Miami
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
Here's a five-question pop quiz. How many of the following are true? (1) The Heat have the most wins in the NBA and are the only ones with 50, (2) The Heat were the first team in the league to clinch a playoff berth, (3) The Heat have their own comic book starring the players as superheroes, (4) Shaq is on the cover of Wheaties cereal boxes starting today, and (5) Shaq and Damon Jones could soon be featured in a new reality show. Give up? They're all true.
Even with San Antonio's victory over Minnesota last night, the Heat are still the only team in the league with 50 wins. What an impressive achievement. They are also the first team to clinch a playoff berth and are riding a league-high ten-game winning streak. Do you get the feeling Kobe Bryant doesn't really want to walk into the AmericanAirlines Arena tonight?
That feeling would be wrong.
While both players downplay the game, their innate competiveness means they are each looking to win, desperately. Each would love nothing better than to win. It's still a statement game. But the odds have got to be on the superheroes (it's not just Superman and the Flash: each player actually has their own unique superpowers but it takes teamwork to defeat the villains), and when your opponent is on your breakfast cereal that morning, you've got something to think about.
In the meantime, if Shaq gets his own reality show, you better TiVo it, because it'll be funnier thanScrubsand have more catchphrases than The Apprentice. It will be a new cultural icon.
NEXT GAME
As Shaq mysteriously says, "The truth will be told." Kobe-Shaq II takes place TONIGHT as the Heat (50-16, first in the Southeast, first in the East, first in the league to 50 wins, first to clinch a playoff spot) host the LA Lakers (32-21, third in the Pacific, ninth in the West, currently one game out of the playoffs). The game starts at 8:00pm Eastern and will be broadcast on TNT. The network which dubs itself the home of drama often shows movies in encore presentations on sequential days, but this encore of the Christmas matchup is the last time these two teams will meet this season, barring some stunning developments in the Western Conference that would somehow catapult the Lakers into the Finals.
TEAM NOTES
The only way to secure great seats for this year’s playoffsis to purchase season tickets for next year.
INJURY UPDATE
Wang Zhi Zhi(respiratory infection),Qyntel Woods(knee), andDorell Wright(knee) are all on the injured list.
Tim Reynols of The Associated Press writes inThe TC Palm: Here's a surprise: Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant actually agree on something.Asked at different times, in different ways and in different cities, the former teammates offered exactly the same assessment of Thursday night's contest between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat - the second time they will meet as opponents this season. "It's just another game," O'Neal said. And from Bryant: "It's just another game."
Chris Perkins ofThe Palm Beach Postwrites: There could be another project in the offing, as well — a reality television show.A TV crew followed O'Neal from the start of the season until the All-Star break, and the show is believed to be in the production phase right now. The crew had access to O'Neal at home games, road games, including in his hotel, and at his house with his family. There's talk the show could be offered to ESPN. Guard Damon Jones, O'Neal's closest friend on the team, is fairly prominent in the show. "It really should be The Shaq and Damon Jones Show," Jones said.
Dave Hyde ofThe South Florida Sun-Sentinelwrites: Wednesday was checkmate.O'Neal already has won on every scorecard. He has won more games, won more respect, won far more friends. His Heat team was the first in the NBA to qualify for the playoffs (Kobe's Lakers are struggling for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference). Shaq was named by a ratio of almost 2-to-1 the player other NBA players most wanted as a teammate in a Sports Illustrated poll (Kobe wasn't named at all). He also was cheered roundly at the Latin Grammy Awards in Miami (Kobe was booed sharply at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles). Still, Wednesday was checkmate. Shaq went on a Wheaties box.
Sarah Talalay ofThe South Florida Sun-Sentinelwrites: Last week it was a comic book; this week, a Wheaties box. Heat center and 12-time NBA All-Star Shaquille O'Neal unveiled a 7-foot version of his own Wheaties box Wednesday at AmericanAirlines Arena.Nationally, supermarkets began selling 18-ounce versions this week. "Sexy man, sexy man," O'Neal said when he saw his likeness and planted a kiss on the giant box. This is the first time O'Neal has appeared on a Wheaties box.
Roscoe Nance ofUSA Todaywrites: Shaq-Kobe II lacks the appeal of their Christmas Day matchup. But while Bryant and O'Neal are downplaying Thursday night's game in Miami between the Heat and Los Angeles (8 ET, TNT), it has special meaning for Lakers center Brian Grant.He was part of the trade that sent O'Neal to the Heat. USA TODAY NBA reporter Roscoe Nance talked with the 11-year veteran about facing his former team and playing out of position as a undersized, 6-9 center.