LeBron James once again took control and led the Miami Heat to another victory increasing their winning streak to 26 straight games, bringing them just a few games closer to the historic record of 33 consecutive wins made by the '72 Los Angeles Lakers.
They Heat were without Dwyane Wade, but James led the way with 32 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in a 109-77 victory over the lowly Charlotte Bobcats.
"I think it's very humbling that you can have some of the greats from other sports come to see your team play, come to see you play," said James, who was 11 for 14 from the field in another surgical performance. "You try to leave an impression on them, as a team and as an individual, absolutely. So it was great to have them in the building, for sure."
James was backed up by All-Star forward Chris Bosh and backup point guard Norris Cole who each contributed 15 points apiece.
"It was a good, professional win, and obviously we had a lot of guys step up, guys that hadn't been getting regular minutes," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "That's good to see, because we will need it. ... Good team win."
Probably the most impressive highlight of the evening was a team defensive effort orchestrated by backup forward Chris Anderson, who had a monstrous block on Bobcats guard Kemba Walker in transition, which lead to an arena rocking slam dunk by James, his final points of the night:
Though the Heat's winning streak is impressive to most who watch them play, Boston Celtics' guard Jason Terry is far from impressed by what the Heat have put together throughout this historic streak.
Terry's distaste for Miami dates as far back to his Dallas Mavericks days as far as 2006 when the Heat took the Finals. His feud with the Heat have led to a lot of back-and-forth between himself and other members of the Heat roster. Most recently James expressed his satisfaction for dunking over Terry in a nail biter against the Celtics last week.
Recently Terry has fired back, but not directly at James, but at the Heat as a franchise. He told WEEI radio Friday afternoon:
"It's not even LeBron. It's just the Miami Heat personally. Is it the red and black? Maybe, I hate that color. I just don't like them.
"It goes back to '05-'06. It doesn't matter who's in those Miami Heat uniforms. ... [Terry's Dallas Mavericks] were up 2-0, and [the Heat] come back and win four straight games and you lose the NBA Finals.
"So LeBron inherited something bigger than the matchup of he and I. It's about the Miami Heat and that organization. He picked his poison."
Terry added: "I'd love to see Miami in the playoffs so we can roll through the champions. We're fired up. We would love that matchup. You know at some point - I don't want to say that it's fixed - I think it's going to happen. We are going to see them, and it's going to be fireworks.
"I'm telling you right now, I love us, I love the way we're built. We miss Rajon Rondo, we miss Jared Sullinger, but with this team we have, we have a chance."
If the Heat and Celtics meet up in the playoffs, there's sure to "fireworks" that Terry mentioned. But stopping the Heat won't be an easy one, should be exciting matchup should it come to fortune.
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