Here’s something to cry about: The Miami Heat were beaten again last night, this time to the Portland Trail Blazers, taking their 5th L in a row. Miami was outrebounded, outshot and outhustled by the Blazers on their home floor, losing 105-96 … The Blazers had the lead for most of the game, but Miami battled back to tie it up at 77 at the start of the fourth on a sequence where Dwyane Wade blocked a Brandon Roy pullup jumper and raced the length of the court for the dunk. It was the kind of sequence that championship-caliber teams would use to turn the tables on their opponents to run them out of their gym. Miami is clearly not a championship-caliber team … LeBron had 31, but it was Wade who really came to play. As the Blazers snatched the lead back, it was Wade who kept Miami within striking distance all by himself, scoring 24 of his 38 points in the second half … The Blazers’ bench depth was overwhelming, outscoring Miami’s reserves 41-8. Gerald Wallace led the bench mob with 22 and nine boards, including a few moves in the lane that saw Wallace physically overpower LeBron. Not sure we’ve ever seen that happen to James with a non-center before. It was unsettling … “We Want Riley” chants started at AmericanAirlines Arena with the Heat down nine and eight minutes left in the game … When the final buzzer sounded and the broadcast switched back to the NBA TV studio, Chris Webber was pretending he was “misty-eyed.” He also pointed out that Miami would have to finish 18-0 to match the Cavs’ record from last year… Yesterday afternoon in the Dime office, we were fired up when we saw that Bucks/Wizards was on the Tuesday night lineup. The NBA is a league of matchups – on paper a Brandon Jennings/John Wall head-to-head matchup should be great. Speed vs. speed. Swagger vs. swagger. Two of the NBA’s best young guards battling for supremacy. And for the most part, those two did their respective jobs. Both guys pushed the pace like crazy, as Wall flirted with a triple-double, going for 10 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, and three steals and Jennings went for 23 (on multiple long threes), four dimes and three steals … Unfortunately though, the rest of their teammates were just horrendous. Missed layups, turnovers and knucklehead plays all over the floor made for a mess of a game. Milwaukee was less terrible, winning 95-76. Poor John Wall had the thousand-yard stare going in the second half … One highlight you will definitely be seeing today? In the first half, Wall tracked down Jennings on a break, elevated and smacked Brandon’s layup off the glass … The game was a good opportunity for the newly-acquired Wizard Jordan Crawford to turn the game into the “I’m Getting Mine Classic.” No way was he passing to anybody. He overdribbled and put it up every time he touched it, finishing with 22 … Read more: Psycho T goes off, the Lakers dominate another team from the East and an EPIC meltdown at MSG …
Apparently the Indiana Pacers had a players-only meeting on Monday in an attempt to get themselves on the right track. It didn’t work. The Pacers were owned by Philly in Indy last night, with the game not really as close as the 110-100 final would have you believe. The beating would have been much, much worse if Elton Brand or Marreese Speights felt the need to guard Tyler Hansbrough on the perimeter. No lie, Hansbrough, who finished with 26, probably made eight of his 11 field goals from the same exact spot at the top of the key … It was not a good night for Pacers rookie Lance Stephenson. Ill-advised shots, wreckless turnovers, dumb frustration fouls – he was a mess. At one point Dahntay Jones stood screaming at Lance for not rotating into help defense position when Hansbrough was fronting Speights. Lance was late and fouled Speights to send him to the line for an and-one … The Lakers predictably mopped the Hawks in Atlanta, 101-87. L.A.’s defense and size just smothered the Hawks from the jump. It was like an NCAA Tourney game where a top seed is playing a lower seed that has 6-4 guys playing center. Al Horford and Josh Smith are nice, but they’re in a bad spot when they have to guard Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum … In the first half Kobe – who had a light 26 – shot an airball from the wing. The tomb that is Philips Arena was silent. Grant Long, the Hawks color guy, then remarked, “Anybody else in this league, the Hawks fans would be yelling airball.” Why no venom for Kobe in Atlanta? … Did you see the end of the Big East Tournament Villanova/South Florida game at MSG last night? It’s hard to really describe just how horribly it ended for ‘Nova. In a nutshell: The Wildcats were in control much of the second half, but an eight-minute scoreless drought down the stretch allowed the Bulls to get back into the game. A terrible inbounds pass for ‘Nova and some weak defense later, and the ‘Cats found themselves down one. Maalik Wayns hit two foul shots to put Villanova up one with 11.6 seconds to go. South Florida’s Anthony Crater brought the ball up with Dominic Cheek guarding him. When a South Florida big came to the top of the key to set a ball screen, Cheek inexplicably turned to face the screener and let Crater drive the lane for what was basically an uncontested layup. A missed Wayns three a few seconds later and Villanova was officially losers of five straight and possibly no NCAA Tournament berth … We’re out like ‘Nova.
