Heat - Thunder Game ReCrap

It got ugly quickly. The Thunder struck (doh ho ho! u c wut i did thar!?!?) early and rode the lightning... ok, I'll stop. Hey, after an apathetic performance like that by the Heat I'm surprised that I'm still awake at this point. But I have to admit, the Thunder are a fun team to watch. Kevin Durant is one of the premier attractions in the NBA in my opinion. And OKC's GM, Sam Presti has amassed a very impressive supporting cast around the Durantula.

Thabo Sefolosha did an outstanding job of defending Dwyane Wade tonight. D Wade was an inefficient 6-19 from the floor and was forced into 6 turnovers. His +/- was -12. Jermaine O'Neal was good, going 8-15 and finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds. The brightest spot for the Heat was Daequan Cook who finally showed up this season. Cook had 17 points and was 4-9 from 3 point range. Outside of Cook and O'Neal it was pretty awful for Miami. Michael Beasley (8 points 0 rebounds 0 assists) and Mario Chalmers (7 points 4 rebounds and 2 assists) were irrelevant. Quentin Richardson played somewhat limited minutes (17:48) and was also a non factor (2 points 1 rebound 1 assist). By comparason, the Thunder had 5 players (Durant, Green, Westbrook, Collison, and Kristic) go for double digits.

You can blame the loss on the Heat's lack of energy. You can blame it on them looking ahead to Atlanta tomorrow night. But sometimes the other team just plays better then you do. I think the truth is that all 3 of those factors came into play. And any team that overlooks the former Super Sonics is making a big mistake. It won't be long until that team is amongst the elite in the NBA. Keep in mind they gave it to the Magic in Orlando, beating them by 28 points and beat the Spurs in San Antonio. This isn't the same ol' shitty Sonics/Thunder.

We'll feel a lot better if the Heat can manage to do what nobody else in the NBA has done this season, and win in Atlanta tomorrow night. The Hawks are currently 5-0 at home. There won't be any overlooking Atlanta after they beat Miami last year in the absolute worst 7 game series in NBA playoff history. The Heat are a respectable 7-3 but there are definitely some warning signs that are starting to reveal themselves. Tomorrow nights game will tell us a lot more about what this Miami Heat team really is and what we can expect for the rest of the season.