"Miami does not want to play Boston" -- Bucher

[BballTim]

  I'd hazard a guess that you put a lot of stock in the regular season back when the Celts were stinking it up. In any case, I don't see a huge improvement. James is probably playing a little better this year, Bosh is about the same and Wade isn't doing as well. I still don't see their bench players having a huge role on a team with Wade and James, and I don't think that their bench has been earth-shatteringly good either.

Agree with everything here. Well done.

LeBron and Wade have very strong back muscles, due to the heavy carrying they have to do every single night. The team is not well balanced.

Its built around "we have two superstars in their prime, they can carry everyone else, every single night" and when they have an off night, they lose.

KG will destroy Bosh as he has done all throughout his career and especially this season.

Bradley will limit Wade.

Pierce CAN score enough to negate LeBron but he probably wont every single game.

The Key to Miami has always been Bosh.

When Bosh plays well they win, when he doesent they lose because the load is too much to carry for LeBron and Wade.

The Heat are incredibly well balanced team, they just aren't the best coached team in the world.  Seriously, Chris Bosh is their third best player.  A 22/10 player for multiple seasons that is still in his prime is their THIRD best player.  Miller and Chalmers are excellent shooters and floor spacers.  Haslem, Battier, and Anthony do the dirty work.  They defend well at all positions. 

If the Heat don't win the title (barring injury) it will be entirely on Spoelstra and his lack of creativity and overall coaching ability, especially on the offensive end of the floor.

  The Heat are talented at the top, but I don't think I'd call a team where 2 players score half or more of the points incredibly balanced, especially when their best players don't complement each other well on offense. You can only blame the coach so much.

Bird and McHale in 85/86 scored just under half of the Celtics points in the playoffs and I don't think there were that many complaints that that team wasn't well balanced.

The reality is, most championship teams are dominated by two elite offensive players and fill in the rest with role players that balance out the stars, especially in the last 30 years where the Bulls were dominated by Jordan and Pippen, the Rockets had Dream and Clyde, the Lakers with Shaq and Kobe, the Mavs last year were essentially the Dirk and Terry show, etc.  Even the Spurs have been essentially a three man show with Duncan, Manu, and Parker (which is much closer to the Heat with Bosh).  Elite players win titles.  Elite players also dominate the scoring of the team they are on.  It is just the way the NBA works except in very rare circumstances (like the Pistons). 

The Heat have a well balanced team.  Elite players, dirty work guys, high percentage shooters, great team and individual defense.  Sure they aren't a perfect team and could always upgrade areas, but they are well balanced.

  Ok, now fit "their two best players are both ball dominant and don't mesh particularly well together" into your analysis, or maybe point out that all of the teams you mentioned had the same type of problem.

Jordan and Pippen are very similar to James and Wade.  They just had a much better coach.  If the Heat don't win the title (barring injury) it will be almost entirely Spoelstra's fault.  His offense lacks creativity, he just gets the ball to James or Wade and let them go to work.  Which frankly may be enough to win a title because they are that good, but it also could end up like last year against the Mavs. 

  Jordan and Pippen might be similar to James and Wade on defense, not at all so on offense. Getting the ball to James and Wade and letting them work is what they do best, you might as well claim that Rondo's three point shooting isn't a staple in our offense because Doc's not creative enough to work that into the offense.

[Moranis]

we beat the heat 3 times in april. our bench beat their bench in the 3rd game. i feel good about going against them.

Regular season games mean very little. The heat destroyed us last year after we had a 3-1 edge on them in the regular season.

We had an emotionally deflated team back then we no Center rotation guys, no bench, and Rondo with one arm.

We are a much better team this year.

So are the Heat.  What's your point?

[BballTim]

we beat the heat 3 times in april. our bench beat their bench in the 3rd game. i feel good about going against them.

Regular season games mean very little. The heat destroyed us last year after we had a 3-1 edge on them in the regular season.

We had an emotionally deflated team back then we no Center rotation guys, no bench, and Rondo with one arm.

We are a much better team this year.

So are the Heat.  What's your point?

  Maybe he means demostrably better bsaed on their play, as opposed to "playing worse, but I still say they're much improved".

[Atzar]

we beat the heat 3 times in april. our bench beat their bench in the 3rd game. i feel good about going against them.

Regular season games mean very little. The heat destroyed us last year after we had a 3-1 edge on them in the regular season.

We had an emotionally deflated team back then we no Center rotation guys, no bench, and Rondo with one arm.

We are a much better team this year.

So are the Heat.  What's your point?

  Maybe he means demostrably better bsaed on their play, as opposed to "playing worse, but I still say they're much improved".

In what way are we demonstrably better?  Looks like the same Celtics to me:  good-to-elite defense depending on whether they feel like playing, efficient offense that only grades as average because of their propensity for turnovers and refusal to create second-chance opportunities for themselves.

I'm not trying to be negative.  I do think this team has an outside shot.  But let's be honest:  it's not because we've reloaded or anything.  We shuffled some bench players around a bit, but where it counts we're still the same team.  We just have a shot because all of the other contenders have potentially fatal flaws, too.