It is one thing to bully the likes of the Wizards, Suns and Hornets, and quite another to push LeBron James around and render Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh useless. The Knicks, in every sense of the word, are legit.
Dec 072012
Dec 052012
We swear, we won’t do a special post every time the Washington Wizards win a game, but considering Tuesday night’s four-point triumph was just their second in 15 tries and that it came over the defending NBA champion Miami Heat, a bit of acknowledgement seemed to be in order. Maybe not a clownish, apoplectic freakout on the level of CSN Washington’s Michael Jenkins , but, y’know, a little something for the effort. Because the effort was most assuredly there.
Randy Wittman’s squad came out aggressive, working their way to 14 free-throw attempts (hitting 10) in the first quarter to hang a 30-point opening stanza on the champs behind hot starts from point guard A.J. Price (nine points on 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line) and sixth man Jordan Crawford (seven points in nine minutes off the Wizards bench). While the Heat often looked laconic on defense (ESPN.com’s Tom Haberstroh, as close a Miami watcher as anybody, said the team, stars included, played with “charity game level intensity” on that end of the court) the Wizards continued to push, overcoming Miami’s superior offensive talent with all-hands-on-deck depth.
LeBron James (26 points on 50 percent shooting, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, his first triple-double of the season), Dwyane Wade (24 points on 9-for-19 shooting) and Chris Bosh (20 points on just 11 shots to go with 12 rebounds and four assists) each got theirs, but with point guard Mario Chalmers sidelined after jamming his left ring finger in the second quarter, Shane Battier missing his third straight game with a sprained right MCL, and designated sharpshooters Ray Allen and Mike Miller struggling (a combined 8-for-22 from the floor and 6-for-17 from 3-point range), Miami found itself surprisingly overmatched by a Wizards squad that got 64 points, 25 rebounds and 16 assists from its bench, led by the trio of Crawford, third-year big man Kevin Seraphin and veteran swingman Martell Webster.
Dec 052012
WASHINGTON (AP) — Before his NBA-worst, one-win Washington Wizards took on LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the reigning NBA champion Miami Heat, coach Randy Wittman gathered his team for a heart-to-heart.
Dec 052012
[New York Times] Wizards Stun Heat 105-101 for 2nd Win of Season (Wed, 05 Dec 2012 08:38:33 GMT) Before his NBA-worst, one-win Washington Wizards took on LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the reigning NBA champion Miami Heat, coach Randy Wittman gathered his team for a heart-to-heart. [New York Times] Rasheed Wallace Keeps Technicals [...]
Dec 052012
WASHINGTON (AP) — Before his NBA-worst, one-win Washington Wizards took on LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the reigning NBA champion Miami Heat, coach Randy Wittman gathered his team for a heart-to-heart.
Dec 012012
(Reuters) – The NBA champion Miami Heat fought back from a 14-point deficit on Saturday to beat the Brooklyn Nets 102-89 and maintain their perfect home record this season. Trailing from tip-off until late in the third quarter, Miami stepped up their game late to overcome the Nets (11-5) with Dwyane Wade scoring 34 points while LeBron James added 21. It is the 12th consecutive win for Miami over the Nets. The Nets had seven players score in double figures, led by Andray Blatche’s 20, but failed to keep pace with the Heat’s late charge. …
Dec 012012
Dec 1 (Reuters) – The NBA champion Miami Heat fought back from a 14-point deficit on Saturday to beat the Brooklyn Nets 102-89 and maintain their perfect home record this season. The Heat top the Eastern Conference with a 12-3 record and improved to 8-0 at home for the first time, having scored more than 100 points in all eight victories. Trailing from tip-off until late in the third quarter, Miami stepped up their game late to overcome the Nets (11-5) with Dwyane Wade scoring 34 points while LeBron James added 21. It is the 12th consecutive win for Miami over the Nets. …
Dec 012012
Reality check for the Nets: they may be vastly improved, but they’re still not better than the best team in the Eastern Conference. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined for 55 points as the Heat erased a deficit and pushed back the surging Nets, 102-89, at American Airlines Arena.
Nov 292012
Issac Baldizon/NBAE/Getty Images
The reason he’s not scoring 30 a night: Team.
Regular TrueHoop readers know one of my favorite topics is the idea that while it takes all kinds of stereotypically macho things like toughness and guts to win basketball games, on most NBA teams what’s needed is almost the opposite of that.
Excelling at macho stuff is the cost of admission to the NBA. Every team has a lot of it.
But good teams stick those macho pieces together into a cohesive whole, I theorize, with the glue of selflessness.
Nov 222012
LeBron James had 28 points and 10 rebounds, Dwyane Wade added 28 more points and the Miami Heat scored the first six points of overtime on the way to beating the Milwaukee Bucks 113-106 on Wednesday night.