Despite a former Cleveland Cavalier stinking up the joint, Chris Bosh and rest of the Miami Heat showed us why the Heat are a three-headed monster beating the Cavs 92-85 Tuesday night.
With All-Star guard Dwyane Wade out due to injury and best player in the world LeBron James turning in a rather pedestrian performance against his old team, Bosh took over the game with strong forays to the rim and that trademark mid-range jumper. While Bosh was able to find the touch from the floor, it was his perfect 14-for-14 from the line that’s the real highlight here. The Cavs big men punished Bosh for most of the game but he remained focused and took advantage of all the opportunities. Bosh really came on in the final quarter getting 17 of his 35 points. Whether it was the corner three with 4 minutes left or the 4 free throws to ice the game, the man showed he’s a star too.
While Bosh took the reins for the Heat, Norris Cole seemed to finally get over whatever plague he was afflicted with this past week. Cole finally made more layups than he missed included a crazy 1-on-2 fast break that somehow ended with a Cole layup going in. Its a Cole World as J.Cole says. Udonis Haslem had a solid night on the boards but wasn’t much of a factor on the offensive end plus he was on the wrong end of an Alonzo Gee poster dunk. Neither was Mike Miller, James Jones, or Shane Battier who all struggled to hit their shots this game. I commented earlier that James had a pedestrian night for him considering he did have 18 points and grabbed 5 boards while dishing out 5 assists. That stat line for 95% of the league would be a good night, but its not for the best player in the game today.
The Cavaliers gave the Heat a game but they couldn’t overcome their lack of talent and the Heat’s abundance of it. Maybe this is a different game if Tristan Thompson was available to cover Bosh but you can’t dwell on what if’s. To the surprise of everyone and probably including himself, Samardo Samuels had the one of the best 22 minutes of the season going for 15 points, five rebounds, and seem to take every advantage at rim against the usually stingy interior defense of the Heat. Kyrie Irving was pretty much Irving tonight. He had a good offensive performance but struggled to guard anybody. With Bryon Scott as your coach, you probably won’t get much burn (Irving only played 26 minutes if you can’t/won’t/don’t play defense).
While the Cavs played the type of game they wanted to play, its a little disheartening that they couldn’t come out with a win against the Heat who played a terrible game for the most part. Its a indicator of how good the Heat are and how terrible the Cavs are right now. I guess the silver lining is if the Cavs can turn in this type of effort every game, they can beat teams that are not as good as the Heat…maybe.
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Stats, Stats, and Stats
Chris Bosh – 35 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists
Lebron James – 18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists
Norris Cole – 10 points, 3 rebounds
Kyrie Irving – 17 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists
Anderson Varejao – 11 points, 11 rebounds
Samardo Samuels – 15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists
