The Miami Heat have become the New York Yankees of the NBA and it’s probably not warranted, they’ve never actually won anything since Shaq left. But for the people that love to see the Heat lose, life sure is sweet right now.
The Miami Heat have lost four straight games, but it’s how they are losing that is cause for some concern. They got embarrassed by the Spurs, they gave up a 24 point lead against the Magic and they’re losing the close games that can be won on a single possession. To me, that means one thing, coaching.
I know people will say that LeBron James and the Heat are choking down the stretch, and some of that may be true, their execution has been spotty. But to me, anytime a team continues to lose close games, that is games of five points or less, the team isn’t executing and some of that is coaching. A wrong play here, a bad substitution there, and that could be the difference in the game.
The latest loss against the Chicago Bulls was especially damaging to the Heat. Not only did the Bulls sweep the season series, but they beat the Heat on their home floor and Derrick Rose pretty much locked up the MVP.
Once again LeBron had the ball in his hands with a chance to win the game and he came up short and the Heat lost 87-86. As I said before, there are many people that are really happy about this. I’m a little surprised no one from the Cavaliers is tweeting about Karma being a female dog.
From watching the post game conference, the Heat players are taking this loss to heart, but it’s still just one regular season game. At some point, LeBron James will figure it out, and he will start ending games with his hands raised in the air instead of just starting them that way.
But James will have to take a couple on the chin first just like any superstar before him, even if he is “The Chosen One.” At some point the competitor and the ego in him can only take so much, and he’ll be training all off-season (getting a consistent jumper and post game) with nothing but Charlie Sheen Winning on his mind. And then it’s over for everyone, and we might be thinking maybe it won’t be just one, not just two, not just 3, not just…and so on.
In the meantime, can’t D. Wade take a game winning shot?
With the Heat’s inability to beat any of the better teams in the league, how the hell are they still the favourites on pretty much every single online sportsbook to win the NBA Championship? I don’t think anyone would argue at this point that the Heat are longshots to win it all…This year that is. . Until the Miami Heat take that next step, (and it starts in the offseason) they’ll continue to get their hearts broken.
This is not a championship team yet, they don’t have all the pieces, but you can bet by next year and the years to follow, they will. That said, anything can happen in the playoffs, I just wish there was more value in betting on the Heat, they should be the underdogs.
I think what we’re watching here is a Miami Heat team that’s learning what it takes to win when every night, you get the opposing team’s best game. It’s only going to get more difficult because teams don’t fear the Heat.
