The Miami Heat are a very good basketball team.  They are trying to be a great team.  Since the return of Dwyane Wade, they appear to be on the road to greatness.  This is not about dunks or statistics, but instead, it is about how well this team plays when both these guys are on the floor.  For the last couple of weeks there has been plenty of discussion about how LeBron plays better, or even how Miami plays better without DWade.  That notion is ridiculous.  Wade and James on the break are the scariest combo in the history of the NBA.  In addition, on defense these two guys are the best duo since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.  Phil Jackson used to talk about “unleashing the doberman’s” when he had the two bulls turn up the heat on defense.  Now the Heat has two of the best players in the game, and both are tenacious defenders that can shut down guys at different positions.  And by the way, both guys can score almost at will.

Monday night against the Hornets both Wade and James scored 22 points, yet the team was so far ahead that neither guy had to play in the 4th quarter.  The media is too busy trying to find a reason why these two studs can’t play together and they have missed the fact that when they are both on the floor they are unstoppable.  The Miami Heat, barring injury, will win at least three championships in the next five years.  Wade and James are too good on both ends of the floor and Eric Spoelstra is a very good coach.

On top of the big two, Miami has guys like Chris Bosh, Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, and Mario Chalmers that make huge contributions every night.  Yes, the NBA brass like David Stern may not like it, but the Heat are going to be a dominant force over the next couple of years.  Sorry New York, the truth hurts.

Back-to-backs.  In this hurried 66 game NBA season, teams are being forced to play games on back-to-back nights much more frequently than during a normal 82 game season.  Miami, like many teams, has struggled in the second game of these BTB’s this year, including a loss to Milwaukee just a few days ago.  On this Wednesday night in Detroit, it looked for a moment like the Heat would let this one get away, but Chris Bosh and LeBron James sealed the deal at the end as Miami beat the Pistons, 101-98.

The conversation about how well LeBron is  playing without Dwyane Wade is still going on both locally and nationally, but the real reason that the team keeps winning without Wade is because other guys have been stepping up and making big contributions.  The last couple of games it has been Chris Bosh who has been “the guy”.  After dropping 35 points on Cleveland Tuesday night, Bosh went for 27 against the Pistons, including some key buckets during the final minutes.  During these two games combined he has shot over 70% from the field and has made 29 of his last 30 free throws this week.  Like I said, Bosh is the man right now.  Certainly, LeBron is always a factor.  In Detroit he went for 32 and made several nice assists down the stretch, but there are a lot of other players that are making big contributions.  Guys like Mike Miller, who scored in double figures for the first time since his 6-6 3pt performance against San Antonio last week.  The Heat’s point guards have actually been an asset lately.  Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole combined for 25 points on this night, while they were applying constant defensive pressure on the Pistons throughout the game.  No question, this Miami team is winning as a team.

This wasn’t a great win for the Heat.  During this type of season, however, wins like this could wind up being very important as it gets closer to the playoffs.  You would hate to drop a spot or two because your team lost games to inferior opponents early in the season.  On Friday, Miami plays host to the NY Knicks, a team going through all kinds of struggles.  Don’t be surprised if DWade makes his comeback in this game.  There is no team more despised in South Florida than the Knicks, and there were plenty of New York people talking smack about how they were going to beat down the Heat this season.  If the playoffs started right now, the Knicks wouldn’t be in, but the Cleveland Cavaliers would.  I think Miami, and yes LeBron too, would like to keep it that way.

I love Charles Barkley.  Call it a man-crush or whatever you want, but I think he is the best and most entertaining analyst anywhere in sports.  He is now to the NBA what John Madden was to the NFL years back.  The guy is brutally honesty and says things on national TV that nobody else has the guts to say, but many times are absolutely correct.  His recent views on the Miami Heat however, are not some that I agree with.

During the past week the Miami Heat have been without the services of Dwyane Wade(sprained ankle).  With the exception of last night’s embarrassing loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Heat have looked very good.  LeBron James has looked awesome for most of this stretch as well.  This has inspired a lot of different discussions, both locally and nationally.  “Are the Heat better without Wade?”, which is completely ridiculous.  “Does LeBron plays better when Dwyane is off the court?”; numerically speaking, the answer is yes.  Barkley aired his opinion on TNT after a Heat victory last week.  He thinks that James is now the best player in the world and that he should be the one leading the team, as opposed to DWade.  This is a 180 degree turn from his position during the second half of the season last year.  So why the change and what is really in the best interests of the team?

LeBron is the most physically talented player the NBA has ever seen.  I believe this to be a fact, but I am also of the opinion that it doesn’t automatically grant him the status of best player in the league.  His numbers this season are excellent.  He is averaging 29.8 pts, 8reb, and over 7 assists so far this season.  James is shooting at a 57% clip from the field.  If you were playing fantasy basketball, he would be your #1 pick.  This is for real though, and so far LeBron has been less than stellar when it really matters.  His performance in The Finals last year was abysmal.  If he plays any better at all, Miami would be reigning NBA Champs, and Wade would have his second Finals MVP.  Some people will point to the Boston and Chicago playoff series last year as evidence that James can and should lead.  True, he played well in the end of games against the Celtics, yet he was only in that position because Wade torched Boston for over 30ppg.  There was very little pressure on James during the series.  Against the Bulls, James played awesome defense while on Derrick Rose.  Chris Bosh however, was Miami’s most efficient offensive player.  When the Heat closed out the Bulls with a huge 4th quarter comeback, both James and Wade were hitting everything, including 3′s.  During that Game 5 win, there was almost no pressure on Miami because they had no business winning and knew that they were going home to play Game 6.  LeBron James plays better when there is not too much pressure on him.

So slow down Chuck.  We are only 16 games into a lockout-shortened season and if he’s healthy, Dwyane Wade is the Heat’s leader.  He doesn’t succumb to pressure the way James has in the past and he has never played as if he quit like Bron did against the Celtics two years ago.  Let’s see where this conversation is in June.

The Miami Heat had lost three straight games coming in to Tuesday nights game against San Antonio.  They started off the game by falling behind 63-49 at halftime.  The 63 points for the Spurs was the most given up by Miami in a first half this season.  Then something happened.  LeBron James and the Heat simply exploded.

LeBron hit for 17 points in the 3rd quarter while the Spurs could only muster 12 points.  The Heat as a team ran off 39 points in the 3rd.  In twelve minutes Miami went from being 14 points down and looking at a potential fourth straight loss, to being 13 points up en route to a rout.  James wasn’t alone in his attack on San Antonio.  Bosh played solid throughout the game and finished with 30 points.  Mike Miller returned to the lineup on Tuesday(that’s right, Mike Miller) and went 6-6 from the field, all from behind the arc.  The team as a whole shot over 60% from 3pt land(16-26).

Miami continue the assault into the 4th quarter and beat down the Spurs 120-98.  Happy Birthday Dwyane Wade.  Wade, out with a sprained ankle, turned 30 on this night and after the game the first thing that LeBron had to say was that he wanted his boy to have a win on his birthday.  As DWade watched, the Heat delivered his present.  The 71 points scored by Miami in the second half is the highest point total for a half in the NBA this season.

So are the Heat back on track for the NBA Championship?  Fans and experts alike need to slow down.  Miami is going to have nights like this when they just erupt and overwhelm the opposition, but they have to remember what their hallmark is; defense.  As a team, you cannot expect to go 16-26 from downtown every night, and as good as LeBron looked shooting jumpers, if he makes it a habit it can wind up hurting the team in the end.  While this was a great win for the Heat, it only counts as one.  As high as the energy level was in the AAA during the second half of this game, expect it to be even higher on Thursday night.  That’s when Kobe and the Lakers come to town.

LeBron James is one of the best basketball players in the world.  He has won MVP’s, a scoring title, been to the NBA Finals twice, and while he is in Miami he WILL win a NBA Championship.  So why is LeBron the focus of so much criticism?  It’s pretty simple.  The people who are criticyzing him are thinking about what they would do if they were him.  They are thinking about how great they would be, but they are not him.  Neither am I.

LeBron James is the best physical specimen that the athletic world has ever seen.  While this may be true, it does not automatically make him the best player in the NBA, or even on his own team.  This is part of the problem though.  Nobody wants to show love to LeBron for being good, or one of the best, people expect him to be the best in the world, because if they(or me) had his talent and physical gifts, they(we) would be better.  What kind of crap is this?  Yes, I have said and written plenty of negative stuff about James, but…  That just it.  There’s always a but.  Did LeBron play awful in the 4th quarter?  Yes, but his teammates didn’t play well either.  Didn’t James miss about 800 free throws?  Yeah, but so did the rest of the Heat.  LeBron played great against Boston and Chicago in the playoffs last year.  Ok, but he choked against Dallas in the NBA Finals.  Seems like a pattern, right?

If I had LeBron’s talents, I would have already won two or three championships.  If I were him, nobody could stop me.  This is the mentality that fuels outrageous expectations.  The frustration that everyone feels about James is unprecedented, and it’s not coming just from the fans.  Hall of Fame players like Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley have had plenty of opinions about LeBron.  These guys never question his ability, but instead wonder about his heart.  If I replace the name LeBron James with Jerry Stackhouse, nobody would talk about how many championships he hasn’t won.  They might say he underacheived, but there would not be the venom that there is for James.  So everyone needs to take a step back.  LeBron is and never will be Jordan.  He is not Kobe.  Nor is he Wade.  He is LeBron James and we should all just enjoy what we are watching.  He is an invaluable piece of what might wind up being one of the greatest teams of all time

Way back in 2010, the Miami Heat formed a “Dream Team”.  When they went out and acquired LeBron James and Chris Bosh, it meant the end of the road for Michael Beasley and Dorell Wright.  I stated then that while Beasley had more hype coming in when he was drafted #2 overall behind Derrick Rose, Wright was the player that the Heat were more likely to miss.  It took some time, but Dorell had developed into a very good player for Miami by 2010.  He was also the only guy, other than Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem, that was on the 2006 NBA Championship team.  Now in his second year with Golden State, the player who wore #1 prior to Chris Bosh, came back to haunt the Heat on Tuesday night.

The game against the Warriors was a weird one.  Several players on Golden State, including Wright, have been struggling as new Head Coach Mark Jackson has put a new emphasis on defense.  Gone are the days of Don Nelson and the Warriors just running, jacking, and heaving shots with reckless abandon.  In fact, during the 2nd and 3rd quarters, these two teams looked like they had switched identities.  Miami is now more prone to run and gun, while Golden State tries to slow it down and run sets in the half court.  Weird to watch.  Then in the 4th quarter, Dorell caught fire and started draining 3′s.  Nate Robinson also began to hit shots and wound up leading GS in scoring with 24 points.  The Warriors erased a 12 point deficit in the 4th to send the game to overtime, where they won 111-106.  Wright finished the game with 20 points and 10 rebounds, highlighted by a 6-11 shooting performance from behind the arc.

The Heat played pretty well for most of the game, but let it get away from them towards the end.  This is what can happen when your playing on the road in the NBA.  Overshadowed by the late heroics of the former Heater, James and Wade both had very good outings.  LeBron hit for 26 points, but was noticeably absent late in the game.  DWade, in his first game back after missing a few with a foot injury, led all scorers with 34 points.  Tonight the team travels to L.A. to play the Clippers, in what figures to be a tough test for the Heat.  Both teams are coming off of a loss and the Clippers will be amped up.  New additions Chris Paul an Caron Butler have teamed up with Blake Griffin to establish what many feel is an elite team.  Only o

Just eight games in to the NBA season, and already the Miami Heat are beginning to distance themselves from the rest of the pack.  At 7-1, they are the best team in the East.  This isn’t really a huge surprise, but there have been some unexpected twists and turns.

The Heat started the New Year off by annihilating the Charlotte Bobcats on Sunday.  Not surprising at all.  Then the next night, they lost to the Atlanta Hawks in Miami.  Shocker.  A couple of days later, with Dwyane Wade on the bench, LeBron took over and they blew-out  Indiana by 25 points.  Again, a nice win, especially when one of your best players is out.  Then last night, the Heat traveled to Atlanta to take on the Hawks.  Certainly they would want some revenge, right?  Sure, but on this night the team would be without the services of both DWade and LeBron.  No Wade, no LeBron, no problem.  Chris Bosh scored 33 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while Mario Chalmers hit for 29 points as the Heat beat the Hawks in triple overtime.

This win is bad news for the rest of the NBA.  Not just because Miami was able to go on the road and beat a decent team without their two stars.  No, what really makes this game significant is the fact that the Heat looked like the better TEAM throughout the game.  All ten guys who dressed played in the game, and players like Terrel Harris, Shane Battier, and Norris Cole came up big for the Heat.  Old reliable, Udonis Haslem was huge too, recording another double-double.  Yes, Miami had complete team effort.

Right now, the two best teams in the NBA are the Heat and the Portland Trail Blazers.  I don’t think anyone expected the Blazers to be in the Finals against Miami come June, but they look stellar.  This lockout-shortened season may bring some more surprises, so we should all stay tuned.

They never did it under Pat Riley, or Stan Van Gundy.  Eric Spoelstra has yet to do it.  Kevin Loughery, Alvin Gentry, or Ron Rothstein were not able to do it either.  The Miami Heat have never started 5-0.  On Sunday, they have a very good chance of accomplishing that as they host the Charlotte Bobcats.

To be clear, this is not a guaranteed victory.  Miami is coming off back-to-back last second wins against Minnesota, and yes, Charlotte.  Those two games were on the road, but the Heat trailed for much of those games.  Maybe the most important factor is Dwayne Wade’s injured foot.  LeBron is great at putting up numbers, but when it comes to winning, Wade is the guy.  He has had the game winning shot the last two games, and it is not by accident.  James is great, yet Wade is the guy with the ball at the end of games.  That’s fine.  It’s the way it should be.

Most teams are lucky to have one great player.  Miami has two, sometimes three.  It is expected that the Heat will simply overcome most opponents.  Many times they will, but something else has happened on South Beach.  The Miami Heat have become a team with depth.

Wade, James, and Bosh.  That is all anybody concentrates on.  The Heat, however, have a whole lot more when it come to valuable pieces.  Miami fans know about Joel Anthony and of course, Udonis Haslem.  But now the whole world is getting to know guys like Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers.  Then you throw in players like Shane Battier and Juwan Howard, and you just have to marvel at how Riley has put together a team like this.  Haters want to talk about how this “dream team” was assembled, but the real core of the team is from the draft.  Wade, Chalmers, Haslem, and Anthony are all home grown players.  Bosh, James, and Battier are great aquistions and by the end of the season, all will be wearing NBA Championship rings.

Right now, fans should not be alarmed.  Miami will lose games, and some of those games will be to bad teams.  That is the way of life in the NBA.  Heat fans should be concerned about the health of Dwyane Wade though.  He is this team.  LeBron can score 50, but the team needs Wade during the final 20 seconds.  It is what it is.  So far, Miami seems to be managing that.  In June, we’ll see if Coach Spoe and the group stayed the course.

As if the rest of the NBA needed some more bad news concerning Miami, the Heat look like they found a point guard in rookie Norris Cole.  You could hear the fans inside the AAA chanting M—V—P, as Cole stood at the free throw line at the end of Tuesday night’s game.  Yes, it’s a little early, and yes, these same fans did that chant for Joel Anthony last season.   But you can’t blame Heat fans for being excited.  This “dream team” has had issues at the point guard and center position since being put together last year.  If Cole is able to perform consistently, PG problem solved.

The rookie dropped in 20 points against Boston, 14 of them coming in the 4th quarter.  He did not look nervous at all.  In fact he looked more comfortable as it was tightening up at the end of the game then LeBron did.  LBJ had another excellent outing with 26 points, 6 rebs, and 5 assists, but it was Norris Cole that came through at the end for Miami.  Dwyane Wade had a stat line that wasn’t anything unreal(24 points, 8 assists), but the offense did seem to flow better with him on the floor.  The Celtics started their rally at the end of the 3rd quarter with Wade on the bench.  They also ran a zone defense from midway through the 3rd until the end of the game.

The other issue that should concern Heat fans is that the Celtics shot 63% from the 3pt line.  Ray Allen, who has torched Miami several times, was 6-8 from downtown and wound up with 28 points.  Former Heat fan favorite Keyon Dooling went 4-6 from behind the arc.  Coach Spoelstra will certainly make the guys work on their perimeter defense.  Game 2 of the regular season, watching the 3′s drop is annoying, but Game 2 of a postseason series it could be a disaster.

In non-Heat observations, Charles Barkley looks almost in shape enough to put on a uniform again(almost).  Congrats Chuck.  The Celtics don’t look big and old anymore, just old.  They might grab a 4 0r 5 seed just because most of the teams in the East have gotten worse than last season.  Miami and Chicago are the two exceptions.  Speaking of the Bulls and the Heat, Wade once again displayed one part of his game where he  is better than Michael Jordan; shot blocking.  Dwyane blocked four Boston shots on Tuesday, and continues to demonstrate why he will go down as the best guard ever in terms of blocks.  Next, Miami will look to improve to 3-0 as they travel to Charlotte to take on the Bobcats Wednesday night.  Maybe Wade and Mike will play a little 1 on 1.

Merry Christmas.  The Miami Heat opened the season by beating down the Dallas Mavericks 105-94 on Sunday, and it wasn’t that close.  The Heat were up by 35 points in the 3rd quarter and during trash time the Mavs outscored Miami reserves 29-8 in the 4th quarter.  LeBron, Dwyane and the rest of the Heat exacted at least a small measure of revenge against Dallas for their loss in the NBA Finals back in June.

Miami was in control of this game from the begininning.  The Heat were up by 15 at the end of the 1st quarter and never looked back.  LBJ was the leading scorer with 37 points, while Wade dropped in 26.  Probably the most fascinating player in the game though, was rookie PG Norris Cole.  He looked very quick and even seemed to make the team look quicker.  The 1st year player out of Cleveland St logged 23 minutes.  Mario Chalmers, who started, only got 24 minutes.  I like Mario, but don’t be surprised if Cole takes the starting job by the end of the season.

As far as Dallas goes, they are going to lament the loss of Tyson Chandler and JJ Barea.  It’s not about numbers with those two guys.  They brought energy and defense that can’t be measured by stats.  Then the Mavs acquire Vince Carter?  C’mon.  Carter is the ultimate stats guy who doesn’t wind up helping his team win.  If Dallas would have added him without losing the other two guys, it could be viewed as a quality addition, but when you lose those guys, Carter is just another salary.  Dirk Nowitzki is a fantastic player, but Chandler was the perfect complement to him.  Without Tyson and Barea, Dallas is history.

The Miami Heat got the 2012 season of to a good start, and to be honest, they have a huge advantage in this lockout-shortened season.  This team is almost fully intact and in better shape than last year’s team.  Drafting Norris Cole could prove to be a beautiful thing, and Udonis Haslem is healthy.  Mike Miller is in street clothes again, but he looks good:).  ESPN’s Michael Wilbon predicted that the Heat would go 58-8 during this short season.  I predicted that they would win the NBA Finals(so did Las Vegas).  It’s one game, but so far they look like they could do both.