Miami’s pretty good when they put it together. The Spurs played perfectly through 24 minutes, and even got two ridiculous buzzer beaters from the same player, and yet it couldn’t stop them from getting completely stomped out on South Beach. After surrendering 63 first half points, the Heat responded with 71 of their own in the second half, LeBron and Bosh combined for 63 points and Miami ran away with the game, 120-98. Going into last night, the Spurs hadn’t won a road game all year. Miami had lost three in a row. One of the streaks had to end last night, and the Heat broke their visitor’s back. The first half went perfectly for San Antonio, and they finally looked like the team they’ve been trying to convince everyone they’re about all along: athletic, young and versatile. Danny Green (20 points, six treys) banged a shot from midcourt to end the first half that would’ve been okay on its own, except he hit a similar shot at the first quarter buzzer as well (It wasn’t as deep, but he had to double-pump and shoot it awkwardly). Both times, he shot it right in LeBron’s grill … But Miami put San Antonio in the furnace in the second half’s first 15 minutes. It got real ugly, real fast (We would’ve paid money to listen to Sean Elliott at this point). 18 minutes into that half, Miami had missed seven shots. Seven. LeBron (33 points, 10 assists) had three straight pull-up triples in the third to let the steam out, and then Mike Miller of all people, threw the lid off in his first game of the season, going 6-for-6 from deep in scoring 18. In his first few minutes on the court, we were worried they’d have to resuscitate Miller and take him out on a stretcher because he was limping around so awkwardly. But he earned every penny of that $30 million in the second half … Chris Bosh had his second-highest scoring game of the year as well (30 points, and four steals) and had one of the best moves we’ve ever seen from him in the second half: He grabbed a rebound, went coast-to-coast, spun off Tiago Splitter at the charity stripe and SMASHED. Miami might not always bring it, but when they do no one is touching them. All Gregg Popovich could do was chuckle in the postgame … At one point in the first, they ran a pregame interview with Erik Spoelstra where he said San Antonio still relies on their defense. He must’ve missed the memo. Saying they still rely on their D is like saying Drew Barrymore relies on her looks … There were people in the Dime crew who didn’t believe Utah would be anything this year. We weren’t alone either. But with each game, they’re looking more like a playoff team. Chris Paul sitting out definitely had its affects, but still, Paul Millsap (20 points) and the Jazz annihilated the Clippers, 108-79. Ironically, it was Utah that was dunking all over the place. In the second half, and especially in the fourth quarter, it felt like they had 55 dunks and 26 lobs. Every 20 seconds of real time, someone else was throwing one. Jamaal Tinsley was pulling out the old Rucker Park tricks, and even Earl Watson caught a lob in the fourth. The color guys started calling themselves all types of names: “Blowout City” and “Swat Lake City” and “Salt Lob City,” and needed someone to settle them down with all of the claims they were making. We should cut them some slack though since most of the crowd had probably never seen a lob before … The Jazz crowd eventually started a “You’re still the Clippers!” chant which might’ve been creative and fun had it actually fit and not sounded completely awful … When Reggie Evans got to the foul line at the end of the third quarter, Matt Harpring (does the color for the Jazz) almost had us on the floor, saying “You probably don’t want to watch this.” The Utah guys continued going in on Evans, saying he’s closing in on 20 percent from the line this year … Brandon Jennings had one of the best games of his career (30 points, six assists) but it wasn’t enough as Denver beat the Bucks by 10. How many teams feel stupid now that Corey Brewer (22 points) is out here doing his thing? No one even wanted this guy 12 months ago …Keep reading to hear what Kentucky’s best freshman did …
Anthony Davis looked like a future NBA star in Kentucky’s 86-63 win over Arkansas yesterday. The freshman went off for 27 points on 10-for-12 shooting, 14 rebounds and rejected seven shots. Davis now has Kentucky’s all-time record for most blocks in a season with 89, and figures to have basically sealed up the No. 1 pick in this June’s draft. Imagine if Washington got him? They might still catch more Ls than Ziggy Sobotka, but between Davis and JaVale McGee, they would probably set some type of record for most blocked shots that took out beer cups in the fifth row … At least Phoenix got to 75 points. They actually got a lot more than that: 98. But it still didn’t matter. Derrick Rose didn’t play again, and Chicago still dominated again. Did you know that despite the loss, the Suns became the first team this season to score at least 75 in Chicago? That’s absurd, even with offenses across the league hitting softer this season than a Babyface record. Carlos Boozer dropped 31 and C.J. Watson chipped in 23 points. Steve Nash had 25 points, nine assists and probably three or four moments where he contemplated giving up despite playing only 29 minutes. Within the first two minutes of the game, Nash had already thrown two perfect one-handed lefty bounce passes to Marcin Gortat (14 points, 15 rebounds). That got us thinking. Who’s the best one-handed passer in the NBA: Nash, Rajon Rondo or Ricky Rubio? … Houston has now won four games in a row to climb back to .500 after they stacked six guys into double figures in their easy 17-point home win over Detroit. Greg Monroe was dominated by Sam Dalembert (14 points, 12 rebounds). No we’re not drunk. Monroe made two shots all night, and scored four points. He should be left off the All-Star Ballot just for that … Dwight Howard, possibly pissed that we even contemplated an argument pitting him against Andrew Bynum, gobbled up Byron Mullens and spit his skin back out in Orlando’s 96-89 win over the Bobcats, finishing with 25 points and 17 boards. And Jameer Nelson is alive. 17 points last night … David Lee gave Cleveland 29 in Golden State’s 10-point win, but what was more impressive was how the Warriors manned up enough to hold Kyrie Irving (18 points) to under 20 … And the Van Gundy brothers will be profiled on Jan. 24 on HBO’s “Real Sports” show … We’re out like the UK block record.
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