CHARLOTTE, N.C. —
The best way to get a bad game out of your system is to bounce right back the next night.

That’s what happened with point guard Mario Chalmers in the Heat’s 96-95 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night.

After a long night on Tuesday in the Heat’s 115-107 win over Boston — one in which backup Norris Cole stole the spotlight and most of the playing time — Chalmers rebounded with a season-high 15 points and four assists against just one turnover.

He played 31 minutes and was on the floor down the stretch as the Heat rallied from a 16-point deficit and ultimately won on Dwyane Wade’s bank shot with 2.9 seconds remaining.

“[Tuesday] night was just a rough game for me,” Chalmers said. “I’m not making any excuses. I know I can play better than what I did [Tuesday]. I just came out and my teammates told me to be aggressive, and that’s what I did.”

Chalmers was the only Heat player in double figures besides LeBron James (35 points) and Chris Bosh (25 points). He scored six of his points in the third quarter while Wade was out with a foot injury, a quarter in which the Heat roared back and outscored the Bobcats 24-10. They trailed 60-45 at halftime.

Chalmers was 6 of 12 from the field, and hit a three-pointer.

Chalmers had committed six turnovers against Boston and watched as Cole played 29 minutes and scored 20 points.

“He showed great resolve, and that’s what this is all about,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “This is a team with many different contributions and many guys have to sacrifice. It might be different guys on different nights depending on the flow of the game, the opponents, etc.”

Cole played just 10 minutes, and finished with five points and one assist.

Chalmers said he’s fine with the way Spoelstra goes with the point guard who’s playing the best on any given night.

“That’s how we roll,” he said. “Whoever’s got it that night, Coach is going to stick with them. We’re a two-headed monster, me and Norris at the point. We’re just trying to keep the team going.”

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —
The nicknames came in bunches on Tuesday night: Cole Train, Stone Cole, Ice Cole. After his breakout game in the Heat home opener, Heat point guard Norris Cole found himself the center of attention in the NBA.

ESPN highlighted his performance. He was interviewed after Tuesday’s game by TNT. On Twitter, Cole picked up at least 10,000 followers between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. For a rookie from Cleveland State, it was a lot to digest in a short amount of time.

“From a social media standpoint, it was kind of crazy,” Cole said.

Seated beside his locker in Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena before Wednesday’s game, Cole tried to put the previous day into perspective.

“I understand that last night was last night in the NBA,” Cole said. “Now I’m focusing and moving forward. [Tuesday] was a stepping stone and I now I want to move in another direction of getting better and helping the team get better.”

Rookie rivalry

Pitted against Cole on Wednesday was a rookie guard who is no stranger to fame. Kemba Walker, the former University of Connecticut star, was named college basketball’s national player of the year last season after leading the Huskies to the national title. Cole was named the Horizon League’s player of the year.

Cole said the moment he realized that he could make it in the NBA was the first time he played against Walker. It was the summer of their senior seasons at a skills camp hosted by Nets guard Deron Williams.

It was a camp for the best young point guards in the country. It didn’t take long for Cole to realize he belonged.

“The first day,” Cole said. “As you get out there and start competing you get a feel for where your skill level is at.”

Cole and Walker never played against each other in college but the two guards met up again the next summer at the predraft camp in Chicago.

“We were together most of the camp and we were just going hard,” Walker said. “I know he’s a hard worker just from being with him that whole week and I could just tell that he wanted to get better and that’s what I wanted to do, too.”

SPLITTING TIME

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra reiterated the importance of both Cole and Mario Chalmers to the Heat’s plans this season. Cole is the offensive sparkplug suited for the Heat’s plans to push the pace of the game. Chalmers’ versatility allows him to provide sparks with his defense.

The Miami Heat will look for their third straight win of the season, when they face the Charlotte Bobcats on Dec.28.

The Heat played excellent basketball in their first two games of the season, smashing the Dallas Mavericks in their season opener. The Heat played another tough team in their second game of the season, defeating the Boston Celtics 115-107 on Dec. 27.

Miami did get a little sloppy in the second half against the Celtics, but rookie Norris Cole stepped up in the final moments of the game, giving the Heat their second win of the season.

“He’s [Norris] earned their respect,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game. “Even though it’s been a short period of time, about three weeks, because he’s pure, he’s all about the team. He’s mature and he gets them the ball. You’re always a popular guy when you find people when they’re open.”

Cole certainly looks like another NBA star in the making, and Heat fans can only hope he keeps it up throughout the season.

The Bobcats beat the Milwaukee Bucks by a point in their season opener, and they’ll be in for a serious jump in competition when they face the Heat tonight.

It’s no secret the Heat are the most hated team in the NBA, and LeBron James and company are playing with chips on their shoulders. With a season under their belt, the “big three” understand every team in the league is gunning for them, and they’re determined to make a statement every time they step on the floor.

“We’re not the hunted,” Chris Bosh told reporters. “We’re still the hunters. Absolutely, the way I see it, it’s like a kill or be killed mentality. The enemies are out there and you’ve got to get them before they get you. You know, Chicago, Boston, Orlando, New York. They’re all good teams in our conference. We’ve got to get them before they get us. I like to be ambitious and strike first, put other guys on their heels.”

Miami made their statement loud and clear in the first two games of the season, and I expect another dominant performance against the Bobcats.

David is a Miami Heat fan that has followed the team for 15 years. Follow him on twitter @davidkingwriter and check out his blog.

Sources:

Michael Wallace, “Hunted or not, Heat make early statements”

Dan Burch, “Heat-Bobcats Preview”

Player and game information from ESPN.com

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Wade expects other NBA teams to copy Miami Heat

Miami Heat Rookie Norris Cole Prepares for 2011/12 Season

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By Jim Litke, Associated Press

That deflating sound you hear is the suspense beginning to leak out of the NBA season.

Yes, it’s only a few days old, but a fifth of the schedule has already been erased by the lockout and if Miami figures out how to attack zone defenses, it’s over. No team is going to beat the Heat then. In the opener they blew out a Dallas team that came back to steal the finals by gumming up Miami’s offensive machine with a zone. On Tuesday night, they outlasted a Boston team that deployed the same defense in the second half to avoid getting run out of the gym. Though the Celtics clawed back within three points at the 2-minute mark, in the eight quarters the Heat have played, they’ve trailed for only 14 seconds. Get used to it.

Miami has already fixed the problems that were so apparent when LeBron James and his super sidekicks, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, made their debut together against Boston to kick off the 2010 season. They can play sustained, ferocious defense and they’re even more opportunistic — and spectacular — than they were in transition by the end of last season. Even so, Miami coach Eric Spoelstra used some of his free time during the lockout to pick the brains of some of the country’s best coaches — Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Kentucky’s John Calipari and Oregon football coach Chip Kelly, who runs a particularly hectic version of the no-huddle spread offense — looking for ways to rev up Miami’s attack. The lessons appear to have taken. The faster pace and extra space on the floor means more room for James, Wade and Bosh to take advantage of individual matchups, which plays into Miami’s strength.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers didn’t need to consult the scoreboard at halftime to convince him of that. He watched the finals, saw how well a zone worked for the Mavericks, and despite a commitment to man-to-man defense from the outset of his NBA career, began working on the scheme over the summer. Boston unveiled its version in the third quarter, while the Heat stood around and settled for jumpers, and the Celtics slowly climbed back into the game. An 18-6 run over the final 6 minutes of the period — Miami helpfully misfired on its last eight shots — brought the Celtics to 91-83. That margin seemed comfortable enough, though, until former Heat guard Keyon Dooling scored seven straight points to cut it to 108-105 with 2:02 left.

It’s early in Norris Cole’s rookie season, but it’s already looking late in the day for the Heat’s starting point guard Mario Chalmers.

It’s not just that Cole threw in 20 points Tuesday against Boston on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from the line while Chalmers added only four points. Or, that he had four assists, four rebounds and only three turnovers while Chalmers committed six turnovers. Or, that the Heat did spend their first-round pick in June’s draft on a point guard.

It’s that Chalmers and Cole split minutes evenly in Sunday’s season opener, but Cole logged 29:07 Tuesday while Chalmers was on the bench for all but 18:53. And that, down the stretch as Boston constantly threatened to steal the game, the Heat coaching staff trusted Cole to be on the floor. The Heat stars trusted Cole to take the clinching shots late (which he made).

“It wasn’t any kind of indictment on [Chalmers],” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra insisted. “He came back after struggling at the beginning of the third quarter and he did settle down and make some plays. That was good, to see him show some resolve and some toughness. That’s what we’ve done a lot of times. If a lineup is going, if a player is playing well, I won’t necessarily change for the sake of changing.’’

Cole’s toughness and resolve already are apparent.

The Heat spent most of Tuesday night cruising with a double-digit lead, but they didn’t truly begin to bum-rush the senior Celtics out of the game until the youngest member of the Heat took the floor. The next time Cole left, with 2:25 left in the second quarter, the Heat led 59-49 and had led by as much as 17.

And 27 seconds into the fourth quarter, when the Heat offense clanked and clunked until Boston got the locals’ lead under 10, Cole stepped up with a 16-foot jumper 27 seconds into the fourth quarter that stopped a run of eight consecutive missed shots.

It was Cole who took the charge from Brandon Bass with 3:15 left and the Heat up by eight.

From his back, Cole pumped his arms and kicked his legs like a baby having a happy fit.

“He’s done it in practice, he’s a tough kid,” Spoelstra said. “He played football in high school — any kind of loose ball you can see he’s trying to run through people to get it. When he’s attacking the paint, he’s got his head down looking for contact. He’ll willingly sacrifice his body for the team and he’s done that in practice. When you have your smaller players doing that, it gains the respect of all.”

Cole drained a long two-point jumper to stretch the lead back to 108-98. On the other side of a 7-0 Boston run, Cole nailed two more shots as part of scoring six of the Heat’s last seven points.