From: sikorski@oj.miami.edu (Richard Sikorski)
Subject: Re: NEWS mia Heat- STEVE SMITH RETURNS!
Followup-To: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Organization: University of Miami, RSMAS
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 20:23:04 GMT


Steve Smith is back! (after missing 34 games because of knee
surgery).  Here's some comments, mostly focussed on Steve's
play in his 1st two games...


The Heat are rollercoaster-ing as they adjust to their long-
lost point guard.  

Wednesday, losing to the 76ers, 115-112 in OT:
   The Heat matched a franchise season-high Q1 (34pts) with a
franchise-record 14 assists in a quarter for their 2nd best Q1-
ending lead (14pts).  They held that lead in a team-record 1st-
half (70pts), but fell to a 2pt deficit with a franchise-low
7pts in Q3 (still better than  Buffalos 4pts vs. Milwaukee in
1972 and NYs 6pts vs. Milwaukee in 1974 ;-).  Then they managed
a recovery from to lead by 7pts with 47sec left, before
dropping to a tie at the end of regulation play (Smith missed
the go-ahead 3-point attempt), and losing in OT.

Smith played well, but the team clearly wasn't coordinated yet
with the new rotation.  The 1st half was phenomenal.  (The local
fair-weather media, as usual, mostly whined about the 3rd quarter
and the loss.)  Smith had ice on both knees after the game, but
no pain, and more importantly, no swelling overnight.

         min  fgs  3s   fts   rb  a  pts
Steve had 37  6-14  0   4-5    5  6  16
(Seikaly  37  8-13  0  12-15  17  2  28)


On Friday, beating the Magic, 110-104:
   The Heat were able to push Orlando's Shaquille O'Neal into
early foul trouble, with 3 in the 1st 8min of the game, but
couldn't capitalize while Shaq sat the rest of the half.  O'Neal
fought back in Q3, broadening the Magic lead to 12pts before he
had to sit for another 7min after his 5th foul with 1:41 left
in the quarter.
   This time, Miami used the opportunity.  Smith showed his
passing/scoring/rebounding skills in the 2nd half, to show the
Heat the way home.  He scored 9pts in the 1st 5min of Q4,
including the 3fg that broke Orlando's 8pt-lead.  Glen Rice
capped the team stats, but deflected some of the praise to Smith,
"He was really talking trash out there.  Everyone saw Steve
having fun and it rubbed off on everyone."  And Smith, ever the
point guard, passed the praise around, "Everyone stepped it up,
both offensively and defensively."  Even the local media have
snapped out of their funk(!), honoring Steve with the headline:
"Smith writes a new ending. Guard's 22 help nip Magic."

         min   fgs  3s   fts   rb  a  pts
Smith had 27   8-12  2   4-7    7  2  22
(Rice had 41  10-19  1  10-10  10  0  31)


Ahead:
Sunday 24Jan (tonight), Dallas comes to Miami at ***6PM EST***.
The SportsChannel-Florida cable-cast is ***satellite-viewable***.

Tuesday 26Jan at Washington is only televised locally, TV33.

***Thursday 28Jan*** ***Alan Ogg's*** Milwaukee Bucks come to Miami.
The SportsChannel-Florida cable-cast is ***satellite-viewable***.


> > The Heat home station WQAM 560 AM says:
> > Predict any game Heat score and win a 3-day cruise from Miami,
> > plus a chance at a longer cruise this summer! (I have no idea
> > of any details of this contest...) Mail to:
> > Radio
> > Miami Heat
> > Miami Arena
> > Miami, FL 33136
> > 
> > WQAM has assorted sports shows, some of them call-in. Late
> > at night, Ed Kaplan once offerred to accept collect calls
> > if you're outside Florida... (Can you call collect to an
> > 800 number?) (Calls are time-delayed, i.e. crank comments
> > dont make it on-the-air... :-) 
> > Dade and Broward counties: (305)435-0560
> > Florida:                   (800)227-0560
> > S.Florida Cellular One:     #560
> > 
> > [In case you care, I have no connection to any of these shows
> > or offers...]
> 
> There's usually a post-game show, then a local sports roundup /
> call-in show that lasts till 1 or 2 AM.
> 
> (It'll be a few days before I can get back into regular posting...
> I'll try at least to get some game summaries out there quickly.)

--
Richard Sikorski     sikorski@oj.miami.edu
                   r.sikorski@rsmas.miami.edu