Mike Miller's triumphant return highlights Heat 120, Spurs 98

The Heat trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half but ended up winning by 22. LeBron James had 33 points, including 17 in the third quarter but the feel-good story of the night revolved around Mike Miller, who made his season debut scoring 18 points on 6 of 6 from three-point range.

Of note:

--The Heat is 4-0 without Dwyane Wade.

--The Heat scored 39 points in the third quarter, which was the second highest scoring quarter for any team in the NBA this season.

--Seventy-one points in the second half was a season high.

--Second time this season the Heat has rallied from at least a 14-point deficit at halftime.

--The Heat shot 68.3 percent in the second half, a season high, after allowing a season-high 63 points in the first half.

--The original plan was for Miller to only play five minutes. He ended up playing more than 15.

"I'm so out of shape right now," Miller said. "That's what's tough, my conditioning. But it will come."

--Miller went down in pain late in the fourth quarter holding his side. It was a scary moment but Miller said he's fine. Miller said "a dumb defensive play" aggravated his surgically repaired hernia.

"I got caught up in the air," Miller said. "You know, it's going to hurt. Obviously, it's where I had the surgery. So, one good thing about this game is I took every shot I needed to take to see where I'm at and I'm still standing, so that's the most important thing."

--Miller said he's just going to have to fight through the pain for "four or five weeks."

"My main concern was if it was going to tear again and they said the likelihood of that was slim, so I'm going to continue to battle."

--Miller joked about his bad luck over the past year.

"Like I told them, I'm not going to tell them anymore injuries. I'm not going to do another X-ray, because anything to do with an X-ray is bad news. So, they know my stance right now and I'm just going to continue to play."

--Chris Bosh scored 30 points, showing increased aggression around the basket. Bosh's highlight was a spin move around Tiago Splitter in the lane followed by a powerful one-handed dunk.

"I should be like that every game," Bosh said. "Just another shot at it. Good things happen when you're aggressive and when I'm aggressive I don't think. I think less and that's always better. Always better not to think so much and just go out and play. If they give me the shot, I'll take the shot. If I need to drive, I'll just drive."

Game higlights from NBA.com below:

-joe

Comments

[rockstarjc]

happy b-day to my boy D.WADE!!!

YOU GOT A NICE B-DAY GIFT FOR YOUR TEAMATES!!!

BY THE WAY CONGRATS TO THE TEAM FOR THE WIN TONIGHT....

one thing for JAMES & BOSH you both need to take those free throws...

for the HEAT Organization..., you got take the rid of JUWAN HOWARD now...., we need help down low... guess, HEAT ORG. or MR.RILEY must try to look for size & lenght down low a CENTER...

UFA 7'1 24YRS.OLD K. FESENKO is still out there...

just thinking that this kid has something to bring help for our main problem at CENTER position...

thoughts???

[RP]

Missed 1st half...thank god. Halftime highlight watching - Johanna Gomez.

Then...it was Bosh, LBJ, & Miller... huge team effort!

LET IT RAIN ALL OVER ME !!!

Bring on Kobe !

See you all @ Bongo's !!!

[Greg Gembe]

WOW!

In order of appearance:

RIO

BOSH

LBJ

MIKE MILLER (shot a bit better than Omeka Okafor from behind the arc)

Could it be that Gregg Popovich with all his knowledge and success is starting a center that is shorter than Joel Anthony? No! Wonder if the San Antonio fan base is calling for a trade to 'upgrade' that position, or if they are doubting Pop's ability to coach? Not yet, but wait until ESPN starts being super critical of their every mistake or loss, then the fan base will starting regeritating every negative idea from the media.

[energy_bust]

No offense, Greg, but Joel Anthony is not good enough to be a starter. 2 blocks every other 6 games do not make up for the people he guard scoring about 16 on him and ending up with around 20ppg (only when they play the heat).

Rebounds by team:
James 5
Bosh 8
Chalmers 2 (only two less)
Jones 5
MILLER 4
Haslem 2
Gladness 2 in 4 mins (maybe garbage time)
Howard 1
JA 4

The Wardens stats:
6 pts, 1 blk, 1 to (cancels the block), 2 pf (cancels out one block) in 20 mins.

His great defense stopped
6-7 center Blair at 13 pts. Blair averages 11.4 ppg this year. So there's a reason the Spurs play this undersized guy.
Dujuan had 6 rebounds, he averages 6 rpg. All this in 23 mins.

I think Pittman can offer us more from what Joel does. Yes Pitt will make rookie mistakes, but Joel's isn't a rookie and still make rookie mistakes. Plus, don't confuse it. Joel is not Ben Wallace. Ben Wallace used to grab rebounds like a dude in a strip club grabbing a$$es.

[Heatup]

While i agree 4 rebs is not enough for a starting center in this league, I don't think Pittman is the answer...its tough to find a cheap center that's going to do more than what JA provides. We are extreamly good at 2-3-4 spots and all our $ is tied up there so of course the quality of the 1 & 5 spots are going to suffer. We gotta roll with what we got and if they can play like they did last night, who needs anything else.

[Heatup]

*extremely

[Greg Gembe]

Fouls cancel out blocks???

Every day on this blog is an eye-opener of basketball knowledge.

Did JA deter any shots, oh, you don't have that stat? Set any screens, save any lose balls, run the floor and stretch the defense - opening up easy shots for his teammates?

Is our PG position still suffering? Have you seen Chalmers/Nole play lately? They are holding it down very nicely.

Would someone please shout out how many points LBJ scored in the fourth quarter, just to say he can't close games. Stephen A(hole) Smith - we're looking at you.

[Heatup]

All i'm saying is with today's cap structure, its nearly impossible to have 5 starting all-stars on one team. There is no perfect team so whining about Joel Anthony makes no sense...Bosh is probably our best center.

Lets see what Spo does about matching up with the trees the Lakers have, we're gona have to run-n-gun, play in transition. Wonder if he'll give Pittman the start if he's over the flu.

[energy_bust]

A block is a turnover for the other team.
PF and TO (obviously) are give aways to a team in my book.

Don't get me wrong...the team is ok. I understand finding a center isn't so simple. I will deal with having JA on the team for now. We do have Curry in the Wings and Pittman has done some nice things. I still believe Joel doesn't have Ben Wallace physical style, instincts, b-ball IQ and leaping ability to be an undersized center and should be a back up PF.

Everyone on the court deters shots. I mean let's stop setting the bar so low for Joel. I've seen his airball layups turn into real layups, so put pressure on him to grow instead of saying 1 block is worth 4 rebounds. JA has good half court defense when he's not being jumped over or shaken. He can only defend from one position - that's coming from the basket. If a player changes direction, he clumsily fouls or they get a shot off. He's no DWade on Defense.

[Heatup]

just read the all mighty Heat1's comment on last nights game in the 1st half before they took a dump on his head in the second half...haaa what a tool.

[energy_bust]

Definitely was a great comeback last night. Bosh is a Beast!

[b boy 954]

thats what can happen when u got a three point shooter in the line up !!!!!

[Spiderman]

blog sucks

[Greg Gembe]

Miami 3-0 vs Black Mamba and their huge front line, in last three meetings. Somehow, JA and the rest of the team have found a way to win against them.

Maybe rebounding is more about positioning then height?

[Ricky Raz]

Lebron played his best game so far. It inspired the whole team. Lebron must really hold the ball 80% of the time so that he is able to play his game. Everything must start from him. Spo has got to make plays for him.

It is alarming though that it took 2 loosing quaters before he could make his adjustments. As I have stated before, the adjustments must be made after 3 or 4 minutes of the game or else the opposing team will make its run and the heat might not recover especially if the opponent does it on the 4th quarter. I hope spo grows in his feel for the game.

[Greg Gembe]

What adjustments did LBJ make? He was missing layups and foul shots in the first half. That ain't coaching homey, that's player execution.

Also, SPO didn't draw up those plays for LBJ to hit his 3's, that was the player having a feel for the game, and pressing the issue when he felt like his shot was falling. That wasn't coaching adjustments.

If anything, the Heat as a team started playing better defense, which led to better scoring opportunities on the offensive end of the court.

[energy_bust]

Greg, I totally agree: You're proving point with this statement - Maybe rebounding is more about positioning then height?

Dujuan Blair is 6'7 and with 6 rpg.

Ben Wallace was undersized.

That's what I meant by 'Joel doesn't have Ben Wallace physical style, instincts, b-ball IQ and leaping ability to be an undersized center and should be a back up PF'. His b-ball IQ doesn't tell him when to nudge/box other player and position himself for a rebound. But good news - Curry, a legit 7' will soon be active.

[energy_bust]

Greg, I honestly love your support of Spo. Nothing ever is his fault. Lebron holding the ball so long has a lot to do with Coaching. You have to coach him out of such execution or make him accountable for them. Spo, overall, has spread the offense, so I'm not mad at him but he still has some growth to achieve, isn't perfect, and does have faults.

I would have loved to see Kobe vs. Wade more than Lebron vs. Kobe, but then again, this isn't yester-years Lakers. I expect the Heat to blow the Lakers out. Let's go Heat.

[Heat1]

Look Heatup. The BUMS were poorly coached period! The BUMS got their butts handed to them for one half by a team of Geriatrics and Todlers. When the Geriatrics could no longer run the nurse put them on the bench and the Heat basically beat up on Todlers. My opinion will not change until I see true consistency and greatness. They beat a friggin team that has not won a road game all season! Are you serious man?! Spo is an idiot. Let me say that again. Spo is an idiot. Show me you can coach against a zone D and put the right personnel on the floor when needed. The king is still overated in my opion. D is on the decline, love ya man, but it is what it is, and Bosh is the biggest Pu$$y i have ever seen at 6'11. BUMS!

[Heatup]

Look Heat1...Those bums are a lock to win the east and make it to the finals again this year...write it down, put a post-it on your computer, send yourself an e-mail, whatever...its a done deal, so if they're bums, then what is the rest of the league made up of??

They made you look bad the other night and its only gona get worse for you so i'd wave the white flag now.

...and if you think the best player in the league is overrated, we can't help you on this blog.

[ray]

Heat1. Change your blog name to BUM1
now that makes more sense than what you posted on the Heat...dude you just showed your basket ball. I Q. We will find out Bum1
In a 7 game series!!