HEAT Beat Feisty Bobcats

By: Steve Rawnsley

The Bobcats are known as a very feisty team, and this was no different. There were two minor altercations in the game, and showed that the Bobcats were not backing down to the Heat. However, at the beginning, the Heat got off to a very quick start, and it looked like it was over from the start. Mario Chalmers started the game right where he left off against the Thunder, by hitting a three pointer. The Heat’s big three got their next 10 points as the Heat got off to a quick 13-2 lead.

The Bobcats battled back to get make it 13-9. The Heat’s big three again went on their own 6-0 run to move it back to a 19-9 game, before Charlotte called a time out. Ramon Sessions started to take over for Charlotte though. He scored or assisted on the next nine points for the Bobcats to end the quarter. The Heat though still lead 27-18 at the end of the quarter.
The Heat’s second unit did a good job of extending the lead. Part of that second unit tonight was James Jones who got 18 minutes, and was in for the injured Ray Allen. They played stifling defense as the Bobcats only scored one point until
Hakim Warrick scored with 8:11 left in the quarter. On the other end, Chris Bosh was leading the unit with some help from others. James Jones scored five points in the quarter, and hit his first two point shot of the season. Ramon Sessions for the Bobcats again took over their team as he scored or assisted on the next four baskets for the Bobcats. On the other end Dwyane Wade matched him.

Just before the four minute mark Mario Chalmers got a steal about forty feet out towards edge of the center court logo, passed it to a streaking LeBron James, and Gerald Henderson fouled LeBron on his way up. Haslem went over to say something, and things got a little feisty for a minute. Double techs were handed to Haslem and Henderson, although this was not the last altercation of the game. The Heat took a 55-38 lead into halftime.

Charlotte Bobcats head coach Mike Dunlap talked about how the Heat get bored sometimes and let teams back into games, and he was right. The Bobcats came out playing harder than the Heat, and cut the lead to 58-50 after a Kemba Walker layup with 7:11 left before coach Spoelstra called a time out. Mario Chalmers hit another three with 5:16 to extend the lead to fourteen as it seemed the Heat had woken up.

The Bobcats cut it again to 10 points before Chalmers hit another three pointer. However, the Bobcats cut it back to seven at the end of the third quarter. Wade started the fourth quarter and scored the first six points for the Heat. However, the Bobcats kept on scrapping. Just before the nine minute mark mandatory time out, Wade stopped ahead of the halfcourt line to call a time out. Ramon Sessions tried to steal it before Wade could call the time out, and Wade kicked his leg out and hit Ramon Sessions, and another minor altercation came. No technical fouls were handed out though. The Bobcats continued to fight, and cut it down to two before a LeBron James three pointer with 6:24 left. The Bobcats could not tie or take the lead though.
Shane Battier took a great charge against Bismack Biyombo with four minutes left that would have cut it back to three points. After that the Heat took over and never looked back. Wade and Batter hit their next two shots and extended it back to double figures.

MVP: Dwyane Wade

This was one of the rare times where it seemed like LeBron deferred to Wade more often tonight. Now LeBron was still close to a triple-double, but it seemed like Wade set the tone when the Bobcats were fighting back. Wade had a solid game of 29 points and 9 rebounds.

Next Up:

The HEAT take on the Detroit Pistons Friday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills.