Had this argument with my roommate last night. If you could hand-pick 3 star players to go against the Heat, who would you choose? To make the role players standard, let's just use use Mav players to fill in the rest. I would choose: Kobe- SG Pau Gasol- PF Dwight Howard- C To go along with Kidd and Marion. Reasoning: The dominance of Heat stems from their dominance on both sides of the ball, especially on the perimeter/in the passing lanes on defense and their ability to slash into the paint at will. Thus, I'd choose Pau and Dwight to dominate the paint on defense and on the boards, forcing Wade and Lebron to shoot contested jumpers. Marion on James and Kobe switching off with Kidd on Wade is solid. The looming twin towers would allow them to really play aggressively on Wade and Lebron. Further, having two paint protectors allows for issues offatigue and foul trouble. On offense, Haslem and Bosh cannot guard Howard and Gasol. Anthony would be the only moderately effective player. Their games are also complimentary (power vs finesse), and the second chance points would kill the Heat as rebounding is a major weakness of theirs. I picked Kobe because he, more than many other stars, depends on a mid-range game rather than athleticism as Lebron and Wade can shut down anyone who tries to physically beat them (see Derrick Rose). Who would you pick?
Kobe is far too old. If it's an option of any other trio in the NBA, I can't imagine it being much more than a combination of Carmelo, Chris Paul, Gasol, Durant, and Dirk. Dwight Howard is a must. Personally, I'd go with Melo, Durant, and Howard. Seems like the best possible trio in the NBA if you omit Wade and James. But I suppose Melo and Durant could be redundant, and if that were the case, I'd replace Melo with CP3. Chris Bosh sucks, though. I really think the Heat would be much better if they replaced him with quality role players.
Young Ray Allen/Reggie Miller Prime Kevin Garnett Dwight Nobody is really going to stop James/Wade on the perimeter anyways one on one, so team defense is all we can hope for. Kevin Garnett and Dwight should more than swallow up all the rebounds, dominate the Heat Big men, and play tough and more important quick help D on any drives while showing on screens. Offensive rebounds and putbacks (heat are small in the post) will kill the Heat. Ray/Reggie are great clutch shooters and a Perimeter scorer that doesn't rely on dribbling the ball is important because 1) it puts pressure on the Heat to avoid mental errors (they've shown they're prone to that), 2) waste energy chasing guys off screens 3) avoids letting Lebron/Wade use athleticism to lock into guys like they did with Rose. Ball movement and cutting is so much more important than dribble-kick basketball against the Heat. Finish that off with role players such as Marion, Kidd, Deshawn, Tyson, Barea, Terry and we have a really good combination. Problem might be the inability to penetrate in pressure situations, but nobody is really going to consistently penetrate on the heat anyways.
Really need to take away their rebounding and penetration. So I would start with a frontcourt of Howard at C, Bogut at PF and Wallace at SF. I would want efficiency, and 3 pt shooting, in the back court so id go CP3 and Martin in the back court.
Howard, Melo, and this new Dirk that actually uses his size to good advantage. Dirk's shooting is so pure he has a few more good years in him. P.S. I can't believe I just complimented Dirk. But he sure is one talented mofo. Now let me go throw up.
