peterb0y said:
I guess thats the fan in me.
It is, and thats cool. Most people here still won't put Miami ahead of Orlando (and I agree with those people). I wouldn't consider Cleveland and NY's crowds meaningful at all because those teams are both fundamentally broken on both sides of the court. Unless Amare plays like a MVP, New York has no chance of winning - and if Amare is having a bad game, then they stand no chance of even keeping it close with an above average team. No crowd is going to singlehandedly win a game. Ever. But a solid team (not NY) with balls (not Cle) can beat a better team if the crowd can get behind them... No one with any sense would've bet money on either of those teams to beat Miami.
The reason I still hold out (slim) hope of Atlanta figuring it out is in a way the same reason that you have faith in Miami; its all mental. Mike Woodson is a paper coach. Worthless in meaningful games. Larry Drew's son is a bitch, but there's still a chance that a new coach can give his guys some backbone in the playoffs. Regular season wins don't count for much.
And Bosh's pick and roll game with Miami as it is now is hardly worth mentioning. Miami will never rely on it, and none of their players ever seem to be comfortable running it when its actually being defended. When I said earlier that he should be moving more, I was talking about his placement on the court.... he typically sits and waits for the ball to come to him after LBJ and Wade are through running around making shit up as they go. But on second thought, I highly doubt he has the balls to fight for position for long stretches so just scratch the idea. He
should be able to control the paint with his mobility alone, but he's too much of a puss to really work for the ball like that.
Wade is a ways off of the guy he used to be a year ago... thats the real issue. Its not longer two top 5 players and Bosh. Its Lebron, Super-Barea/Barbosa 2.0/sHeat Reke, and Bosh. Enough to run over the many crap teams of the league, but still a ways off of top-tier imo. Orlando trolling the hell out of Miami in the 2nd meeting was kind of red flag too, but thats not something easily argued for either party.
I saw the Bobcats beating Orlando in 6 last year
and they would've too if it weren't for a certain WNBA point guard, so I understand the fandom.
Go ahead and get yourself ready for Lakers fans dismissing the game ahead of time though. They haven't cared about a Christmas day game since Shaq was in Miami.