Heat Take on Bucks Tonight

The Miami Heat, or I should say, the LeBron James and Dwayne Wade show with special guest Chris Bosh, will travel to Milwakee to take on the Bucks for the second consecutive game. In the first game, the Heat defeated the Bucks relatively easily although Andrew Bogut certainly gave them head aches at times.

The Heat are currently playing at a level that leaves it hard for anybody to believe that they will lose tonight. Since the start of December, they are 20-1 and have defeated opponents on an overage of 10 points. Granted they have not played championship caliber teams such as the Spurs and Celtics, but they do have wins against the Los Angeles Lakers (say what you will about them in their current state), the Houston Rockets and the Orlando Magic. However, this is certainly nit-picking the talent on this team as they are only playing the schedule that is given to them. They can not control who they play and when they play, they have been simply playing the schedule handed to them. If the Heat can sweep their five-game trip that concludes Jan. 15 at Chicago, they'll tie the 1971-72 Lakers for the longest road winning streak in league history at 16.

LeBron's 38, Wade's 31 Too Much for Bobcats

Micheal Jordan got a first hand look at LeBron James tonight as a member of the Miami Heat. James was on the receiving end of some harsh criticisms by his airiness about a month ago as he produced a "What should I do?" commercial on Youtube. Jordon took what I view as a unnecessary shot at James and he may have paid for it tonight. At one point, James threw down an impressive reverse dunk and stared in the direction of Jordon who was sitting courtside.

James seemed to be playing with an extra chip on his shoulder and it showed in the stat line as he accumulated a season high 38 points 9 rebounds and 5 assists. His running mate, Dwayne Wade, also put an exclamation point on the night as he also contributed 31 points; this is the first time this season that the two have scored above 30 points. Chris Bosh was the only other player to score in double figures as he contributed 11 while the rest of the team scored 2-6 each.

"To look at us in the Boston game earlier this year, we didn't know what each other was thinking. Now we're on the same page. Us not being able to play together is not a conversation anymore. I think we do a good job of playing off each other. This is what we envisioned and it's starting to come true," said Wade.

The next two games for the Heat will be against the Milwaukee Bucks. They will host them tonight and then travel to Milwaukee to play the Bucks on Friday to begin a five game road trip that will see them make stops in Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago and Denver. They will not return home until the 18th when they host Atlanta.

Heat Rally Back, Begin to Look Scary Good

The Heat had a slow first half against the Golden State Warriors but what emerged in the second half was a determined fully focused unselfish basketball team led by Dwayne Wade and LeBron James.

They entered half time down with a 15 point deficit and slowly chipped away. Whether it was James unselfishly distributing to the correct teammate, or Wade relentlessly attacking the basket as he worked his way to the free throw line 16 times tonight to score 11 points from the charity stripe. James just brilliantly set up his defenders to easy assists which he accumulated 10 of them. As hard as it is to believe, it seems that their transition offense improved as with each turnover or easy rebound, both James and Wade led the break and always seem to know what to do; there is defiantly a difference that is noticeable when Mario Chalmers starts the break. On one occurrence on one of the rare non-converions of the transition offense, there was a four on two fast break where each member of the Heat touch the ball which went through James and Wade but did not take the shot; once again showing their unselfishness.

The Heat head to Charlotte for Monday and will return home to face the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday. They improve to 26-9 on the season and are currently tied with the Boston Celtics for first place in the Eastern Conference. It would not be a surprise if they continue playing at the level that they are playing at and take over the top spot due to the injuries of Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rando. They will face each other in a week on January 8th in Boston for what will certainly be an entertaining basketball game.

Heat Continue To Seperate Themselves From Competition With Win In Houston

If you watch the highlight from last nights game, you do not see LeBron James at all which is saying something about the chemistry that is getting created on the court as Dwayne Wade dropped 45 points to notch his second consecutive game of 40+ points.

Houston certainly put a great effort on the court as well which made for an entertaining contest as they kept the game relatively close the majority of the game. "This was a tough game for us," Wade said. "We gave up 119 points, and that's not Miami ball. Houston played unbelievable."

 However, Wade's focus on the game was unquestionable as he missed a couple of minutes of the game because he took an elbow to the jaw that required stitches. With the stitches in his mouth he continued to drive the lane and split defenses with a ferocity in which the stitches may have added to his contributions to the night.

"For the majority of athletes, when they get angry, they lose their focus, composure and poise," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "But he's one of the few that the exact opposite happens. He was angry after that hit, and he was bleeding. But you could see, after that point, an absolute laser focus and poise, and he didn't let his anger get the best of him."

One shot that signified the night was Wade's shot from the top of the key that bounced around like a roulette ball on the rim that eventually went in.

With the win, the Heat's final record for the month of December is 15-1 which nearly came close to matching the 1978 Lakers mark of 16 wins in the month of December.

"We're just a different team now," James said. "We go out and understand that no matter what the course of the game may bring, we can always will ourselves to win, get enough stops, and make enough plays to win a basketball game."

The Heat will attempt to continue their winning ways against the Golden State Warriors on New Years Day at the American Airlines Arena at 7:30.

Wade's 40 Enough to Roll Past Knicks

In a the second match up of the season, the Miami Heat rolled past the New York Knicks for their 24th win of the season and their 15th of December.

This time it was not LeBron James leading the way but Wade who dropped a season high 40 points on the Knicks who put up a good fight, but in the end were overwhelmed by the star talent on the court that produces not only on the offensive side but on the defensive side as well. Within in this 15-1 streak the Heat have held every opponent under 100 points, in fact a good amound of teams have struggled to hit 90. This is the type of stat that certainly puts the Heat back into the conversation of the best team in the league, although there are many within the conversation including the Dallas Mavericks who gave the Heat their lone loss of the month. This also puts the Heat right on track on LeBron James schedule who said the team will be playing their best ball entering January.

The Knicks just did not seem to have an answer for Wade as he entered the fourth quarter with 25 points and scored 15 in the final frame. This was big because the Heat led by 22 at one point  I think most importantly of Wade's 40 points were James's 18 points. This shows that they are starting to gel as a team and teammates. James took a step back tonight and let Wade go off. That is what this team needs to do to continue to be successful and it appears that they are starting to operate on all cylinders.

The greatest show on court next takes its talents to Houston where they will face the Rockets at 8:30. The Rockets are coming off a win against the Washington Wizards and have an extra day of rest in between games. This is going to be challenging for the Heat as they traveled last night and have to play today. However, if they continue to produce at the level they are currently operating at, then it should not be an obstacle to overcome.

Retraction A Good Thing? LeBron Thinks So

Yesterday, LeBron James stirred the tabloid pot once again yesterday as he suggested that contratraction would be a good thing for the NBA. "Hopefully the league can figure out one way where it can go back to the '80s where you had three or four All-Stars, three or four superstars, three or four Hall of Famers on the same team. The league was great. It wasn't as watered down as it is [now]," James said. This statement comes at an odd time for me as I once disdained the NBA for their sub-par product. What started as a reason to think the NBA was sub-par talent to college basketball was reaffirmed with the search for talent and marquee names to replace Michael Jordan seemed like a lost cause. The San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Piston championship low rated championship runs also reaffirmed that the NBA was producing a sub par form of entertainment.

Fast forward to the present where the NBA is currently producing their finest form of entertainment since Micheal Jordon retired led by none other than LeBron James. With James opting to take his talents to South Beach, the interest NBA skyrocketed and sell outs proceeded to pop up all over the country; an instant jolt to the NBA just as LeBron entered his prime. With this jolt, the talk of 'trio's' begun, more specifically three superstars on one team is the best chance a team can have to win a championship with reference to the superstar teams of the Celtics and Lakers in the 1980's and the 1990's Bulls, Rockets as well as the Detroit Pistons, San Antionio Spurs and the current day Los Angeles Lakers all used this formula to win numerous championships.

For whatever reason, LeBron James was criticized for tryng to follow this formula, but that is not the case. The case is if Carmelo Anthony goes to the Knicks, the NBA's product is going to continue to skyrocket and follow the trend of more superstars on one team in order to win a championship. If this is the case, this would support LeBron James's comments in support of  contraction of NBA teams in order to make a better product on the court. However, I do not know if this is an issue of the product on the court or the dollars in the owners pockets.

I feel that the NBA is currently putting its best product on the court since Micheal Jordon and is not in need of retraction. Teams can get better, just look at what the Atlanta Hawks have been able to do over the five years with proper free agent spending accompanied with home grown talent has produced one of the top five teams in the Eastern Conference. However, I do not know the financial dealings of the NBA and do not know what is truly the best route for the NBA to take. These are uncertain economic times and it appears that the NBA is no different than many of the corporations facing difficult economic times. They would like to lower their work force to save money. With contraction comes serious layoffs such as what will the front office of the Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves do if their team is disbanded. Would it make for a better product? Perhaps, but I do not think it should happen as the interest of the NBA has recovered since MJ retired and they can thank one person: LeBron James.

No Dwayne, No Problem. Heat Roll Past Suns

With Dwayne Wade sitting out due to a stiff hamstring, LeBron James and Chris Bosh had a chance to really let loose within the offense. James finished with a game high 36 points while Bosh contributed 23 in a 95-83 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

"We played the majority of our offense through LeBron and Chris, and they really carried us at times and make the game easier for our other guys," Head Coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We got enough games from them and ball movement at key times to close out the win."

The win comes after the Dallas Mavericks snapped a 12 game winning streak that got the Heat back on track  for the season bringing them the second best record in the Eastern Conference; second only to the Boston Celtics who are currently riding a 14 game winning streak. The win is the Heats 8th straight on the road and they look to make it 9 against the Lakers on Saturday as they travel to Los Angeles to take on the Kobe Bryant in a Christmas Day match up.