I've posted a general outline of my team
here; will spare you all posting it again. Here I'll try and talk specifically about how the Heat match up vs. Washington. This post is another doozy, so I don't blame you if you don't get through the whole thing...again though, I had fun writing it.
On offense, my most comfortable matchup is the 6'9", 210 pound McGrady vs. the 6'3", 170 pound Lever, an option that will be called upon frequently in the post and facing up. Lever simply lacks the size to defend McGrady in these situations and this will be a high-efficiency option. Guarding McGrady with Frazier doesn't help the size mismatch; guarding him with Marion or Jones does, but leaves Lever guarding Bird in the post, or struggling (and failing) to keep Rodman from playing volleyball off the offensive glass. In any case, Lever has a significant size disadvantage, which the Heat exploit.
The other scheme that takes advantage of the McGrady/Lever matchup is involving Wilt in the pick and roll, one with Yao and McGrady at the top of the key. Yao sets a pick and fades to his favorite elbow jumper spot, while McGrady attacks the basket off the dribble, getting to the rack or to the line, possibly putting Wilt into foul trouble.
Finally, there's Bird. He's facing a nice array of defensive players, but he will get his points efficiently and will facilitate from the post. Bird faced and beat Jones's 76ers in the playoffs on a few occasions, and Marion (while a good defender) has in the past struggled with bigger, interior, SF/PF types (e.g. Lamar Odom) and Bird falls into that category.
There's a lot of offensive options for Washington to deal with at once, and something (the pick and roll, the mismatch with Lever, etc.) will give.
Defensively, Wilt clearly poses the greatest challenge. Yao will guard him, and hope that Wilt is intimidated by the novelty of being guarded by (a) a Chinese guy, and (b) a 7'6" guy. More seriously, Yao has the strong lower body base to avoid getting manhandled in the post (much as he has held his ground against Shaq over the years). Doubles will come from Rodman, forcing Bobby Jones or Marion to create with the ball in their hands, something which is neither of their strengths.
On the wings, Rodman will likely switch between Marion and Jones. Marion has been known to disappear from big playoff series when guarded by elite defenders (see Bowen, Bruce) and we expect this to follow that pattern. In addition, Rodman not only limits the scoring of Marion and Jones, he cuts off their offensive rebounding opportunites, a lucrative source of scoring for both of them. Bird guards whoever Rodman isn't guarding; as an all-time great SF rebounder, he too limits the offensive rebounding opportunities of Marion and Jones.
In the backcourt, the size and presence of McGrady dries up any post-up opportunities for Lever, and his long arms limit Lever's jump-shooting, not a great strength anyways. Porter will start off marking Frazier, and will use his size and physicality to keep Clyde out of the paint; McGrady can switch here as necessary to give Clyde some more size to think about.
The defensive idea is to force the ball into the hands of Jones and Marion, guys who are not comfortable handling and creating. Doubling Wilt with Rodman or Bird, and roaming McGrady around the backcourt are the two ways to accomplish this.
A word about the benches: the Bullets bench is strongest up front with Daniels and McGinnis, and expects scoring from those sources. However they are countered on the Heat bench with two bigger, more physical, defensive players in Smith and Lucas, and this will make it very difficult for them to be effective. On the wings, Dale Ellis will never be able to get into this game: since he can't hope to guard Bird, McGrady, Westphal, etc. his shooting is effectively wasted. Prince is a solid defender but works best on guards who like to pull up for mid-to-long range jumpers that he can bother with his reach--Bird is too big and physical in the post for him, while Westphal and McGrady are penetrators of the type that have given Prince trouble (e.g. Wade, Lebron). The Heat's Natt is athletic and tough, capable of guarding either forward spot in this matchup and benefitting from his teammates' great passing. Hinrich's defense, like Ellis's shooting, is not really usable in this matchup, because Porter is not a top-3 offensive threat for Miami, and Hinrich doesn't have the size to check McGrady. Francis, however, has the size, strength, athleticism to guard Frazier and Lever well, using his athleticism to keep them out of the paint. He can also manufacture offense off the bench with his speed and penetrating ability, while Washington's bench has no perimeter player who can effectively create his own shot or a shot for others. This means that when the benches come out, Washington's offense may stagnate, leading to some breaks for Westphal, Francis and co.
So those are the matchups, as I see them: offensively, expose Lever's size deficiencies, involve Wilt in pick and rolls; defensively force Rodman and Jones to create off the dribble; off the bench, expose Washington's lack of playmaking by forcing misses/turnovers and using bench speed to get easy buckets.
One thing is for sure: I would pay to see this matchup. Bird/Wilt? Where do I sign up?