Heat Lose in Marion's Debut

Yesterday's game vs the Lakers was the beginning of something new and exciting in Miami. Sure, they lost their 22nd game in the last 23. But the result matters very little in the short term. What we saw was a little bit of hope for this franchise.

Watching Shawn Marion play, I realized he is one of only a handful of players in the last decade to have played for the Heat and make me say "Wow. This guy is good." A few exceptions would be Mourning's spurts of defensive brilliance (Game 6, anyone?), O'Neal's 2004 season, and of course Dwyane Wade.

The loss is sadly primarily on Dwyane's shoulders. His 9 turnovers were brutal, and Kobe Bryant dominated him on the defensive end. That's the kind of defensive prowess Wade needs to acquire if he ever wants to regain the title of best player in the league. In addition, Wade barely got to the foul line, meaning the Heat were in single digit free throws until the very end of the game.

Other than that, there were many more positives than negatives from the loss. For one, the Heat did come back from a 17 point 4th-quarter deficit by trimming it to 4 before falling apart again. The play seemed a bit more up-tempo and had the crowd enjoying themselves for once.

In addition, Dorell Wright turned in yet another solid performance. The young man has started to play very well of late. It's possible he's playing for a job next year, but hopefully it means he is growing into his role in the NBA. 15 points, 7 boards and 3 assists to go with zero turnovers is an excellent performance.

Not to mention he was often put on Kobe Bryant on defense. From what I saw, Dorell did an excellent job. On more than one occasion, Wright refused to bite on the pump fakes and alertly defended step-back Js as well as humanly possible. Unfortunately for him, Kobe is ridiculous and made the shots anyway.

Also, Mark Blount had a fantastic night inside the low post against the soft Pau Gasol. If it weren't for his high cap figure, I would be for keeping Blount around in the rotation, but he's certainly made a good impression with any GMs potentially watching. His play might result in an equitable trade that brings us back some cap space.

In any case, the loss keeps us a game ahead of Minnesota (who also lost) for the worst record in the league. All I want at this point is a top 2 pick. Anything past that and you are risking not getting instant contributions from your rookie. Guys like C DeAndre Brown might work well in the future, but I don't think anyone in this Heat organization want to wait around like the Lakers did for Andrew Bynum.