Heat Vs. 76ers, Game 1: Is It LeBron James’ Year, Or Will Miami Be Exposed?

When LeBron James takes the court in his first NBA Playoffs game as a member of the Miami Heat, the world will be watching. I mean that literally; the Heat's ratings have been out of this world since LeBron made the public decision to move south. There's a reason the Heat's game is the only of four playoff matches ABC will broadcast on Saturday, with ESPN and TNT taking the others. The world is watching.

Does that vindicate LeBron's Decision, all this attention? In the eyes of those more concern with Q ratings than Player Efficiency Ratings, maybe. But for the basketball hardcore, those who doubted the coalescing of star power in South Beach with James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and those who embraced the crazy contraption, we're watching to see if LeBron vindicates his decision with a championship. He couldn't do it all alone because no one (not even the greats of the past) could do it all alone. Now he has help. Will he rise?

The quest begins Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET against the Philadelphia 76ers, a worthy opponent. The Sixers rebounded nicely from an atrocious 2009-10 season under Eddie Jordan; new coach Doug Collins, an old hand and one of Michael Jordan's favorite sideline leaders, has Philly playing defense hard and limiting mistakes. While Philadelphia falls behind the Heat in most facets of the game based on regular season performance, and while Miami certainly has the three best offensive players in the series and two of the three best defensive players, the Sixers have an identity and some intriguing weapons.

Foremost among them is Jrue Holiday, the second-year point guard who may very well have had a better sophomore season than the top three vote-getters for 2010 Rookie of the Year (Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry and Brandon Jennings). Holiday was never a mound of clay -- this is a smart player, wise beyond his years with the ball and on defense -- but he had question marks galore; you don't go No. 19 in the NBA Draft without question marks.

Holiday, like most Sixers, isn't a good shooter, but Miami can fall into a trap of failing to close out on the perimeter, and that can help Philly's less-than-terrific marksmen. Andre Iguodala is similar -- his shot is his weakness -- and Evan Turner is figuring it all out, top to bottom. Elton Brand is solid, but far from the constant big-game threat he'd been in Los Angeles, and other than Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young off the bench, that's the extent of the offense. To win in Game 1 and beyond, Philadelphia's counting on its offense to do just enough to give its defense a chance to win the game.