D-Wade on fire today...39pts 11rebounds 8 assits and 5 blk shoots.... Should we put Chuckwagon on Lebron or Wade??
Miami now tied with Boston and 2 games behind Chicago. The Bulls still have Boston and Orlando. Heat still have Boston and Atlanta.
Celtics are not playing that well right now, and will lose home court advantage by dropping the 2nd seed. Miami is playing for a chance at the 2nd seed, and if they beat Boston, will end up with it. Miami is a great road team, but playing at home, is always better in the long run.
I wouldn't count SA out yet. They're cruising, but we've seen time and time again how Spurs put on their A game during the playoffs. Playoffs are a different beast, and veteran teams like the Spurs excel at it. However, my picks to beat LA besides Spurs are the Thunder, Heat and previously a fully healthy Celtics. Thunder has a beastly defensive frontcourt, and probably the best frontcourt to mitigate LA's two 7 footer. A fully healthy celtics with Shaq will have their own monster frontcourt. Miami Heat has the most talent and iso players, which are important during playoffs. But assuming that the officials ref the game like it should be in the playoffs, the Heat won't be getting a lot of calls going their way, and that could be a problem.
these spurs don't have a prime tim duncan who can put up 23+, 13+ and shutdown defense on a whim. that's the difference. the spurs will not beat the lakers, point blank. i will be surprised if they win more than one playoff series.
They have been saving Duncan for the whole season. The last team I would count out is the Spurs. They are on their last legs, but they've shown that if they have their A game going they are unstoppable.
yes they have been saving him, but it's also a fact that he has decline markedly. obviously his production will improve with more minutes in the playoffs, but he's no longer the dominant force that can put up 23+, 13+ and shut down defense on a whim. he's no longer the tim duncan that can basically will a team to wins. and this spurs team will need that type of tim duncan if they want to go far in the playoffs. the guy is 34 years old after all.
On the topic of the Spurs, it's interesting that they're going through the same thing the Heat did earlier this year, only without all of the bashing because the #Heat haters on this board dwarfs the #Spurs haters. Like the Heat, they've just lost a handful of games in a row against good teams. Like the Heat, they've been competitive in these games only to "choke" down the stretch. Like the Heat, they'll be playing an elite (Heat/Lakers, Spurs/Celtics) and, like the Heat, I predict they'll end their slump then. Unlike the Heat, they do have the injury excuse to fallback on, but the fact that they've had the lead in the 4th in all of these games mitigates that somewhat-- with a few bounces here or there, better rotations, etc, these games would have been won. Both the Spurs & Heat are contenders this year regardless of how this particular stretch pans out. Any team that wins near 60 games is a contender. Both teams have deficiencies but they didn't win this many games for no reason. The Lakers are clearly the favorites at this point (which is annoying since they are ALWAYS the favorites), but to assume they won't themselves slump at some point in the next 20-30 games is unrealistic. And it only takes a poorly timed slump to lose the title.
For the month of March, Lebron and Wade went 1 and 2, in NBA scoring, which is the first time since 1983, that 2 players from the same team have done that. Lebron averaged 28 points, on 58 percent shooting for March, and Wade 26 Points.
Shieet, the fg% is fricken ridiculous. I think Lebron and Wade are finally benefiting from each other. big time on offense
look for a very "scary" lebron in the playoffs. i watch him every game and scoring comes so easy to him now b/c his jumpshot is so wet (esp midrange). he's scoring 28pts with complete ease. but the heat's D is slacking right now, that's expected with bibby playing more.
Hopefully Miller and Chalmers come back soon to help out Bibby, as he is really is getting expolited right now. Also Haslem, will be back by the end on the month, which will make a huge differance for the Heat, for the nights that Bosh is having issue's, they will have a big who can score, and play tight D to come off the bench.
In some good news, Celtics are going to lose to Alanta, which really puts Miami in a good postion to take the number two seed..
Surprised nobody bashed Spurs? Spurs didn't claim they would win 8 championships, didn't have a come out party and didn't claim "it will be easy". If you want to talk the talk, you better walk the walk.
Spurs are done. Heat have no chance of beating both Celtics and Bulls who are something like 6-0 vs Heat. It's like the 2010 Cavaliers all over again
