Pat Riley has tried to create a new version of his old ‘Showtime’ Los Angeles Lakers squads with the Miami Heat. Yet this Heat team could not beat those Lakers in a best of seven series.
Why? Could anyone on the Lakers defend LeBron James? Dwyane Wade? Probably not but they would have a much tougher time trying to defend the Lakers.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the greatest center in NBA history and the all-time leading scorer who had the most unstoppable shot the game has ever seen. It is really that simple. Not one player on the Heat roster could even defend Abdul-Jabbar. Then who is James going to guard? He can’t guard Magic Johnson and James Worthy and sadly the six foot fou Wade could defend neither.
Then consider who has to defend Bob McAdoo, Jamal Wilkes, and A.C. Green. Also Kurt Rambis would be much for Chris Bosh to deal with it because his style is straight out of the book of the ‘Bad Boy’ Detroit Pistons that won the 1989 and 1990 NBA championship.
Then the mismatch at the top. Who would you rather have coaching Riley or Erik Spoelstra?
My point exactly.
So although this Heat team will be very good, potentially win 60 games, maybe even challenge the Chicago Bulls 72 win mark, they are still too small. The Heat may repeat as champs but can’t be regarded as a flawless team when they have yet to sign a center who can score 10 points and grab 10 rebounds in the same game.
The Heat are a good team, maybe the best in the league until otherwise but they still can’t touch any of the teams from the NBA’s golden days, not even the team that they are built like the most.
