Inside the numbers from Celtics 111, Heat 110

STAT OF THE GAME

57.7: The Heat's field-goal percentage in a losing effort. For Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, that number is a testament to how poorly the Heat played defensively.

HUSTLE POINTS

The Heat lost every "hustle" category, which explains how a team is even in the position to lose a game after shooting 57.7 percent. The Celtics outscored the Heat 54-48 in the paint, 13-5 in second-chance points and 15-5 in fast-break points.

TURNING POINT

The Heat's largest lead was 10 points, but, with 14 lead changes, it was a close game from beginning to end. There never was a clearly defined turning point, but Dwyane Wade's free-throw violation certainly qualifies as the Celtics' biggest break of the gmae.

QUOTE OF THE GAME:

I was trying to hit the rim and it didn't go as planned."

—Dwyane Wade

If these are the NBA's Christmas jerseys, they're awful

I'm not going to go into the odd backstory of how all this was supposedly leaked, but NBA teams are apparently going to wear jerseys with sleeves on Christmas Day. I'm not sold on the authenticity of these jerseys, but people like jerseys, so this is a blog about jerseys. The Heat plays the Lakers on Dec. 25, which, of course, would give the jerseys plenty of exposure. I guess the NBA is pretty confident that Kobe Bryant will be back by then.

Anyway, I think these jerseys are absolutely awful if in fact these actually are the Christmas jerseys. The numbers on the sleeves are just clutter and the oversized logos are tacky. Of course, you know where this is headed, right? Some people inside the NBA want to sell the front of NBA jerseys to sponsor, so this would be a good first step. You know, get everyone conditioned to the idea. Can't wait for that Goya Heat jersey.

A GIF of #LeBron shooting off his guns after a difficult layup

LeBron always enjoys playing in Toronto. The crowd likes him and he likes the crowd and that means LeBron usually has fun on the court and does what he does best, entertain fans. After converting a difficult driving layup against center Jonas Valanciunas on Tuesday in the Heat's 104-95 victory, James pulled out his six shooters and shot the lights out, or something like that.

Oh, and did I mention that the Heat hasn't lost in Toronto since LeBron and Bosh joined Wade in Miami?

Here's the NBA's graphic of LeBron's place history after tonight's double-figure scoring effort, his 500th straight.

Watch LeBron clown around with the ball in the final seconds of Heat 104, Raptors 95

Michael Beasley earns first playing time of the season

Heat forward Michael Beasley played in his first regular-season game for the Heat since 2010 on Tuesday against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre.

Beasley checked into the game for Ray Allen with 8:26 left in the second quarter and promptly swished a three-pointer 17 seconds later. Beasley made another three-pointer less than a minute later to cut the Raptors' lead to 38-32. Beasley played 3:59 in the second quarter and scored six points before being subbed out for Shane Battier with 4:27 left in the period.

Beasley's first action of the season came with the Heat shorthanded in Toronto. Chris Bosh did not travel with the team, choosing to remain in Miami with his newborn daughter and wife. Battier started the game despite going 0 of 13 from three-point range in the Heat's last three games.

Drafted second overall by Miami in 2008, Beasley joined the Heat this offseason after being bought out of his contract by the Phoenix Suns.

Three Things from Heat 103, Wizards 93

The Heat delivered its most complete game of the young season on Sunday with a 103-93 victory against the Wizards.

THREE STATS

—Led by Mario Chalmers' eight assists, the Heat totaled 32 assists on 37 field goals.

—The Big 3 combined to go 25 of 41 from the field for 69 points. Chris Bosh and LeBron James combined to go 5 of 8 from three-point range.

—Norris Cole was 3 of 4 from three-point range or nine points and Ray Allen had more assists (six) than points (four).

THREE QUOTES

CHRIS BOSH on the Heat's ball movement:
“It is everything for us, we want to make the game easier for everybody and moving the ball is how we play together and how we take advantage of all the talent we have. A lot of guys made sacrifices to be here and it only works if we play together.”

DWYANE WADE on overcoming complacency:

“We know what works for us; just sometimes we don’t do it. We just have to continue moving the ball and understanding that we are at our best when everyone is involved.  It keeps everyone alert. That is the recipe for success for us, keeping everyone involved.”

LEBRON JAMES on 500 straight games in double figures:

“I had no idea. That is pretty cool when you put it that way, it lets me know that I have been healthy and I have been able to go out on the court and do what I need to do to help the team win.”

Some encouraging numbers for the Heat despite the two losses

The Heat's road trip produced the team's first back-to-back defeats since January but, like LeBron James emphasized after Friday's 101-100 loss to the Nets, it's not "doomsday" for the back-to-back champs. 

Well, obviously, but Heat fans do like to overact.

ANYWAY ... Despite the losses, there were actually some pretty encouraging signs for the Heat offensively in Philadelphia and Brooklyn:

—With Dwyane Wade out of the lineup to rest his legs, the Heat scored 45 points in 12 minutes against the Sixers, setting an all-time record for points in a quarter at Wells Fargo Center. In the second and third quarters against Philadelphia, Miami scored 80 points and shot 13 of 19 from three-point range.

—On Friday, Wade returned to the lineup and looked refreshed and nimble against the Nets. That Wade’s body responded well to its scheduled rest was probably the most important development of the Heat’s first three games of the season. He scored 21 points against the Nets and was the Heat’s most effective player in the paint.

—Wade finished 10 of 11 from the free-throw line against Brooklyn and showed no fear crashing to the floor or colliding hard under the basket with defenders.

—Led by LeBron James, the Heat averaged 27 assists in their two losses.

—Spoelstra challenged Chris Bosh this preseason to further develop his three-point shooting and Bosh has responded well. He is 4 of 7 from three-point range through the first three games of the season and shot 3 of 5 from three-point range on the road trip.

—The Heat trailed by 12 points with less three minutes to play on Friday, but rallied in dramatic fashion and were one missed free throw by Ray Allen away from having a chance to tie or win on the game’s final possession.

Getting to the bottom of the Heat Halloween photo...

The Heat celebrated its loss to the Sixers in style on Thursday in New York. I kid, I kid. But, seriously, who's who in this photo? Birdman had to be Michael Myers, right? Shane Battier is Batman, obviously.

So many questions for tomorrow's game. Like, how did they come up with these costumes in New York? Did the Heat equipment manager pack everyone's outfit? Also,is Pat Riley in this photo?

****UPDATE****

First, I apologize for the lose/loss typo in this original post. It was late last night, I was out enjoying Halloween in New York and, hey, it happens. OK, after some significant investigative work at shootaround on Friday, I figured out who was who in the Halloween photo.

—Chris Bosh was the Joker. I never would have guessed that one.

—Randy Mims, LeBron's manager, was the gorilla.

—Rashard Lewis was the Predator.

—Roger Mason Jr. (between the gorilla and Michael Myers) was the villain from the new Superman movie.

—LeBron James was Michael Myers.

—Ray Allen wore the Scream mask.

—Norris Cole wore the Guy Fox mask.

—Shane Battier was Batman.

—James Jones was Hellboy.

All this information, of course, is according to James Jones, and considering how secretive everyone else was about the photo, I'm not exactly sure Jones wasn't playing a joke on me. So, that leaves three unidentified players. Dwyane Wade wasn't with the team last night and neither Udonis Haslem, and I don't think Chris Andersen is in the photo.

That leaves Mario Chalmers, Greg Oden, Michael Beasley and Joel Anthony. I'm fairly certain Beasley is wearing the Leather Face-type mask to the right of the Scream mask (Ray Allen). Chalmers is probably the ghoul/ghost to the left of the Scream mask. In between Leather Face and Hellboy in a mask I've never seen before is either Anthony or Oden.

The team wore their costumes to dinner. They ate last night at Tao on 58th on Madison near the team hotel.

"I was probably a little bizarre," Bosh said. "I probably scared a few people."

Bosh said the idea was all LeBron and that most of the players packed costumes for the road trip. The Heat played in Philadelphia on Wednesday.