Game #70: Charlotte Bobcats (35-33) vs. Miami Heat (35-34)

Use this post as your Open Game Thread

It seemed like things were finally starting to fall in favor of the Heat.  Their heavy home schedule combined with a sudden string of home wins.  Yup...things were looking up.  Unfortunately, a pair of tough opponents in San Antonio and Orlando proved to ground the high-flying Heat, but redemption may not be far away.  A win tonight over Charlotte would be a big-time boost to Miami for many reasons. 

First off, if the Heat can pull out a victory over the Bobcats it will be for the first time in four tries this year, which would provide an obvious boost.  Also, a win would leapfrog the Heat over Charlotte in the standings and into sole possession of 6^th place in the East.  While the tiebreaker goes to the Bobcats, hopefully the Heat make that a moot point by beating them outright in the standings.  

For those of you who, like me, are constantly pondering the Heat's coaching situation and trying to figure out what Erik Spoelstra is doing right and what he's doing wrong, check out Ira Winderman's latest blog.  It touches on the moves (or lack there of) made my Spo in the latter stages of games.  The OT loss to Orlando is a great example of our coach not making any offense-defense switches, leading to Michael Beasley staying in the game to cover Rashard Lewis for one of, if not the most important sequences of the game with Miami down by 3. 

The result was a Lewis 3-pointer with 28.4 seconds to play that effectively ended it, a sequence that ended with Dwyane Wade turning to Beasley with a how-could-you-leave-him look.

GAME NOTES

• The Heat are 11-14 in games decided by 7 points or less.
• The Bobcats will have Gerald Wallace back in the lineup after he missed 3 games with an ankle injury. 
• Michael Beasley is shooting 28.6% from the field in the 2 games he's played since returning from his bruised calf injury. 
• If Dwyane Wade scores double figure points tonight it will be for the 443^rd time, which will break Alonzo Mourning's franchise mark. 

Tipoff from the AAA is set for 7:30.  Your game recap will come courtesy of tedhill, and he'll post it in the FanPost section until I can find my way to a computer to pop it on the front page.  Enjoy the game everyone, and as usual...LETS GO HEAT!!