Two Close Wins: Back to Back

This weekend was a good weekend in sports for South Florida. Both the Miami Heat and Miami Dolphins won in dramatic fashion. On Saturday night, the Heat took on Eastern Conference rival, the New Jersey Nets. The Nets who were winless so far this season with an 0-9 record were expected to be blown out by the Heat who were 6-2. However, head coach Lawrence Frank and his Nets had other plans. The Nets were able to "bottle up" Heat superstar Dwyane Wade, only allowing him to score 22 points. The Heat were unable to stretch out any sort of lead they may have had as the Nets just kept it close all game long. In the closing minute of the 4th quarter, the Nets had a 3 point advantage over the Heat with just forty two seconds remaining. Out of shear luck, as the shot clock was winding down, shooting guard Quentin Richardson heaved up a prayer from three point land and "banked" it in to tie the game. What luck. I guess the Leprechauns were rooting for the Heat that night. So here we go its a tie game with 24 seconds left to go. Rafer Alston drives to the hoop and floats one up. It rattles off the rim and Brook Lopez tips it in. However, the referees missed a call because the tip came when the ball was still in the "cylinder" so it should have been called no basket and an offensive goaltending. Four seconds remain and the Heat need two to tie and three to win. Dwyane Wade dribble drives and steps back behind the arch and lets it go. Wade runs towards the Heat benching thinking that the shot was good and he was right. Dwyane Wade to the rescue and I quote "this is my house." Nets fall to 0 and 10.

Dolphins experienced a similar turn of events on Sunday vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.Dolphins had a commanding lead at the half with a 19 to 6 advantage. I will point out however that the Dolphins missed an extra point which would go on to haunt them later on. Tampa Bay clawed there way back into the game thanks to kicker Connor Barth connecting from 51 and 54 yards. Dolphins force a turnover on downs and get the ball back with a little over 2 minutes to go and thats when seems to fall apart. Chad Henne made a crucial mistake by throwing the ball into covergae and gets intercepted. The Bucs answer with a short 15 yard touchdown drive of their own and now lead by 1 with one minute to go.Chad Henne quickly bounces back from his previous mistake and leads the team on an 80 yard drive that was capped off by a 25 yard game winning field goal by Dan Carpenter. Two games I'd like to call "too close for comfort."