The Miami Heat suffered their second loss of the season against the very much underrated New Orleans Hornets.
Chris Paul showed why he is the leagues best point guard as he distributed a staggering 19 assists while contributing 13 points. Some care calling it the blue print to beat the Heat, I would have to disagree witht that because there is only one Chris Paul in the league which means there is only one player who could do what he did against the Heat; himself. Paul even out rebounded Chris Bosh on the night as he grabbed four rebounds while Bosh only grabbed two; one offensively and one defensively. Although it is not time to quit on Bosh yet as a productive big man, with each passing game, Bosh's inability to collect rebounds is growing more and more apparent.
This was not the only aspect of the Heat's game that was exposed last night. Carlos Arroyo, the listed starting point guard in the starting line up, only played 17 minutes, contributed 0 points and 1 assist. There was not much more production out of the non-Miami Thrice players. LeBron James and Dwayne Wade both scored more than 25 points a piece while James, who appears more and more everyday the point guard of this team, contributed 10 assists. Out of the dynamic duo, one stat that is becoming more and more alarming is the amount of turnovers this team is accumilating. Wade had 7 turnovers last night, a couple which came at the hands of Paul's 5 steals on the night. This ability to perform on the defensive side of the ball is one of the main reason's why Paul is considered an elite player in the NBA.
What ultimately was the deciding factor of the game was Wade passing up the last shot of the game; his strength, unselfishness, was also his weakness last night. Wade had a perfect shot lined up last night for him in the winding seconds of the game as he was left wide open at the top of the key for a potential game tying 3 pointer with two seconds left in regulation. Wade opted to pass off to Eddie House who was probably surprised himself that Wade would pass up an opportunity like that. This poor decision making by Wade may be the reason he is committing an inordinate amount of turnovers. However, this is a man who missed the entire pre-season and has yet to find his comfort zone on a day in- day out basketball schedule.
The Heat look to bounce back tonight as they host the New Jersey Nets which should be an easy win for them. The Heat defeated the Nets last week by a staggering 30 points. Tonight they will be playing host against a sell-out crowd at the American Airlines Arena in the heart of downtown Miami. Tonight marks the a four game home set for the Heat which will have them play host to the Utah Jazz on Monday, the Boston Celtics on Thursday and the Toronto Raptors, Bosh's old team, on Sunday. As Miami tourist season begins to pick up, more and more people will be coming down to see the Heat play.
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