Lebron James and Dwyane Wade have been playing some of the best basketball I've seen them play. Tonight they will be without Chris Bosh due to personal reasons, which I think might have effect in guarding LaMarcus Aldridge. Kurt Thomas is also out after getting kicked in the head last night in the Denver game. Again, in this game I think statistics are irrelevant being that this is Miami's first game back after the all star break and Portland isn't exactly the most consistent team. Portland was handed an L in Denver (104-95) mainly due to the inside presence the Denver Nuggets have which Miami might not have tonight. This game comes down to who wants the win more. Portland is a good home team and Miami is Miami. The key for Miami to win here is to help on the inside against Aldridge and Gerald Wallace and also to limit distance shooting from Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum, and Jamal Crawford. Miami is also going to have to go all in on rebounds, controlling the offensive rebounds. Portland is averaging 11 offensive boards a game, and without Chris Bosh the Heat are going to have to do a good job on the boards. Miami's defense is overwhelming as Jeremy Lin saw, and I think Miami comes out strong tonight in their first appearance back from the break.
Result: With Chris Bosh out tonight I expected the Heat to struggle a little bit on the defensive end against LaMarcus Aldridge and also on the rebounding. The Miami Heat definitely had no problem on the offensive side outscoring the TrailBlazers in the first half 60-42. Miami as a team had 41 rebounds, 12 being offensive against Portland's 36, with 8 being offensive rebounds. I expected this to be key for Miami missing their power forward. Scoring is never really an issue for Miami having two of the best players in the league throwing alley oops to each other so to win the battle on the glass is a bonus. LaMarcus Aldridge played a decent game scoring 20 points and grabbing 6 rebounds though it wasn't enough. Udonis Haslem did a good job and replacing Bosh for the night scoring 11 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Lebron James scored 38 points, got 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals while Dwyane Wade had 33 points, 10 assists and 3 steals. Combined the Heat duo scored 71 of Miami's 107 points in a well deserved win. Miami looks fired up and ready to go for the second half of the season sitting at 1st in the east. Miami cruised to victory with a final score of 107-93 and have now won 9 in a row.
9-3
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