Despite the heat, Miami is closing in on another NBA championship

JOSH MASER

Well, the Heat not only made it, but they won game 1 of the NBA Finals. Deal with it. As most of the world already knows, the Miami Heat are 3 wins away from an NBA title after beating the Mavs in game 1 and knocking out the Chicago Bulls 4-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals. For most people that is like nails on a chalkboard.

All season long almost all sports fans not residing in South Florida have cheered against the heat, almost more than they cheered for their own teams. All season long everyone had two favorite teams; your own, and whoever happened to be playing the Big 3 that night. But here they are, three wins away from their first title as a group.

Now throughout the season the Heat have been faced with question after question from these people who wished nothing but failure upon them, and some of it was well warranted. This team had many questions surrounding it, but going into game 2 against the Dallas Mavericks, they have answered all of them. Not only have they answered them, but they’ve left no doubt.

One of the first questions that surfaced, almost as soon as Lebron announced he was taking his talents to South Beach, was whether or not LeBron and Dwayne Wade could coexist on the court and share the ball. That question, in my opinion, was answered a while ago.

Both LeBron and Wade finished top 4 in the league in scoring. Sure, both of their numbers dropped from previous years, but there are only so many minutes in a game, plus they have another All Star on the roster in Chris Bosh. But all in all, both players played close to their career averages, astounding if you ask me.

Speaking of the other All Star on the Heat, there was a notion throughout the season that Chris Bosh was not worthy of being included in the “Big 3” talk, let alone his $100 million plus contract. Many critics referred to the Heat trio as the “Big 2” or “Two and a Half Men” among other insults directed at the former Toronto Raptor. Bosh did struggle at times this season, his numbers suffered far worse than his other two elite teammates, but going from the first to the third option on a team will do that to anyone (and let’s be honest, I would make him the third option too with those two other guys).

Bosh spent most of the year finding his spot in the offense, and the fruit of his labors have been seen in the postseason. Bosh has been crucial; if not essential to Miami’s run to the Finals. In the semifinals versus Boston Bosh ‘s numbers weren’t stellar, but he played Kevin Garnett basically to a draw, and that proved to be a win for Miami who overpowered the rest of the C’s. In the Eastern Finals, Bosh was nothing short of fantastic. He went 30+ points in two of the games, and outplayed Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer combined in the series, a matchup that experts were certain favored Chicago going in.

The team was also criticized for their reliance on Wade and James, their lack of depth, and their bench. There is one simple explanation for this; their bench was hurt. Besides the Big Three, Pat Riley Made two other major signings this offseason, Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem (Re-signing Haslem). They were supposed to be the glue, the small cogs that connected the big ones in the machine.

But the injury bug set in. Miller suffered a Major thumb injury in the pre-season, missing the first half of the season, and Haslem played in just 13 games before a foot injury sidelined him for the remainder of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs.

Miller returned, but was never quite the player they hoped for, until the Eastern Conference Finals. Haslem returned for the Eastern Finals and Miller began to find his stroke, both giving crucial minutes on both ends of the floor and both being crucial parts of Miami’s 4-1 win ( I didn’t even get to talk about Mario Chalmers’ play).

This bench play leads into another question about the Heat, that if you stop either Wade or James, Miami can’t win. Well, to say Dwayne Wade had a bad series against the Bulls is an understatement. Sure, he led the game 5 comeback in the fourth quarter, but he had been shooting career low numbers and just plain didn’t look right.

But somehow, the Heat only surrendered one game in the series, and again that can be contributed to the bench play, as well as the stellar play of his other two star teammates (isn’t that why they got together in the first place)?

So here they are, where nobody wanted them to be, three wins away from the promised land.

You can be sure that across the country there will be parties devoted to rooting against the Heat…. I mean watching the NBA finals.

The point is that people are going to hate the Heat, right or wrong (just as an example, I once saw someone say they would rather shake hands with Hitler than Lebron James, just saying its getting a little out of control). But those people are going to have to find a way to explain why they think this team isn’t good, because the Big THREE and company look like they’re on a war path.

Photo: Reuters

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