5 things to take from Washington Wizards shocking Miami Heat 105-101
Get ready; the end of 2012 is coming and bringing with it the end of the world. We are living in times where the most depressing team in the league goes and beats the defending NBA champions.
On one hand, we had the Miami Heat coming in with a record of 12-3. On the other hand, it was the lowly Washington Wizards with a pitiful record of 1-13.
By the end of the game, the Wizards improved to 2-13 and the Heat dropped to 12-4. This is like the Twilight Zone. Even if all the wizards in the world including Gandalf, Saruman, Dumbledore and the entire lot would have come in to aid the Wizards with their magic, they still weren’t supposed to beat the Miami Heat.
The entire city of Washington is in euphoria right now. This just goes to show that in basketball on any given day, any given team can beat any other team. Miami had actually lost their last two matches vs the Wizards. The defending NBA Champions couldn’t defeat the worst team in the league tonight either.
Turnovers
Uncharacteristically, the Wizards pressured the Heat into more turnovers than them. Heat had 12 to 10 of the Wizards.
Big 3, rest small
Miami shot 41-89 from the field, 46.1%. Each of the Big 3 of Miami scored more than 20 points with a combined shooting of 29-54. But the rest of the Heat cast shot 12-35 from the field.
This was LeBron’s 33rd career triple double with 26 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. The Wizards had 5 players scoring in double figures. Jordan Crawford led the way with 22 points for the Wizards and Kevin Seraphin chipped in with a double double to the tune of 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Freebies
The Wizards sunk twice the number of free throws than the Heat did, going 22-29 to their 11-16.
Live and die by the three ball
The Heat shot 8-28 from the three point range. The Wizards went 7-19. LeBron missed two 3 pointers in the last 20 seconds which could have changed the course of the game.
Miami’s lead in the game lasted till they were 12-11 in the first quarter. After that the Heat tied it at 88 all but thanks to Webster, Seraphin and Crawford, the Wizards were able to pull away.
Battle of the boards
The Wizards outrebounded the Heat 44-43.
Before the game Bradley Beal had said “We don’t want to play halfcourt. We love to play fast. It’s going to be a fast game, I can guarantee you that. It may get a little sloppy at times with guys just going up and down the floor. We’re not going to change the way we play for them. We’re going to stick to what we’re doing and make them try to stop us as well. We’re not going to back down. We’re going to come at them hard.”
The Wizards played their style of game and won 105-101. This season the Charlotte Bobcats losing memes have been laid to rest and replaced by the Washington Wizards. Who’ve been rechristened the Washington Lizards as they went way too long without a W. Time to put the W back in Washington.