Balanced Attack Leads Heat Past Raptors

With the latest issue behind him, his playing time, LeBron James cleared up the air once again as he felt his comments after the loss to the Boston Celtics were taking out of contexts. With the air cleared on the latest issue, the Miami Heat took to the court in front of a pack house eager to hit the streets of Miami for a Saturday night on the town.

James once again led the team in playing time as he registered 23 points 11 assists and 2 rebounds in his 39 minutes on the floor. His running mate Dwayne Wade led all scorers with 31 points as the dynamic duo continue to be a problem for teams not named the Boston Celtics. Unfortunately for the Miami front office, it is becoming harder and harder to put Chris Bosh in the same equation as his teammates for the reason the team is dominating on the court. Once again he failed to reach the 10 rebound mark and was out performed by teammate Udonis Haslem who registered a double-double with 10 rebounds and 10 point. Bosh was only able to register 23 minutes on the nights contest due to foul trouble.

The Toronto Raptors kept the game close and presented a challenge to the Miami Heat. The Raptors performance seemed to be stemmed from the energy from the crowd as teams seem to be playing their best basketball against the Heat, i.e. the Celtics. From the opening game of the season, each Heat game, especially at home, as had an added energy to them with no doubt teams getting extra amped to try to register a win against the most hyped team in recent history. The fact that the Raptors was the former team of Bosh also added to the teams energy. "There was no added incentive ... no emotion," said Raptors guard Jarrett Jack, a close Bosh friend for years going back to their time together at Georgia Tech. "It was all about beating the Miami Heat and we didn't get that done." The Raptors were only down four points with six and a half minutes left, but an offensive surge led by Wade and James gave the Heat some cushion as they went on a 12-2 run.

The Heat will close out their six game home stand by hosting the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night while hosting the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night and then travel to Memphis to round out the weeks match ups. As the hype machine continues to fall victim to the media's obsession with them, James is already answering questions about his return to Cleveland on Dec. 2 and ESPN is already having a countdown to a Christmas match-up against the Lakers. "It's too early for me to think about," James said on the upcoming match-ups. Which it is.