Today we continue our weekly look at the NBA’s two-time returning champions, the Miami Heat. LeBron and co are the de facto stories of the league in any given year, as they remain the favorites to win the Larry O’Brien trophy in June.
Good news, Miami Heat fans. The defending champs seem to have recovered their championship touch after an utterly forgettable month of March. With fewer than 10 games left on their regular season schedule, can the Heat sustain their momentum heading into the playoffs?
Closing Out Strong
[sc:NBA240banner ]The Miami Heat have finally overtaken the Indiana Pacers for the no. 1 spot in the Eastern Conference after beating the Toronto Raptors, 93-83, on Monday. The struggling Indiana Pacers lost to the San Antonio Spurs on the same night, ceding their hold on the no. 1 seed to the defending champions.
Prior to this win, the Heat defeated the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks, but there remained shadows of doubt whether the Heat were finally out of the woods. Detroit is almost surely not going to the playoffs, while Milwaukee is guaranteed an early vacation. Beating those teams boosted the Heat’s pursuit of a no. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, but it didn’t reveal a team that is 100% ready for the upcoming grind of the playoffs.
The Raptors, however, are going to the playoffs, and the win over the 3-seeded Raptors gave the Heat their first three-game winning streak in almost a month, indicating that Miami has finally righted its ship. Excluding the Heat’s recent three-game winning streak , they are only 7-8 SU in 15 games last month.
If the Heat carry on with their streak, expect their futures odds to go lower. As of now, Miami is priced at +250 to win the championship this season, the same odds they were set with in the preseason.
The Heat are finding their stroke despite numerous injuries. Dwyane Wade, Greg Oden, Mario Chalmers, and Ray Allen have all missed games in the Heat’s last five outings.
With the team shorthanded, LeBron James has been forced to elevate his game, and he has. He averaged 26.4 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 6.4 APG in the Heat’s last five games, while shooting 55.3% from the field. Against the Bucks, the reigning MVP went so far as to record a triple-double with a stat line of 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists.
Miami has nine more games remaining on its schedule, including games against playoff contenders such as Brooklyn, Memphis, Indiana, and Washington. The game against the Pacers in particular will show whether this team is indeed ready to compete with the best in the league, or even the best in the conference.
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