“We got beat by 40 points a couple nights ago,” Wade said during his halftime interview. “We didn't play with no heart, no tenacity. So it wasn't about us playing Shaq, it was about us getting a win.”
Wade and the young Heat took a tremendous step forward by handily defeating the Suns 107-92 after Portland blew out Miami only two nights earlier. After two poor shooting nights, Wade made a statement last night with a season-high 43 points on 15-of-24 shooting and 11-for-12 shooting from the free-throw line to go along with six assists and three rebounds. Steve Nash did not play for the Suns with a bruised thigh, but Phoenix was still the favorites without its star point guard.
The first quarter was decisive for Miami. Wade had 12 points on five-of-seven shooting for Miami in the first stanza of play to lead the Heat to a 32-19 advantage at the end of one. Miami's lead stayed around 13 for the rest of the game. A third-quarter run for the Heat put the lead up to 19, but the Suns was able to make it an 11-point game going into the final quarter of play. Fortunately for Miami, Dwyane Wade and Co. were able to close out the game in the fourth quarter.
Wade got to the rim at will and seemingly did everything he wanted to do against Raja Bell, one of the League's better defenders. But it wasn't the drives to the basket that surprised me. Wade also shot very well from mid-range and even went all the way out to the three-point line to score. I would have to strain to think of the last time I saw Wade shoot this well in his entire career. This young man is playing as good as anybody in the League and has been playing spectacular basketball since the Olympics.
A lot of credit has to go to Wade, but Erik Spoelstra also made some shrewd moves for Miami. He went with a lineup of Mario Chalmers, Wade, Marion, Udonis Haslem and Joel Anthony, a move to beef up Miami's front-line against Amare Stoudemire and O'Neal. Fortunately for Miami, Stoudemire was about as active as Mark Blount, with only six rebounds in 33 minutes. But this team was also able to hold O'Neal down.
Spoelstra had Anthony front O'Neal the entire game. The bad side of fronting a center is that if the pass into the post goes over Anthony's head, then that center will have an easy dunk every single time. However, the Suns could not get a pass into the post, which led to 14 turnovers for Phoenix in the first half alone. Moreover, O'Neal never got into an offensive rhythm, forced to score most of his points on offensive rebounds. Throughout the game, O'Neal never got to the free throw line nor had an assist.
Spoelstra was also able to minimize Stoudemire's and O'Neal's impact defensively. The Heat incessantly exploited Phoenix's poor pick-and-roll defense, which led to open lanes to the basket and open shots from the field. Coming off of a bad defensive night and a bad offensive night, Miami played as well as the could have against a strong team in the West.
Spoelstra's move to shift some of the heavy lifting over to Anthony also freed up Haslem. The 6-foot-8 Miami native looked more comfortable at the four, and had 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds.
Jamaal Magloire also returned briefly, playing a little over two minutes in his first game of the season. The 6-foot-11 Magloire will provide help in the future against the bigger centers, with the Heat's next game against the 7-foot Chris Kaman and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Could we see Beasley off the bench in the future? Yes. Spoelstra's move to start Anthony should have been enacted against the Rockets last week. With that being said, I am not sure I would only give Beasley 13 minutes of playing time. He could not have guarded Stoudemire, but what is wrong with him at the three, guarding Matt Barnes and Grant Hill? Beasley missed all of his five field goal attempts and ended up scoreless, but battled for rebounds last night, something we have not seen out of the kid in a while.
Five players scored in double figures for Miami. Marion had 10 points, nine rebounds and six assists against the team he played with for over eight seasons. Chalmers was a pest on both sides of the court. On the defensive end, the rookie point guard had five steals and even managed to rattle Bell a bit. Offensively, Chalmers had 13 points on five-of-seven shooting from the field and three-for-four from downtown. Daequan Cook was a big help off the bench for Miami, with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting in 28 minutes.
The Heat, 1-1 on its five game West-coast swing, will visit the L.A. Clippers tonight at 10:30 p.m.
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