2010-2011 NBA Season

Miller takes a lot of pressure of Wade and LeBron, specifically as a ballhandler and, of course, someone who can knock down shots. It means less minutes for the likes of Arroyo and House, which the Heat would appreciate.

 

Miami, Boston, Orlando, Lakers, San Antonio ... and I also don't think it's absurd to throw in Chicago, Oklahoma City, Utah or Portland and maybe Houston as conference finalists. So while it seems like few heavy hitters, there are ton of quality teams this year.

 

I really thought the loss of Tom Thibodeau would hurt the Celtics' defense drastically. Boy, they proved me wrong.

 

So how long until Erik Spoelstra steps down "for personal reasons" and Pat Riley returns to the bench?

 

Heat cut it to four but back up to 9 now. LeBron got hot in the third but Wade and Bosh...not so good. They'll obviously become more comfortable as the season goes along but it will be interesting to see how LeBron and Wade mesh on the court, simply because each is so used to dominating the ball. Miami got back into this game by becoming the Cavaliers, circa 2003-2010. It's not like two superstars coming together who naturally complement each other's game.

And Bosh? Well, he never should have been part of a Big 3. More like Big 2 and Bosh. He could get lost in the shuffle a bit. Looking at the plus-minus a while ago, all the Heat were minus double-digits. Except Big Z, who was plus-18.

 

Here is the problem for Boston -

They are shooting their load, they are healthier than they will be all year and they are playing at home on opening night.

The Heat haven't figured out how to play together, won't likely be a good team for at least a month and will likely get better as the season goes on.

Yet right before Allen hit that 3 -- it was a 3-point game with a minute to play.

Of course, the alarmists will declare the Heat are overrated and not very good but this is a very long season.

 

I definitely agree with that, Zag. I certainly can't see the Celtics keeping pace with Miami for best regular-season record. I can see them fadingi n January, February again. But, once the playoffs roll around, the Celtics are still going to be extremely difficult to beat, even if they don't have homecourt. And no matter how comfortable LeBron and Wade do get with each other, the Heat will have the same problem all year: nothing inside. Even Bosh is more of a 15-foot jumper kind of guy.

 

I don't think there's any question the Heat will be great, but tonight puts a damper on the notion that they'll be great out of the gate. They're not going to win 75 games, not when James and Wade have to learn to play together and Bosh has to learn to deal with being an afterthought.

They will be very, very good. They played horrendous and still almost got back to even with the Celtics.

But the talk about them being an all-time best team got a nice dose of reality tonight. When Juwan Howard is on your roster, you're not the 1996 Chicago Bulls.

 

I thought it was cool. Worked out better than I thought it would. Then again, I don't have an unbiased opinion. More entertaining than the normal ring ceremony. Except for the poor dude who got passed over between Hodges and Kareem.

 

Cavs lost to Boston at home to start last season, then lost at Toronto to drop to 0-2. They won 61 games.