Heat remain team to beat in the East

Jay Asser 15:13 20/04/2014
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  • Bringing the Heat: Miami are still favorites to win the Eastern Conference.

    The Eastern Conference this season has been called weak, boring, laughable, pathetic and more. One thing that it certainly has been over the last three years is predictable.

    Since ‘the Big Three’ formed in 2010, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Heat have ruled the East with an iron fist. 

    They’ve reached the Finals three-straight years and won the last two, as, despite being mocked at the time, they’ve started to fulfil the promise LeBron made at his welcoming party of winning multiple championships.

    This was supposed to be the year where the run ends, at least in the minds of the Indiana Pacers.

    After falling to Miami in the playoffs for a second consecutive season last term, this Pacers team had one thing on their mind entering the season: beat the Heat.

    Indiana began the season on a tear, compiling a league-best 32-7 record after the first 12 weeks, including a 21-1 mark at home, a point of significance because Miami dispatched Indiana in Game 7 of the conference finals in its own building.

    It seemed like everything was in place for Indiana to take over the mantle and be the beasts of the East for the coming years, before it all fell apart.

    The Pacers faltered their way down the final stretch of the season and even as top seed, look vulnerable.

    The offence has been out of sync and the amount of blowout losses they’ve endured makes them seem more like pretenders than contenders.

    Miami, meanwhile, have done their usual coasting while waiting to turn on the switch once again in the play-offs.

    All of which begs the question: can anyone from the East knock off the Heat?

    The rest barely appear to be threats, even to Indiana.

    Chicago have the best scoring defence in the league as Tom Thibodeau continues to make the most out of every squad he coaches.

    Even with the Bulls emulating Thibs’ hard-nosed style, however, they’re severely lacking firepower with Derrick Rose again injured and Luol Deng at home 
    after being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers mid-season.

    Three others are making the playoffs for the first time in at least four years: Toronto, Washington and Charlotte.

    While the Raptors and the Wizards have shown flashes with their young, electric talent, the Bobcats have done it on the strength of their defence and Al Jefferson’s polished post game.

    Al three have taken a big step up into being more competitive but there’s little chance any of them will make it to the conference finals.

    In the eighth and final playoff spot, Atlanta return to the postseason for a seventh-straight year.

    But in true Hawks fashion, it looks like they’ll be wiped away by the top seed after another middling season.

    Lastly, the team with arguably the best opportunity to add some intrigue and change the script of what seems like an inevitable Pacers-Heat Eastern Conference 
    Finals is Brooklyn. 

    Although they started extremely slow, the Nets were always built for the play-offs and since the All-Star break, they’ve posted a 20-9 record, reminding us why they were such pre-season darlings.

    With Brook Lopez lost to injury, a prolonged run is unlikely, but Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett aren’t known for going down quietly and have a history against LeBron and co, including a 4-0 regular season sweep of the Heat.

    While the regular season was dismal for the East, the conference can make up for it with a post-season that is anything but predictable.

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