Miami

More Games, More Wins


Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services 

The Miami Heat played a couple of games over the weekend, which is to say, the Heat got a couple of wins over the weekend. Their winning streak is now eight games, tied with the Phoenix Suns for longest in the league. The latest notches in their belt are a 107-100win over Denver and a 117-107win over Orlando, both at home.

Just how good are the Heat? They're the best in their division and the best in their conference. The second and third place teams in the East would just barely make the playoffs in the West whereas the Heat, with their record, if transplanted to the Western Conference, would still hold home-court advantage over the likes of Sacramento, Minnesota, and Dallas. The Heat have the fourth-best record in the entire league, trailing only the Suns, the Spurs, and the Sonics.

The Heat are the only team never to have dropped a game to their own division (they are 6-0). Only two teams (Phoenix and San Antonio) have won more home games (11) than the Heat (10). Nobody is even close to their 15 win total against other Conference opponents; the second-place record of 12-3 by Minnesota pales in comparison to the 15-2 mark held by the Heat.

And now they face a sub-.500 team in the Boston Celtics tomorrow before facing off against Shaq's old nemesis, the Sacramento Kings, on Thursday, and, of course, the marquee matchup of Christmas Day against Kobe's new-look Lakers.

NEXT GAME
The Heat (18-7, first in the Southeast) host the fast-running Boston Celtics (11-12, second in the Atlantic) tomorrow, Tuesday, December 21, at 7:30pm Eastern. Denver recently beat Boston by one point, and the Heat just beat Denver, so we will see if the transitive property is just a mathematical theory or if it can foretell the future. The game will be broadcast on the Sunshine Network and NBA League Pass.

TEAM NOTES
Want to reward your company employees? Win a Heat Experience pep rally for your school? How about raising some funds for your church? Well then you definitely want to be a part of the “HEAT Group Ticket Sales Challenge!â€

Stephen F. Holder ofThe Miami Herald notes: Sunday marked the 2,700th game for Heat trainer Ron Culp. . . . Miami has not out-shot its opponent in 14 straight games, a franchise record. Miami shot 51.8 percent to Orlando's 51.3.

INJURY UPDATE
Malik Allen(back),Dorell Wright(abdominal), andJerome Beasley(back) are all parked on the injured list. Allen began rehabilitation on Friday after back surgery and expects to be back in a month.

NEWSLINES

Our own Tracy S. Graven of Basketball News Services writes: In my perfect world, Mourning would buy out the remainder of his contract with Toronto, or whomever he gets bounced around to throughout the remainder of this season, and return to the Miami Heat to back up Shaquille O'Neal.

The Cincinnati Postwrites: The winning streak is Miami's longest since March 1998, and the past four victories have come against teams above .500.The Heat trailed for much of the game and were down 103-102 with five minutes left before O'Neal helped them surge ahead.

Stephen F. Holder ofThe Miami Heraldwrites: There continues to be speculation that a package of players headlined by Jones might be dealt to Toronto for Jalen Rose and Donyell Marshall.And there is also the issue of former Heat center Alonzo Mourning, who was dealt to Toronto in the Vince Carter trade Friday but is expected to negotiate a buyout of his contract with the Raptors or be moved in another trade -- with either scenario very possibly landing him in Miami.

Stephen F. Holder ofThe Miami Heraldwrites: No offense to Bob McAdoo, Ron Rothstein and company, but they didn't contribute as much to the Heat's electric 117-107 victory over Orlando on Sunday than the unofficial assistant seated near the Heat bench at AmericanAirlines Arena. OK, so the wanna-be coach was actually a fan, but he had an important message for coach Stan Van Gundy nonetheless as the Heat won its eighth straight game. 'The key to the game was the fan at halftime who yelled at me very loudly that we needed to work on -- as he called it -- our `transitional defense,' '' Van Gundy said, in a comment laced with sarcasm.``I really appreciate that because I wasn't aware of that until that very point that they were running the ball on us. I thought it helped us a great deal in the second half.''