3 Much Heat

The Miami Heat beat the New Jersey Nets 108 to 94 Sunday night. In doing so, Miami has extended its winning streak to three games.

Boston also won its game again the Detroit Pistons in a 101 to 90 victory Sunday.

If the playoffs started today, the Miami Heat would be facing the New York Knicks in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

Miami is currently seated second in the East and New York is seventh in the East. However, in the regular season games that both teams have played against each other, the series is tied at two.

Granted, the Miami Heat has the spectacular athletic talents of Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James. Yet, New York has a power trio of its own in Chauncey Billups, Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony.

A meeting between these two teams in the first round could go either way.

View the full Playoff Picture at http://www.nba.com/statistics/playoff_picture.html.

After a 111-92 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday night, the Miami Heat currently holds the second seed in the Eastern Conference.

With an 88-83 loss to the Atlanta Hawks last night, the Boston Celtics fell to third place in the East.

The current standings in the conference yield the Chicago Bulls as the top-seeded team in the East. Miami is second and Boston is third.

With just six games left for the Miami Heat in the regular season, the team hopes to continue its two-game winning streak as it faces the New Jersey Nets Sunday evening at 6.

Both Chicago and Boston have seven games left in the regular season.  With the postseason fast approaching, many teams around the National Basketball Association are looking to solidify their prospects as contenders for the NBA Championship.

You can watch a video of the Heat’s recent efforts by clicking on the video link recapping the Heat’s win against the Timberwolves at http://www.nba.com/video/games/timberwolves/2011/04/01/0021001126_mia_min_recap.nba/index.html. 

It’s every Heat fan’s dream come true: both the Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics lost in their games tonight.

The teams ranked first and second, respectively, in the Eastern Conference suffered defeats tonight to teams whose records are substantially worse than their very own.

Such news is delightful to the ears of Miami Heat fans, but surprising to the rest of the National Basketball Association’s fan base.

The Chicago Bulls lost tonight in a 97-85 defeat to the Philadelphia Sixers, a team which the Heat beat Friday night in a 111-99 victory. Granted, Chicago is still the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference. Still, its loss tonight proves that there is still room in the current standings for the Heat to advance.

The Boston Celtics, the Heat’s alleged rival, also lost tonight in a 107-100 defeat to the Indiana Pacers. Both Boston and Miami are now just two games behind Chicago in the chase to secure the title as the best team in the East.

It’s now up to Heat players to decide whether or not they want to use this opportunity to capitalize on improving their prospects as championship contenders.

We’ll all bear witness to what the players decide to do tomorrow night as they take on LeBron’s old team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, at Cleveland at 7.

The game will be locally televised on Sun Sports, nationally televised on NBATV and broadcasted on 790 The Ticket.

Well, it certainly has been an interesting turn of events for teams in the Eastern Conference these past couple of weeks.

For starters, Boston no longer leads the conference. In its place is the Chicago Bulls, a team which after its 99-96 three-point victory over the Memphis Grizzlies now boasts a 52-19 record.

Boston, then, fell to second place after going on a two-game losing streak.

The Miami Heat also slid down one slot in the Eastern Conference regular season standings to third place. With its 111-99 win against the Philadelphia Sixers tonight, the Heat currently has a 50-22 record and is 2 1/2 games behind Chicago.

In tonight’s win, the Miami Heat is now on a four-game winning streak.

To watch video highlights of the game, please visit http://www.nba.com/games/20110325/PHIMIA/gameinfo.html.

Tune into the Heat’s next game on Friday, March 27 at 6 p.m. against the Houston Rockets on Sun Sports, NBA League Pass or 790 The Ticket.

After losing to the San Antonio Spurs by 30 points in their first meeting, the Miami Heat redeemed itself last night when it beat the Spurs by the same margin in a sweet, much-needed victory.

Last night, the Heat went on an offensive and defensive rampage against the Spurs and appeared to be a completely different team from the one that took on the Spurs in the devastating loss on March 4, 2011.

Once again, it was Miami Heat’s Big Three leading the charge as they combined for 80 of the 110 points the Heat scored against the Spurs.

Leading the high-scoring trio with 30 points was Chris Bosh, a player who has been much criticized for his lack of aggressiveness on the court. Bosh emerged from the shadows of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade as a formidable force on both the offensive and defensive end.

After a horrible five-game losing streak and a currently resounding three-game winning streak, the Heat is looking to put to rest all the critical noise it has heard since its troubles first began in the loss against the New York Knicks.

The players will definitely use this journey as a bold lesson to an end-of-the-season lull they never wish to experience again.

“It’s all a part of what we have to go through to get to where we want to go,” said Bosh. “Sometimes when you feel that pain, you don’t want to feel it again. We need to play with some intensity, and maintain, so we don’t feel it again.”

Watch a recap of the memorable game at  http://www.nba.com/video/games/heat/2011/03/14/0021000993_sas_mia_recap.nba

(Source: nba.com)

After going on a painful five-game losing streak, the Miami Heat has been able to secure two consecutive wins when it beat the Los Angeles Lakers 94-88 Thursday night and proved to be too much for the Memphis Grizzlies to handle when it mangled them in a 118-85 victory Sunday afternoon.

In these victories, the Heat returned to a platform that had aided them in the past: playing defense.

In the five-game losing streak, the Heat players struggled on the defensive end to close out games in the most crucial minutes of the final quarter.

The loss that started the gruesome streak of defeats for the Miami Heat was its loss to the New York Knicks Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011. The Heat squandered a double-digit lead in letting the Knicks come back from behind and beat the Heat by five points.

Another sore loss for the Heat, not to discredit the painfulness of any of their losses, was against the Chicago Bulls, whose one-point win over the Miami Heat Sunday night, March 6, 2011 secured them the number two spot in the East and pushed the Heat to the third spot in the Eastern Conference.

Players were driven to tears in their most recent loss to Portland Trailblazers. The Heat’s win against the Lakers and then against the Grizzlies were just what the Heat players needed to restore their passion for the game.

(Source: wylio.com)

After maybe the sloppiest game the revamped Heat has played in its five-point loss to the New York Knicks Sunday night, the Heat is looking to once again reconstruct its roster to one marked with championship caliber players.

On Tuesday, the Heat waved Carlos Arroyo, guard, in order to make room for the veteran guard, Mike Bibby.

Parting ways with Arroyo was not easy.

“This was a very difficult decision to make because Carlos has done a great job for this team and this organization,” Heat President Pat Riley said. “He is truly a first class individual and professional. We wish him nothing but the best.”

The somewhat secretive move of adding Bibby to the Heat roster comes after LeBron James spoke with Bibby, whom the Atlanta Hawks traded to the Washington Wizards last week, after a game during that time. Still, the candid move and the surprising availability of Bibby caught even Heat player Dwayne Wade off guard.

“Certain moves are surprising and unexpected,” Wade said. “The Mike Bibby (trade) was probably the most surprising, unexpected move. A lot of people think it was the Kendrick Perkins move (from Boston to Oklahoma City), but I think it was Mike Bibby. No one expected that. He became available and when opportunities present themselves you’ve got to jump on them.”

Bibby’s addition to the team could not have arrived at a more crucial time. After Sunday night’s devastating loss to the Knicks, the Heat needs some extra ammunition to power through the postseason as championship contenders.

“If Mike is coming here soon, which we all believe, he’s going to help us out tremendously,” James said.

Mike Bibby could be in a Heat jersey as early as Thursday night when the Heat plays the Orlando Magic at home in AmericanAirlines Arena.

(Source: nba.com)

The Miami Heat has had an interesting couple of days recently.

Primarily, the competitive feud between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics is increasingly heightening in its sensitivity all because of one question: Which team is the best in the Eastern Conference?

The Celtics is the top-ranked team in the East. The Heat is in close second behind Boston. The Celtics are defending conference champions. Yet, when the Heat acquired LeBron James and Chris Bosh, many quickly elevated the Heat to the top-seeded team in the East.

Unfortunately for the Heat, and those who were so quick to jump on the bandwagon, it has yet to prove that it has the raw and athletic talent to throw the Boston players off their game. The Heat started the season with a 9-8 record. Against the Celtics this season, the Heat is 0-for-3.

In fact, James Jones might be the only Heat player to have recorded a win against the Celtics this season when he won the All-Star three-point contest over Ray Allen and Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics.

Yet, the Heat players still have hope, a hope that motivates them to continually strive to prove their excellence and transform into a team unrecognizable to those who knew the team at the beginning of the season.

They refuse to settle for mediocrity.

“We want to reach another level or another two levels, which we’re capable of,” said coach Erik Spoelstra. “And I think that makes us more unique than most contenders because we don’t necessarily know what our ceiling is.”

Though that may be true, the Heat is still struggling against NBA teams above .500. The Heat lost to the Chicago Bulls last night 93 to 89. Their valiant efforts may have come too late into the game last night but the Heat has a chance to redeem itself when it takes on the Washington Wizards tonight at 7:30 p.m.

(Source: nba.com)

Well, the stage is set and the stars are ready to bring their A-game. Yes, All-Star 2011 weekend has finally arrived.

This weekend, Feb. 18- Feb. 20, the best of the NBA are set to take it to the court in a division battle brimming with athletes whose talents have captivated the watchful eyes of both basketball fans and critics.

This year’s All-Star match up features players who may in some respects singlehandedly define the aura of the teams for which they professionally play.

The West’s starting roster highlights the athleticism of Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets, Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs and Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets.

Facing them will be the dominant forces of the East’s starting five: Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat, Amar’e Stoudemire of the New York Knicks, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, LeBron James of the Miami Heat and Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls.

After winning their last game and combining to score 90 of the Heat’s total 110 points against the Indiana Pacers, Miami’s Big Three are historically heading into this game on Sunday as integral parts of the first All-Star game in which three Heat players will be featured. Dwyane Wade, the Most Valuable Player of last year’s All-Star match up, LeBron James and Chris Bosh are set to play in this game as teammates both on and off the much publicized court.

Will their chemistry prove its strength in helping to secure a victory for the East?

We’ll just have to wait until Sunday to see.

James Jones of the Miami Heat will also be featured during All-Star weekend as a competitor in the three-point contest.

(Source: miamiherald.com)