The AP reports: Dwyane Wade had 42 points, eight assists and six rebounds, and the Miami Heat beat Toronto 108-102 on Friday night, snapping a six-game losing streak against the Raptors… Michael Beasley scored 12 points and Udonis Haslem, Mario Chalmers and Chris Quinn had 10 as Miami won back-to-back games for the first time since a three-game streak from Jan. 24-28. The Heat had not beaten Toronto since a 92-89 home victory on April 3, 2007. Chris Bosh scored 34 points and Andrea Bargnani had 23 for Toronto, which has lost four straight.
Category: Miami Heat Blog
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Unhappy return for Shaq, as Heat top Suns 135-129
The AP reports: Dwyane Wade scored 35 points and tied his career high with 16 assists, Michael Beasley and Daequan Cook both had career highs on the way to a combined 55 points off Miami’s bench. The Heat spoiled Shaquille O’Neal’s first trip back to South Florida since last year’s trade with a 135-129 win over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night… Beasley scored 28 points—the most by a Heat player besides Wade this season—and nine rebounds. Cook added 27 points and Miami led for all but a portion of the opening minutes on the way to the second-highest point total in franchise history… O’Neal finished with 22 points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 1:08 left. Steve Nash led Phoenix with 29 points and 10 assists, and Jason Richardson added 22 points for the Suns.
Miami Heat sign Luther Head
The Miami Heat announced today that they have signed free agent guard Luther Head. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We are pleased to announce that we have signed Luther Head,” said Heat President Pat Riley. “Luther will bring us a prototype combo guard that can both handle the ball and shoot with tremendous proficiency. This is a positive step for the Miami Heat.”
Head, a 6’3”, 185-pound guard, has appeared in 22 games (four starts) this season for the Houston Rockets and averaged 4.8 points, 1.6 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 14.6 minutes of action while shooting 38.6 percent from the field, 36.8 percent from three-point range and 87.5 percent from the free throw line. In his four starts this season, he averaged 8.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.25 steals and 25.8 minutes.
Playing in his fourth NBA season, the former first round draft pick (24th overall) of the 2005 NBA Draft has appeared in 255 career games (58 starts) and averaged 8.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 0.80 steals in 24.4 minutes while shooting 42.2 percent from the field, 39.2 percent from beyond the arc and 76.6 percent from the line. He finished his Houston career among the best Rockets shooters in franchise history as he placed fourth in career three-point field goal percentage and eight in all-time three-point field goals made (383).
Head will wear number 13.
The Heat roster now currently stands at 15.
Read NBA fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.
LeBron scores 42, Cavs beat Heat 107-100
The AP reports: LeBron James scored 42 points, Williams got 15 of his 30 points in the final 7:14 to lead a stirring rally, and the Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the final minutes to beat the Heat 107-100 on Monday night… Wade’s dunk put Miami up 91-80 with 7:52 left. The Heat shot 2-for-17 with four turnovers the rest of the way, getting outscored 27-9—a far cry from Saturday night, when the Heat got 24 from Wade in the final quarter to pull off a stunning win over the New York Knicks… Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 12 points and had 15 rebounds—his fourth double-double on a four-game road trip—for Cleveland, which moved a full game ahead of idle Boston for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Jermaine O’Neal scored 16 points, Mario Chalmers added 15 and Moon had 11 for Miami, which shot 2-for-17 with four turnovers in the final 6:52 to waste what was a 91-80 lead.
InsideHoops.com note: Dwyane Wade had 41 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists (but 8 turnovers) and 7 steals.
Knicks dislike Jermaine O’Neal’s bulky knee brace
This from Saturday’s Knicks vs Heat game in Miami – The New York Times (Howard Beck) reports: The game was delayed for several minutes in the second quarter after the Knicks complained about Jermaine O’Neal’s bulky knee brace. Wilson Chandler, Jared Jeffries and Nate Robinson all hurt themselves banging into the brace’s hard plastic. Ken Mauer, the lead referee, initially signaled for the Heat to replace O’Neal, but O’Neal chose to ditch the brace instead. He put it back on for the second half, with a sleeve over it.
Wade scores 46, Heat beat Knicks 120-115
The AP reports: Telling the packed arena more than once that “this is my house,” Dwyane Wade scored 46 points, 15 of them coming in a dramatic 19-0 spurt that erased a huge deficit in the final nine minutes and carried the Miami Heat to a 120-115 win over the Knicks on Saturday night… Wade also had 10 assists, Jermaine O’Neal scored 18 points and Jamario Moon added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Heat. Nate Robinson led the Knicks with 29 points off the bench, but missed the 3-pointer that would have tied it in the final seconds. Larry Hughes and Chris Duhon each scored 19 and David Lee had an 18-point, 13-rebound night for New York.
Horford double-double, Hawks beat Heat 91-83
The AP reports: Al Horford had 21 points and a career-high 22 rebounds and Joe Johnson scored 24 points Friday night in helping the Atlanta Hawks to a 91-83 win over the Miami Heat… The Hawks, who had lost three straight and four of five on a recent West Coast trip, also got 14 points from Josh Smith, 13 from Marvin Williams and 12 from Flip Murray. Michael Beasley led Miami with 23 points, 16 in the fourth period, and 21 from Dwyane Wade, who also had 10 assists.
NBA bans Dwyane Wade’s designer band-aids
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Ira Winderman) reports: The personalized Band-Aid era is over. The slogan-bearing bandages Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade has been wearing beneath his previously injured left eye have been banned by the NBA. “We spoke to them,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank said today. “A player can wear a Band-Aid for healthcare purposes, but it shouldn’t have any name or identifications on it.” … “You can’t wear an identifiable Band-Aid,” Frank said. “We don’t expect it to be an issue, so there will be no need for a penalty.”
Erik Spoelstra plays Tupac at Heat practices
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Dave Hyde) writes: Most days, Erik Spoelstra opens practice with Tupac Shakur rapping in the background, which is the Heat coach’s way of finding someone to “motivate the motivator,” as mentor Pat Riley says. Tupac motivates Spoelstra. “He’s of my time,” he says. It’s an interesting storyline if you freeze it there, the young coach relating to hip-hop players in a manner few NBA coaches do. Early on, Heat players took it to mean their new coach might be one of them, and lobbied for other, newer music. “Then they found out I only liked Tupac,” Spoelstra, 37, says.
Michael Jordan girlfriend
The Chicago Tribune reports on Michael Jordan and his girlfriend: Michael Jordan has taken a 30-year mortgage and is playing house in modest suburban Miami with his reported new paramour, Cuban model Yvette Prieto. According to Miami-Dade County records, Prieto, 30, and Jordan, 46, co-own a three-bedroom home that property-appraisal records list as having three bedrooms and 5,500 square feet. None of the neighbors called by the Palm Beach Post realized that the six-time NBA champion is on the deed of the two-story villa. Said the sexy-voiced Prieto: “I can’t talk about the house just yet. Sorry.”