Our evening culminated with Cristiano Ronaldo highlight reels until we caught a disheartening headline flashing on our feeds: “Miami Heat score 54 points in loss.” It sounds like a Shaq-less and Wade-less Heat team has reverted to the type of basketball played in a state penitentiary league. Or in Toronto. From Sports Ilustrated:

The lowest score in Heat history. Only the 1998-99 Bulls (49 points against, coincidentally, Miami) and the 2002-03 Nuggets (53 points against Detroit) have done worse.

The worst shooting night - 26 percent - in team history, too.

Miami missed 10 straight shots against the Raptors. Twice.

It hurts, doesn’t it? There’s more.

…The Heat went scoreless on 13 straight possessions, giving up 18 unanswered points and falling behind 54-20. Toronto could have only shot half-courters in the final two quarters, missed them all and still won by four. The Raptors had 58 points at halftime. The Heat combined for 12 assists in 240 minutes; Raptors guard Jose Calderon had 10 assists in 25 minutes. And maybe in the most ridiculous stat of all, Miami had more missed shots (58) than points (54).

It’s sad, really. We don’t care if a team scores little when it comes to baseball, football, or soccer, but you can’t get away with this in basketball and expect people to point, laugh and then pity you. Dwayne wade cut his season short regain health. Can the entire Miami Heat organization do the same?

REYNOLDS ON BASKETBALL: 54-point Heat finally hit rock bottom [SI]
Image [AP]