SB Nation - James Jones

Forget the 1st half...Wade scored 29 and the Heat won by 10

DolPhanDave — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:53:01 -0000

More photos » by Lynne Sladky - AP

Woah woah woah...the basket is which way?

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting a better start from the Heat after the way they blew their last home game, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. The Heat went 1-for-7 from the field over the first 4½ minutes when D-Wade took his first shot of the game, an easy layup. That sparked the Heat, who made 5 of 6 shots en route to taking their first lead of the game at 13-12. They did a much better job getting the ball to the rim and Miami got out of the 1^st quarter with a 3-point lead.

The 2^nd quarter started out pretty boring. The Heat scored 2 quick points and then both teams went scoreless for about 4 minutes, a stretch in which both teams went 0-for-6 from the field. Unfortunately the Heat didn't get back on the scoreboard until there was 6 minutes left, but luckily they were holding a lead the entire time. By the time all was said and done in the opening half, I'm sure most in attendance we're ready to head home. The teams combined to make 10 shots in the 2^nd quarter (10-for-26 for those of you wondering).

The low scoring excitement continued into the 3^rd quarter, but at least the Heat were staying ahead. Back-to-back buckets by D-Wade gave Miami their largest lead of the game at 7 half way through the quarter. At this point it was looking like at least one team would crack 50-points by the end of the 3^rd quarter with the Heat up 46-39.

Suddenly it was the Heat getting hot, going on a 14-3 run to go up by 12 late in the quarter. It helped that the Jazz we're shooting an ice cold 3-of-11 in the quarter. Miami however kept scoring and suddenly were up by 17. D-Wade put an exclamation point on the quarter with a great driving dunk in which he split a double team in vintage Wade fashion, and the Heat took a 14-point lead into the final period.

Utah spent most of the 4^th quarter playing catch up...but couldn't get over the hump. Dwyane Wade stepped his game up in the 2^nd half, doing most of the scoring while Udonis Haslem and Joel Anthony did all the dirty work down low. Not enough can be said about the great game that Anthony had when the Heat lost Jermaine O'Neal just minutes into the game with a tweaked right groin.

Anthony finished with 8 points, 9 boards and 5 blocks in 35 minutes. Seriously, if this guy got significant minutes he would absolutely lead the league in blocked shots...but on the other hand, who knows how many reserve players you could say that about. Before I wrap this up, I've gotta throw Wade's stats out there. 29 points on 12-of-28 shooting (and 5-of-6 from the line), 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Not too shabby, eh? Well, I'll certainly take it.

GAME NOTES

You guys just saw the lowest scoring 1^st half in the NBA this season. The previous game was between Portland and Charlotte, which was 38-30 Blazers at the half.

The 70 points put up by Utah was their lowest point total of the season.

After not getting to the foul line at home all season, Quentin Richardson has gotten there two games in a row at the AAA. Richardson finished with 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Udonis Haslem played just under 30 minutes and came away with a 12-11 double double. Welcome back, U-D (I hope).

On the other hand, Michael Beasley was quite off last night. He finished just 2-of-10 with 5 points and 5 boards.

Mario Chalmers was pretty bad in relief of Carlos Arroyo in the opening half, missing his first 4 shots. But then again, everybody was pretty bad in the first half. He finished 2-of-11 with just 2 assists in 29 minutes, 10 more then Arroyo who finished with 7 points and 2 assists.

James Jones played 10 minutes. Does anybody remember seeing him in the game? He and Daequan are by far the biggest disappointments for the Heat this year.
The 13 turnovers by the Heat are only overshadowed by the 20 that Utah had.

Dorell Wright. 0-for-6. I think everybody gets a pass on this one as long as they kick the Knicks ass on Christmas.

And on that note, I will sign off and wish everybody a Merry Christmas. Yup...it's Christmas Eve, so let's put the negativity aside and just be ‘merry'. And to all my Jewish brethren, a belated Happy Hanukkah to you all. I hope everybody has a very happy holiday.

Talking Heat with 790 The Ticket's Jonathan Zaslow

DolPhanDave — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:56:21 -0000

Pretty mediocre homestand, huh? I certainly didn't see this homestand going this way. I figured 4-2 would be a good mark, and now you're looking at 3-3 at best. This team has done a good job of squandering all these home games in the early part of the season. They play a ton of road games in the second half of the season.

A few things that have been bothering me lately (And, I am usually very level-headed when it comes to this team).........

The Portland game is a great example of something that's been bugging me of late, and it involves two of my favorite things to get upset about lately: 1) Michael Beasley's lack of 4th quarter playing time, and 2) Dwyane Wade's incredibly uneven season.

At this point, it has to be pretty clear to everyone involved that Michael Beasley is pretty darn good. I understand Coach Spoelstra trusts Udonis and wants him on the floor in the 4th quarter. But that whole scenario reeks of letting up on the gas pedal, and playing not to lose. What I mean by that is rather than getting your best defender out there in that spot, and removing one of your best offensive players, I'd rather them continue to attack. By putting Haslem in there, you're taking away your "attack" player in Beasley and you're leaving the game squarely on Dwyane's shoulders. From what we've seen so far this season...that's certainly not good enough. Dwyane needs Beasley. And when he's been relied upon, he's delivered for the most part.

Middle of the 4th quarter vs. Portland, Beasley gets removed for "defensive" purposes, and the Heat have trouble scoring and Dwyane can't do it by himself. What happens after that is something the Heat fan has seen a TON of lately: Dwyane Wade complaining for fouls and not getting back on defense. As far as I'm concerned, that whole scene is pretty tired at this point. The problem is, I don't know what you can do about it.

I know Dwyane is Dwyane, and he gets to do what he wants. But it's kind of hard to stomach Dwyane taking 30+ shots, and Beasley doesn't play the 4th quarter. Now, I don't have a problem with Dwyane shooting a lot. The problem with that is Dwyane normally doesn't get a ton of field goal attempts. He's been a FT machine, and incredibly efficient over his career. This team isn't going to win a lot of games with him getting credit for over 30 shots in a game.

I'm curious what the Heat fans take on Mario Chalmers is at this point in the season. Without question, the most disappointing part of this season has been the lack of development of two of the three "young" guys on this team. Mario Chalmers and Daequan Cook have been massive disappointments, and are not even close to being definite pieces of this teams future.

Daequan Cook has been an enigma since the All-Star Break last year. I have no answer to what has happened to him, but it is frustrating to have heard how great he looks all summer and then watch him continue to stink up the joint game after game.

As far as Chalmers goes...he needs to get his act together or Riley should get rid of him. I cannot possibly be more down on him than I am right now. This guy was the starter for 82 regular season games as a rookie. This guy started all 7 playoff games as a rookie. This guy started the first 22 games of this season. And now this guy has lost his starting job to a journeyman point guard who does not have a guaranteed contract.

Mario Chalmers did not lose his starting job just because of his performance. Remember at the end of last year we found out that Mario and Beasley were fined repeatedly throughout their rookie seasons for violating various team rules? Remember Beasley wasn't the only one thrown out of the NBA's rookie symposium prior to the 2008-2009 season? Well, a quarter of the way into his second season, Mario Chalmers still has a hard time showing up for practice on time. Spoelstra isn't benching him for being late one time!!! It's why Chalmers said he wasn't surprised when he was told the benching is indefinite. Practice isn't at 8am, it's at Noon! Noon! And the starting point guard continually has a problem showing up on time? That's a joke.

I would not be surprised to see Chalmers, Cook, or James Jones moved before the trade deadline. All as ways to shed some payroll for next season's bonanza.

Heat continue to struggle at home on a very rough Sunday

DolPhanDave — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:00:08 -0000

More photos » by Alan Diaz - AP

Dwyane Wade may be better then Brandon Roy...but not on this night.

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This recap has been extremely hard for me to get started on. Sunday is my favorite day of the week for many many reasons, but it's mainly because of sports. And yes, the root of it is of course football, but even after football season there always seem to be big hockey and basketball games on Sunday's in the winter and spring, and over the summer Sunday Night Baseball is almost always worth watching.

Usually I can handle losses relatively well, although my future wife (together 7+ years) might say otherwise. The point that I'm getting at in the midst of all these personal feelings is that today was just about as close to unbearable as any Sunday I can remember. Obviously I'm talking about the Dolphins and Heat games from yesterday.

I am well aware that this is a Miami Heat blog, and I have never strayed away from the team of topic but tonight I guess you could say I'm abusing my power. Of course it isn't all about the games, as there are always outside factors that contribute to any game, day, blog, etc. I finished watching the Heat game a little while ago as I usually do, a recorded version that I'm forced to watch late due to work or family matters or whatever (it's always fun trying to avoid the results for a few hours).

While sitting here trying to get the blog going, I reflected on the day that just passed. Unfortunately...this is basically all I've got (and my notes from the Heat game, of course). The Dolphin game knocked me down and the Heat game finished me off. I am a big Brandon Roy fan and I've always seen a lot of the same qualities in him that I see in Dwyane Wade.

Tonight, it was like getting slapped in the face by my own worries. I saw Brandon Roy acting like the superstar that I don't understand why he isn't on a more consistent basis, and Wade...well nobody will ever fault him for not caring about his teammates or about winning. I can't take anything away from the Blazers because they absolutely deserved to win. It's never easy to win on the road, and I give our Heat plenty of credit for playing very tough at home (for the most part...but last night was no exception).

GAME NOTES

What more can you say about Quentin Richardson and his value to this team? I hope the Heat find a way to hang on to this guy. 7-for-7 from the field, all from beyond the arc.
I was pretty surprised when James Jones got off the bench in the 1^st half. He hit his first trey, but hey...we always knew he could do that. Obviously there is more to why he can't seem to get any consistent minutes.
Early foul trouble got Mario Chalmers off the bench in relief of Carlos Arroyo. Neither one did much to impress me; although I still say that Arroyo is much better at running the offense. Chalmers is rarely aggressive, which seems to be when he is at his best.
Since missing two games due to family issues, Jermaine O'Neal hasn't gotten his rebounding edge back. In four games he has 16 total boards (4 per game).
While Michael Beasley did a decent job as the #1 scoring option with Wade on the bench, it was pretty apparent that LaMarcus Aldridge held the upper hand in the matchup.
Considering my already poor mood, I'm going to skip the Wade-bashing. He didn't defer to his teammates much at all in the 4^th quarter, which really threw a wrench into our offense. He still can't hit outside shots with any kind of consistency (unless you call 35% consistent), make some really stupid mistakes and had poor shot selection in general. There, that's all I'm gonna say.

Yeah...I know that this wasn't my finest blogging hour. I'm asking for something of as free pass from you guys because, quite frankly, it's been a very rough day for me. Like I said, it's not all about sports, but overall I just wanna thank you for dealing with my night of venting. I realize that I may not have made a ton of sense tonight, but I promise to be back to normal by the next blog.

3 In The Key - Toronto Raptors Game Day Preview vs. Miami

RaptorsHQ - Howland — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:00:24 -0000

More photos » by Gregory Smith - AP

If the Raps don't come strong tonight could be a laugher for the home town Heat. (AP Photo/Gregory Smith)

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The Raps have left the grey and cold behind and are now in South Beach preparing for tonight's match-up against the Miami Heat.

Can the Raps make it two in a row or will they fall back into their old ways...

So being a fan of the Toronto Raptors is now like being in a bad relationship. Things on the most part are pretty bad, but there are moments when it all seems worth while. It's the few good moments that make you stick around longer, in hopes that at some point the good moments will suddenly be more frequent than the bad.

Well one of those good moments was Sunday against the Rockets.

After a pretty low week, the Raps looked like a completely different team and suddenly there's reason to be optimistic once again. This team can play D, can get into people's mugs and can win basketball games.

It's the "can" that gives you hope that this team can start turning things around and play up to their potential.

Of course on a couple of occassions thus far the Raps have, given us fans hope that things will get better. Remember the win at New Orleans, and the blow-out win in Chicago? Both of those games gave fans reasons to be optimistic. Inevitabely however, like the relationship described above, things quickly went sour again.

I am left wondering how things will be any different this time around yet I will stick around to find out...ya know...just in case this time things are different. I am pretty sure things will not be different however, and here's why.

Of the team's 11 wins, only 2 have come against opponents with a winning record, and this includes the Rockets victory.

Just think about that for a second. It's almost mind boggling. The winning percentage of the teams the Raptors have beaten this season is just .427. If you take out the win against Cleveland on opening night it drops substantially to .396. These numbers really paint a somber picture. It's also evidence as to why it's highly unlikely that this team turns things around. I want things to turn around, I will stay around to find out, but in the end I am likely to be disappointed....but of course that's the mantra of a bad relationship, right?

The next opponent for the Raps is a team with a .500 record - the Miami Heat.

The Raptors and Heat matched-up earlier this season and the Raps came away with a 120-113 win. If you recall that game was a bit of a head scratcher where the bench guys helped the Raps build a substantial lead but in the second half Triano shortened the bench which allowed the Heat to get back into it.

As Vicious D discussed in yesterday's recap, it's time Triano just started using the guys who will get it done and forget salaries, egos and everything else. If that means heavy minutes for the starters so be it. If it means heavy minutes for the bench then let it be so. At the end of the day everyone in professional sports is evaluated on winning, so why should this situation be any different? Triano needs to ride the guys who can get it done.

In order to get it done, the Raps will need to focus on these three areas:

1. Get on 'Em Early: A quick start would go a long way to securing the W tonight. The Heat are reeling having gone 2-4 in their last 6 and suffering a humiliating defeat at home against the Grizzlies on Sunday. If the Raps can come out early and set the tone it will plant a seed out doubt into the minds of the Heat players. There is no worse thing for a player to think than "oh-oh, here we go again". On the flip side the Raps can't get into a hole for the very same reason. We all know what happens when this team loses focus and I am sure the Heat would be happy to ring-up 120 on its opponent to end their slide.

2. Stop the Supporting Cast: It's not just all Wade all the time in Miami. Mario Chalmers absolutely lit up the Raps in the last game with 30 points and 5 three pointers and slowly Michael Beasley is rounding into form. This Toronto squad really needs to focus in on keeping the supporting cast in check. If Chalmers, James Jones and Daquan Cook get countless open looks they can hurt you. Wade will get his, it's a matter of how many everyone else gets and how difficult it is to get them.

3. Work From The Inside Out: One thing I have noticed with this Raptors team is that it's feast or famine when it comes to outside jumpers, in particular the three ball. When one guy heats up everyone else seems to join the frey but when a few shots don't fall it's like the team goes colder than Edmonton this past weekend. It's really tough to play winning basketball when relying on the outside shot. The Raps need to start their offense from the blocks and establish Bosh and Bargnani. If the Raps can establish their bigs the open outside shots will come. I would much rather see Andrea schooling Jermaine O'Neal with some up and unders than watch him hoist three's and float around the arc.

Game #23: Toronto Raptors (11-15) vs. Miami Heat (11-11)

DolPhanDave — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:41:31 -0000

More photos » by Wilfredo Lee - AP

Yeah...this about sums it up

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It isn't often that I don't watch a game. Even when I know the results, and sometimes those results aren't pretty, I'll still watch. This time, however, I wasn't upset that I forgot to set my DVR before heading north to Jacksonville for the Dolphins game.

I kept track of the game for a while on my cell, and even without actually seeing any live game action, two free throws and six turnovers in the first quarter told me all I needed to know. I saw (or read) about Memphis getting to the foul line 17 times before the Heat took their first foul shot, which came with just seconds left in the 1^st quarter.

I had a bad feeling before the game even started though, as I first logged onto Twitter and saw that the Heat's starting small forward was going to be Yakhouba Diawara. Where the hell did that move come from? Spoelstra said after the game that he went with Kooba because he wanted to keep Dorell Wright within his role as the first perimeter guy off the bench, which I can understand.

But we have guys like James Jones and Daequan Cook who could use the minutes much more then Diawara. I think they need to give Cook as many minutes as they can spare because the only way he is going to get better and get out of this funk is by playing through it.

I'm hoping that the Heat use this game as some serious motivation. Immediately following the embarrassing home loss there was a team meeting that was about thirty minutes long. When asked about what was said in the meeting, D-Wade said that he kept quiet and only listened.

Udonis Haslem wasn't as quiet; talking to his teammates about the lack of effort they've put fourth of late, as well as the teams poor record at home. Bet you didn't realize that the Heat were under .500 at home (6-7) and over .500 on the road (5-4).

Looking at tonight's opponent, the Raptors are coming off of one of their better defensive efforts of the season, holding the Houston Rockets to just 88 points on 37% shooting in a 13-point victory. Keep an eye on Chris Bosh, Heat fans. We all know how much Pat Riley loves this guy, and more then likely is going to go after him more then any other free agent.

That being the case, just imagine what it will be like having this amazingly talented and athletic big guy dominating the post area and moving guys around in the paint, creating all kinds of space and lanes for Dwyane Wade to maneuver and score. Yea, I know that its way to early to assume anything...but if Bosh has any kind of inkling about playing in Miami with his boy D-Wade, you better believe that Pat Riley will make it happen.

GAME NOTES

After going 2-2 on a tough west coast road trip, the Heat are 0-2 so far on their 6-game homestand.
Toronto gives up the 2^nd most points in the league, allowing 108.0 points/game but are 6^th in the league in scoring, putting up 104.0 points/game.
On the other hand, Miami is right smack dab in the middle of the pack at points given up, surrendering 98.6. They aren't as good offensively, ranked 22^nd in the association by putting up 97.0.
The Raptors are a perfect 8-0 this season when holding their opponent under 100 points.
The 37 points surrendered by the Heat in the 1^st quarter against Memphis on Sunday was the second most points given up in a quarter this season by Miami. The most? So glad you asked...it was the 43 points scored in the second quarter of the Heat's visit to Toronto on November 20^th.
I wouldn't expect to see Quentin Richardson back in the lineup yet. He is officially listed as doubtful with his strained right hamstring.
For Toronto, guard Jose Calderon (hip) and forward Reggie Evans (foot) are both out.

Tuesday night tipoff from the AAA is set for 7:30.

Game #22: Memphis Grizzlies (9-13) vs. Miami Heat (11-10)

DolPhanDave — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:22:17 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Gross - Getty Images

Welcome back, Jermaine O'Neal.

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I wouldn't say the Heat are desperate for a win, but after the tough loss to Dallas on Friday, this is a team that really need to log a W. Memphis comes to town with a poor 3-9 road record, but they are facing a Miami team that has lost three straight on their home court. At this point, the Heat can't be looking at their opponents record or players, all that is irrelevant. Right now the one and only thing players should be worried about is getting wins. Plain and simple.

The timing is tough for Miami, with a couple starters banged up and playing hurt. Quentin Richardson tried to play through a hamstring injury on Friday but managed to play just six minutes against the Mavs. He'll miss the game tonight and its unknown how long he will have to rest his nagging hammy. It's also unknown who will start for Q. Dorell Wright has been gobbling up minutes of late, but he had a sub-par game against Dallas. It will be either Wright, James Jones (who has already started 5 games for an injured Richardson) or Daequan Cook.

Also injured for the Heat is D-Wade, who hurt his right (shooting) wrist breaking his fall after a failed reverse dunk attempt on Friday. Wade has been getting treatment for his wrist and both he and Coach Spoelstra expect Dwyane to play on Sunday. I see this as a possible blessing in disguise...as maybe Wade will shy away from the long jumpers and drive with the ball more for the ‘easier' looks at the basket.

GAME NOTES

The Heat are averaging just 88.7 points over their last 6 home games.

Memphis had won 3 straight before losing to the Thunder on Friday.

Jermaine O'Neal will be back in the lineup for Miami. He returned to practice with the team on Saturday after missing 2 games due to the passing of his uncle.

The guy to watch on the Grizz is Zach Randolph, who has 4 straight double doubles. In those games he is averaging 23.8 points and 14.8 rebounds.

Tipoff will be 6pm from the AAA, the usual Sunday start time. Hopefully there will be a decent crowd in the Heat's house...

Stats blog #3: Dorell Wright and Q-Rich heading in the right direction

DolPhanDave — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:28:07 -0000

More photos » by Nick Wass - AP

Yup, Dorell Wright can pass too...

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The last stats blog that I posted a couple days ago was mostly a positive one. Lots of good, encouraging numbers to look at while waiting for the Heat to kick off their nice, long home stand. This time around I've got four guys for us to look at. Two of them are making a big different since being put back in the lineup, and the other two have been struggling a little but not greatly hurting the team.

DORELL WRIGHT

Why am I starting with Dorell Wright? Well to be quite honest, yes he has been playing very well the past few games but that's all that it's been...a few games. It's no certainty that Wright will become an integral part in the Heat's rotation, although the way he has been playing of late may dictate otherwise.

With the Heat desperate to get back to the defensive dominance they showed over the first few weeks of the season, its no shock that Erik Spoelstra is giving D-Wright a shot, and he is making the most of it. Wright played more minutes in each of the last 3 games then any other game this season.

When I was interning with Sun Sports during the 15-win season, I was on and around the court a lot on game days. Something I got used to seeing was Dorell on the floor before anybody else, working on his jumpers. He got better and better, convincing me of his ability to be an unsuspectingly good jump shooter. That was two seasons ago...imagine how much more confident he is in his shot now after working on it that entire time then he was back when I was watching.

In his last three games, Wright has gone 14-of-23 from the field (61%) and hit 3-of-4 from beyond. 2-for-2 from the foul line to go with 11 rebounds (3.6/game), 6 assists (2/game), a steal, a block and some of the best hustle D we've seen in a while. I just hope that he doesn't get lost in the shuffle of players. As high as I've been on James Jones, I'm starting to lean more towards wanting to see Wright on the floor more. He has always been a good defender (long limbed guys usually are) but with the addition of offensive production he could finally begin to show us why he was a 1^st round pick all the way back in 2004. Better late then never? You better believe it!

QUENTIN RICHARDSON

A back injury kept Quentin out of uniform for four games, but he came back healthy and ready to re-claim his position in the starting lineup. I get the feeling that he is starting to understand the importance of being a bit more aggressive on offense, which is key for Q. If you have followed his career at all then you know that Richardson can score, and if we can get ‘offense Q' to merge with ‘defense Q' then we'd have some kind of all-star caliber player on our hands.

In his 4 games since re-claiming the starting SF position, Richardson has shown us that he can indeed be that outside presence most of us envisioned when we first acquired him. He's averaging 14 ppg on 48% shooting, and of his 42 field goals taken, 27 of them are of the three-point variety. 41% from beyond the arc isn't the best percentage, but that is still an average of almost 3 trey/game. Considering that in two of those four games Quentin took double digit three point attempts, it seems that he is starting to understand that getting open on the outside will be a big help for Miami.

Hopefully his good shooting continues beyond the scope of the past four games, as well as his 6.5 rebounds and 2 assists/game. And hey...it wouldn't hurt if he could have 5 steals and 3 blocks every four games as well.

DOWN PRODUCTIVITY

Now I'm not saying that these guys are in the doghouse or anything, but the following players aren't playing nearly as well as they once were this season.

Mario Chalmers- I'm looking at Rio's last four games, as that is when his minutes started going down. The reason for that is because of the lack of offensive production and defensive stinginess coming from the PG position of late, so much so that Dwyane Wade has been manning the point during important phases of the game.

After playing 30+ minutes in 13 of the first 16 games of the season, he has only cracked 30 minutes in 1 of his last 4 games. He is shooting just 9-for-21 in those games (43%) and 5-of-13 from 3-point range (38%). The rest of his numbers are also pretty low for a starting PG: 1.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists are low, as is the 6.8 ppg total. The only plus is the 1.3 steals/game. Chalmers is still young with a whole heap of potential, so I see this as nothing more then a speed bump in the sophomore's progression.

The other guy whose numbers are down is Udonis Haslem. I've got back 6 games on Udonis and everything other then his foul shooting and steals are down when compared to his season average. 8.2 points on 44% shooting and just 4.2 rebounds are nowhere near the numbers of U-D for the most part of the young season. If you recall, just last season it took Udonis several months to get his long-range jumper to fall with its normal consistency, so I have no doubt that he'll bounce back sooner then later.

Stats blog #2: Coming home on a hot streak

DolPhanDave — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:02:47 -0000

More photos » by Steve Yeater - AP

D-Wade has been getting to the foul line much more frequently of late, something that bodes well for the Heat.

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Here we go with stats blog #2. The Heat have been slacking defensively but picking it up on the offensive end. They have fallen out of the top-10 in both opponents scoring (97.3) and three-point shooting percentage (34.6%) but are still ranked 6^th in field goal percentage against (44.2%). Very slowly the Heat have been getting back to doing the right things on D, and I think the use of Wade at point guard in crucial minutes, as well as the return of Quentin Richardson and the re-emergence of Dorell Wright are serious contributing factors.

Switching back to offense, a few guys have been taking it up a notch the past couple weeks so naturally we'll take a look at their numbers. The first three guys are all starters, which is very good. I'd much rather have my starters, the guys getting the majority of the minutes, to be playing the best.

DWYANE WADE

Wade is having an interesting year, to say the least. A lot of criticism has fallen on Dwyane because of how many long-range jumpers he is taking instead of just driving with the ball and getting to the foul line, which has been his bread and butter for the past several years.

Looking at his last five games the thing that I must point out is that all of these numbers are improvements over the five previous games. Wade is shooting 46% from the field, averaging 26.8 ppg and while he's only shot 71% from the foul line, he is getting to the line 12.4 times/game in the last 5 and 15.7 times/game in the last 3. Compare that to just 7.4 free-throws/game in the 5 games leading up...

The rest of his stat line is impressive as well: 6.4 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1 steal and 1.4 blocks. All we can hope for is that the numbers remain steady and Wade keeps pushing.

MICHAEL BEASLEY

Beasley has been very good ever since back-to-back rough games against Oklahoma City and the Nets. Since then, Beasley has scored in double digits in 10 straight games, including two double doubles.

However, in his last five games Beas has looked even better, showing confidence with the ball in his hands and proving to be a formidable first scoring option when D-Wade is resting on the bench. His average points (18.8), field goal% (53%), free throw% (84%), rebounds (9.4) and assists (1.2) are all well above his season averages.

JERMAINE O'NEAL

Before the season began I tagged Jermaine O'Neal as the wild card for the Heat. From that standpoint, he has more then exceeded my expectations and has been a model for consistency for the Heat. The biggest knock on him from last year was the lack of rebounding, but that problem is now moot. Looking at his last six games, J-O has stayed hot from the field, shooting 55% but has struggled from the foul line. On the year his free-throw average has been 61%, but a much worse 46% of late.

His other numbers are all big improvements however, starting with his rebounding and assists. How about 11.6 rebounds/game and 2.0 assists/game to go along with 1.6 blocks/game, all higher then his season averages.

HOT HEAT SHOOTERS

In my last stats blog I mentioned that the Heat had four guys shooting over 50%. While the players are different, the statement remains the same....sort of. We'll start with the guy whose leading the pack. None other then the ‘big cat' Jamaal Magloire. That is, of course, if in order to be eligible for this honor you make the minimum amount of shots taken to be six. Magloire is 5-of-6 from the field on the season, in just three games.

Getting back to reality, Jermaine O'Neal still sits at the top of the list, shooting 56%. A nice surprise is right behind J-O, and while the sample size is small its still notable that Dorell Wright has hit 20 of his 36 shots, including 6-of-10 from three-point range. That's 56% and 60% to go with the great defense he's been opening a lot of eyes with.

Wright has always been known as a great defender, but while he's been hiding the past few seasons, he has been working extremely hard on his shot. Should he continue to hit them, you better believe that D-Wright will be stealing minutes away from James Jones and Quentin Richardson. Oh, and have you noticed the on-court chemistry between Wright and Dwyane Wade?

The final 50% shooter is none other then Mario Chalmers, who has hit 50.4% of his field goals this season. He's taken about 100 more shots then Dorell Wright, so obviously the consistency is there. The troubling thing is that Rio only takes 6.8 shots a game. When your point guard can shoot at or around 50%, it should be a priority to get him move involved in the offense.

Of course, there is only so much ball to go around. The Heat have several guys who are lethal with the ball in their hands and Chalmers isn't high on that list. Mario has to learn to get the offense going a bit quicker too; there have been too many times where I've seen the Heat just standing still on offense and not get a play going until the shot clock is in single digits.

Tomorrow we'll take a look at a couple guys who could be on the brink something big for both themselves and the Heat, as well as a pair of guys in need of a jolt.

Lakers-Heat Preview

DexterFishmore — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:00:25 -0000

The Miami Heat look like a team that's ready to get owned. They arrived in Los Angeles early this morning having absorbed an 18-point nutshot in Denver last night. When they play at Staples this evening, it'll be their sixth game in 10 days. The six opponents they'll have faced in that stretch have a combined winning percentage of 0.694. Of the Heat's last four wins, three have come by a single point, including "victories" over NBA speedbags New Orleans and, ahem, New Jersey.

Also, their opponent tonight is the Lakers, who are rested and vibing on a streak of seven straight blowouts.

Other than that, this matchup looks great for Miami.

Tonight will be the first time this year the Lakers have seen the Heat up close, but their roster isn't much different than when we all last hung out. It's still Dwyane Wade, a couple respectable supporting players, and then trash all the way down. As you'll recall, team president Pat Riley tried to poach Lamar Odom over the summer. Tried, and failed.

It feels like Wade's been in the league a decade, but he's still only 28 and he remains a stellar talent. His production this year has, however, slipped from "unbelievably awesome" to merely excellent. From last season's MVP-caliber numbers, his assist rate is down and his shooting is way down. Wade's effective field-goal percentage has fallen from 52% last year to only 45% this year.

A look at his shot-location chart at HoopData reveals the problem: Wade isn't getting to the rim nearly as much. In 2008-09 he attempted 7.5 shots at the rim per game, a rate that's dropped to 6.1 per game - still good but not otherworldly. All those layups and dunks are being replaced by midrange looks out to 15 feet, where he (like most everyone else) isn't as proficient. He's also going through a serious three-point slump, having made only 2 of 18 over the past five games. Wade has remained highly productive because he gets to the free-throw line at an insane rate and does so many other things well aside from scoring, but he's not playing like a Jordanesque talent capable of plucking a road win from the Lakers.

Miami's second option on offense is highly decorated weed aficionado Michael Beasley. The Beez can score some, but his per-game average of 15+ overstates his value because he uses so many possessions to get there. For some reason he thinks he's a three-point shooter and will jack up a couple per game. This is great news for Heat opponents because he's been hitting less than 25%.

Starting point guard Mario Chalmers and center Jermaine O'Neal are decent role-players, nothing more. Chalmers doesn't use a lot of possessions, but he's an important cog in the Miami offense. With him on the floor, they've scored 14 points more per 100 possessions than when he's on the bench. O'Neal's enjoying a modest bounce-back season, and good on him for that. He's nonetheless likely to get worked by Andrew Bynum.

(Remember when the Lakers almost traded Bynum for O'Neal? Yikes.)

O'Neal is backed up by Udonis Haslem, who has his uses, but the rest of the Heat rotation is beyond feeble. Quentin Richardson or James Jones, neither of whom should be getting minutes in the NBA, will start at small forward. Somehow they make about $12 million combined. Q Rich has played almost 400 minutes this year and attempted only one free throw, which he missed. Daequan Cook plays 18 minutes a night but still finds time to jack up 4-5 threes every game. He makes less than a third of those attempts and shoots even worse on his twos. You have to admire his self-confidence, I guess.

(Seriously, the next time you're pissed off about the Lakers' bench, go look at the numbers for some other teams. There is a lot of nastiness out there. Bad benches are the rule in the NBA, not the exception.)

Miami will have to deal with at least two other problems that jump out at me from the numbers. One is that their defense is really starting to crack. In the table below, I've listed their points allowed per possession in each of their last five games. The league average, keep in mind, is slightly less than 1.07 PPP.

Opponent	PPP Allowed
Orlando	1.09
Washington	1.08
Boston	1.06
Portland	1.15
Denver	1.24
Weighted Average	1.12

Wade and Chalmers make up a pretty good defensive backcourt, but O'Neal isn't nearly the defender he once was, and Beasley is downright awful. As we've already seen in so many games this year, Bynum and Pau Gasol are going to get a ton of excellent looks. Miami can mitigate the problem by subbing in Haslem for Beasley, but that move comes at an obvious cost on offense. Against this Lakers team, there's just nowhere to hide a bad frontcourt defender.

The other big problem is that Miami is one of the jump-shootingest teams in the league, and they're going to be playing tonight on dead legs. Thanks again to HoopData, we know they take fewer shot attempts at the rim per game than any other squad. Having played at altitude yesterday and traveled overnight, the Heat could be in for a hugely sucky shooting performance.

If absolutely everything were clicking and Wade were in vintage form, I could imagine Miami giving the Lakers a game. At the moment, thought, the conditions just aren't right - quite the opposite, in fact. This looks to me like another tasty beatdown waiting to happen.

I can think of worse ways to start the weekend.

	Lakers	Heat
*RECORD*	14-3	10-8
*NET POINTS PER GAME*	+8.1 (3rd)	-0.3 (16th)
*PACE*	98.3 (6th)	93.2 (27th)
*OFFENSIVE RATING*	104.6 (14th)	103.7 (17th)
Turnover Rate (Off.)	13.3% (11th)	13.1% (7th)
FTA/FGA (Off.)	0.26 (25th)	0.33 (9th)
Free-Throw %	74.4 (19th)	75.4 (16th)
Effective FG% (Off.)	50.4 (13th)	49.2 (20th)
True Shooting% (Off.)	53.9 (15th)	53.8 (17th)
Off Rebounding Rate	27.1% (13th)	25.0% (23rd)
*DEFENSIVE RATING*	96.6 (2nd)	101.7 (10th)
Turnover Rate (Def.)	14.6% (11th)	13.4% (17th)
FTA/FGA (Def.)	0.26 (5th)	0.32 (21st)
Effective FG% (Def.)	45.7 (1st)	48.1 (7th)
True Shooting% (Def.)	50.2 (1st)	52.6 (11th)
Def Rebounding Rate	72.6 (19th)	73.7 (13th)

All statistical terms defined here. Parentheses indicate league rankings. Numbers are courtesy of Basketball Reference and HoopData and, except for record and net points per game, are through Wednesday night's action.

Kevin Garnett leads Boston to late victory over the Heat

DolPhanDave — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:55:23 -0000

More photos » by J Pat Carter - AP

Notice the Paul Pierce stiff-arm on Ray Allen?

Browse more photos »

Nobody would call this game unentertaining, but once again the end result is sour for Heat fans. This time it was a lack of someone stepping up down the stretch for the Heat, as Boston was able to get key buckets from Kevin Garnett in the final minutes, but really their entire team contributed to the nice road win.

A great start for the Heat with Jermaine O'Neal drilling back-to-back jumpers and D-Wade getting a block on Ray Allen on the Celtics first offensive possession. The early success was short lived for Jermaine, who committed two quick fouls and was on the bench less then 90 seconds into the game. He was replaced by Joel Anthony who also picked up two quick fouls, which prompted the entrance of Udonis Haslem.

Meanwhile, it took D-Wade about 3 minutes to get off his first shot, a 21-foot jumper that he missed. The next time Wade had the ball he drove the baseline, spinned inside and sunk the shot off glass. Soon after he received a nice pass from James Jones, drive right down the middle and put down a nasty 2-hand jam. Think maybe something clicked in his head?

With both teams shooting so well early in the game (Boston 6-of-7, Miami 6-of-9) there were only three total rebounds brought down by both teams combined over 6 minutes into the game. Early on this game had all the indications of a high-scoring slug fest. The Heat were able to escape the first quarter with a 31-29 lead; Miami finished the quarter shooting 55%, Boston finished shooting 75%.

The back and forth game continued throughout the second quarter, with both teams getting buckets from all over the roster. The game was tied at 41 with about 4 minutes left but Boston outscored Miami 14-7 over that span and went into halftime with a 55-48 lead.

The second half began as a complete opposite of the first half with both teams struggling from the field. Dwyane Wade seemed to be intent on bringing the Heat back himself, scoring the first 6 points of the half for Miami. The Heat scored 8 straight en route to a 14-3 run to tie the game at 62. The tying bucket came on a sick pass by D-Wade (after getting blocked by Ray Allen) to Mike Beasley for his second big jam of the game. The Heat were playing some supreme D in the 2^nd half, especially on the outside.

The fourth quarter began with another Mike Beasley putback slam to tie the game at 67. That was just the beginning for Beas as he rattled off the first 11 points for the Heat, putting them ahead 76-72. Rajon Rondo responded for Boston with back-to-back layups, tying the game with 6 minutes left.

The game was again tied with under 3 minutes left when Kevin Garnett started making some plays. A nice pass to Kendrick Perkins for a dunk to put Boston up 2, then after a Jermaine O'Neal free throw, Garnett hit a long J to put the Celtics up 3. Next possession for Boston was a Ray Allen trey and suddenly the lead was at 6 with just 98 seconds left.

Dwyane Wade brought the Heat within 4 with a pair of free throws, and after a defensive stop at the other end, Jermaine O'Neal missed an easy dunk but got fouled. What could've brought the Heat within 2, instead turned into a couple missed free throws for J-O. Of course after the missed free points, you knew that Boston would score on the other end and Kevin Garnett did just that, putting the Celts up by 6 again, this time with just 38 seconds left. That would prove to be the dagger for Boston. Ugh...road trip here we come.

GAME NOTES

I'd say a big part of the loss was the Heat shooting just 61% from the charity stripe.

It's a shame that the only thing people will remember about Jermaine O'Neal from this game were the two free throws he missed with 1:08 left. Overall he had a very good game despite being in foul trouble for a good part of the first half. He finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

When oh when will we get a consistent Daequan Cook? He was way off tonight, airballing a few, missing his two attempts from beyond and his only free throw as well.

All five Boston starters scored in double digits, led by Kevin Garnett's 24 points.

D-Wade had a solid game, but when you are as good as Dwyane games like this are not good enough. A solid stat line of 27 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and a block...but he still disappeared for big chunks of time throughout the game.

It had been a while since I'd seen Boston play, and I was very impressed with the range of Kevin Garnett. Maybe it's a common thing, I don't know...but he drilled several J's from just inside the three-point line.

Another start for James Jones and another very disappointing result. All 4 of his points came on free throws as he went 0-5 from the field and 0-4 from beyond.

Quentin Richardson briefly returned for Miami, playing 9 minutes and missing both his shots.

The Heat will now embark on a 4-game western road-trip, beginning in Portland on Tuesday. Late night tipoff is at 10pm. The rest of the trip has the Heat visiting Denver on Thursday, the Lakers on Friday and Sacramento on Sunday.