It’s Getting Hot In Miami

Regular readers of this blog (hi, Marcia and Allen) know I am in the tank for the Golden State Warriors. Their lightning-quick passes, their rainbow three-pointers, their lack of losses, all appeal to my general sense of quick and easy pleasures and my willingness to hop on the frontrunner’s bandwagon and pretend I discovered it.

But I have to give a nod to the Miami Heat. These are some dogged suckers in the face of whatever comes down the pike. They’ve got a little grit.

The Heat beat the Denver Nuggets 124-119 on Monday night after a 1-2 road trip during which Dwayne Wade suffered a thigh injury and wondered how soon he could fully contribute gain. Good news: Chris Bosh (blood clot) seems closer to returning and sat on the bench during the game, but the better news is that the Heat won without him and that Wade seems good to go.

Wade scored 19 points against the Nougats, Joe Johnson scored 18 and Hassan Whiteside, a player of multiple skills and temperaments, scored 18 and added 10 rebounds while coming off the bench. A dozen of those points came in the fourth quarter.

It’s year two without LeBron James and while players in the NBA aren’t short, patience is. The Heat have expressed confidence, even after the not-so-great road trip, that they can be the team that comes out of the NBA’s Eastern Conference (the junior varsity) to face the best of the West (and as much as I like the Warriors, I do not doubt the lurking-in-the-weeds San Antonio Spurs).

The Heat, with 15 games left in the regular season, get the Charlotte Hornets at home on Thursday night. The Heat hold the fourth seed in the NBA’s Eastern Conference playoff draw, with the Hornets 1 ½ back. Miami is 7-3 in its last 10, 22-12 at home. The Hornets are 12-19 on the road. The Heat, ½ game in arrears of the Boston Celtics, have to be thinking about moving up and what may happen when Bosh returns. They’re battle-tested. What might be ahead if they are healthy?
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman