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...
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