Miami Heat, in spite of being the winner of the off-season free agency trade, is now a public enemy in the basketball world. When Lebron James and Chris Bosh joined Heat this summer, it was nothing like when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined Boston 3 years ago. Unless you are staying in Miami Heat, everyone else HATE them and wish that they (or more precisely, Lebron James) would lose. Lebron James lost most of his fans while gaining very little as he went from Cleveland to Miami for his new career.On the other hand, Kevin Garnett's fans wanted him to be traded to a better team after wasting all his prime time in Minnesota. Not only Boston embraced the arrival of KG, his fans who root for him are now rooting for Boston Celtic too! And without any disappointment, Boston Celtic won championship that year.
Therefore, for Miami Heat to be able to say "FUCK YOU! We are the champ!" to all its haters, Lebron James and Dwayne Wade's crews need to win championship so badly this year - not reaching Conference Final, not reaching Final, but winning a championship. But the road is not easy for them to win a championship as here lies their challengers.
1. Boston Celtic - Difficulty Level: Very very Difficult
Boston Celtic, although is able to play with its 60% of its full lineup, is having a better standing than Miami Heat. Yea Boston Celtic is a monster team, they have the depth in bench and they can integrate with any player to their game plan. Look at Shaq, the big failure after winning a championship in Miami Heat in 2006! Now, as a sidekick, he's having his best season since being a Lakers.Talking about match up problem with the Miami Big Three? How about we talk about match up problem with the Boston Celtic whole fucking team. They have the bench who play as good as any starting lineup in 76ers, Clippers or even Hawks!
Not to mention that Boston Celtic is a veteran playoff team. If they can play this good during regular season, they are for real (unlike Dallas, Houston or Phoenix) for playoff matches.
Therefore, if Miami Heat wants championship, Boston Celtic will be the main challenger.
2. Orlando Magic - Difficulty Level: Medium
Orlando Magic has Dwight Howard and that makes them a regular playoff team. Dwight Howard is the best center available in this era. He has a "defend wins games" mindset and yes, with him in the middle, LBJ and D-Wade are not getting to the rim this easy.After the 3-way-trade with Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards, Magic now has Jason Richardson, Hedo Terkugolo, and Gilbert Arenas in their lineup. Not a very defensive lineup but they can kill you with their 3 pointers. Although they have achieved 5 wins after the trade, we still need to have a look the chemistry among these players before we label the Magic as the threat in the East.
If Miami Heat wants to stop Orlando Magic, they need to stop Dwight Howard from stopping them to score.
3. New York Knick - Difficulty Level: Easy
Yea Amare Stoudemire! A beast at the rim!! So what? They have only one Amare Stoudemire as one man team. Remember Cleveland last year? It is an one-man-team too and see how far it went? And Amare Stoudemire is not as fearful as Lebron James.(Now if Miami Heat clear all the opponents in the East, they must face the powerhouses in the West before they can win a championship!)
4. San Antonia Spurs - Difficulty Level: Very very Difficult
Deep, strong and consistent are Spurs. Tim Duncan, being the best player after Michael Jordan, is the key to the playoff. And tell me, who can match up with Tim Duncan in Miami Heat? (oopps i mean in the league!) No one can stop him but hope that he loses his touch whenever he shoots. But hey, he's the big fundamental! If you're hoping him to make mistake, you are making a big mistake!Besides Tim Duncan, Spurs has
1. Ginobilli - who is always creative in scoring and is a lefty!
2. Parker - who just lost one ring and is hungry for another ring!
3. Hill - who is not Grant Hill but plays like him, being hustle in both ends
4. Jefferson - who is getting back his offensive power which he left in New Jersey Nets
5. Bunch of players from the bench - who are all possible to make a run for the 6th man award if they want to
6. Popowich - the mastermind of the Spurs who transformed Spurs from a super defensive team into a super offensive and super defensive team.
This is the depth that Miami Heat can't match. If Miami Heat wants championship, the big 3 need to be consistently super explosive for the series.
5. Dallas Mavericks - Difficulty Level: Difficult
Regular playoff team but not able to finish a series but we have to remember that the German man is not going to back down. When Dirk Nowitzki is playing at MVP level right now, Miami Heat really need some luck to stop this 7 footer from making wade-away shots.But Mavericks is always seen as a soft team. They need some toughness and hustles from all their players. If all the players are as tough as their owner Mark Cuban, Mavericks is one hell of team that Miami Heat should fear! Never forget that Mavericks is able to stop the hot winning streak of the Heat!
6. Los Angeles Lakers - Extremely Difficult
When it all comes to championship, we think of a championship team - Los Angeles Lakers - the two time defending champion. Yes, Miami Heat kicked their ass on Christmas but don't forget that Lebron James as a Cavaliers kicked the Lakers ass too last Christmas! And? The champ is still the champ.They might not be playing like a champ right now but we cannot ignore how pushy & crazy & hungry to outperform Michael Jordan & scorable Kobe Bryant is, how tough Ron Artest is, how deadly Derek Fisher is, how productive Pau Gasol is, how commanding at the post Andrew Bynum is, how deep the bench is and how winnable Phil Jackson is.
Soon when they play like a champ, Miami Heat should fear the champ. I do not see how Kobe Bryant is going to give Miami Heat the ring and we should always remember that the Lakers being the Lakers is the defending champ!
