Miami Heat Blog – Page 121 – NBA Blog

Rondo returns and helps Celtics beat Heat 97-81 in Game 3

The AP reports:

His left arm wrapped in a sleeve and dangling lifelessly by his side, Rajon Rondo broke for the basket and sailed past LeBron James for a layup.

The dislocated elbow and stiff back weren’t going to stop him.

Rondo returns and helps Celtics beat Heat 97-81 in Game 3

Rondo still had one good arm—and his legs.

The Celtics point guard had 11 assists in the game and a pair of one-armed baskets in the fourth quarter on Saturday night to lead Boston to a 97-81 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

“He showed he’s a really tough young individual,” said Kevin Garnett, who had 28 points and 18 rebounds—more than he had in the first two games combined…

Paul Pierce scored 27 for the defending East champions, who managed to avoid a 3-0 hole that no NBA team has ever overcome. But they came out of it with injuries to both point guards: Coach Doc Rivers said Rondo’s future availability is in question, and Delonte West had his bruised left shoulder wrapped at the end of the game…

Dwyane Wade had 23 points and seven assists, and Joel Anthony continued to contribute off the bench, scoring 12 with 11 rebounds. Playing in the building where his Cleveland career came to an end, spurring his free agency defection to Miami, James scored 15 points as he and Wade combined to make just 14 of 35 shots from the floor…

Shaquille O’Neal returned for Boston and was not much of a factor. He scored two points, with zero rebounds, in 8:29 for his first action of the postseason.

LeBron scores 35, Heat beat Celtics 102-91 to take 2-0 series lead

The AP reports:

LeBron James scored 24 of his 35 points in the second half, Dwyane Wade added 28 and the Heat used a late 14-0 run to pull away and beat the aching Celtics 102-91 in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Tuesday night…

James shot 14 of 25 from the field, and logged 44 minutes with no turnovers. Chris Bosh finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds for Miami, which leads the best-of-seven 2-0…

Rajon Rondo played through a balky back to score 20 points and add 12 assists for Boston, which got 16 points from Kevin Garnett and 13 from Paul Pierce—who retreated to the locker room for treatment on his strained left Achilles’ in the first half. Ray Allen was held to seven points, and left with what he said was a bruised chest cavity courtesy of an elbow from James in the third quarter…

Jeff Green scored 11 and Delonte West added 10 for the Celtics…

James scored 12 points in the third quarter, one more than he managed in the first half, to help Miami take a 72-67 cushion into the final 12 minutes. James then added the first basket of the fourth, but Boston answered with a 13-6 run over the next 4 minutes to knot the game at 80.

InsideHoops.com editor says: Rondo was the only good Celtics starter in this game. He put up 20 points, six rebounds and 12 assists.

Chris Bosh sues ex-girlfriend over Basketball Wives reality show

The VH1 reality show Basketball Wives mostly features ex-wives and ex-girlfriends, but it’s as close as TV gets to showcasing some of the women that have managed to link up with former or current NBA players.

There’s lots of broken relationships, though, and the next season of the show involves yet another one. The AP reports the following:

Chris Bosh sues ex-girlfriend over Basketball Wives reality show

Miami Heat star Chris Bosh is suing the mother of his child for appearing on a reality TV show called “Basketball Wives,” which he said intrudes on his private life.

Bosh claims in a lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles federal court that Allison Mathis and Shed Media are trying to unjustly enrich themselves by using Bosh’s name and intruding into his private affairs.

He acknowledges he and Mathis have a child together.

The suit says Mathis was hired to appear in the third season of the VH1 reality show and wants to use it to become a TV star. Bosh seeks damages and an injunction to block her and the media company from trademark infringement by using his name and disclosing private facts about his life.

The show is a guilty pleasure that some basketball fans definitely are watching.

Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.

Derrick Rose wins 2010-11 NBA MVP

Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls is the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2010-11 NBA Most Valuable Player Award, the NBA announced today. Rose, who does not turn 23 until Oct. 4, becomes the league’s youngest MVP, a distinction previously held by Wes Unseld, who earned the honor in 1968-69 as a 23-year-old.

Rose totaled 1,182 points including 113 first-place votes, from a panel of 120 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada as well as an NBA MVP fan vote. For the second consecutive season, the NBA gave fans the opportunity to submit their votes by ranking their top five choices through a dedicated Web page on NBA.com. The fan vote counted as one vote and was compiled with the 120 media votes to determine the winner. Players were awarded 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five for third, three for fourth and one for each fifth-place vote received.

Rounding out the top five in voting are Orlando’s Dwight Howard (643 points, three first place), Miami’s LeBron James (522, four first-place votes), the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (428, one first-place vote) and Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant (190).

Rose, who became the first player since Steve Nash in 2005 to win the MVP award after not receiving any votes in the previous year’s balloting, led the Bulls to an NBA-best 62-20 mark. The third-year player averaged team highs of 25.0 points and 7.7 assists to go along with 4.1 rebounds. He became the seventh player in NBA history to average at least 25.0 points, 7.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds, joining Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. The All-Star guard made or assisted on at least half of the Bulls’ field goals in 26 games, the highest such total for any NBA player this season.

Rose, who recorded 23 double-doubles and scored at least 30 points on 23 occasions after doing so eight times combined in his first two seasons, was the only player in the NBA to rank in the top 10 in scoring (seventh) and assists (10th). Only once in team history had a Bulls player finished in the top 10 in scoring and assists (Michael Jordan, 1988-89). Rose tallied 2,026 points, 623 assists and 330 rebounds, becoming only the fifth player in NBA history to post 2,000 points, 600 assists and 300 rebounds in a single season as he joined Robertson, John Havlicek, Jordan and James.

The NBA MVP trophy is named in honor of the late Maurice Podoloff, the first commissioner of the NBA who served from 1946 until his retirement in 1963.

Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.

NBA mandates metal detectors for playoffs

ESPN Chicago reports:

In the aftermath of the death of Osama bin Laden, the Chicago Bulls will use metal detectors to screen all patrons entering the United Center before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.

The NBA issued the mandate for the conference semifinals and all subsequent playoff games.

Not all arenas in the league regularly use metal detectors. At the United Center, patrons are visually inspected. Metal detectors are only employed in a full inspection when, according to the venue’s website, it is determined that “the potential is high for inappropriate or illegal items to be brought into the building.”

Heat want fans to sing anthem before Game 2

With the news breaking Sunday night that Osama Bin Laden has finally been ejected from humanity, everyone is feeling pretty patriotic, including the Miami Heat.

The AP reports:

Breaking from tradition, the Heat will not have anyone brought in to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Game 2 of their Eastern Conference playoff series with the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night. Instead, the Heat are encouraging fans to be the singers, making that change less than one day following the announcement that Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan.

“It was a powerful moment—for all of us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Sunday night’s news that captivated the nation.

The Heat have honored soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan at home games for several seasons, and say Tuesday’s game will include an enhanced military tribute. Members of the armed services will unfurl the 50-foot American flag at center court during the anthem, a job typically handled by Heat employees.

This should be great. I’m looking forward to it.

Udonis Haslem is rusty but physically ready to return for Heat

The Miami Heat are off to a good start in the 2011 NBA Playoffs, holding their own in the first round and clawing their way to a tough win over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the second round.

Still, the Heat would certainly benefit from an improved supporting cast, especially rugged power forward (and occasional undersized center) Udonis Haslem.

Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald reports:

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra called leaving forward Udonis Haslem off the team’s active list for Sunday, “one of the more difficult decisions I’ve had to make.”

After missing most of the season with a torn tendon in his left foot, Haslem hoped to play Sunday in Game 1 against the Celtics. Instead, he took his normal position at the end of the Heat’s bench and wore a suit instead of a uniform.

Haslem has participated daily in practices with the Heat since the end of the first round.

While Haslem is physically ready to return, Spoelstra determined the Heat’s co-captain is still a little too rusty. Spoelstra indicated he met with assistants before making the decision.

“Objectively, he is not quite there,” Spoelstra said. “He is making great strides.”

I’d guess that we may see Haslem in action for Game 3 in Boston, which isn’t until Saturday.

Dwyane Wade scores 38, Heat beat Celtics 99-90 in Game 1

The AP reports:

Dwyane Wade scored 38 points on 14 of 21 shooting, James Jones set a Miami postseason record with 25 points off the bench, and the Heat beat the Celtics 99-90 on Sunday to open their Eastern Conference semifinal series…

LeBron James finished with 22 points, six rebounds and five assists for Miami, which led by as many as 19 before a fiery finish that saw plenty of players jawing at each other—more than that in some cases. Paul Pierce was ejected with 7 minutes left, after picking up two technicals in skirmishes with Wade and Jones within a span of 59 seconds.

Ray Allen scored 25 points for Boston, which lost for the first time in five games this postseason. Pierce scored 19 and Delonte West finished with 10 for the Celtics, while Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett were held to a combined 14 points on 6-for-19 shooting…

It was physical throughout, with West earning a technical and Jermaine O’Neal picking up a flagrant foul along the way, before things really got hot in the fourth. Pierce took offense with a hard foul by Jones, each getting double-technicals there, and Pierce and Wade—who have a bit of history— renewed acquaintances not long after that.

Referee Ed Malloy called both for double-technicals, and Pierce was screaming as he departed…

And then there was the James factor—Jones, that is.

He drew Rondo’s third foul on a play where he ended up sprawled out under the Boston basket, grabbing his lower back and writhing in pain. Jones inflicted hurt the rest of the quarter, shooting 4 for 5 from 3-point range in the second period alone.

Anon coach says Heat run no plays

Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe reports:

The Heat were a classic bully team. They were 40-5 against teams .500 or below and only 18-19 against teams above .500. That tells you something.

Offensively speaking, what are they?

They are just a conglomeration of three talented solo acts, according to one mystified Eastern Conference coach.

“The Heat do not run any plays at all,’’ he insists. “The Lakers have the triangle. The Celtics run plays. The Bulls run plays. But the Heat don’t run any plays at all. They just hand the ball to LeBron or Wade and ask him to do something with it.’’

The Heat have one great source of offense, however, and how much they get to exploit it may very well determine who wins this series. The one guaranteed way to get yourself beaten, and possibly even embarrassed, by the Miami Heat is to turn the ball over between the top of the key and midcourt, thereby allowing the Heat to get into the league’s most lethal transition game. LeBron and Wade are devastating weapons in the open floor.

Chris Bosh watches games, not sports shows

Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe reports:

The first enemy was the television. Once Chris Bosh decided to come to Miami and team with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, they were on it every day.

“I turned the TV off,’’ Bosh said. “I don’t watch too much TV.’’

He said he has watched 90 percent of the playoff games, “but sports shows and stuff like that, I’ve learned not to watch.’’

He’s always a few clicks away from finding a pundit who needs a punching bag, and everyone has gotten in a few licks on the Heat this season.

The decision to pull the plug came pretty quickly.

“First week,’’ Bosh said.