Heat becoming kings of the collapse

Hey, with Lebron on the team they gotta be kings of something, right? Was thoroughly entertained watching Orlando's shocking comeback win over Miami tonight. Heat lead 73-49 with 8:41 left in the third quarter and in just over 14 minutes to about the middle of the fourth quarter the Magic laid a mindblowing 40-9 run on "The Heatles" (as Lebron likes to call his motley crew) to take an 89-82 lead and Orlando held on for a big 99-96 win, giving Boston a nice three game lead in the loss column in the East. Keeping with the music motifs for nicknames, the Heat were more like Coldplay in the second half tonight.

This follows a succession of huge blown leads for the Heat. They blew an 11 point lead a week ago in losing to the Bulls 93-89, coughed up a 15 point lead Sunday in their loss to the Knicks and flushed that 24 point lead tonight. This one reminded me of Boston's 24 point comeback win over L.A. in Game 4 of the 2008 Finals.

Commenting on the Heat's penchant for coughing up leads, Yahoo Sports included this in their game summary:


"In the last Heat home game, they wasted a 15-point lead before losing to the New York Knicks. At Orlando a month ago, Miami was up by 23 with 7:40 left before surviving a white-knuckle finish. A 23-point lead in Indiana was all but squandered a couple weeks ago, and there was the stunning 22-point collapse in a home loss to Utah in November.

This might have been the worst of all."


I don't think the Heat (or their fans) will sleep very peacefully tonight.

heck this is better than the Magic winning wire to wire in a blow out!

beat

Hey the Heat are the reverse Jazz!! Instead of coming back from insane deficits, they're blowing them!!!

The team that truely scares me for the playoffs is the Bulls. Derrick Rose will be the best player on the court and he's got some solid sidekicks in Deng,Boozer and Noah.

While I too enjoyed reading the scroll on ESPN that MIA had blown a 24 point lead, (I fell asleep in the first quarter) and it appears MIA is going into a tailspin finally playing some stiff competition, I'm still a little leary of being too happy for us.

1) MIA and Eric have drunk all the Anthony Robbin's/Chet Holmes/PMA "Yea, Rah, Sis Boom Bah, let's be positive while all the world around us hates us and is negative and work through it" Kool aid they can. What they don't seem to understand is, that bs only works for a very, very, very small percentage of the population. The PMA circuit make their money preying on the large population of losers giving/selling them hope and sunshine for a few moments and then are nowhere to be found when the wheels really do come off the wagon after spending thousands of dollars on their crapola. Their good news is that if you do stay the course, the odds are you will come out on top, you'll be the last man standing as all your competition will wither. More than likely, MIA will figure it out. I think, unfortunately it will start tonight. They will take a win tonight and run with it. They will probably beat SAS sans TP. Let's rephrase, they should beat SAS sans TP. This is their very best chance to make a move in the positive direction. They will take anything now, any glimmer of hope (sorry Sam). Now CHI is coming in Sunday and CHI will probably rip them a new one, but tonight is a very winable game for MIA even in the worst of conditions.

2) Celtics can't afford to drop a game anytime soon. Even with BB out, there are enough pieces to fill in/experiments to try for 2-3 games with no real consequences (losses). He won't be missed in the short run. These next 3 weeks schedule-wise are a gift to everyone Celtic and Boston doesn't even need to pick up a newspaper. Just do what you do best. Win. Win. Win. Lock up 1st place.

3) Doc will have plenty of time to play with line-ups against the lesser competition while the other top teams innihilate themselves and widen the gap. Let's just hope he doesn't lose a lead that's so big he doesn't have a cushion to win it back like against Phoenix.

4) Clearly, the press in their last ditch effort is now using the 2006 MIA model for this year's team in their ongoing denial of the facts. I don't remember 2006 very well and how MIA did during the season against the elite, but I'm sure if a little research is done, it will show absolutely no similarities to this team.

5) Nothing will be more devastating (to me) than to have MIA figure themselves out at our expense in the playoffs. What would be ideal would be for MIA to free fall to 5th, ORL to 3rd, NYK to 4th and give everyone the MIA v. NYK game they want. NYK wins and we sweep them in the second round. Let CHI and ORL have a war in the second round. Both are playing well.

Tonight it has to be ORL, BOS and MIA that win IMHBAO, as this will help us keep CHI further down the list, and it moves SAS closer to us. Sunday, it would be nice and helpful to us to see LAL win v. SAS. MIA v. CHI it almost doesn't matter. If both could lose like beat wishes, that would be great.

Nonetheless, even Sam wil have to admit this is a great weekend of 60's-like bball.

celtic fan wrote:Hey the Heat are the reverse Jazz!! Instead of coming back from insane deficits, they're blowing them!!!

The team that truely scares me for the playoffs is the Bulls. Derrick Rose will be the best player on the court and he's got some solid sidekicks in Deng,Boozer and Noah.

I know it was just one game.............but they ceretainly looked pretty mortal against Atlanta the other eve.

beat

cow

And all of what you point out is correct...........but thats only 1/2 of it. There is the "other" end of the floor (defense) where I think even more glaring weaknesses are.

Just hear a guy on ESPN point out that they seem to struggle most against teams with quick point guards that can penetrate.
Nelson is not a top notch PG but he does creat problems. Once the ball is inside the heat can't get out on shooter like last eve Orlando made 16 threes for crying out loud.

Am I still concerned with um?...........sure but seems the vast majority of the league has them figured out. Make um play slow ball they can't execute out of the 1/2 court any better than they can defend it.

beat

Hi,
It's a good news but let's not get carried away. Everybody has a few stinkers: look at LAL - lost to Cavs. Heat is still a very valid contender. And until Celtics or somebody else dispatch them in playoffs...., you know- it's not over until it's over.
OTOH, I still stick to the opinion that Mia has 2 fundamental problems: (a) 2 captains on the same ship and, (b) coach who doesn't have full control over problem a.

AK

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
It's a good news but let's not get carried away. Everybody has a few stinkers: look at LAL - lost to Cavs. Heat is still a very valid contender. And until Celtics or somebody else dispatch them in playoffs...., you know- it's not over until it's over.
OTOH, I still stick to the opinion that Mia has 2 fundamental problems: (a) 2 captains on the same ship and, (b) coach who doesn't have full control over problem a.

AK

Sinus

I don't think anyone is writing the Heat OBIT quite yet BUT they are very flawed and the pressure to live up to the hype has to be eating away like termites going after the new $500,000 home.

When the seaosn started and they played 15-20 games and were just around .500 many said it would take time to jell. Then they went thru a stretch playing basically weaker teams and had a nice go. But now they are back to playing teams that have the talent to challenge them and they are folding up like a tent on the last day of boy scout camp.

Certainly until they loose 4 in the playoffs to the same team they can't be completely counted out but they certainly don't strike the fear they had hoped to by now.

beat

sinus007 wrote:OTOH, I still stick to the opinion that Mia has 2 fundamental problems: (a) 2 captains on the same ship and, (b) coach who doesn't have full control over problem a.

I think Spoelstra has done a commendable job. When they started so poorly at the beginning of the season, everyone wondered how long before he was out and Riley or somebody else was in. I haven't heard that talk in quite a while.

That's not to say that people won't be calling for his head if the Heat do poorly in the playoffs this year or don't win a title by next year, because he'll be the likely fall guy if that happens. But the team that was 9-8 in November now has the second best record in the East and fourth best in the league, and Spoelstra deserves some credit for that turnaround.

I sorta watched this out of the corner of my eye for most of it. I mean, what was there to watch? The HEAT were up by >20 in the second half. Then it was down to 9 after 3. I started to hang around to see if Orlando had shot their wad making that run. Then it was 7, etc.

This game isn't as big, but it is as classic, as Game 5 of the 2008 Finals. We're talking about a complete collapse last night. CHOKE is the only word that comes to mind.

My notes on this game:

LBJ and Wade played one-on-one in the first half. A very successful run of schoolyard basketball that ballooned their lead. They scored something like 6 points, combined, in the second half.

Bosh might be the most overrated all-star I've ever seen.

Dampier had a better game than usual, which isn't very good anyway. What really pissed me off is when they put up the graphic about how Damp would be the lowest scoring starting center on a championship team ever. THEY GOTTA WIN FIRST, DUMBASSES, AND IT'S NOT LOOKING REAL GOOD RIGHT NOW!!

Howard had a good game, not great as far as scoring, but he rebounded and assisted. The Magic won despite Howard not being unstoppable.

A couple of homie calls in the last minute going Miami's way. Otherwise this game wouldn't have been as close.

5 Magic players in double figures, only 3 Heat. Furthermore, Orlando out-assisted Miami 25-13. ME-Ball loses again! Yeah!!!

The Heat just lost three games against EC playoff teams (Chicago, NY, Orlando) with only a W against hapless Washington to prevent a 4 game losing streak. The excuse of "we're a new team trying to come together" doesn't work anymore, not after their, what?, 13 game winning streak earlier this season?


bob

.

bob

I mentioned on another thread that Bibby going there would make no difference.............some said he's a great distributer (1 assisst in 20 minutes last eve) sure it was his first game there I know but not even the best assisting PG in the league would flourish in that setting.

beat

beat wrote:bob

I mentioned on another thread that Bibby going there would make no difference.............some said he's a great distributer (1 assisst in 20 minutes last eve) sure it was his first game there I know but not even the best assisting PG in the league would flourish in that setting.

beat

beat,

Here's Stan Van Gundy's take on Bibby:

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said the Heat's move to add Bibby makes sense because "he certainly gives them one more very good player on their roster," but Van Gundy wasn't exactly impressed. He said Chalmers is a better defender than Bibby, and House is a better shooter. Those are the two players who will lose minutes with Bibby now on the roster. House didn't play Thursday.

"I don't know how much of an upside there really is anyhow," Van Gundy said. "I don't know how much better he makes them. People see Mike Bibby and go, 'Wow, he's going to make them a lot better.' He's good, but I just don't know."

I believe that's called "damning with faint praise".

bob

.

cowens/oldschool wrote:bob I don't think they're going to even get to the ECFinals, they'll win first round, lose in 2nd, Wade is all beat up, will be more beat up by playoff time, plus he has to chase the points, Bosh is Bosh......its gonna be just like Cleveland with Lebron having to do everything, ouch my elbows starting to hurt.

cowens,

Wade didn't help himself by diving into the bench last night either.

I'm not too focused on Wade's dings. All Spoelstra will have to do, once playoff seeding is firmly set with just a week or two before they start, is to sit Wade out. A week or two of healing will do wonders.

It's going to be tough for them to catch us. We're 3 games ahead of them in the loss column and we own the head-to-head tiebreaker against them. That means they have to pick up 4 games on us. They are tied in the loss column with Chicago. The most we can hope for is that Chicago keeps playing well and keeps the heat on the Heat. If it comes down to the wire for #2 in the east, maybe Spoelstra won't let Wade rest. Then, both teams collapse in April. :-)

bob

.

Dbrown,

I'm not contradicting anything you say. But would you please clarify what I have to admit to about the weekend so at least I'll have some direction?

Thanks,

Sam

Just on the quality of the match-ups this weekend compared to the Russell era regular season games. You'd mentioned in another thread to me about how the qualilty of almost every game during the regular NBA season was outstanding. Fast forward to this weekend, while it's not the Russell era, this has to be about as close as one can get to that caliber of competition. Unfortunately, this is just a small subset of the league now. SAS v. LAL, SAS v. MIA, CHI vs. ORL, CHI v. MIA, all while we are playing sub par teams. I don't recall a big weekend like this in quite some time, unless it was playoff time.

I know how the flossings sometimes get in the way of non-Boston game viewing. I'm gambling you'll drop in on a few of these this weekend. But maybe not! That's all.

D,

We'll be driving around to place our Paris books in bookstores on Saturday and celebrating Christmas late with my younger daughter and her significant other on Sunday. So there wouldn't be time to watch any games other than the Celtics' Sunday night game, even if I were motivated to do so—which I'm really not.

I've always described myself as a fan rather than a spectator. If a game not involving one of "my" teams happens to be on television, say at a bar where I'm having a drink, I'm happy enough to watch. Otherwise, if I can't root for one of the teams with a passion, I usually won't go out of my way to watch.

Sam

Basketball in the 1960s was probably as good as it's ever going to be. The league went from 8 teams in 1960 to 17 in 1970. It wasn't a dilution of talent, though, because there was an incredible influx of talent coming from the Baby Boom and the inclusion of players of African ancestry.

There was a steady parade of great players and teams through the Garden game after game: Big O one night, Wilt two nights later, Unseld the next, then the Knicks, the Lakers, even Detroit with McFilthy and McNasty. And the level of play won't be seen again. These guys could do everything on the floor, offense, defense, the mental aspect, even the sportsmanship. Not to forget how they played: all out for 48 minutes, many of them averaging 40 plus minutes per game.

Then there were the individual heroes on the Celtics, Russ, Havlicek, aww, don't get me started. Over and out. Wish I was in Paris. Hats off to Sam.

Spike,

How did Paris get in there? Don't get me started. Actually, I have to share something that really excited me.

Today, Mrs. Sam and I drove around Cape Cod to try to get "Paris Demustified" placed in bookstores. (No one has refused us yet.) Anyway, we called one place ahead of time because it's at the other end of the Cape, and we wanted to make certiain the right person was there.

She got on the phone and said, "Funny thing you called. We were just talking about you and were going to call to see if you'd be interested in doing a talk and book-signing." (She had seen a very favorable review the book got in the Cape-wide newspaper, the Cape Cod Times.) When she said the, I nearly drove off the road I swear!

So then we called another store for the same reason. The owner said, "I just ordered a copy for a customer on Amazon." Mrs. Sam had to steady me down.

Just the thought that, after 15 years of labor, someone might actually like the sound of the book was beyond thrilling. We may even have a book signing at the new French bistro (run by two Parisian chefs) that opened last year and has been sold out virtually every day since—even in the winter.

So we're pretty excited about things, although also feeling out of our element because we'd have no idea what to do if the book actually had a little success. We haven't been prepared for that. We'll worry about that when it happens.

Anyway, I also wish you were in Paris, along with us and everyone on the board. (Actually, better to wait for a little warmer weather.)

Sam

having read "Paris" now several times and responsible for one online reveiw (lol, here on the site) myself i happen to think that the Book has everything needed to be a succsess- and has already done so, having instilled a much greater desire to visit the city going from the definety would be nice to do list toa pemnent place o the bucket list.

Sam & mrs Sam did one heck of a job..

Heat didn't cough up a lead in tonight's matchup with the Spurs. They wasted no time in getting behind 36-12 after just the first twelve minutes. That means that in less than 33 minutes of play (starting from the 8:50 mark of the third quarter yesterday) against Orlando and San Antonio "The Heatles" were outscored by 51 points, 86-35.

I repeat, 86-35.

Wow.

I heard Lebron is thinking of joining the Bulls...

steve3344 wrote:Heat didn't cough up a lead in tonight's matchup with the Spurs. They wasted no time in getting behind 36-12 after just the first twelve minutes. That means that in less than 33 minutes of play (starting from the 8:50 mark of the third quarter yesterday) against Orlando and San Antonio "The Heatles" were outscored by 51 points, 86-35.

I repeat, 86-35.

Wow.

I heard Lebron is thinking of joining the Bulls...

Steve,

I like the idea of Lebron joining the Bulls. They've been looking pretty good, so maybe he could screw them up too.

Regards