James Jones Heating Up

The Heat's reserves showed the NBA just why they should fear facing Miami in the postseason as they led the team from South Beach to a 97-79 victory over the Raptors in Toronto on Wednesday, April 13 to close out the season.

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra sat LeBron James(notes), Dwyane Wade(notes), and Chris Bosh(notes), while Mike Miller(notes) wasn't on the court as well (nursing a sore left thumb and ankle).

Most impressive, though, was James Jones(notes) pouring in 12 points on 4-of-6 from downtown. Jones is now 18-of-28 from three-point range (64.3 percent) over his last eight games; which shows he's ready to deliver huge moments like the ones he gave the Heat in their 98-90 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, April 11 with his two late, fourth-quarter daggers from deep.

That's not to say House's 35-point explosion wasn't impressive, as it was as breathtaking as it was welcome. However, James Jones is likely to be the first option off the bench when Spoelstra wants a three-point specialist in the game late in a contest against the Philadelphia 76ers or any other opponent in the playoffs.

What House's fabulous night showed is Spoelstra will have options beyond Jones in crucial situations. His 7-of-13 from beyond the arc against Toronto has to have the 76ers head coach Doug Collins sweating bullets wondering how he'll stop the 6-1, 190 lbs. dynamo if Spoelstra inserts him into a contest late.



(yahoosports.com)