That was a pretty darn good Oklahoma City team, as you could tell in the first quarter when the Thunder maintained a small lead.
But the Heat regulars eventually distanced themselves some. And that's without Dwyane Wade, without much continuity. That's impressive, even in the preseason.
What else can you say about Bosh through two preseason games? The guy just looks like he can shoot almost 60 percent for this team. There were moments in the game against the Thunder where you just had to say to yourself, "If that was last year, that would've been a hideous possession." But Bosh either made something out of nothing or just put together a smooth series of moves that Jermaine O'Neal never, ever could've.
Have to love the look with LeBron in the post, especially when the Heat goes with a big backcourt (btw, pretty impressive this team can go with a big backcourt even without Dwyane in there).
People have wondered for years why the Cavs didn't play LeBron in the post more often. James isn't exactly very fluid down there, but he can still get whatever he wants, most times. The reason it was hard for the Cavs to do it was because a) other teammates had to run the offense correctly to get him the ball in the post, and b) with zone defense allowed, teams would just shade toward him or flat out double him before he can even get fed the ball in the post. So normally he was forced to go mid- or high-post, which requires some more work.
With this team, though, it'll be a lot easier for the offense to get LeBron the ball in the post, and it'll be a lot harder for defenses to pay too much attention to him without having to pay for it. So I'm pretty sure we'll see a lot more of that than we ever have with LeBron.
But then again, with how effective Bosh is in the paint, that might not even be necessary.
It's funny how a lot of people only considered Miller an outside shooter. Having covered him at Florida and watched his career a lot early, I knew he was versatile enough to run pick-and-rolls, to rebound well, to run the break. He had 15 points, four boards, four assists and two steals filling in for Wade on Friday night. Pretty impressive. The only part about Mike that could be problematic is he's kinda injury prone. When I saw him wincing, I was worried, but it was obviously not anything to worry about. Just don't expect him to play all 82 this year.
Don't expect the starters to stay out there too long against the Spurs on Saturday night. The back-to-back thing in the preseason just isn't cool.
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