If it were anyone but the Miami Heat, we might step back here and remind everyone that it's November 12th, and the NBA regular season has 25 more weeks left.
The Miami Heat Lose Again: So What’s Wrong In South Beach?
After Thursday night’s loss to the Boston Celtics, it’s time to take a step back and look at the Miami Heat. And laugh. Because it may too early to write off Miami, but remember all the rallies? The predictions? When Chris Bosh was considered part of the greatest trio ever?
To play LeBron's devil's advocate... All people want to talk about is how average LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have looked this year, and that's fine. But they didn't look average during the Magic-Heat game a few weeks ago. It can work, and when it has worked, the Heat have looked every bit the Superteam that we imagined over the summer. Remember their four-straight 20-point wins? And before they collapsed against Utah, they were up 18. Clearly, the ingredients are there for something dominant. The execution has been uneven, but there's plenty of time left.
With any other NBA contender struggling, we'd give it time before pressing the panic button. Everyone's execution has been uneven. Oklahoma City's 4-3, but you won't hear the entire sports universe jeering Kevin Durant. Utah was 3-3 before beating Miami and Orlando this week, but you didn't hear very many people wondering if Al Jefferson could ever fit in Utah. Beyond that, Chicago's 4-3, Denver's 5-4, Milwaukee 4-5. But we don't freak out over these teams, because it'd be so obviously premature.
So why is everyone hell-bent on hating the Heat?
...
“We’re the best 5-4 team in the league. How about that?” Dwyane Wade asked reporters after last night’s game. And that’s your answer. Anyone out there trying to play devil’s advocate with all this, that’s why we hate the Heat, and hold them to a different standard.
Even now, after losses that should be humiliating, they still don't get it. And for the record, it took the Boston Celtics until January 9 to lose four games during their first year together. But Wade's not worried.
"Some of the stuff that comes out of Miami is just interesting to me," Charles Barkley said with a smirk during the TNT postgame show. "Like, the Lakers. They're the champs. So everytime they go into a new place, it's that team's biggest game of the year. They bring their crowd. Everybody's pumped. And you hear the Miami Heat saying, 'People gettin a little chippy with us...' And, like, dude. When y'all go somewhere, it's going to be a big deal. It's like their not expecting someone to slap the hell out of them. Like, dude. Let's get this straight. Y'all are the Miami Heat. Y'all wanted the big three. Every time y'all come to town y'all better bring your A-game."
And Thursday’s night home loss may have been their most embarrassing showing yet. At least since they gave up that 18-point lead to Utah two days beforehand. And as early as it is, it’s okay to judge Miami by a different standard. Remember when LeBron talked about bringing “five, six championships” to South Beach? When the Heat themselves wondered whether they were the greatest trio in NBA history?
After everyone spent the preseason wondering whether the Heat could win 73-games and break the record for regular season wins, it’s time to step back and enjoy one, long belly laugh. The joke’s on Miami, and we owe it ourselves to laugh about all this.
“Kenny, when your power forward gets 7 rebounds, what do you call him?”
“Small forward,” Kenny Smith told Barkley. “Maybe even a two guard.”
That's Chris Bosh, the superstar that was supposed to make Miami a juggernaut. But Bosh personifies everything that's wrong with Miami this season. In a literal sense, interior defense been a massive achilles heel thanks in large part to Bosh, but his demeanor has been even worse. And same with the Miami Heat.
It’s like they all expected this would be easy, and things would just work out. Like nobody else in the NBA would see their arrogance and meet it with pride of their own. Like nobody would hit them in the mouth.
And if we’re asking what’s wrong with Miami, it’s as much about mindset as any offensive or defensive sets. They don’t have anyone on the roster that will hit somebody in the mouth, and they don’t know how to handle getting hit in the mouth. This past summer, they wondered whether they were the greatest trio in NBA history, held lavish rallies where they talked of winning multiple championships, and soaked in the spotlight like true champions.
But now they’re getting hit in the mouth, and Chris Bosh has no idea what to do.
It’s not necessarily a permanent problem, but... Well, God this next clip’s hilarious.
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