Game Article Preview: Miami Heat @ Chicago Bulls
Just like it has been happening in almost all games of their winning streak, Miami didn't need to play their best basketball for the whole game at Atlanta last night. How often a team is outscored by 39-56 in two quarters and still wins the game by 13 points? Miami struggled in stopping Atlanta's transition game that scored 23 fast break points and shot 11-15 FG in transition plays, while Al Horford completely dominated Chris Bosh, Horford started the game w/ 9-9 from the field! However already in the fourth quarter, Miami scored 9 quick points and then Atlanta just panicked. They didn't attack early on the shotclock and they became a halfcourt team instead and just like I had written yesterday on my Miami pick, Atlanta would be completely outplayed in a half court game against Miami and especially, Lebron James's greatness, who scored just 4 points in the fourth quarter, but compensated that by dishing 8 assists during the last 12 minutes of the game.
For tonight, Miami has on their schedule another National TV game, this time at Chicago. By the way, the Heat have been playing well lately on National TV, with wins over the Clippers, the Lakers and Oklahoma City. They are currently on a 8-games streak with a 110 offensive rating or higher in every contest, therefore it will be interesting to watch how Chicago's elite defense will be able to stop Miami's offense tonight or not. I also remember that the Bulls went to Miami to beat Heat outright earlier on the season, so Miami has some revenge in their mind for tonight's game. However, it's important to note that Chicago is now healthy and rested, something that hasn't been happening to them for a while.
For tonight, Miami has on their schedule another National TV game, this time at Chicago. By the way, the Heat have been playing well lately on National TV, with wins over the Clippers, the Lakers and Oklahoma City. They are currently on a 8-games streak with a 110 offensive rating or higher in every contest, therefore it will be interesting to watch how Chicago's elite defense will be able to stop Miami's offense tonight or not. I also remember that the Bulls went to Miami to beat Heat outright earlier on the season, so Miami has some revenge in their mind for tonight's game. However, it's important to note that Chicago is now healthy and rested, something that hasn't been happening to them for a while.
Game Recap 02/20: Oklahoma City Thunder @ Houston Rockets
Yesterday's game between the Rockets and the Thunder was most likely the most interesting game to watch so far on this season. When I analyzed the game, I had no doubt that I would take the Over. The first two games between these two teams were high scoring games with a fast pace and the second game between them is still (and by far) the fastest paced game of this NBA season. Yesterday was no different, with the game being played in a frenetic pace since the start.
I was very confident that Houston was going to be more competitive this time. They were pounded in their previous games against Oklahoma City because they were playing in a horrible back to back spots and those games were also played early on the season, when the Rockets's offense was very depended from James Harden, who just couldn't surprise his former team who knew him too well to allow that to happen. This time the Rockets were rested and playing at home, however just before the game, the Rockets made a trade with Sacramento that meant that they lost Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris, Cole Aldrich and Toney Douglas for the game. This forced their starters to play even more minutes than usual, something that only made their task tougher than it already was.
Houston started the game very well. They were on fire from the outside and they clearly outplayed the Thunder in the first quarter. However, it was obvious that the Rockets wouldn't be able to handle this rhythm for the whole game, after all almost all of their role players were traded prior to the game and so, with the starters playing heavy minutes and with the incredible pace that the game was being played on, there was no way Houston would be able to keep the same level throughout the whole game and so, Oklahoma City owned them during the second quarter.
Already in the third quarter, Chandler Parsons turned his right ankle and this only caused more problems to the Rockets, who got down by 93-107 with just 7 minutes to go! Then, James Harden's magic happened as he simply took over the game. In my opinion, Harden's performance last night was the best individual performance I've watched a player make this season and I've been following Lebron James's domination closely! Harden scored 46 points in just 19 shots attempts, that's efficiency: 14-19 FG, 7-8 3pts, 11-12 FT plus 8 rebounds and 6 assists!
Oklahoma City lost three straight games for the first time this season and in these three losses, Oklahoma City simply rushed things too much. Yes, they are aggressive, but this has been causing them problems due to the incredible amount of turnovers they are currently committing, with 20, 16 and 22 turnovers on their last three games! Regarding the Rockets, if they are able to add one more piece before the trade deadline, they won't surely be missing the playoffs this season. Not with a MVP Caliber player having the ball down the stretch.
I was very confident that Houston was going to be more competitive this time. They were pounded in their previous games against Oklahoma City because they were playing in a horrible back to back spots and those games were also played early on the season, when the Rockets's offense was very depended from James Harden, who just couldn't surprise his former team who knew him too well to allow that to happen. This time the Rockets were rested and playing at home, however just before the game, the Rockets made a trade with Sacramento that meant that they lost Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris, Cole Aldrich and Toney Douglas for the game. This forced their starters to play even more minutes than usual, something that only made their task tougher than it already was.
Houston started the game very well. They were on fire from the outside and they clearly outplayed the Thunder in the first quarter. However, it was obvious that the Rockets wouldn't be able to handle this rhythm for the whole game, after all almost all of their role players were traded prior to the game and so, with the starters playing heavy minutes and with the incredible pace that the game was being played on, there was no way Houston would be able to keep the same level throughout the whole game and so, Oklahoma City owned them during the second quarter.
Already in the third quarter, Chandler Parsons turned his right ankle and this only caused more problems to the Rockets, who got down by 93-107 with just 7 minutes to go! Then, James Harden's magic happened as he simply took over the game. In my opinion, Harden's performance last night was the best individual performance I've watched a player make this season and I've been following Lebron James's domination closely! Harden scored 46 points in just 19 shots attempts, that's efficiency: 14-19 FG, 7-8 3pts, 11-12 FT plus 8 rebounds and 6 assists!
Oklahoma City lost three straight games for the first time this season and in these three losses, Oklahoma City simply rushed things too much. Yes, they are aggressive, but this has been causing them problems due to the incredible amount of turnovers they are currently committing, with 20, 16 and 22 turnovers on their last three games! Regarding the Rockets, if they are able to add one more piece before the trade deadline, they won't surely be missing the playoffs this season. Not with a MVP Caliber player having the ball down the stretch.
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