Another nightmare matchup for our middling Heat, as Udonis Haslem follows up his unfair face-off with Yao Ming with a dose of the Blazers' big and deep frontcourt. Haslem checked LaMarcus Aldridge last time the two teams met while Michael Beasley guarded Joel Przybilla, but it's on when Greg Oden comes off the bench. Oden has been slowly coming around, but the entrance of our 6-8 and under frontcourt could well jump-start his progress. Joel Anthony needs to bring it tonight.

Matchup of the night: Brandon Roy vs. Dwyane Wade

Look for Wade to make up for his weak effort against Houston with a strong showing against Roy. It's unfortunate, but Wade has to win these elite matchups for MIami to have any chance against the likes of Portland.

Opposing player I'm scared of: Rudy Fernandez

I overlooked him last time, and he burned us. I won't make that mistake again.

Like the Portland game on ESPN earlier this year, last night's game was one this Heat roster simply can't win as constructed.

Yao Ming's 28 points and 11 rebounds was more than enough against a helpless Udonis Haslem, even as Tracy McGrady fulfilled one of my keys to a Heat upset with a 2-7 shooting night. Dwyane Wade, the recently-honored Eastern Conference player of the week, negated any positives from McGrady's dud with a 7-23 shooting effort of his own.

The differences between Houston and Miami are more profound than height, however. The Rockets bring game-changers like Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks off the bench in relief of perhaps the game's best starting lineup. And remember, this is a group that is still missing Shane Battier, and one in which a solid guard like Luther Head can't even get off the bench. The team is stacked, and I expect them to play the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals in what will be one hell of a series.

As for our guys we're back to our comfort zone at .500. Like I've been saying, get used to it. We're going to live here all year.

Miami gets a heck of a test tonight against a stacked Rockets team that finally seems to be figuring out how good it is. Looking down the list, there's not many matchups that favor Miami:

Center: Yao Ming vs. Udonis Haslem (HOUSTON)

Power forward: Luis Scola vs. Michael Beasley (DRAW)

Small forward: Ron Artest vs. Shawn Marion (HOUSTON)

Shooting guard: Tracy McGrady vs. Dwyane Wade (MIAMI)

Point guard: Rafer Alston vs. Mario Chalmers (HOUSTON)

Frontcourt depth: Chuck Hayes/Carl Landry vs. Joel Anthony/Yakhouba Diawara (HOUSTON)

Backcourt depth: Brent Barry/Aaron Brooks vs. Chris Quinn/Daequan Cook (DRAW)

Formula a Heat win: a brilliant Wade performance + a bad shooting night for McGrady + a game-changing effort by an unexpected Heat player (Cook, Chalmers, etc.)

Matchup of the night: Tracy McGrady vs. Dwyane Wade.

One of those classic scoring guard matchups. Wade is the better player, but McGrady can fill it up when he's on.

Opposing player I'm scared of: Yao Ming

Because he's 7-6 and crazy good, but also because of the matchup. Although I am of two minds about this: on one hand, the height advantage Yao has every night is more prominent against Udonis Haslem. On the other, if Yao can shoot over anyone he wants anyway, what's the difference between shooting over a 6-11 guy and a 6-8 one like Haslem? Here's Magic center Dwight Howard quoted in the Houston Chronicle:

"His turnaround jump shot, nobody can block it unless you're 7-8," Howard said.

"It's like a beanstalk. You got to chop."

Let's get chopping.

Miami welcomes one of its likely competitors for the seventh or eighth Eastern Conference playoff seed tonight at the AAA. If that doesn't make you scrap whatever Saturday night plans you might have had, then you just don't like professional sports, and I feel sorry for you. I'm not even mad. I just feel sorry for you.

Matchup of the night: Danny Granger vs. Shawn Marion

Granger is turning into an unmitigated beast, giving the Pacers the All-Star forward they appeared to be relinquishing when they wrapped Jermaine O'Neal in bubble wrap and snuck him across the Canadian border. While a lot of people projected Granger as an above-average player, I'm not sure anyone thought he would be this damn good.

Opposing player I'm scared of: T.J. Ford

This team makes me a lot more nervous than a 5-6 team has any right to, but I'm just not thrilled with the matchups. Marquis Daniels' length could give Dwyane Wade some trouble, Troy Murphy's rebounding acumen could overwhelm the faltering Michael Beasley. Rasho Nestervoic will create some issues for Udonis Haslem (our guy's shorter than the average center, if I haven't mentioned that before). Aside from Granger, however, the player I'm most concerned about is Ford. I'm not sure that Mario Chalmers and/or Chris Quinn will be able to keep him out of the lane, and our bigs aren't protecting the rim if he gets there with any regularity. Beasley will foul him, though, if that counts for anything.

Now that's a three-forward lineup.

Toronto's unfair front line of Chris Bosh, Jermaine O'Neal and Andrea Bargnani laid waste to Miami's flawed frontcourt, negating a magnificent effort from Dwyane Wade, a season-best performance from Shawn Marion. This is a rough loss on paper, but it's nearly impossible to beat a team that was shooting as well as the Raptors last night. Miami gave itself a chance, but you need an occasional three-pointer to rim out for the other guys to win close games like this. What are you going to do?

And it's back to .500. Our room still available?

Notepad

• Wade echoed Chris Bosh's effort against Orlando a night earlier, scoring 40 in a loss. Wade was absolutely flawless last night, keeping down the turnovers and even blocking 5 shots. Brilliant! Can we stop worrying about the ankle now?
• The Shawn Marion trade value index skyrocketed after last night's 20-point, 14-rebound effort. I'm fighting the urge to say Miami should hold on to him - it helps that this kind of performance came in a loss. It also proves that Michael Beasley and Marion are incompatible - Marion went off while playing power forward alongside Daequan Cook, rather than small forward/hybrid forward/whatever next to Beasley.
• I'm still not overly concerned, but Beasley was a complete non-factor tonight. I'm still confident he'll straighten it out. Udonis Haslem had a dud of a game too, but he was due to come back to earth eventually. I still think he'll tend more to the 12 and 10 double-double - his shot just wasn't falling.
• Marion's board work helped mitigate a huge Raptors rebounding advantage among the bigs. Bosh and O'Neal outrebounded Beasley and Haslem 28-14, though Beasley's minutes were limited.
• Chris Quinn has pushed the point guard position almost to a platoon, getting 24 minutes to Mario Chalmers' 28. Neither was spectacular nor disastrous. Not that I want those guys out of the rotation, but I'd like to get a long look at Wade and Cook alongside the Three Forwards. Wade's doing all the playmaking anyway, so I'm not sure what's stopping Erik Spoelstra from letting him play point guard and putting a two-guard next to him.
• Even with Beasley's foul trouble, Mark Blount was nowhere to be found. Barring injury, I believe we might have seen the end of Blount as a regular rotation player. When Jamaal Magloire's back, Blount might be looking at the inactive list.

We'll start with some scare tactics from the Magic blog Third Quarter Collapse, which published this cautionary tale after Orlando's 103-90 win over Toronto on Tuesday.

That Chris Bosh scored 40 points against Orlando should come as no surprise; Magic coach Stan Van Gundy predicted as much before the game. Further, of the six games in his career in which he's scored at least 40 points, three have come against the Magic. He simply has their number. I didn't keep track of his shot breakdown during the game, but it didn't seem to me that he missed any of the jumpers he took from the top of the key. ESPN'com's shot chart bailed me out by showing he went 5-of-7 from that distance. More impressively, I recall all of those looks being contested. The man is 6'10", can handle the ball, and does not miss from 18-feet even when the hand of another 6'10" man is in his face. And he's 24. Fear him.

OK, I will.

And I'll add that Bosh, after last night, is now officially No. 1 with a bullet on my list of 2010 free agent targets. He is utterly brilliant, and you know he wants the hell out of Toronto. I don't think guys like putting up 40 and still losing by double digits. Let's make it happen for him. How about a little recruiting work while he's in town, fellas? Beasley?

Matchup of the night: Anthony Parker vs. Dwyane Wade.

Parker isn't a marquee guy, but he's good enough to give Wade some trouble on the tail end of the back-to-back. If Wade is a step slow because of the ankle, Parker's defense might catch up and contain him. He's probably not going to really take advantage offensively, but lockdown defense on a hobbled Wade would be disastrous for Miami.

Opposing player I'm scared of: Chris Bosh

See above.