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Did Miami Forget to Play the Second Half?

Mar 20, 2008 – 2:45 AM
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Matt Watson

Matt Watson %BloggerTitle%

TJ Ford and Chris QuinnAlternate title: "Where Chris Quinn playing 48 minutes happens."

Technically speaking, the Raptors 96-54 win over the Heat last night will go down as an official NBA game, but there should be some kind of star next to it in the history books. Let's face it, the Heat aren't even trying to field a competitive team anymore. Pat Riley had just seven players dressed last night, including maybe two (Ricky Davis and Mark Blount) who even hard-core NBA fans could reasonably be expected to pick out of a lineup.

And guess what? It's only going to get worse: Udonis Haslem will undergo season-ending ankle surgery this Friday. Starting in his place last night was Earl Barron, who shot 1-10 from the field in 34 minutes. Replacing Dwyane Wade, who's already been pardoned from participating in this train wreck the rest of the year was Daequan Cook, who shot just 3-19. Not surprisingly, the team's 54 points on Wednesday marked a franchise low, as did their .256 field-goal percentage.

Shawn Marion ("sore back") and Jason Williams ("jammed thumb") also sat out with minor ailments -- what's the over/under on them being ruled out for the year? I'm going with five games.

The "good" news is that the NBA has awarded the Heat a waiver to sign a 16th player, which only means they'll be giving one more unrecognizable face a 10-day contract. That might make practice more competitive, but it'll do nothing for the actual game.
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