Around the League: Week 20 3/6-3/12

[carey]

What's on PTI? I guess it's possible I'm biased. I listen to LeBatard's show every day in podcast form and they talk about the Heat a lot in the local hour because the show is run out of Miami. They know exactly what's going on with that team and how good Spoelstra is.

[ShelC]

Wilbon was saying Spo gets no credit.

[carey]

Wilbon was saying Spo gets no credit.

No credit or not the same credit as Pop, Kerr, Stevens, etc?

[ShelC]

Correction, he said Spo deserves MAJOR credit. Even so, I don't think people talk enough about Spo. You listen to LeBatard who covers the Heat and lives down there. I don't feel like Spo held in the same regard as Pop, Kerr, Stevens.

[pickle]

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/3/8/14 ... he-hornets

Dion Waiters hit another dagger to give the Miami Heat another win. It's not even surprising at this point. It's more like, "Hey, are the Heat playing?" If the answer is yes, Dion Waiters is hitting a dagger and the Heat are winning. It's science.

Miami has won 20 of 24. Over the last month, Waiters is hitting 45 percent of his threes and averaging 19 points per game. The Heat have been killer on defense, Erik Spoelstra has probably earned Coach of the Year, Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic are earning their considerable contracts and the Dwyane Wade saga is fading quickly into history.

Speaking of D-Wade and his new club: Miami is just a half-game behind Chicago for the No. 8 seed in the East, despite the Heat starting the season 11-30. The Pistons have slipped, actually, so by the weekend the Heat could be the No. 7 seed. This is outrageous.

One curious note in all of this: the four losses for Miami since MLK Day have come against Philadelphia, Dallas and Orlando twice. Meanwhile, in that span the Heat have beaten the Warriors, the Rockets twice and the Cavaliers twice. This team is mystic in ways mere men cannot understand.

If they make the playoffs it would be an incredible story. Teams don't just turn it around from 20 games under .500 in the NBA.

Two of my friends, one a long time Knick fan and one a general NBA fan, bet something like $1k at the beginning of the season whether the Heat or the Knicks would finish with a better record, during an argument between me and the Knicks fan about how people are underestimating Dragic. Sadly the guy who backed the Heat got cold feet somewhere during the Knicks' early season 8th seed run and bought out the bet.

[carey]

https://twitter.com/sam_amick/status/840083839414231042

[pickle]

Always been quite high on Nurkic. Shocked at the time that Denver had to send out a first to move Nurk for the privilege to pay Plumlee whatever he'll be commanding this summer. If anything you could always give him away for free to the Nets, rather than having to give up more draft picks.

No idea what's going on up there in Denver.