HEAT Win in Toronto, Win 30th Game

By: Steve Rawnsley

Sometimes basketball is very complicated with all of the x’s and o’s involved. Sometimes it is as simple as simply outworking the opponent, or getting outworked. The knock on the Heat so far in the first half of the season has been their lack of effort in some games. The difference between the two halves for the Heat’s perspective was effort.

In the first half the Heat played with absolutely no effort. It showed up in all facets of the game, but especially in rebounding. The Heat were outrebounded by eight in the first half. Aaron Gray was leading the Raptors in the rebounding department, and the Heat just did not have the size to matchup with him. The Heat also only forced four first half turnovers, with only two steals. The Heat were simply not pressuring the ball. Chris Bosh was most notably absent in the first half, only scoring six points. The Heat ended the first half down by eight.

However, Bosh along with the rest of the Heat came alive in the second half, by scoring twenty-two points against his former team. The Heat started to force more turnovers and let their transition game go. The Heat forced eleven turnovers in the second half. The Heat were once again led by LeBron James, who scored thirty. In the second half, the Heat outscored Toronto 56-35. The only thing that changed for the Heat was their effort, and it was as simple as that.

Bosh scored 28, and Wade chipped in 23 as Miami pulled away later in the fourth.  The HEAT won the game 100-85 and improved to 30-14.  They stay atop the Eastern Conference, and with the win, they send Erik Spoelstra and the coaching staff to the All-Star game.

 

Key Stat: 30-14

That is the Heat’s record that is now good enough to send head coach, Eric Spoelstra, to the All-Star game. Congratulations Coach!

MVP: LeBron James

If it was not for LeBron or Dwyane Wade, the game would have been a blowout in the first half. They were the only two players that showed the effort in the first half. LeBron James finished with 30 points 8 boards 7 assists.

Next Up:

The HEAT host the 11-35 Charlotte Bobcats Monday night at 7:30.

URL: http://crankuptheheat.net/?p=5717