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The Heat Is Still Too Much For Soft Bullets

17 Janaury 1997. Miami Heat 103, Washington Bullets 92 (record: 19-18)
Game leaders: Howard (33 points), Williams (9 rebounds), Strickland (10 assists)

Baltimore is supposed to be the Bullets secret home court advantage. Teams go into that less-than-modern facility and wilt under all of the indignities placed on them. I thought that would be the case for this game. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way.

Killer Instinct

The Bullets know they need to develop it. But the three losses this week to the Bulls and Heat show just how far this team still has to go to get competitive.

The Bullets came into this game saying that things would be different than on Monday. They would do a much better job at defending against the pick-and-roll, and they'd defend better against the 3-point shot. Well, they got it half-right.

They defended the pick-and-roll well, but Voshon Lenard went gonzo on the Bullets, draining all 5 shots he took from that distance. The Bullets were further hampered by a 25-point outburst by Alonzo Mourning in the first half (on his way to 34 points) and only 4 points from CWebb on 2 of 13 shooting (before fouling out).

Cheaney continued his good shooting ways (23 points on 10 of 16 shooting), and Howard stepped it up big-time again, but it wasn't enough in the end. Even holding Tim Hardaway to 0 for 6 from 3-point range wasn't enough.

wtf 19 January 1997

Mid-Month Odds 'N Ends

The Luck Of The Irish Runs Out For The Celtics

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