Wednesday, October 27, 2010

LeBron's first win overshadowed by his ex



Leave it to the Cleveland Cavaliers, those supposed bottom-dwellers who would never recover from the nastiest of divorces, to overshadow their promiscuous ex-spouse's big night.

LeBron James participated in Miami's first win of the season (you won't be able to say LeBron led his team to victory every time the Heat win this year. On Wednesday, Dwyane Wade and James Jones led the charge. LeBron participated), but the win was so expected against such a mediocre team, it barely registered on the radar.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

LeBron looks more comfortable without Wade

The obvious response after watching Boston outplay Miami in just about every facet of the game: The Celtics have years of developed chemistry, and the Heat remain a work in progress.

Miami will prosper and the optimism in South Florida shouldn't suffer. The Heat nearly made a stunning comeback, and LeBron James hasn't lost his ability to score in the bunches. 

But if I were Erik Spolestra, not only would I be looking over my shoulders even after close victories, I'd be busting out my chalkboard and crunching complex mathematical formulas to figure out how LeBron and Dwyane Wade will complement each other. 



Monday, October 25, 2010

Heat shouldn't worry about its image



David Stern must cringe when uttering the word contraction to reporters, even if he's playing a strategic bargaining game with the players union.

This comes from the commissioner who several years ago dreamed of NBA franchises in Europe, some fish and chips and wienerschnitzel to go with your overpaid admission.






Saturday, October 9, 2010

Heat could compete for title with just LeBron, Bosh



When Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said he thinks the Heat "are better without Wade," he was clearly joking. When Wade returns from his self-diagnosed two week hamstring injury, the Heat will have a trio more athletic and explosive than the league has ever seen.

But let's just say the unthinkable occurred and Wade's injury lingered, and then he fell down in his house doing pilates (sorry Boozer) and broke his arm and missed significant time. The Heat would still compete for a title, and that's how scary this team looks.

You can never take too much out of a preseason game, so forget that Miami easily defeated a bad Detroit team and a good Oklahoma City team without Wade.

Instead, compare what the Heat's lineup would look like minus Wade, and to the 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers' lineup that reached the NBA Finals.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Heat stats 2010-11

I peaked into my 2015 Sports Almanac and made a PDF of the 2010-11 Heat statistics.

As usual,Wade led the team in scoring, and LeBron put up near triple-double numbers with a high shooting percentage. He narrowly beat out Wade for the team high in assists. Mike Miller led the Heat in 3-pointers.


(Click below to see the full team stats)