There are several ways a team can kick off the second half of an NBA season following an All-Star break. One is to come out of the gates stumbling and disorganized, setting a terrible precedent for the remainder of the season. Another is to come out on fire, playing sound defense, and setting the tone for the final two and a half month run. And still another is to completely cock punch your opponent until they start seeing visions of midgets riding on dancing unicorns. The Heat chose the latter last night, decimating the Philadelphia 76ers in a 105-78 laughter for their third consecutive win.
There really wasn't much the Heat were missing last night, except maybe for a sense of irony, holding the 76ers to 78 points. It's the third consecutive game where Miami has held an opponent under 80. Spoelstra's Energy Bus harassed Philly's shooters, holding them to just 39% shooting from the field, grabbing 39 defensive rebounds to the 76ers's 12 offensive boards, and giving up just one 3-pointer.
"It was a total team effort," Dwyane Wade told the Sun-Sentinel afterward. "We had a lot of different things working for us tonight."
A
27-point win is a pretty badass way to kick off the final 28 games of
the season. Even better is doing it with stellar defensive play. And
even better than that, is doing it right before the NBA trading
deadline. (Maybe they can fool Amare Stoudemire into force a trade to
Miami with all these crazy winning streaks). Miami can continue their
streak of not allowing the other team to make any baskets when they
visit the lowly 5-48 New Jersey Nets tonight.
