Miami's record against top teams in February/March

[TMT]

Miami against top teams in league over last 2 months
- For purposes of this thread, top teams = top 5 in respective conference

MARCH
3/26 - Loss to Pacers (83-84) on road
3/24 - Win against Blazers (93-91) at home *No LMA or Wade
3/16 - Win against Rockets (113-104) at home
3/12 - Loss to Nets (95-96) at home *No KG
3/9 - Loss to Bulls (88-95) on road
3/6 - Loss to Spurs (87-111) on road
3/4 - Loss to Rockets (103-104) on road

FEBRUARY
2/23 - Win against Bulls (93-79) at home *No LBJ
2/20 - Win against Thunder (103-81) on road
2/5 - Win against Clippers (116-112) on road *No CP3

Overall: 5-5 record, 2-4 on the road, 3-1 at home
- MIA lost both games against teams with better records (SAS & IND)


Obviously as back-to-back champions Miami will find themselves less concerned about record against the best as compared to other contenders, but still interesting to analyze nonetheless.

[LeGOAT]

TL;DR. Heat in 5

[navy]

Heat have been losing to scrubs as well...

[DaSeba5]

Tired legs, the rotation changes have taken them out of a rhythm, and they are the oldest team in the league. I'm not sure if they will gun for HCA now. 3-peating is going to be very difficult. If they don't win this year, they blew the 3-peat when they choked in 2011.

[FLDFSU]

It's not that hard really. All Miami has to do is get to 100 points and they will not lose to any Eastern Conference opponents. That's it. Problem solved.

No Eastern team outside of MIA is capable of consistently scoring 100 points. So instead of trying to hold the Pacers, Nets, and Bulls to 75 points...MIA should focus a majority of their effort into scoring and pushing the pace.

But Spo has had James, Wade, and Bosh for 4 years now and still the concepts evades him.

[TMT]

Tired legs, the rotation changes have taken them out of a rhythm, and they are the oldest team in the league. I'm not sure if they will gun for HCA now. 3-peating is going to be very difficult. If they don't win this year, they blew the 3-peat when they choked in 2011.

This is definitely going to be the toughest playoffs since they all came together. Another fact going under the radar is Wade's health. I don't think this guy can sustain through a whole month+ of the playoff grind.

Didn't he hurt himself at the end of the game? What was the deal with that?

[navy]

This is definitely going to be the toughest playoffs since they all came together. Another fact going under the radar is Wade's health. I don't think this guy can sustain through a whole month+ of the playoff grind.

Didn't he hurt himself at the end of the game? What was the deal with that?

Just a cramp.

It cant get harder than last year. At least in my mind it forces more effort in every game if they lose HCA. As opposed to only showing up when needed like they did last year.


Then again the only player I would trust to outplay Lebron in a seen game series is Durant.

[TMT]

It seems to me like they will be playing as tough of teams as last year, if not better in Indy and OKC/SAS. But this time around they won't have HCA in either series. It looks really rough on paper.

[navy]

It seems to me like they will be playing as tough of teams as last year, if not better in Indy and OKC/SAS. But this time around they won't have HCA in either series. It looks really rough on paper.

The Heat win when they need too.It wont be easy but they have faced adversity in the last three playoffs as well. Like I said, in a Game 7 nomatter the building I would Lebron over anyone besides maybe Durant.

[DaSeba5]

It seems to me like they will be playing as tough of teams as last year, if not better in Indy and OKC/SAS. But this time around they won't have HCA in either series. It looks really rough on paper.

I'm not scared of the Pacers as much as I was in the beginning of the year. They can beat Indiana without HCA. They lost HCA the last two years to the Pacers and still won. I don't think it's the deciding factor in the series like people claim even if there's a game 7 in Indiana. I think their offense is too stagnant and their PG play is still terrible. Yes Indiana will have advantage with HCA, but you're going to have to win on the road eventually anyways.

The Heat have proven that it doesn't matter where they play OKC. That series heavily favors Miami no matter what until OKC gets a post threat. Now the Spurs with HCA scares the living shit out of me. I don't see them beating the Spurs without HCA.

[russwest0]

LeBran James, scrub destroyer, statpadder

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Wish they'd eliminate conferences all together so we get the BEST teams making the playoffs. Would expose this fraud team.

OT, I left ESPN on for the halftime show ... BIG mistake. I heard that dumbass Doris Burke call Pacers vs Heat "Ali vs Frazier"

[LongLiveTheKing]

LeBran James, scrub destroyer, statpadder

Why are you calling KD a scrub?
LeBron destroyed him but he's not a scrub?

[DaSeba5]

Wish they'd eliminate conferences all together so we get the BEST teams making the playoffs. Would expose this fraud team.

OT, I left ESPN on for the halftime show ... BIG mistake. I heard that dumbass Doris Burke call Pacers vs Heat "Ali vs Frazier"

3 titles in 8 years. 2 x defending champs. "fraud" team lol.

[FLDFSU]

I'm not scared of the Pacers as much as I was in the beginning of the year. They can beat Indiana without HCA. They lost HCA the last two years to the Pacers and still won. I don't think it's the deciding factor in the series like people claim even if there's a game 7 in Indiana. I think their offense is too stagnant and their PG play is still terrible. Yes Indiana will have advantage with HCA, but you're going to have to win on the road eventually anyways.

The Heat have proven that it doesn't matter where they play OKC. That series heavily favors Miami no matter what until OKC gets a post threat. Now the Spurs with HCA scares the living shit out of me. I don't see them beating the Spurs without HCA.

Exactly. Which is why the Heat should focus on outscoring the Pacers.

Miami is/can be the best offensive team in the East.

Miami is/will never be the best defensive team in the East.

So Miami needs to stop playing against the Bulls and the Pacers on their terms.