Accusing his beloved Miami Heat of intentionally trying to miss out on the Eastern Conference’s top seed, 2 Live Crew’s Luther Campbell takes to the pages of Miami New Times to argue,”a ball club chasing its third title is supposed to do what the San Antonio Spurs are doing — beating the shit out of mediocre teams,” adding, “sometimes, you gotta channel a young Mike Tyson and knock motherfuckers out to prove you are still number one.”
The road to the Eastern Conference finals is much easier for the team that finishes as the second seed. That means the Heat would play the Charlotte Bobcats in the first round and the winner of the Toronto Raptors-Washington Wizards matchup in the second round.
Interestingly, the Heat has posted a combined record of 10-1 against those teams this season. If Miami gets the top seed, the opponent in the second round might be the Chicago Bulls or the Brooklyn Nets, two teams that have proven they can beat the Heat with size and defense.
The Heat revolutionized the game by allowing players to rest throughout the regular season. It began when Pat Riley brought in Shaquille O’Neal. One of the organization’s major selling points to veteran players is that the Heat adds more years to their careers by not playing them the full 82 games. The problem this season is that strategy hasn’t allowed the team to build a chemistry.
When Dwyane Wade did play, he and LeBron appeared out of sync. They need some time to get comfortable with each other. That’s not gonna happen with the Bulls or the Nets.