<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Pure Skillz:</div><div class="quote_post">Heat 10-5 Raptors under .500 Shaquille Oneal over 300 pounds Chris Bosh not as much Added with a disgruntled off Rafer Alston for being benched a VC with no motivation, and a Jalen Rose that is just Jalen Rose I do not see this as a far match up true that the Raptors can pull off an upset on papaer it looks like a easy win for the Heat. The Raptors three guys who they will ahve possibly guarding shaq are under sized, and over matched guarding Shaq I just do not see any way they can contain him. They (raptors) will most likely have to play a lot of help defense which means that shooters such as Wade, and Person will be left open. So that is how I see it to be a easy win for the Heat.</div> Your reasons really make no sense. Your posting a bunch of useless info. Who says Bosh will be guarding O'Neal? Woods is the Raps starting Center, and he's been doing a good job defensively this season. Plus, the Heat aren't smart enough to give Shaq the ball even when he has a undersized C on him, as I've witnessed over the past few weeks. You're saying the Raps will have to play alot of help defense on Shaq, but don't other teams play a lot of help defense on him? Raps are undersized ya, but they have bodies to defend Shaq, and if they can do what the other teams have been doing to him, they have a good chance to win. Alston being mad? Vince not being motivated? and your Jalen Rose statement doesn't even make sense. It doesn't matter if Vince isn't motivated, if you've been watching Raptor games, you can see that Vince has been the teams best player for the past 3-4 games. Alston has gotten over what has happened in NY, and he shouldn't be mad or anything, because he's coming back to the place where the fans loved him and where he made a name for himself in the NBA. I don't know what the heck you're trying to say, but Jalen Rose is a player, he's not afraid to go down in the post and score, as witnessed tonight where he nail 29 points. Bottomline, the next game should not be considered an easy win for the Heat.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Banks:</div><div class="quote_post">Your reasons really make no sense. Your posting a bunch of useless info. Who says Bosh will be guarding O'Neal? Woods is the Raps starting Center, and he's been doing a good job defensively this season. Plus, the Heat aren't smart enough to give Shaq the ball even when he has a undersized C on him, as I've witnessed over the past few weeks.</div> Ok should have said Shaq ways over 300 pounds Woods not so much. The heat are not smart to give the ball to Shaq at times, but you can bet if they are in a tight situation they will know who to give that ball to in that situation. They can dish the ball any time to the inside for an easy bucket and they know that. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Banks:</div><div class="quote_post">You're saying the Raps will have to play alot of help defense on Shaq, but don't other teams play a lot of help defense on him? Raps are undersized ya, but they have bodies to defend Shaq, and if they can do what the other teams have been doing to him, they have a good chance to win. </div> Yes alot of other teams have to play help defense on Shaq as well that is one of the reasons there record is what it is. The other being Wades great play. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Banks:</div><div class="quote_post">Alston being mad? Vince not being motivated? and your Jalen Rose statement doesn't even make sense. It doesn't matter if Vince isn't motivated, if you've been watching Raptor games, you can see that Vince has been the teams best player for the past 3-4 games. Alston has gotten over what has happened in NY, and he shouldn't be mad or anything, because he's coming back to the place where the fans loved him and where he made a name for himself in the NBA. I don't know what the heck you're trying to say, but Jalen Rose is a player, he's not afraid to go down in the post and score, as witnessed tonight where he nail 29 points. </div> Alston may seem like he is over it, but he may still hold some bitterness although I do not expect it to affect his game it is still one of the variables that have to be accounted for. VC may have hada good string of games, but he is still averaging career lows, and does not seem to care much about weather or not his team wins or loses. Jalen Rose is the type of player who is streaky and may get lost in the flow of the game. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Banks:</div><div class="quote_post">Bottomline, the next game should not be considered an easy win for the Heat.</div> Bottomline, although it is the NBA any team can come out on top any given ngiht. On paper the Heat look like the favorites to win this one.
Allnet, just because you have a top 3 player doesnt mean you have a lock for a division. What happens if Shaq gets injured or doesnt play for 10+ games? Wade cant do it alone because the heat have NOBODY really other then shaq and d-wade. You cant base your whole season on 2 players. The Magic on the other hand have a backup for EVERY player. If one player goes down we have another player to take their place and it is fine. UNLESS Hill AND Francis go down we should make playoffs. Heat have little depth other then Shaq and D-wade. Shaq is overrated, i mean sure he helps a team but he doesnt garuntee anything other then playoff berth. I predict Heat losing in 1st or 2nd round.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting OrlandoMagicFan:</div><div class="quote_post">Allnet, just because you have a top 3 player doesnt mean you have a lock for a division. What happens if Shaq gets injured or doesnt play for 10+ games? Wade cant do it alone because the heat have NOBODY really other then shaq and d-wade. You cant base your whole season on 2 players. The Magic on the other hand have a backup for EVERY player. If one player goes down we have another player to take their place and it is fine. UNLESS Hill AND Francis go down we should make playoffs. Heat have little depth other then Shaq and D-wade. Shaq is overrated, i mean sure he helps a team but he doesnt garuntee anything other then playoff berth. I predict Heat losing in 1st or 2nd round.</div> There are plenty of what If's in basketball, the injury tag can be said for Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and every other player who is the main guy on their team. If Shaq plays most of the games they will win the division. Shaq has 3 rings for a reason, and playing in the east makes It even tougher for the rest of the east. You saying Shaq is overrated is very odd, he is still a dominating force which will give his team 20 and 10 on off nights, you are acting like Shaq is just a star, he is the center piece around a team and everyone else on his team becomes better players. As good as Orlando are playing I'm not sure how good they will be over 82 games, at least with Shaq you know what you are going to get every night. Orlando should be a top 6 seed this year and yes they will have a good chance to win their division If Shaq gets hurts or just misses some games but the Heat will be the favourites, Orlando's west cost trip coming up will be a big test.
Yes i agree that the road trip will be a test and i agree that the Heat is a favorite. That is why I think Shaq is overrated. Shaq is the best Center in the league no doubt but just having one player on your team shouldnt make you a favorite team. I believe it should take a WHOLE team rather then just two players. He is overrated because people think that JUST because a team has Shaq on their team means that that team will win. Shaq is a great player and i admit that, but people think that just beacuse he is on the heat that they will win a championship. Yes, basketball is full of what-ifs. One is what-if the Pacers lose their 3 best players. They have, and so far they have been playing great without them. I believed that the Heat would win the division before the season started. After i saw the Magic and Heat play i think that its about 50/50 for the division. I personally believe the Magic will win just because they have more better players and more depth then the Heat.
Just a couple of comments: <ul>[*]Rasual Butler is getting better. His on the dribble defense is improving. He's finally learning how to use his physical gifts to his advantage too. In this game he had 2 blocks but really had like 2 other rejected shots that were gonna be easy layups. He also was putting good pressure on the ball and was able to tip it away for the Heat to get steals.[*]Good job to our bench for stepping up today. Our bench combined for 34pts, 12 boards and 5 dimes. L8tner also had 1 steal and 2 big blocks.[*]Miami, so far, appears to be the premier shot blocking team in the NBA. We average 7.1 blocks per game and we outblock our opp. by 3.14 blocks per game. Wade is the #1 shot blocking guard in the NBA. Shaq is the #2 blocker in the NBA next to Kirilenko. Rasual Butler has had a block in 7/15 games before today and had 2 today. Haslem is also seems to be improving on his shot blocking, he had 2 today.[/list] BTW when did this turn into a "will the heat win their division/championship" or "Heat have no depth so they won't go anywhere" thread? Last time I checked the thread title it was "Boston @ Miami Game Thread"
SVG was real pissed about the Heat's recent performances: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">''In the fourth quarter our offensive execution was horrendous,'' Van Gundy said. ``We did not make one good decision. We got a couple of good shots that we didn't make, and the shots we did make were just desperation because we didn't execute anything. I'm not very happy, to be honest, with the way we played. ``We've got to make some changes. We're not playing very well.'' ''Thirty-three fast break points is absolutely absurd,'' Van Gundy said. ``We were giving up 11 a game. It's just not something our guys are concerned with. They don't think it's important. They're happy to cruise by and win a couple of close games at home against sub-.500 teams. Until that attitude changes, we're going to have the same thing.'' "We are just not willing to make the effort to play hard enough against teams that want to run the ball up and down the floor," ''The decision-making tonight was ridiculous,'' Van Gundy said. ``There were people open all over the place. All you have to do is see the weak-side defender on Shaq and move the ball to the open man. We couldn't do it. Guys wanted to try to do stuff on their own. It was a horrible fourth quarter.''</div>
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Pure Skillz:</div><div class="quote_post">Ok should have said Shaq ways over 300 pounds Woods not so much. The heat are not smart to give the ball to Shaq at times, but you can bet if they are in a tight situation they will know who to give that ball to in that situation. They can dish the ball any time to the inside for an easy bucket and they know that. Yes alot of other teams have to play help defense on Shaq as well that is one of the reasons there record is what it is. The other being Wades great play. Alston may seem like he is over it, but he may still hold some bitterness although I do not expect it to affect his game it is still one of the variables that have to be accounted for. VC may have hada good string of games, but he is still averaging career lows, and does not seem to care much about weather or not his team wins or loses. Jalen Rose is the type of player who is streaky and may get lost in the flow of the game. Bottomline, although it is the NBA any team can come out on top any given ngiht. On paper the Heat look like the favorites to win this one.</div> I'm not even going to reply to those comments.
