Heat All-Star Weekend 2012

LeBron James can fly

I was going to blog this yesterday. I decided to wait a day so I can hear all the shit that was going to be brought up about Lebron not taking the last shot of the game. This is getting pretty ridiculous. It was an ALL-STAR GAME! Please let me know when these actually count.

Nobody decided to mention the fact that a well designed play was run and Deron Williams had a WIDE OPEN shot. What about D-wade not being able to control a pass by Lebron late in the 4th? That would have given them the lead for the first time all night. How about LeBron getting them back in the game after being down huge in the 1st half? 

I had to rant. Sorry. I'm not an apologist for LeBron, but it's getting to a point where I can't listen to the likes of Skip Bayless anymore. Even though I heard him yesterday say it was better for him not to shoot. Make up your mind you flip-flopper. I just get to see the king on a daily basis and he's ONLY playing at the most efficient level in NBA history. I have but one question. What will he do in the NBA finals?. Nothing else matters. NOTHING.

The Heat's Big 3

Back to what I wanted to do with this post. Besides the Heat's big 3, there was 3 other participants in All-Star weekend. Mario Chalmers and James Jones competed in the 3-point shoot. Norris Cole in the Rising Stars challenge. I'll give them each a grade on how I thought their weekend went.

LeBron driving by Kobe

LeBron James had an MVP-worthy game on Sunday night. He had 36 points, 7 boards and 6 helpers. He also tied for most 3's in all-star game with 6. This is a game for the fans and he provided them with one hell of a performance. The only blemish was turning the ball over at the end of the game. LeBron himself said "That's something I can't do. I let my team down tonight". I for some reason believe this will only fuel his desire to prove the doubters wrong. 

I'm giving him an A-

LeBron with the reverse slammer

Since the Heat didn't have a slam dunk participant, the following is to WHY LeBron needs to sign up next year.

Please LeBron. Save the Slam Dunk Contest. I have no idea why you haven't done one yet!

These dunks get an A++

Kobe guarding D-wade

What did Dwyane Wade do the other night? He only messed around and got himself a triple double. Only the 3rd one EVER in All-Star game history. LeBron got one just last year. Some other guy who goes by the nick name "His Airness" got one back in 1997. 

D-wade's stat line was as follows: 24 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and 1 broken nose to Kobe Bryant. 

He gets an A+

Bosh with the hook over Love

Chris Bosh played limited minutes and scored 7 points. Of all the Heat players this weekend, I saw the least out of him. I've been calling him the "key" to the Heat winning a championship this season. He is the Heat's THIRD option and he's giving you 18.5 a game. 

You watch how he'll come up big again in the playoffs. Perhaps that's why he didn't get as much time as he deserved on Sunday. The Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau couldn't get out of his mind how Bosh owned Carlos Boozer last year in the East finals.

But for this game he get's a C-

Jones looks to defend his title from last year

Defending champ James Jones was last to shoot in the opening round of the 3-point shootout. He led all contestants with 22, making his last 7 shots. He looked like he had positioned himself nicely to defend his crown. 

He was joined in the finals by Kevin Love and Kevin Durant. With both Love and Durant scoring 16 in the final round, I thought for sure we were going to have a repeat champ in the Heat's house. Then Reggie Miller gave him the kiss of death when he said "If you're James Jones, you can do this in your sleep".  He went on to shoot a disappointing score of 12. Thanks Reggie for the whammy! 

I'll give him a B-

Dwade & LeBron cheering on their boy Chalmers

Mario Chalmers made his first appearance in the 3-point shootout and had a respectable showing. He was first to shoot and scored 18. That was good enough to finish tied for 3rd place with the eventual winner of the contest, Kevin Love. 

They had to go to a 24 second shoot-off and needless to say he didn't make it out, losing 5-4. Though he     didn't advance, he showed he has was it takes to keep up his hot shooting for the upcoming playoff run.

I'll give him a B

Future star Norris Cole guarded by John Wall

Norris Cole is a stud. I love this guy. He has NO FEAR. In the Rising Stars Challenge he finished with 18 points and 6 assists. Even after being chased down by John Wall earlier in the game and getting his shot rejected, it didn't detour him from shooting. He had the second most attempts with 15.

This kid loves to shoot and I have a feeling down the road for the Heat if asked, he'll knock a big one for them. Check out this mix tape of him in college http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbnj236ORlg and especially his "Kid n Play" high top fade.

I'll give him a B+

Heat stop the Linsanity, Knicks

The Big 3 and the Heat came in last night as the back story to one of the league's most unusual and inspirational stories the NBA has ever seen. At the end of the Miami Heat's 102-88 dominating performance over the New York Knicks, we were reminded that we need to refocus on South Beach as the first half of the season comes to a close and we get ready for All Star weekend.

Speaking of all stars, LeBron James stat line looked like this: 20 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks. Dwyane Wade chipped in with 22 and Chris Bosh only led all scorers with 25 points. Going back to LeBron, did you realize he was only 3 blocks away from having one of the most elusive stat lines in the history of the NBA? A five-by-five, which is defined as a performance in which a player accumulates a total of five in five statistical categories-points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks-in a single game. That would have been BRONsanity for sure.

Something else LeBron and the Heat are about to accomplish with their 14 point win last night is that they have won 8 straight games by at least 12 or more points. The NBA record is 9 straight held by the Cavaliers of 08-09 who use to have some guy from Akron. The record for wins by at least 10 or more is at 10 and its held by 3 different teams. After the All Star break they play 3 on the road against the Trail Blazers, Jazz and the Lakers. It won't be easy. But hey they just beat Jeremy Lin and the unstoppable New York Knicks, so anything is possible.

Speaking of Lin and the Knicks, Miami's swarming defense rattled the second year point guard out of Harvard and showed him this was not the Wizards or Raptors he was going against. Evident by his 8 turnovers and being stripped by both Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole in the first half and both going in for uncontested wipe open dunks. Those were the first dunks of the season for Chalmers and Cole. Those plays can shatter a young point guards confidence similar to quarterback throwing pick-6's.

It wasn't just Lin, the rest of the Knicks played poorly. Carmelo had 19 points to lead the Knicks in their collective bad shooting night of under 40%. That's basically what Miami has done during this dominating stretch, holding their opponents to under 40% shooting and 90 points a game. Lin went 1 for 11 and only had 3 assists. With the aforementioned 8 turnovers, those are not numbers of an elite point guard, let alone a decent one. Being that I'm a Heat fan and I pretty much dislike anything that comes out of the New York sports world, I do like Jeremy Lin. His story is great and gives a lot of people with aspirations of achieving their dreams reason to keep working hard.

My problem with the story is not him, it's the ridiculous anointment by the media that he's all of the sudden one of the greats in the game of basketball. I mean people have compared him to Steve Nash and even one Magic Johnson. That's just absurd. I know the stats show that he's doing things nobody has done in the NBA over the last 40 years, but you have to look at things in perspective. From the system he plays in to the competition he's had to start this magical run. He's a good player and I do believe he's here to stay, but come on people RELAX. Who know's, maybe that's what Floyd was telling Spike...