Congrats to the Miami Heat. After narrowly defeating the Celtics in Beantown, they are now the proud owners of the NBA's 2nd longest winning streak ever. In the regular season, Boston had been a house of horrors for Miami for quite some time. They'd lost 10 in a row there. Now at 23 straight, the Heat are 10 games shy of catching the Lakers for the all time mark.
That raises some interesting possibilities. Of the 15 remaining regular season games on Miami's schedule, it would appear they only have one really tough test. Playing at San Antonio on March 31. The Spurs are cruising along in their typical low profile fashion while trying to hold off Okla City and the LA Clippers to wind up the #1 seed in the western conference going into the playoffs. Every game matters. Further, the showdown in Alamoland on April Fool's Eve could well be a preview of the NBA Finals. Both teams will want to make a "statement".
Other than that particular game, the Heat's remaining schedule looks relatively easy. They've got a lot of patsies like Cleveland (2), Charlotte (2), Orlando (2), Detroit, New Orleans, and Washington coming up. The only decent teams they play are the Knicks and Celtics again, but the Knicks are hobbled with key injuries and they get them and Boston both at home. Plus home and home with Chicago, but the Bulls ran out of gas a long time ago, especially with star guard Derrick Rose evidently trying to set a record of his own for the longest time refusing to play after he's been medically deemed fully recovered from an injury.
Sure, it's the NBA, and at least theoretically anybody can beat anybody else on any given day. But assuming Miami easily dispatches the teams they should and manages to beat San Antonio, and also doesn't suffer any significant player injuries of their own along the way -- it's not beyond the realm of imagination that the Heat could run the table for their last 15 games.
The question might become one of motivation, or even strategy, as the regular season winds down. It's pretty much already a given the Heat will be the #1 seed in the eastern conference, enjoying home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Is playing hard for the next 10 games to set the all-time consecutive win streak record that important to them? And even if so, and they pull it off -- what then? They'll still have a handful of games left. Would it be prudent of them to cut back on their starters' minutes at that time to rest them for the grind of the playoffs? If they lost some games that didn't matter in the playoff picture towards the end of the season -- would Miami ownership risk the wrath of commissioner David Stern and the league for "mailing it in"?
Ah heck. The Heat could have a bad game and lose to a patsy. It happens. And if star guard Tony Parker of the Spurs is healthy and back to his old self by the time Miami visits San Antonio in a couple weeks -- I like coach Pop's boys' chances of defending their turf against the beasts from the east.
But if this plays out a little differently -- it could get very interesting. Stay tuned......
No comments:
Post a Comment