I'm going to be honest. From about this time last week, when I knew I'd be writing an NBA article for today, I expected to be able to mention something about Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers being on the comeback trail. I thought for sure they would win a minimum of two games, and was actually expecting them to win the series. But as it became more clear with each passing game, and was completely validated as I put the finishing touches on this article, the two-time defending champion Lakers won't have a chance at a three-peat.
Kobe Bryant played well, although far too selfishly, for most of the series. Pretty much everyone else was about as bad an NBA starter can ever be expected to be, especially in the playoffs, and especially for the frontrunners of the 2011 postseason. While I've always been a big believer that when he retires, Kobe's place in history will be second only to Michael Jordan's, he clearly wasn't up to snuff in this series. Because of that, and a myriad of other factors, the Lakers have opened up a playoff road that sees the much maligned Miami Heat as one of the favorites to win the championship this year.
Yeah, those Miami Heat — the guys that everyone loved to hate, and the guys that couldn't possibly mesh as a team in their first year together, if ever — they're the favorites. Winning sure silences the haters quickly, doesn't it? I'm not excusing the way LeBron James went about making and announcing his decision to leave Cleveland for Miami — that was supremely self-serving and almost unfathomably unprofessional. But those who derided the decision itself, and those who didn't think the Heat could accomplish great things, and quickly at that, couldn't have possibly been more wrong.
Phil Jackson just went down in whatever the opposite of a blaze of glory is, and in doing so he laid the groundwork for LeBron to transform from the ultimate American sports villain back into a beloved icon. It's hard now to see why so many people lacked faith in a team that featured LeBron in the same offense as Dwyane Wade. They might not be the most complete team left, or even the best top-to-bottom. But they do matchup well with every team they'll have to play against for the rest of the playoffs, and not needing to play the Lakers helps, too.
So like it or not, the Miami Heat have arrived. This isn't a team that will fade in the coming games, or even in the coming months and years. This is a team on the rise, and this is a team that hasn't tapped their full potential yet.
Lebron James was far more valuable to this team than Derrick Rose was to the Chicago Bulls, but somehow that fact got missed during the voting. Their pasts indicate that it's unlikely for Lebron James and Dwayne Wade to both have a bad game on the same night, at least when both are healthy. Based on that fact, I'm not liking the Boston Celtics chances of beating the Heat in three of the next four games, and if they don't, they Heat will advance.
Once they gain that kind of momentum, without last year's champion waiting in the Finals, the Miami Heat might just be unstoppable. Because even if no one believed it during “The Decision” talent wins championships – period. The NBA is star-driven league, and the Miami Heat have three stars – and maybe that's just enough.
Maybe at the end of this month, Lebron will be bringing a championship to South Beach.
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