The Miami Heat began the week hoping to continue their dominance of the Southeast Division, having won 18 of their last 19 games versus their rivals.
First was a trip to Charlotte against the Bobcats in North Carolina; then back home against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday. And finally, the Southeast tour would conclude with two straight contests against Orlando at the Magic’s Amway Center and finally at home at the American Airlines Arena.
Last Week’s results 4-0 (10-3 Overall)
Saturday @ Charlotte Bobcats – Win (97-81)
With Mario Chalmers suspended for elbowing Dirk Nowitzki, Udonis Haslem injured (back spasms) and Ray Allen ill (flu), Miami faced off against the Charlotte with a team missing several key players and Chris Bosh’s foul trouble didn’t help much either. Nonetheless, the next man up motto of the Heat came to their rescue as the offensive exploits of Michael Beasley added 15 points.
LeBron James (as usual) was the star as he dropped 30 points to become the only starter in double digits after Dwyane Wade finished the game with just four points.
Even with the Heat’s struggles, Kemba Walker was the only Bobcat to offer up much resistance with 22 points, but the outcome was in much doubt as Charlotte shot just 35 percent in the game.
Tuesday vs Atlanta Hawks – Win (104-88)
By resting Dwyane Wade, Coach Erik Spoelstra gave James Jones the opportunity to make the very first start of the season and only his second appearance in 2013-14. But it would be Chris Bosh and Ray Allen who would steal the show with 19 and 17 points respectively, as Miami came out victorious.
LeBron James normally adds to his consecutive double-digit scoring record by the end of the first quarter(or early in the second), but this time, the King had to wait a little longer as he missed all of his shots and went scoreless in the opening period.
Then again, this is the King we’re talking about after all and normal service was resumed when he exploded for 10 points.
With LeBron only doing most of his damage in the second, the rest of the crew did the majority of the heavy lifting. All-Star Chris Bosh led the way for all scorers with 19 points thanks to a 8-9 shooting clinic which included a run of seven straight baskets made.
The home crowd also played a big part in the win because Miami started off somewhat lethargic. However, in the third quarter, the home fans got behind their team and Miami went on a 15-0 run to open up the game.
By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the game was almost in the bag and Spoelstra sent in his stellar bench to close out the deal as the starters played no part in the closing quarter.
Wednesday @ Orlando Magic (Win 120-90)
For the second night in a row, James Jones filled in for Wade in the starting line-up and man did the 11-year veteran make the most of his minutes; making five shots from deep on his way to 17 points in 20 minutes and the Miami Heat W.
The Heat started off en fuego from the field, making their first seven shots as they opened up on a 16-0 run. However, they soon cooled off after that and Arron Affalo’s free throws with 7:30 left in the quarter triggered a 20-9 run by the Magic to reduce the deficit. And at one point, they even came all the way back to take the lead with the scores 32-31.
Perhaps overly focused with shutting out Nikola Vucevic, Miami allowed Afflalo to run wild in the half as the shooting guard had 20 points, making six 3- pointers by halftime. However, in the second half they were more alert to the threat and they limited him to 10 points and just one trey.
Vucevic fouled out early on in the fourth quarter, Arron Affalo was unable to find any room to work with and rookie Victor Oladipo couldn’t find a way to be effective. Sure, he provided contributed with 20 points and five steals, but by no means was he able to keep a handle on the ball and Miami’s stifling defense harassed him into eight turnovers. Therefore Orlando weren’t left with much to battle a stacked Miami Heat team.
Coach Spo won’t be happy by the fact that Miami gave up 20 turnovers in the game, but I’m sure the Heat forcing at least 20 turnovers for the fourth time this season helps ease his pain.
Saturday vs Orlando Magic – Win (101-99)
Following their blowout win over the Magic on Wednesday night in Orlando, Miami were involved in a duel that went right down to the wire this time around. But luckily, they came out on top thanks to the late heroics of LeBron James, despite the team making just six shots from deep.
Rocking their “Red-Zone” uniforms for the first time, the much favored Heat couldn’t buy a bucket as the NBA’s most efficient team made just seven field goals in the first quarter and shot an unimpressive 41.5 percent at the half. What’s more, Miami didn’t even make a single 3-point shot throughout the whole half and they soon found themselves down 55-39 at the break.
Orlando on the other hand was feeling it from deep, especially E’Twaun Moore. The third year guard out of Purdue scored all 14 of his points in the first period thanks to his 5-for-5 performance from the field, with four of those makes coming from beyond the arc and the Magic made 9-of-13 3-pointers.
The second half though, was a completely different story. Miami cranked up the intensity and and they soon found themselves within striking distance after LeBron made back-to-back 3s to open the half.
And having opened the game with a rusty 1-6 shooting start, Dwyane Wade had his second wind because he then made all but two of his next 10 shots the rest of the way. That included a monster dunk to cut the lead to six points and send the crowd into frenzy. However, Arron Afflalo did bring them right back down to earth with a three to end a 10-0 scoring run.
Glen Davis made his comeback after breaking his left foot in January, and the 6’9” power forward a huge splash in return; scoring 20 points in 26 minutes. He also did a pretty good job guarding James for stretches of the game.
But for all the good work he did, it was Arron Afflalo who was guarding the reigning MVP when he hit the pull up jumper with 15.1 seconds left in the game.
Victor Oladipo, who had been outstanding and successful when driving to the basket, did have the chance to send the game into overtime having pulled down Afflalo’s miss, but the wide open jumper rolled off the rim.
Player of the Week
LeBron James has been crucial to the Heat’s success this week, including a game winner against Orlando. (NBA.com photo)
LeBron James – Who else?
The King is continuing his dominance he averaged 21 points, 6.2 rebounds and 6.5 assists this week. In addition to this, James hit over 50 percent of his shots from the Field and also contributed defensively with 1.5 steals per game.
What to lookout for?
The match-up versus Phoenix on Monday will present LeBron James with the opportunity to take his record for consecutive double-digit scoring games past-one of- Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s mark of 508 straight games.