BY BRANDON SLOANE
Coming in to the 2013 playoffs, the Miami Heat are the prohibitive favorites to win the NBA championship. And after a thorough domination of the Milwaukee Bucks in round 1 of the playoffs, everything seems to be going according to form for the reigning champs.
Several factors have contributed to Miami’s perceived easy road to the NBA finals. For starters, the Heat are, by far, the most talented team in the Eastern Conference. Coming in with a daunting record of 66-16, Miami won the conference over the second place New York Knicks by a staggering 12 games- one of the largest margins in recent history. Additionally, outside of the top 4 teams (Miami, New York, Indiana, and Brooklyn), no team won over 45 games this season. In the Western Conference however, the top 6 teams were able to surpass the 45-win mark. This significant disparity in wins highlights the weakness of the Eastern Conference. Lastly, The Heat will not have to face either of the other top two seeds until at least the conference finals, which should make the first two rounds against the inferior opponents significantly less challenging.
Rarely do championship teams ever come back as strong as they were the year before. Free agency, injuries, and retirements are just some of the reasons that teams decline season to season. Miami has not only avoided these pitfalls, but they have in fact improved from last year. Adding strategic role players Ray Allen and Chris “Birdman” Andersen, while avoiding any serious injuries to key players, have made the Heat deadlier than they ever were before.
But the most important factor in the Heat’s repeat hopes is the fact that they have an enormous amount of momentum heading into the playoffs. On Superbowl Sunday this year, the Heat began a historic run where they won 27 games in a row, blowing by nearly all of their competition to win the Eastern Conference. Even after the streak ended in March, the Heat kept rolling all the way into the playoffs. After the first round concluded, the Heat had a record of 41-2 in their last 43 games. That’s right, 41 wins in the last 43 tries for Miami.
Lebron James and company are starving for their second straight NBA championship and look like they aren’t going to let any team stand in their way. The soon to be 4-time MVP is playing at an all-time great level on one of the all-time great teams. Miami needs to start preparing to host another parade in June down Biscayne Boulevard.
