Miami Heat: Love me or Hate me

Let me start up by informing you that the Miami Heat just signed veteran Juwan Howard for a 10-day contract and if only Taj Gibson of the Bulls wasn’t sidelined due to a sprained left knee, on my opinion, Heat wouldn’t have stopped courting the veteran role player Lou Amundson to join their roster too. Prior to the acquisition of Chris “the birdman” Andersen, Heat were keeping an eye to Greg Oden’s rehabilitation and planning to sign him. Haven’t heard any update of that since rumors have spread out that Oden is already considering signing with Cleveland Cavaliers as soon as he is good to go, but I doubt Miami would quit that easy. Just recently, on the 8^th of February to be exact, Heat bolstered their already good defensive line up by acquiring former Nuggets center Chris Andersen. Dating back to 11^th of July 2012 Heat signed two elite shooters Ray Allen (yes! the greatest shooter of all time) and Rashard Lewis just few days after they won a championship. Admittedly, those were indeed blockbuster roster transactions that most small marketing teams would wish to have. But the mega move was two seasons ago when the ‘Super Big Three’ of Miami was formed surpassing Boston’s own version of aging trio. Love me or hate me but I always favour underdogs and Miami’s all star superstar casts really irritates me. They’re like two standard bearer teams fused in one, they could kill you in all sorts of way and they have no plan of stopping collecting more and more great names in the league. I’m always reminded of a horror movie, forgot the title anyway, wherein someone has to choose how he is going to die - suffocation or death by stabbing – every time the Heat relentlessly plays on a roll. Suffocation by their stifling defense, or could be, the thing that they usually love doing, making smooth plays consistently down the stretch and.... dagger!

Why is the Heat so good these days? Why can Lebron and Wade afford to seat on the bench for a long time while Durant, Kobe, and everyone else is still on the floor trailing by double digits? (Except New York) Yeah I know; the depth of the bench! And you would probably ask why they could have big time players on their bench while the Charlotte Bobcats could hardly own a reliable player to put a smile on their fans, if they have, and probably saving Michael’s Jordan reputation for god’s sake. This directs me back to one of my hated subjects in college – management class. From the start of the Millennium up to date, teams who were big spenders of their money and teams that are willing to pay the luxury tax regardless of what type of market they belong are the teams that are always seen contending for the trophy. Give credits to Pat Riley for doing that to Miami. You lure people with cash no matter how your expenditures  destabilizes your balance sheet because eventually those people you’re paying will bring home the covenant title which is the summit of every basketball players/teams dream. The 5 M’s of management I suppose could expound my claim. Just think of you unlearning the things you knew about basketball when the business side sets in same as boxing nowadays. I am beginning to hate Marquez now on demanding bigger purse than their last bout with Pacman.

As of this writing, two Heat players are in the top 10 candidates of MVP talk, Lebron James and Dwayne Wade respectively, the former obviously on the top the food chain. The partners in crime have always staged the court with their outstanding connection on both ends of the floor. The two were undeniably good but on their duo it also undeniable that Lebron’s the Batman and DWade’s just the Robin. Lebron on his stellar season is currently enjoying a 13-game winning streak after escaping a crucible against Memphis last night. They are bound to face the team that beat them twice this season this Monday (Philippine time), the New York Knicks. It is not possible though that they could just cruise their way over the Knicks and continue the streak but,  Lebron on his last game against Memphis could serve as a useful tool not just for the Knicks but for teams looking for answers on how to defend him. For the first three quarters, he only had 4 points. Don’t believe it? See it for yourself. The Grizzlies, via team effort, turned him into a facilitator rather than a scorer. Here’s how it goes: They clogged the driving lane and forced him pass the ball to someone rather him taking a shot. It’s not as effective though but in the long run, it actually does. When LBJ is scorching hot on the scoreboard, it’s not a guarantee that he won’t pass the ball to someone capable of draining a jumper that is left unguarded. He has learned his lesson being a one man show way back his playing days on Cleveland. When you don’t give LBJ a room to score, swarming him and making him more of a passer then you could live with that. LBJ on a scorer mode destroys your defense, puts you big men in foul trouble, disorients your teams’ morale, converts your best player into a defender, and etc... While LBJ on a passing mode gets his teammates involved and making them the scorer now. Now think of this, him on a scorer mode could be 60% on field goals while dishing out assists still; him on a passer mode could dish out assists but could be out there ‘cold.’  

Michael Jordan said this to Wright Thompson of Espn on defending Lebron:

“So if I have to guard him... I’m gonna push him left so nine times out of 10, he’s gonna shoot a jump shot. If he goes right, he’s going to the hole and I can’t stop him. Son I ain’t letting him go right.” 

Hmm... Interesting.

 That's what Kobe did last All-Star game but let's not dwell too much on that. Lebron's not a douche to commit scouted mistakes over again.

Last night when they host Memphis, the leading candidate for MVP played more of a human being and not to what usually does when he shot an awful 4 for 14 on the field yet still escaping with a win, snapping an eight game winning streak of Memphis by delivering 18 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds. Bad night yet close a triple double, right? Sigh! This man is really hard to stop. You will always have a choice, and it is either to allow him to get his scoring average by being too watchful to midrange/long range bombers that might receive the ball from LBJ if he’s doubled or contain him below his scoring average and letting others take the spotlight. Whatever you choose, it’s like choosing the way you want to die like the movie I mentioned – suffocation or death by stabbing. For so many incredible games I’ve seen and incredible players too, when you put them out of their comfort zone consistently, you would most likely escape with a victory.

What Memphis has done to limit him, if it’s that what you call it and his Airness’ comments about defending LBJ is easier said than done pragmatically. He is not labelled as the best player in the universe for no reason. Whether you push him left or push him right, he will answer those critiques like a punch in the mouth like the way he did last NBA finals when he was accused of not living up to his game during games when it matters most. Have you heard of a player who significantly increased his shooting percentage every season?

How about a player who in his last three seasons with the Miami Heat dramatically decreased his turnovers per game?

Wow!! Increasing his field goal percentage and at the same time taking good care of the ball. He really is a basketball God that even Lakers legend Magic Johnson appealed to him to join that the slam dunk competition because if he would, Magic would multiply the prize by 10 for the winner. That concludes it - size, athletic ability, talent, and eagerness to be better.

And when worse would  go even worst, I mean when Batman is held up by the Joker, Robin will always be there to the rescue. Just like how he poured 22 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, and 1 block against Memphis when Batman was struggling. Ray Allen's 10 points, Shane Battier's 14 , and Chris Bosh's 13  to add the list of heroes; could Erik Spoelstra's finishing line-up be the new Avengers?