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.