LeBron James had 33 points and 13 assists, Chris Bosh added 22
points and the Miami Heat hardly missed Dwyane Wade in a 118-83
rout of the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.
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Tag Archives: LeBron James
LeBron’s 33 lead Heat past Pacers
Heat 5-0, explode for 129 points in win
Chris Bosh scored 20 of his 24 points in the first half, and the
Miami Heat improved to 5-0 for the first time in franchise history
by rolling past the Charlotte Bobcats 129-90 on Sunday night.
Charley Rosen: Carmelo Burns LeBron as Knicks Win in Miami
No surprise that the marquee matchup in New York’s 91-86 win in Miami pitted Carmelo Anthony versus LeBron James. Turned out that Melo won both the battle and the war.
Simply put, Anthony shredded LeBron’s paltry attempts to guard him. On several drives hoopwards — whether resorting to straight power-moves or tricky spins — Melo left James in the dust. Indeed, at the time Melo was putting the finishing touches on any given layup, James was beaten so badly that he wasn’t even posterized.
As ever, LeBron’s defensive stance was too upright, and the slightest ball-fake drew him completely off-balance. On one embarrassing sequence, LBJ was so mesmerized by the ball that he was unable to react when Anthony executed a nifty back-door cut, caught a lob pass from Amar’e Stoudemire, and scored on an uncontested dunk.
For sure Carmelo Anthony is the most versatile point-maker in the NBA — beating James from the low-post to wing isos and pull-ups — but the game at hand should finally put the lie to all the hype concerning LBJ’s being a top-notch defender.
Anthony’s numbers: 10-of-22 shooting, two assists, three turnovers, nine rebounds, and 29 points. As is his wont, Melo was most comfortable when put in isolation situations — his 12 iso opportunities led to scoring eight points. In grill-to-grill competition, Anthony scorched LeBron for a total of 20 points.
At the other end of the game, Anthony’s quick-footed, aggressive defense against LBJ was a revelation. In fact, Melo hasn’t played such ornery defense for such long stretches since he locked horns with Kobe Bryant in the fourth game of the 2009 Western Conference finals.
Knicks Outlast Heat With Comeback Win in Miami
MIAMI — The New York Knicks and their plentiful South Florida fans arrived Sunday at the AmericanAirlines Arena to face the Miami Heat in a playoff-like atmosphere. Hours later, they left satisfied, having earned a 91-86 win while erasing the memory of Friday’s embarrassing loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Now, it’s the Heat who must answer the critics after failing yet again to close out a tight game against a quality opponent.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra couldn’t have been pleased with his team, and the look on his face after the game spoke volumes. Nevertheless, he expressed hope that his team will learn from these experiences.
“We will have our breakthrough,” Spoelstra said. “As painful as this is right now, there will be a time that we’ll be able to execute and win a game like this against a quality opponent going down the stretch. What you hope is that the pain of a game like this resonates enough to make a change, and that’s what we need to do.”
New-Look Knicks Make Statement With Comeback Victory in Miami
MIAMI — With the game on the line, LeBron James got past Carmelo Anthony.
Not Amar’e Stoudemire, however.
And just like that, the New York Knicks — with defense, no less — knocked off the Miami Heat.
Chauncey Billups made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:01 left, Stoudemire blocked James’ layup try with 7 seconds remaining to protect a one-point lead, and the Knicks finished with a 13-2 run to beat the Heat 91-86 on Sunday night.
“The bigger the game, the bigger the stage, the bigger they play,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said.
Anthony scored 29 points and Stoudemire added 16 points and 10 rebounds. Billups had 16 points for the Knicks, who rallied from a 15-point, first-half deficit and improved to 2-1 since the megatrade with Denver that dramatically changed their roster.
Heat Look Forward to Facing New Look Knicks in Renewed Rivalry
LeBron James isn’t ready to call it a rivalry. Most of the media have already declared it so, especially once Carmelo Anthony came into the picture. But with only a few teams in the East with realistic chances of making a deep playoff run, the Miami Heat may have no choice but to embrace a reunion between two teams with plenty of shared history.
“We know the Heat and Knicks rivalry is way beyond our years,” said James, who was only 16 the last time these two teams faced each other in the postseason with the likes of Alonzo Mourning, Patrick Ewing, Tim Hardaway and Allan Houston battling it out. “It basically started with the departure of the man upstairs coming down here and leaving New York.”
The path James and that man upstairs, Pat Riley, took to Miami are quite similar in both the abrupt manner they left their former teams and the subsequent firestorm of controversy it set off. While James is aware of the bad blood between the two franchises, he hasn’t forgotten that it’s also been a decade since they faced off in meaningful games.
“First of all, rivalries don’t start until you have a playoff series or two,” said James. “But we’ll welcome it back, we have no problem with bringing that old rivalry back and making it fun like it has been in the past.”
Dwyane Wade arrived in Miami a few years after the Knicks began their decline into perennial lottery team status but has had his fair share of battles with them in the regular season, including a 55 point performance on April 12, 2009. Though the Knicks haven’t won in Miami for almost three years, Wade is excited to see if they are truly a competitive adversary.
Major Roster Upheaval Nothing New for the Miami Heat
Filed under: Heat, Knicks, NBA Transactions
One of the busiest trade deadlines in recent memory resulted in general managers going on a shopping spree like no other with seemingly half the league exchanging players, draft picks and cold hard cash. The Miami Heat already made their big moves during the offseason and while they were indeed poking around for anyone useful in the clearance section, rival teams in the Eastern Conference such as the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics exchanged major players integral to their system deep into the regular season.
The Heat can attest to the difficulties of trying to mesh players in a short amount of time under the spotlight. Before facing the new-look New York Knicks on Sunday, the team encountered a Washington Wizards team that has been in constant change each time they’ve played against them with Gilbert Arenas, Rashard Lewis, Mike Bibby, Kirk Hinrich and others shuffled in and out of the roster.
“These are the challenges in this league,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who’s had to face plenty of criticism this season while trying to manage a new team with big personalities as one of the youngest coaches in the NBA. “We have ultimate respect for every opponent. Even the Wizards coming in here, they’ve been through a lot of injuries and a lot of change but now you can see what they’re building around. They have a lot of interesting young talent.”
For the Knicks, the goal of adding superstar talent after disciplining themselves to refrain from wildly spending has paid off in surprisingly quick fashion after losing out to LeBron James, their No. 1 target last summer, to the Heat. Nevertheless, the acquisition of Carmelo Anthony came at a huge cost and the glacial pace in which trade talks progressed so late into the season has robbed the team of precious time to jell together. With two All-Stars who must now learn to share the spotlight in New York, Dwyane Wade had the benefit of already having gone through the experience after Shaquille O’Neal was brought in early into his career. Even still, growing pains are still evident as he continues to get accustomed to playing with LeBron James and Chris Bosh.
Heat Outlast Wizards at Home as Dwyane Wade Puts Up 41 Points
Filed under: Heat, Wizards, Chris Bosh
MIAMI — The Miami Heat got back to their winning ways after a tough loss to the Chicago Bulls the night before with a tougher than expected 121-113 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night. Competing on the second night of a back-to-back set, the Heat looked a bit sluggish in the opening quarter of the game as the Wizards looked nothing like a team who have only managed one road victory in 29 games. The surprisingly tough victory made it seven wins in a row at home and placed the Heat a half-game behind the Boston Celtics for the Eastern Conference lead.
Wade red hot from the field
Dwyane Wade got it going in the second quarter scoring 18 of his team’s first 19 points with 9 straight baskets, enabling the Heat to score more than twice as many points as they did in the first quarter. Wade’s 41 points came off a season high 18 field goals out of 27 attempts, though oddly enough he was wobbly from the free throw line going 3-for-9. In his finest moments, he was unstoppable as he attacked the basket while also effortlessly draining shots from all over the field including a pair of three-pointers.
“I hit some jump shots and that opened up my game,” Wade explained. “I finally got it going and at the same time we needed to get back and get the lead so it was kind of one of those moments.”
Wall impressive in his debut against the Heat
Even with Wade’s offensive explosion, both teams played mostly even in the first half and deep into the third quarter as a result of Wizards guard Nick Young‘s 38 points along with prized rookie John Wall‘s 24 points and 12 assists. It was Wall’s first game against the Heat due to injuries holding him back the first two games of the season series.
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade React to Carmelo Anthony Deal
Filed under: Heat, Knicks, Nuggets
MIAMI — With the trade of Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks, the Miami Heat‘s longstanding rivalry with them now has some serious star power. This year has marked a resurgence for the East, and the two old foes have benefited the most by adding two superstars each to their rosters since last season.
LeBron James pointed out after their latest loss to the Boston Celtics that rivalries are made in the playoffs and not the regular season. With the Knicks no longer a perennial lottery team, both teams could be headed to another memorable playoff series that would be a must-see event. For now, James was cordial when asked about the blockbuster trade before the Heat dismantled the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.
“I know he’s happy about it. I’m glad that it’s over with for himself and it’s always good when a friend of yours can just focus on the game,” said James. “I think it’s great for the NBA. The fact that the Knicks are back, the Celtics have been back for the last few years and all the other teams are trying to compete. I think it’s great.”
With a revamped roster also featuring veteran Chauncey Billups at the helm of an offensive attack led by an impressive frontcourt of Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, Heat guard Dwyane Wade sounded like he’d prefer to avoid the Knicks altogether in the first round of the playoffs by finishing in the top two in the East.
What Hath the King Wrought? A Wave of Panicky NBA Trades
Filed under: Cavaliers, Jazz, Knicks, Nuggets
One more day. NBA teams have less than 24 hours to take their franchises to Def-Con 1. Only until 3:00 ET Thursday afternoon to make sure they don’t get LeBron-ified, to avoid becoming next season’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
In hindsight, it appears that while “The Decision” by LeBron James merely raked most NBA followers’ last natural nerve, it scared team executives witless.
Maybe none of the trades completed and proposed as the deadline approaches will turn out to be as enormous overreactions as they appear now. Maybe Carmelo Anthony will be for the Knicks exactly as the Knicks expect him — and, it seems, desperately needs him — to be. It’s possible, meanwhile, that the Nuggets, looking horrified by what they had to do to avoid Anthony walking away from them this summer, will be able to rebuild with the pieces from the three-way trade as it could have by simply dropping his contract off their books.
And maybe the Jazz really needed to part ways with Deron Williams as hastily as they did on Wednesday — a season ahead of his potential free agency. And maybe the Nets‘ mortgaging of their future will help them realize their dream, whether it’s escalating its arms race with the soon-to-be-borough-neighboring Knicks, or spending the resources they had saved up to throw at the Nuggets for Anthony, or satisfying their new owner’s ego, or all of the above.
That’s a lot of maybes.
