The Miami Heat kicked off 2012 with a dominant performance against the Charlotte Bobcats, walking away with the 129-90 victory on Jan. 1.

The Heat took control in the very first quarter of the second encounter between the two teams this season, building up an 18 point lead in the opening twelve minutes. Miami kept their pace up in the second quarter, increasing their lead to 28 points by halftime. The Heat continued their dominance in the second half of the game, handing the Bobcats their most lopsided loss of the season.

Miami’s offense was firing on all cylinders against the Bobcats, shooting 60 percent from the field. The Heat were even more successful from beyond the arc, converting on 64 percent of their attempts from long range.

Forward Chris Bosh led Miami against the Bobcats, shooting 69 percent from the field. Bosh finished with the only double-double of the game, putting up 24 points and 10 rebounds against the Bobcats.

Dwyane Wade was the second highest scorer for the Heat, putting up 22 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds. LeBron James had his lowest scoring game of the 2011/12 NBA season, but he was still effective for the Heat, shooting 60 percent from the field and finishing with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.

Mario Chalmers was lights out from beyond the arc, going 4-4 from long range. Chalmers missed only one shot against the Bobcats, walking away with 16 points and 5 assists.

Miami’s bench had their best performance of the season against the Bobcats, finishing with a combined 43 points and 17 rebounds.

Rookie Norris Cole had another solid outing for Miami, putting up 16 points (shooting 75 percent from the field), 9 assists and 3 steals. Udonis Haslem also gave the Heat some quality minutes coming off the bench, finishing with six points and nine rebounds.

Miami’s next game will be against the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 2, and they should be able to keep their undefeated record intact.

David is a Miami Heat fan that has followed the team for 16 years. Follow him on twitter @davidkingwriter and check out his blog.

Sources:

Player and game information from ESPN.com

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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 won their third game in four days, walking away with the 96-95 victory against the Charlotte Bobcats on Dec. 28.

The Heat’s tough schedule finally started catching up to them. Miami’s players looked a step slower during the game, but they did manage to turn things around down the stretch.

Charlotte came out firing on all cylinders, outscoring the Heat by 12 points in the first quarter. The Heat played better in the second quarter, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Bobcats from adding three more points to their lead.

Whatever Erick Spoelstra told his players during the halftime break definitely worked, as the Heat came out strong in the third quarter, frustrating the Bobcats with their stifling defense. Miami finally took their first lead of the game, halfway through the fourth quarter. Both teams traded buckets from that point on, but Dwyane Wade stepped up to the plate in the final seconds of the game, kissing the ball off the backboard and giving the Heat a one point lead.

LeBron James had another monstrous performance for the Heat, finishing the game with 35 points (game high), 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Chris Bosh was right behind LeBron, putting up 25 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks against the Bobcats. Miami also got a nice boost from Mario Chalmers, who had 15 points and 4 assists against Charlotte.

Dwyane Wade on the other hand had a relatively quiet game, leaving with 10 points and 4 assists, but he did make the most important shot of the day.

Miami’s bench didn’t have their best performance of the season, finishing with a combined 11 points and 12 rebounds.

The Heat will get a day off, before visiting the Minnesota Timberwolves on Dec. 30. The Timberwolves have struggled in their first two games of the season (going 0-2), and the Heat should be able to get their fourth straight win against them.

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:

Player and game information from ESPN.com

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NBA commissioner David Stern attended Sunday’s opener at American Airlines Center and spoke to reporters about the Heat, LeBron James and his public-relations bungling of Chris Paul’s trade, among other things.

Despite so many predictions of the Heat winning the championship, Stern cautioned against “mailing the trophy” to Miami before the season. Stern reminded reporters that he said the same thing last season, and the Mavericks surprised everyone with its run to the championship.

Stern hopes the lockout doesn’t interfere with the growth of the league, which celebrated one of its most exciting season’s last year. The Heat was at the center of the storm, and its three-star lineup stirred plenty of emotions around the league. Stern said the Heat’s collection of stars was good for the popularity of league.

“The Heat [is] interesting and a fun team, so they engender a lot of enthusiasm and following,” Stern said.

Always with an eye on his league’s top players, Stern said he’s looking forward to watching James mature emotionally this season. James has acknowledged personal growth during the offseason.

“I see a level of acceptance of maturity that’s fun to watch grow,” Stern said. “He’s clearly saying that he might have said a few things differently, and he’s going let his talent do the talking, and I think that’s pretty exciting. He’s got some pretty exciting talent.”

As for nixing the move of Paul to the Lakers, Stern said he did a poor job of communicating the reason for killing the deal. At the time, Stern’s only explanation for stopping the trade was “basketball reasons.”

“I don’t think it affected the integrity of the league,” Stern said. “I do think I could have done a better communications job coming out of it, but I elected not to. I think I didn’t get the point out … that I was acting as the owners’ representative, meaning the owner of the Hornets, and that’s something that was lost in the media frenzy.”

Odom ejected

Mavericks reserve Lamar Odom didn’t make the best impression with his new team Sunday. Odom, the former Laker, played just 13 minutes before being ejected for back-to-back technical fouls in the third quarter.

The NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year last season, Odom was traded to the Mavericks during training camp. His wife and reality TV star, Khloe Kardashian attended the game. Odom was 1 of 6 from the field with four points.

“[Miami] hit a lot of tough shots [Sunday],” Odom said. “But we didn’t do a good job of getting back and rolling them out.

“You can’t meet those guys at the rim. They’re too athletic.”

Cole’s debut

Norris Cole: get used to the name.

The Heat’s backup point guard wasted little time introducing himself to NBA fans Sunday, playing nearly 24 minutes in his regular-season debut. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra praised the fearlessness of his rookie, who scored seven points on 3-of-8 shooting to go along with two rebounds, three assists and four turnovers.

By comparison, Heat starting point guard Mario Chalmers played 42 more seconds and scored three points with four assists, four steals and two turnovers.

“We have good veteran leadership here, so they made me feel comfortable on the court,” Cole said. “I didn’t really get nervous.”