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.