Miami Heat demolish Toronto Raptors

The Miami Heat might have had their best performance of the season, coming together as a team and putting an end to the teams four game losing streak. In the Heat's 120-103 win, LeBron James was his usual impressive self, dropping 38 points and 11 rebounds. However, the most exciting player during the game was not LeBron James, but rather his teammate Mike Miller, who finally had the breakout game fans had been waiting for.

Playing without Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, no one expected the Heat to put up 120 points on the Raptors. Miller and other players on the Miami Heat must have been irritated, by talks the Heat bench was not up to par with other contending NBA teams.

On Saturday, Miller had his best game of the season, scoring 32 points and 10 rebounds in 33 minutes! He also went 6-11 from three point range. James Jones, Mario Chalmers, and Eddie House also had good performances, scoring 15, 10, and 13 points respectively. Even with Andrea Bargnani's and DeMar DeRozan's respectable attempts to keep the Raptors in the game, Toronto simply had no chance against a Miami Heat team that played extremely well as a team.

The biggest flaw the Miami Heat has showed this season is their lack of depth. Like I stated in an earlier article , the minor injuries suffered by the Heat's big three might turn out to be the best thing for the team, and fortunately that has been the case. With LeBron James missing a couple of games last week, and the ankle injury to Chris Bosh, the role players on the Miami Heat roster finally got a chance to find their rhythm.

With a tougher challenge coming their way against the New York Knicks on Thursday, the Heat will have another chance to show the world, their bench is not as ineffective as critics have declared. While the Heat bench is obviously not comparable to that of the Boston Celtics or the Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat bench is definitely capable of complementing their superstars all the way to the NBA championship.

David is a Miami Heat fan that has followed the team for 15 years.


Sources:
Associated Press, "LeBron James, Mike Miller pick up slack..."
All stats and game information from espn.com