February 22
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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This might have been a case of looking ahead. Or merely a case of lacking focus against an opponent with a fuzzy record. That certainly won't be the case when the Miami Heat next take the court, Thursday night at AmericanAirlines Arena against Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks. Tuesday, though, it merely was about getting a victory and getting on to something more significant. So with Mario Chalmers loading up from beyond the 3-point line, Dwyane Wade doing his typical early damage and Norris Cole providing needed energy off the bench, the Heat pushed past the Sacramento Kings 120-108 Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena."
February 21
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Last year, every move by the Miami Heat was front-page news. Whether it was the star player accidentally bumping the coach or tears in the locker room after a loss, the Heat were sure to grab headlines. How things have changed. With the league captivated by the rise of New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, the Heat have taken a back seat despite playing perhaps their best basketball of the LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh era."
February 21
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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LeBron James sort of misses playing in the fourth quarter. With the Miami Heat rolling to six consecutive easy victories, James has played less in the final moments. He candidly said the extra time on the bench has hurt his statistics. "I'm getting tired of sitting down in the fourth quarter, personally," James said, jokingly. "It's messing up my averages." The Heat have no worries about the double-digit wins affecting them when the games become tougher. Coach Erik Spoelstra said the team has continued to work on late-game situations to keep it fresh in the players' minds."
February 20
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Forget the race for NBA Most Valuable Player. Right now bragging rights as best of the Miami Heat is emerging as basketball competition of the highest order. So in Sunday's 90-78 victory over the Orlando Magic, after Dwyane Wade scored 19 points in the first half, LeBron James came back with 10 of his own in the third quarter. The Magic? They merely were props amid the Heat's continued domination, now with 17 victories in their last 20 games, including a six-game winning streak, all by double figures, since these teams last met."
February 19
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
columnist Dave Hyde
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This is about LeBron James and you, but it starts with a story the late Ted Arison liked to tell. Arison was a man of prodigious talents who, as a community ambassador more than a fan, brought the Heat into existence by opening his wallet. He often told business associates about when he was a younger man full of more dreams than money. He had this grand idea of cruise ships taking tourists from Miami through the Caribbean. Arison found a man willing to lend him money. He built his first ship of the company he named Carnival Cruise Lines. He threw a party on board one night before that first ship's launch and invited friends and dignitaries. During the evening, Arison stepped onto the dock"
February 19
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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You could say Jed Kaplan bought the right stock. Or you could say he never made it to the initial public offering. Either way, the one thing you can't take away from the owner of Shearson Financial Services, the Boca Raton-based brokerage firm, is his own special place in Jeremy Lin lore. A fleeting place, but a meaningful place, nonetheless. Kaplan, you see, also is an owner of the Erie (Pa.) BayHawks of the NBA Development League, which also happens to be the D-League affiliate of the New York Knicks. His Lin story begins on Jan. 17, when the Knicks sent Lin and journeyman center Jerome Jordan down to Erie for seasoning, with the lockout-compacted NBA schedule limiting practice"
February 18
Cleveland Plain Dealer
columnist Bill Livingston
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LeBron James returned to The Q on Friday night in his first and only visit of the season. It was his third time back since he took his talents to South Beach, along with whatever jot of respect for his Cavaliers teammates and tittle of competitive pride he possessed. Thursday, James gave everything but a complicated handshake and a bro hug to the fans here, saying just maybe he'd deign to play in Cleveland again when he becomes contractually available in two years, and yada-yada. I'll spare you the third "yada" because LeBron -- the sweetheart of Sigma Chi, all ready for Rush Week, wanting people to like him despite his heedless actions -- is an old story here. As is the Cavaliers' failure"
February 18
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Miami Heat forward LeBron James offered clarity Friday when it came to his comments Thursday about one day perhaps returning as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In advance of Friday night's game at Quicken Loans Arena, James said there should be no concern in South Florida about his commitment to the Heat or imminent concern about the possibility he could opt out of his contract in the 2014 offseason. "Nah, they shouldn't be worried at all," he said. "I love the fans in Miami and I'm here. The question was basically could I see myself playing back here. I said, 'yeah,' in the sense of I don't know what my future holds and I don't want to take that out, but I mean I love the fans of"
February 18
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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The scoreboard at Quicken Loans Arena is unique in the NBA in that it is the only one that between the scores of the teams is a listing of "The Diff." During the LeBron James era it was a whimsical designation for the Cleveland Cavaliers, as the leads would grow exponentially. Now? Now it largely stands as an indictment, such as Friday night against the Miami Heat, when it stood at minus-23 in the first quarter, minus-27 in the second and later at minus-34. It added up to a 111-87 crowd-numbing Heat victory. After two days of James trying to make nice to the fan base he left behind in 2010 free agency to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the Heat offered a vivid reminder of where they stand"
February 17
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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The Cleveland comments have taken on a life of their own, but there also was some "point-ed" cogent analysis from LeBron James at Thursday's practice. First, the homecoming comments: When surrounded by Cleveland media, what would you expect him to say, particularly on the eve of a game where he received a downright frightening reception a year earlier? Should he have spoken of a Cleveland return in the future tense? There probably was a better way to handle it when it came to the translation in South Florida. But moving beyond the gotcha moment, James also offered an interesting analysis when asked about the play of Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving. Now those are comments worthy of"
February 17
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Add the Miami Heat to the list of those embracing Jeremy Lin. For the first time since LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh signed on to play together in July 2010, the Heat have been pushed out of the NBA spotlight. "It's not even just us," Wade said after Thursday's practice at Quicken Loans Arena, in advance of Friday's game there against the Cleveland Cavaliers. "Everyone is slipping under the radar." Wade said he was amused that even with the San Antonio Spurs in the midst of a nine-game winning streak, Tony Parker's 34-point, 14-assist game Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors was lost in the Lin-sanity."
February 16
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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It started in 1988 with 17 consecutive losses. The Miami Heat have been playing catch-up ever since. Tuesday, the Heat caught up. For the first time in the franchise's 24 seasons, the Heat are a .500 team. For some franchises, such an accomplishment would be reduced to mundane trivia. It took the Orlando Magic, for example, only two games at their 1989 inception to reach .500 and three to move above. For the Heat, it is a climb now in its third decade, .500 reached for the first time when Tuesday's 105-90 victory over the Indiana Pacers lifted them to 942-942 all-time in the regular season. A victory Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers to conclude this six-game trip would, of course,"
February 16
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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A defending champion and a potential new champion will represent the Miami Heat in the 3-point contest Feb. 25 during All-Star Weekend in Orlando. In addition to James Jones receiving the automatic berth that goes to the defending champion, point guard Mario Chalmers also was selected by the NBA to represent the Heat in the six-player field. Rounding out the field in the timed event that features 25 3-point shots taken from ball racks placed at five stations around the arc are Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson, Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love, Orlando Magic forward Ryan Anderson and New Jersey Nets guard Anthony Morrow, the former Heat summer-league standout. Jones won last"
February 15
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Charles Barkley got the day off, so Shaquille O'Neal handled the Miami Heat pontificating Tuesday when TNT's announcers had a conference call in advance of the network's All-Star coverage later this month. Unlike his previous approach, when he essentially overlooked Chris Bosh, be it his predictions for All-Star reserves two weeks ago or his previous comments of the Heat essentially only having a Big Two, with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, O'Neal was a bit more conciliatory this time around. "Well, Miami's always going to be at the top of the list," said the former Heat center, who is in his first year as a TNT studio analyst. "They have two, three fabulous players. They're playing well"
February 15
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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In his exuberance of celebrating Monday's victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, against a team that had defeated the Miami Heat in the previous two meetings, Heat forward Chris Bosh mindlessly interjected an expletive during the postgame interview Sun Sports reporter Jason Jackson was conducting with James. The video immediately blew up on the web, but Bosh had somehow avoided it when he arrived for Tuesday's game against the Indiana Pacers. "Haven't seen it," he said. But he was well aware of the moment. "It kind of slipped," he said with a smile."
February 15
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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The ultimate challenge proved to be a minimal test. Playing three games in three nights for the first time in 13 years? Child's play for the Miami Heat. Becoming the first team in more than 30 years to win three road games on three consecutive nights? Check. Becoming the first team in more than 40 years to win three road games on three consecutive nights all by double-digits? Check. "We knew the history," guard Dwyane Wade said. "We had the motivation.""
February 14
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Milwaukee Bucks coach Scott Skiles was at a loss for words. And that was before his team fell 114-96 to the Miami Heat on Monday night at the Bradley Center. It's almost as if he knew what was coming. "If you just look at them statistically," Skiles said going in, "it's hard to figure out how they lost seven. I don't know how we beat them twice.""
February 14
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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The numbers remain a bit uneven, particularly the shooting percentage, but Udonis Haslem has regained his footing. And for the Miami Heat, that means the most going forward. Seemingly beyond his early-season shooting struggles when he put together an 8-of-12 three game stretch recently, the veteran power forward went into Monday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks 5 of 15 from the field in his previous three games."
February 14
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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LeBron James made sure the Miami Heat would not go 0 for 3 against the Milwaukee Bucks this season. James, going to his post-up game and attacking the basket, was a model of efficiency as he scored 35 points and paced the Heat to a 114-96 victory over the Bucks on Monday night at the Bradley Center. The game bore little resemblance to the first two games in the season series, both won by the Bucks. "They were real aggressive tonight, especially LeBron was," said Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings. "He didn't take a three. He took a lot of shots on the block. "It's tough to stop that, especially when he's shooting fadeaways and guys are playing good 'D.' ""