JT

they are going down to whomever comes out of the West.

vs OKC-the Thunder are just as athletic, have just as much scoring potential from their stars, are almost on that tier defensively, only they are much deeper. plus with the Perkins trade, Wade will have to rely on the jumpshot more which is never good news for the Heat.
vs MEM-Tony Allen & Battier are a great combination to throw at Wade. don't see Miami inside stopping Randolph/Gasol for any long stretches.
vs DAL-Dirk will dominate Bosh (or LeBron), and the Mavericks are much deeper. this might be the Heat's worst potential opponent. only x-factor is how the refs react to Cuban's presence, he has to tone it down if Dallas is to get fair treatment defensively.
vs LAL-more of an even matchup, with LAs bench playing poorly, but Phil Jackson will outcoach Spoelstra in the key areas overall, leading to a close series win in 6-7.

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croco

In other words, some will continue to find reasons why the inevitable isn't going to happen rather sooner than later.

JT

Miami winning is not inevitable.

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Dee-Zy

LOL

This is what Wade has to say about Perkins



OKC have as much scoring as the Heat? Are you kidding me? Durant sure, and to an extent Westbrooke but when you have Wade and Lebron on the same team, no. No other team have the same scoring power. Defensively they are good but they are young an inexperience.

Memphis? LOL IF Heat meets Memphis in the finals, they win period. It will take more than just 2 good perimeter defenders to beat the Heat. They also don't have the firepower to go through Heat's Defense. Boston barely can as of now. You Think Memphis can?

Dallas: See 06 as a reference.

LAK are the only one that is the best prepared for Heat.

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Champions.

futuristxen

How about just if Miami win these next two games--Jeez! Cart before the horse on all of these!

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Dissonance

This.

GrandKenyon6

I think Miami would CRUSH the Lakers in a 7 game series.

I wouldn't give OKC any chance against the Heat whatsoever considering they have no interior scoring.

Memphis can pose some matchup problems, but talent will win out there.

Dallas would be their toughest opponent, but Miami would still have the edge.

I've been rooting for a Dallas/Heat rematch. Hopefully it happens.

Christian

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Seanzie

I actually think Memphis presents the biggest challenge in terms of match-up favorability against the Heat, but I don't think they can get past both OKC and the winner of Dallas and LA.

To be honest, I think people are really underselling the Heat. They're arguably the best defensive team in the playoffs, and they have the scoring punch of LeBron, Wade, and Bosh if the match-up is right.

I think Miami could beat any team out of the West with Memphis and Los Angeles being the teams they don't want to see. It's basically a foregone conclusion that they're coming out of the East.

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Nope.

Pay Ton

I don't think anybody is underselling the Heat.

They are pretty much the favorites at this point. Especially two games into the second round, with everything we've seen from the other teams.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playof...=5-on-5-110505

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Pump Bacon

I disagree about DAL and LAL. Mainly because they don't have the athleticism and enough talent to defend and ultimately win against a healthy Heat Big 3. DAL and LAL are around the level of the Celtics except the Mavs have hungrier legs and better depth, not to mention they have by far the best player of these 3 teams in Dirk. But we'll see if the Heat can keep up their highlight reel winning plays.

I wouldn't be as confident about Phil Jackson coaching at this point especially since he hasn't really done well against LeBron. Phil's age and lack of experience facing against Dirk and the Mavs is showing as well; I'm still wondering what happened to that fiasco of a substitution late in game 1. We'll see if he can make a legendary turnaround though.

Coatesvillain

Just accept it people. Heat are going to win it all.

They have a flawed rosters and shows severe warts at times but there's no team in this NBA who can exploit them.

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Floods

I really really really hope this is just a devil's advocate thread. If not, wow.

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futuristxen

The scary thing is that their two most immediate worries: Celtics/Lakers are going to be worse next year. And the Heat should be even better with a year under their belt together--especially if they go into next year with that championship swagger.

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Coatesvillain

Yeah, and as you know I'm a hater and I can't even deny it.

Their lack of a big man was supposed to be a flaw but they play excellent team defense anyway. They completely shut the paint down at times. They way they recover when they're beat in the paint is unbelievable.

Then on the other end? The teams who can match their athleticism can't really match their scoring power. Wade and Lebron were players in the past who took an entire team to try and contain them, and now it's impossible to do that. When you account for them there's someone to hit an open shot. To beat them teams have to make it ugly, and less about basketball than it's about being a fist fight. No team has that kind of presence imo.

I think the scariest part about the Heat is going forward we're going to see Wade and Lebron playing off of each other more. And once their doing that it makes it easier for Bosh to be more consistent in the supporting role.

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