Ballin': Heat Improve to 3-0, Celtics Fall to 0-3
By Jason McIntyre
Miami 96, Charlotte 95: Tough loss for the Bobcats, who led for the first 30ish minutes and then in the final 15 seconds following a Gerald Henderson 3-pointer. But D Wade went glass – after the refs missed what appeared to be a travel – with :02 left and Miami is 3-0. After the shot, Wade glanced at Cam Newton in the stands and did his Superman celebration. LeBron scored 35 points. Fun stat I looked up last night: Through three games in 2010, Wade and LeBron attempted a combined 22 3-pointers. Through 2011? Zero. Watch Derrick Brown pick LeBron clean … but then get rejected at the rim.
It would be remiss to not mention this fierce LeBron dunk … that for some reason, didn’t count.
Golden State 92, New York 78: How did the Knicks lose to the Stephen Curry-less Warriors? Blitzed in the 4th quarter (28-14), Brandon Rush came off the Golden State bench to score 19 points, and a brutal night from beyond the arc (4-of-21). The Knicks play the Lakers tonight, and I’ll predict LA by 10+, followed by large amounts of panic from Knicks fans such as myself, who had hoped New York would erase the stench of the Jets’ unimpressive season. Two more frustrating stats: Kwame Brown had more offensive rebounds (5) than the Knicks did (4); only 15 assists for New York, which is the same amount of turnovers they had.
San Antonio 115, LA Clippers 90: Obvious reaction here – the Clippers are overrated! Don’t forget about this cagey Spurs! The best part was Pop sitting his starters because of the game tonight in Houston. Nobody played over 28 minutes. That being said, the Clippers didn’t even pretend to play D – the Spurs shot 56 percent from the field and 52 percent from three. DeAndre Jordan rode dirty all over Timmy Fundamental.
Denver 117, Utah 100: The Jazz have lost their first two games by a combined 158 points. Ty Corbin is already angry. At least Utah was able to score … albeit against the end of the Nuggets’ bench. Alex Burks, a 2011 lottery pick, pumped in 15 points in just nine minutes for the losers. Denver, playing with tonight’s trip to Portland in mind, rested its starters, playing none of them over 25 minutes. Here’s Nene going around Al Jefferson and through Paul Millsap.
New Orleans 97, Boston 78: Yes, the Hornets – who played without Eric Gordon – are 2-0. Yes, the Paul Pierce-less Celtics are 0-3.
Philadelphia 103, Phoenix 83: So, when is Steve Nash getting traded? The Suns had a meek 54 points through three quarters before finally doing some scoring in garbage time. They might be the worst team in the West. Six 76ers scored in double figures.
Atlanta 101, Washington 83: JaVale McGee (15 points, 12 rebounds) had a nice follow-dunk. Elsewhere, Andray Blatche shot 2-for-13. The Wizards are 0-2 and though it’s way too early to guess what’s going to happen in their final 64 games, right now, they look lottery-bound.
Cleveland 104, Detroit 89: Does this mean the Pistons the worst in the East? On the plus side, Detroit fans, Brandon Knight scored 23 points.