EJ With Season High 33 Points Leads the HEAT to a Win Over the Magic 112-101 Wow, what a fantastic game for the Heat with a win over the Magic 112 to 101. It was rumored that T-Mac was not going to start due to hip problems, however it turns out he did start and played almost the entire game at 47 minutes. Unfortunately Dwyane Wade was placed on the injured list before the game and it is not known when he will return, if it is serious, this could mean his chances of being the ROY are over unless he is able to come and lead the Heat into the playoffs with hopes that the Cavs and Nuggest don't do as well. Rafer Alston started in his place and just performed flawlessly hitting 4 three's in the first quarter. The Heat were up 40-24 at the end of the first quarter and maintained that lead until the second half when they began to get too comfortable with their 23 point lead and let the Magic slowly creep back to within only 4 points, but just could not hang on. The Heat shot 46.6% from the field as opposed to the Magic's 43%, however the Heat out-rebounded the Magic 42-37. The reason the Heat amassed 40 points in only the first quarter was due to hitting a franchise high of 7 three's in one quarter. Eddie Jones led the Heat with a season high 33 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and 1 steal. He was a real leader out on the court tonight and lived up to his hefty contract. Lamar Odom had an amazing performance tonight with 19 points considering that he only played a total of 25 minutes. 12 of his points came in the 4th quarter and he also had 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and he shot 7-12 from the field hitting one triple. Rafer Alston started tonight in the place of Dwyane Wade and he really shined with a career high performance of 18 points, 8 assists, 3 steals, and 3 rebounds shooting 6-12 from the field, 5 of those being 3 pointers. He hit three triples in a row in the first quarter which was a huge factor for the Heat's 40 points going into the second quarter. Skip played 41 minutes, more than anyone else on the Heat, and I really hope he keeps up this role, he is really the perfect backup for Dwyane Wade and has proven himself worthy of the NBA. He's a 3-point machine with amazing ball handling skills and is a great leader with passing abilities. He is a true point guard, unlike Wade. Malik Allen had a spectacular, and frankly surprising performance tonight coming off the bench with 14 points and 6 rebounds shooting 7-13 from the field in the 18 minutes he spent on the hard wood. He has a bright future with the Heat. Caron Butler is starting to get back into his groove and contributed 12 points tonight shooting 5-16 from the field. He also had 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Brian Grant had a disappointing 4 points but just marginally made up for it by making 9 rebounds in his 25 minutes on the floor. Samaki Walker had 5 points and 6 rebounds, Rasual Butler had 5 points and 4 rebounds, and Bumbo Coles had only 2 points and 1 assist. For the Magic, T-Mac had a double double with 22 points, 10 assists, and 5 rebounds shooting only 5-18 from the field, four of those being from beyond the arc. He had only 7 points at the end of the first half and was just moping around the court not hustling at all, it seemed like he didn't even want to be out there, but in the second half when the Magic started to come back he hit some big 3's. Drew Gooden also had a double double with 29 points and 11 rebounds, Juwan Howard had 22 points and 8 rebounds, Keith Bogans had 9 points, Giricek had 7 points, Tyronn Lue had 6 points, Rod Strickland had 4 points and 3 rebounds, and Andrew Declercq had a mere 2 points with 4 rebounds. Overall it was a great game for the Heat, but like I said above, they just got too comfortable in the second half and allowed the Magic to cut their 23 point deficit to only 4 points when they went on an 18-4 run in the 4th quarter. Luckily the Heat pulled off some clutch plays in the final minutes and T-Mac also missed a lot of pull up jumpers in the final minutes. Tonight was another near-sellout crowd and Warren Sapp was there rooting on the Magic. GO HEAT!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Accord:</div><div class="quote_post">Unfortunately Dwyane Wade was placed on the injured list before the game and it is not known when he will return, if it is serious, this could mean his chances of being the ROY are over unless he is able to come and lead the Heat into the playoffs with hopes that the Cavs and Nuggest don't do as well. Rafer Alston started in his place and just performed flawlessly hitting 4 three's in the first quarter.</div>To be honest, his chances of winning Rookie Of The Year ended after the first few games of the season. Wade's name always comes up, but Anthony and James are top fifty players right now. Also, the Nuggets and Cavaliers both not making the play-offs is a bit of a stretch. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Eddie Jones led the Heat with a season high 33 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and 1 steal. He was a real leader out on the court tonight and lived up to his hefty contract.</div>I was thinking the same thing you were about his contract. A lot of times people make a big deal about his contract and call him over-paid, but he is worth every dollar of it in my opinion. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Lamar Odom had an amazing performance tonight with 19 points considering that he only played a total of 25 minutes. 12 of his points came in the 4th quarter and he also had 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and he shot 7-12 from the field hitting one triple.</div>People talk about Vin Baker being the comeback player of the year, but does Lamar Odom qualify coming back from a drug suspension? Excellent recap, Accord!
Since the Knicks lost last night to Chicago and the Heat won, this moved the Heat ahead of the Knicks into 4th place in the Atlantic division and we are now 1 game behind the Sixers in 3rd place and 2 games behind the Celtics in second place.
