were at home, we have DWade.

It's not all Dwyane's fault. He gets double and triple teamed every time down the court, so he needs the open man to shoot and knock the shot down. Last night JO was particularly poor with his shooting and it cost us.

Yesterday I talked about TOs, particularly Wade and Jackson. Last night Jackson had only 1 TO Wade had 6. Jackson had a great game, 35 points and 8 rebounds. Wade had a double double but he didn't take over the 4th Q when the game was still in our hands (we did take a lead early in the 4th). He didn't attack the rim.

Final score Bobcats 107 Heat 97.

Next Up: Charlotte

Happy New Year.

Let's hope so, and let's hope that we start it off with a decent win. Charlotte are better than their record of 12:18 but they shouldn't be quite good enough to beat the Heat in Miami without Tyson Chandler.

The Bobcats are a good defensive team who have just recently given the ball up waaaay too much. Gerald Wallace is one of the most underrated players in the league; Boris Diaw is one of the most versatile but even the addition of Stephen Jackson has not turned them into an offensive threat. That is not Coach Brown's philosophy.

The Heat are coming off their worse loss of the season and Dwyane has 13 TOs in the last 2 games (curiously the same as Jackson). It's time for Wade to step up again, as the Heat cannot win without him playing better ball. Beasley is an improving number 2 and JO is playing above his Toronto cast-off tag, Arroyo above his Israeli league tag and Q above his doughnut 5 team summer tag; but in the end if Wade doesn't perform the Heat can't win. Come on D. shut those whinging miami supporters up and show them that Riley and Spo know what they're doing.

This should be a low-scoring defensive battle that Miami come out on top of.

Prediction: Charlotte 84 Miami 90

Biggest loss of the season (so far)

So much for my optimism!

Having said that at the end of the first quarter I still thought we'd win. It was a great start to the game, Beasley hitting shot after shot, JO knocking a couple down as well. Pops having to call time out before I'd taken my first breath as Beas blew past Blair twice and scored. Sadly it started to go downhill after Beasley went for a rest half way through the first. Still we finished the first Q tied at 26 and that was with Wade hardly having taken a shot and Beas knocking down 7 for 14 first quarter points. The signs were there though; San Antonio had scored 26, TP was cutting to the basket with ease and TD was playing like the NBA player of the decade he so surely is (Kobe my ass!).

The rest of the game was a tale of woe. No defence, TO's galore and Wade looking so out of sorts that the three he put up for his second FG (after starting 1 of 7) was something of a ray of hope. Except Miami fans know that the worst thing Wade can do is score with his first 3, he goes back to it again, more than once, when that happens. And he stops attacking the basket. In fact according to the refs the spurs hardly made a foul the first half - partly that was true - Beas was hitting from outside and Wade wasn't attacking the rim but mostly that was the home TD factor.

The turning point (if it hadn't passed already) was when Q was fouled shooting (and missing) a three. A clear slap on the head by Manu. Spurs took the rebound, fast break 2 points plus a technical foul on Q - 6 point turnaround - game over.

The second half was hard to watch. The heat were terrible, Wade was terrible, Cook was on the floor for 23 minutes (2 of 9). Terrible. Haslem had his worse game of the season (in his worse run of the season). The highlight of the second half was a 9 minute appearance by Magloire when he actually put a FT in (well 2) on his way to 4 points. Wade had 7 TO's in 29 minutes and needs to get back to training hard, shooting, attacking the rim and scoring. This game was not Spo's fault, this was a Heat team who hadn't come ready to play. The only highlight here was Michael Beasley. My call for a trade of Cook, Haslem and Jones (DNP) for a vet passing, defensive PG just got louder.