Heat predicted (by ESPN) to three-peat

[BOTSLAYER]

he DOES have a point, though. if the Heat DO blow it i can see a LOT of you guys jumping head first off the bandwagon...

I am a LBJ fan first, so where ever he is playing I will be rooting for him. I also root for KD, Harden and whoever is dunking on Jason Terry and a few others.

 

[trojanfan12]

I agree that it is hard. But i think youre discounting how ridiculously bad the Eastern conference is right now. Okay you got the Bulls and you got the Pacers. I dont think either of those teams gets out of the second right in the west and honestly im not convinced they win in round 1. Im not even sure they would grab home court in round 1 in the west. Take Miami out of the East... youre looking early 2000s style finals, where the true NBA finals was the WCF. If im ranking NBA teams in the west against the Pacers/bulls.. I go OKC/ Spurs/ Grizzlies for sure better than them. Probably Houston and Clippers too.. but an argument can be made around this level. Truth is, they are probably somewhere between the 6-8th seed fighting with Golden State for the final spots.

I know there is Heat hatred. Miami brought it on themselves. I like it. But look at it objectively... the East is a joke compared to the west. You have Miami, and little else.

Yet, those "joke teams" in the East managed to give the Heat all that they could handle and then some!! The Bulls, minus Rose and with other players playing through injury, managed to give the Heat trouble and even stole a game. With Rose and better health overall, that's likely a 7 games series.

The Pacers managed to force a game 7. Additionally, several of the Eastern Conference teams have been able to do more to improve themselves than the Heat have.

Also, when trying to reach a 4th straight finals, you simply can't discount the physical toll that it takes on a team. The Heat could get taken out by a lesser team simply because they just didn't have enough left in the tank.

In my honest opinion, both Laker teams that failed to make a 4th straight finals appearance were a better team player for player than the teams that took them out, they just ran out of gas!! It happens!!

Again, not saying the Heat won't get it done!! Just saying that I won't be at all surprised if they don't!!

 

[Flauge]

I am a LBJ fan first, so where ever he is playing I will be rooting for him. I also root for KD, Harden and whoever is dunking on Jason Terry and a few others.

see i dont do that. there are players around the league i like to watch. blake griffin because of his dunks is my favorite non heat player to watch right now. but i dont really care if his team wins or loses. where did you grow up? i grew up in sofla. i remember the announcement that miami was getting the one of the expansion teams. all we had in professional sports in south florida at the time was the dolphins and the hurricanes (yea, i said it). i like other players. but i couldnt ever root for another team like i do miami. if miami left like the sonics did.. i guess i would just follow a player like you, im not sure.

 

[Flauge]

Yet, those "joke teams" in the East managed to give the Heat all that they could handle and then some!! The Bulls, minus Rose and with other players playing through injury, managed to give the Heat trouble and even stole a game. With Rose and better health overall, that's likely a 7 games series.

The Pacers managed to force a game 7. Additionally, several of the Eastern Conference teams have been able to do more to improve themselves than the Heat have.

Also, when trying to reach a 4th straight finals, you simply can't discount the physical toll that it takes on a team. The Heat could get taken out by a lesser team simply because they just didn't have enough left in the tank.

In my honest opinion, both Laker teams that failed to make a 4th straight finals appearance were a better team player for player than the teams that took them out, they just ran out of gas!! It happens!!

Again, not saying the Heat won't get it done!! Just saying that I won't be at all surprised if they don't!!

Miami beat the bulls in 5 freaking games. Including 4 straight. In what world is a 4-1 series victory "all Miami could handle." Plus if Rose plays im not convinced there is any difference in any outcome. The bulls wouldnt get 6 players on the court. That midget robinson would have to come out.. and he murdered miami. He played better than Rose did at times vs miami in the playoffs.

im not saying miami cant be taken out. it's sports. ive seen way to much. but upsets in 7 game series in the NBA tend to be rarer than any other sport. i dont see anyone beating Miami barring an injury to one of the big 3. but hey, i didnt see kidd and terry being able to keep miami from penetrating a zone in 2011. So there's that.

 

[bksballer89]

Oh c'mon, man, I saw Heat posters all over the boards picking the Heat in 4 or 5 in both series. You guys are a bunch of loons.

I saw a few (very little) saying the Heat in 5 in the Spurs series but I did not see anyone pick the finals in 5 for either side. It was 6 or 7 for basically everyone on here

 

[Black Adam]

see i dont do that. there are players around the league i like to watch. blake griffin because of his dunks is my favorite non heat player to watch right now. but i dont really care if his team wins or loses. where did you grow up? i grew up in sofla. i remember the announcement that miami was getting the one of the expansion teams. all we had in professional sports in south florida at the time was the dolphins and the hurricanes (yea, i said it). i like other players. but i couldnt ever root for another team like i do miami. if miami left like the sonics did.. i guess i would just follow a player like you, im not sure.

see why i give Flauge respect around here...?

 

[bksballer89]

There are a couple of things that Heat fans seem to want to conveniently ignore.

I agree, no team has beaten the Heat 4 out of 7 games in the past 2 years. However, in 2003, no team had beaten the Lakers (who were better than this Heat team) in 4 out of 7 games in the previous 3 seasons. In 2010, no team had beaten the Lakers 4 out of 7 games in the last 2 seasons.

Both of those Laker teams failed to make a 4th straight trip to the finals!! There is a reason that no team has made 4 straight finals appearances since the Showtime Lakers did it in the early 80's!! It's because it's a damn hard thing to do!!

You have to remember, teams have been paying attention to what has been successful vs. the Heat and EVERY team is trying to figure out ways to do the same. The target on the Heat's back gets bigger every day and with the way things are set up, it's harder for the defending champ to add pieces to improve their team than it is for those chasing them.

Do you really think the Heat would be taking a flyer on Oden and his knees if there were better options available to them?

Add to that the fact the Heat will be getting every teams best effort, every night (as they have for the past 3 years) and it takes a toll!!

I'm not saying that the Heat won't reach a 4th straight finals or that they won't get their three-peat. However, for Heat fans to act like it's a "done deal" and make statements like no team can beat them 4 out of 7 games is simply being willfully ignorant to the reality of what has been going on for decades in the NBA.

I'm not acting like it is a done deal at all. However it is a fact that no team have beaten them 4 out of 7 in the last 2 years. True or false? The Heat don't worry too much about the regular season as you saw in their first 2 years as they finished with the 3rd best regular season record each of those seasons. The Heat season starts at the end of April.

 

[Black Adam]

I'm not acting like it is a done deal at all. However it is a fact that no team have beaten them 4 out of 7 in the last 2 years. True or false? The Heat don't worry too much about the regular season as you saw in their first 2 years as they finished with the 3rd best regular season record each of those seasons. The Heat season starts at the end of April.

i'm not so sure i buy that. they sure worried during that 27 game streak last season...as did ALL of you...

they wanted to take down that Lakers record SO bad...

 

[bksballer89]

I can hardly wait to see how you guys respond when the Heat get eliminated next year. That will be a prize I will treasure indeed.

Wade didn't play like he was injured. That is a bunch of crap. He was fine.

And Oden will not help against Indy. You guys are going down. And I can hardly wait to see it happen and your reactions to it.

Really he didn't play like he was injured? He avg 16 PPG in the playoffs on 46% shooting (his lowest PPG of his career ever) after avg 21 PPG on 52% shooting in the regular season including a month of Feb where he avg 24 PPG on 53% shooting including 4 30+ scoring nights but yeah he was healthy in the playoffs lol. The only series where he looked somewhat healthy was the Spurs series. He avg 14 in round 1, 13 in round 2, 15 in the ECF, and 19.6 in the finals.

You're delusional if you don't think Wade played like he was injured

 

[bksballer89]

i'm not so sure i buy that. they sure worried during that 27 game streak last season...as did ALL of you...

they wanted to take down that Lakers record SO bad...

If they worried about it so much why were the guys still playing their avg minutes? If they were so concerned about it wouldn't Spo have extended the top players minutes instead of playing them the traditional 33-38 MPG?

 

[Yu Lee - A Nova Lover]

This thread is brought to you by DUH Magazine! ! !

 

[bksballer89]

This past year was Indy best chance to beat Miami in a series IMO. The chances of Wade avg 16 and Bosh avg 11 in a series against them this upcoming season is highly unlikely.

 

[Black Adam]

If they worried about it so much why were the guys still playing their avg minutes? If they were so concerned about it wouldn't Spo have extended the top players minutes instead of playing them the traditional 33-38 MPG?

why with the playoffs looming around the corner? but don't tell me they didn't want the win streak record. that would not be the truth...

 

[bksballer89]

Wade avg 26.2 PPG when he was healthier in the 2012 2nd round vs this same Indiana team.

 

[trojanfan12]

Miami beat the bulls in 5 freaking games. Including 4 straight. In what world is a 4-1 series victory "all Miami could handle." Plus if Rose plays im not convinced there is any difference in any outcome. The bulls wouldnt get 6 players on the court. That midget robinson would have to come out.. and he murdered miami. He played better than Rose did at times vs miami in the playoffs.

im not saying miami cant be taken out. it's sports. ive seen way to much. but upsets in 7 game series in the NBA tend to be rarer than any other sport. i dont see anyone beating Miami barring an injury to one of the big 3. but hey, i didnt see kidd and terry being able to keep miami from penetrating a zone in 2011. So there's that.

Seriously?!? It's not like the Heat blew them out by 20 every game. The Heat may have taken them out in 5, but it wasn't the blow out that you are trying to make it out to be. And you not thinking that the Bulls having their best player on the floor and guys like Noah being healthier would make any difference, speaks to that "willfull ignorance" that I mentioned earlier.

Additionally, you keep ignoring the toll that these deep playoff runs take on a team. It simply can't be discounted. That alone can be the difference in a series (i.e. the 2 Laker teams that I mentioned)!!

 

[bksballer89]

why with the playoffs looming around the corner? but don't tell me they didn't want the win streak record. that would not be the truth...

Since when do you rest guys in March for the playoffs that start at the end of April? They did rest the guys in April but in March you're going to play your guys the traditional regular season minutes.

Wade played in 3 games in April, LBJ played in 5 (both only avg 31 MPG), and Bosh played in 4 games at 33 MPG so he did rest the guys in April with the playoffs looming.

 

[bksballer89]

Seriously?!? It's not like the Heat blew them out by 20 every game. The Heat may have taken them out in 5, but it wasn't the blow out that you are trying to make it out to be. And you not thinking that the Bulls having their best player on the floor and guys like Noah being healthier would make any difference, speaks to that "willfull ignorance" that I mentioned earlier.

Additionally, you keep ignoring the toll that these deep playoff runs take on a team. It simply can't be discounted. That alone can be the difference in a series (i.e. the 2 Laker teams that I mentioned)!!

It is the playoffs...You're not going to blow out teams by 20 even in a short series but the Heat did dominate that series. AVG margin of victory for Miami in that series was 18.2 but yeah this was such an tough series for the Heat. This was even more lopsided than the Milwaukee series where the avg margin of victory was at 14.7

 

[trojanfan12]

I'm not acting like it is a done deal at all. However it is a fact that no team have beaten them 4 out of 7 in the last 2 years. True or false? The Heat don't worry too much about the regular season as you saw in their first 2 years as they finished with the 3rd best regular season record each of those seasons. The Heat season starts at the end of April.

Pretty sure that I already addressed that and agreed that no one had beaten them 4 out of 7 in the past 2 seasons.

I also pointed out 2 Laker teams (one of which was better than this current Heat team) that hadn't lost 4 out of 7 in 3 seasons for one of them and 2 for the other. Of course you didn't address that when you tried to make a point that was already conceded!!

 

[bksballer89]

Pretty sure that I already addressed that and agreed that no one had beaten them 4 out of 7 in the past 2 seasons.

I also pointed out 2 Laker teams (one of which was better than this current Heat team) that hadn't lost 4 out of 7 in 3 seasons for one of them and 2 for the other. Of course you didn't address that when you tried to make a point that was already conceded!!

Didn't address it because it was irrelevant. I could careless about what the Lakers couldn't do.

 

[Black Adam]

Since when do you rest guys in March for the playoffs that start at the end of April? They did rest the guys in April but in March you're going to play your guys the traditional regular season minutes.

Wade played in 3 games in April, LBJ played in 5 (both only avg 31 MPG), and Bosh played in 4 games at 33 MPG so he did rest the guys in April with the playoffs looming.

hardly the point. you said yourself they didn't really CARE about the regular season. i was just pointing out the flaw there...