Miami Heat: If a Matchup Occurs, Can They Defeat the Los Angeles Lakers?

The NBA Finals are a long way away, in fact it still feels like awhile before the regular season even begins. Prior to the start of the 2010-'11 regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers are by and far the Western Conference team to beat, while the Miami Heat have made enough moves to make themselves into an Eastern Conference powerhouse.

They can't be considered undisputed favorites due to the fact that they haven't played a minute together and that the Boston Celtics and the Orlando Magic could still be known as the outright favorites to take the Eastern Conference due to the fact that they each have the same team that they've been playing with since they have each become contenders.

Hypothetically speaking however, let's just say the Heat turn out to be who we thought they would be and take the Eastern Conference. On the other end of the country, the Los Angeles Lakers take the Western Conference and move on to their fourth straight NBA finals appearance with chance to capture their third straight title.

This is where the fun begins.

The Miami Heat are a three-headed monster with Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh as their core with a variety of cast members that include three-point shooters in Mike Miller and Eddie House, defenders in Udonis Haslem and Joel Anthony, and a number of other veterans and young players.

The team will heavily rely on their core for offensive and defensive purposes of their own, while using their reputation as dangerous players to draw double and triple teams to allow their teammates to get open for easy shots. The athleticism, talent, and diversity that this team has is the exact reason why they are already championship favorites and why NBA analysts are claiming that the Heat could possibly win 72 or more games in the future.

The Los Angeles Lakers have an asset that the Heat cannot boast yet: chemistry. Pat Riley was smart enough to bring players together that know each other and have some experience playing on the same team with Dwyane Wade, Mario Chalmers, Udonis Haslem, Shavlik Randolph, Jamaal Maggloire, Joel Anthony, James Jones, and Carlos Arroyo all returning to Miami. For the Lakers, high marquee players such as Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum have all played together for a few years now and have a number of championships to show for it.

Not only the experience and chemistry, but the talent and balance this team possesses is what makes them favorites to win their third consecutive title. Bryant's determination and leadership, Gasol's post play, Artest's defense, and Bynum's size are just the tip of the iceberg to this volatile Los Angeles team.

If these two teams collide, it will be a match up to epic proportions that will feature the three best players in the league on the same court, as well as two of the best post players. To put it simply, the league's best players will be featured in one seven game series that will most likely feature every game going down to the wire whether it's in Miami or Los Angeles.

As far as match-up's go, it would be interesting to see how Lakers coach Phil Jackson plays the big three. When the Lakers would play the Heat, he would usually switch Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest on Dwyane Wade due to the team's lack of depth and weapons. Last season, Wade scored 26 on seven for 21 shooting in the first match-up and then dropped 27 on 9 of 21 shooting, while dishing out a season high 14 assists in the second.

With LeBron on the floor now, Wade will finally get the chance to play with not as many top tier defenders focusing their attention solely on him and will probably get Bryant and possibly Matt Barnes as defenders. Wade knows each player very well as Bryant and himself have had many duels in the past, while Barnes was a member of the Orlando Magic who Wade played four times a year.

James has had somewhat more success against the Lakers in his two meetings last season with 26 points on 9 of 19 shooting in the first match up and then 37 points on 13 of 25 shooting in the second meeting. LeBron did have a quality supporting cast, but still had Ron Artest guarding him for the most part and judging on his performance's, we can tell that he used his athleticism for the most part as he got to the free throw line a combined 24 times.

With Bryant and Artest's attention focused on their players, rather than solely on Wade or James who will most likely see better days against the Lakers now that they will be defended with most likely one defender. The largest problem for the Heat if the two team's match up though would be in the paint.

If you watched the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Orlando Magic in the NBA finals two years ago, you would know that the largest reason why they won was because they drastically limited Dwight Howard's production. They did this by focusing the attention of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum on Howard forcing him to commit turnovers or to take difficult shots. The Magic did not have a power forward with the same game as Gasol, instead they had Rashard Lewis who spends most of his time on the floor along the three-point line.

Much in the case of the Heat who only have one true post presence on the floor in Chris Bosh. Their center Joel Anthony is a non-offensive threat and is strictly on the floor for defensive purposes and little more, which would allow Bynum to focus more attention on Bosh. The Heat's back-up center in Zydrunas Ilgauskas could use his range to spread the floor, but would be a defensive liability matched up against Bynum in the paint.

Bosh shot below his average last season in his two match-up's with the Lakers last season scoring 18 points on 9 of 17 shooting in the first game and netting 22 points on 7 of 18 shooting in the second game. Bosh's former teammate in Andrea Bargnani, who was the starting center, spent most of his time outside of the paint as a shooting threat.

While the Lakers hold advantages in a number of categories, the Heat do as well. Like I stated in my previous article concerning Wade possibly usurping Kobe as the next best shooting guard in the league, Bryant's previous ailment's might catch up on him by the end of the season and greatly impact his game more than it did last season when he was forced to shoot with his left hand.

I'm not taking anything away from Bryant at all because I still think he is the best overall player in the league, but the number of minutes he plays and the finger injury that has been said to be very serious could limit his work, which Wade would take full advantage of. Dwyane is one of the most dynamic, electric players in this league and has had many good games against Bryant when he did have a quality supporting cast.

Adding to the advantages the Heat holds is a clearly better three-point shooting team. Aside from Matt Barnes, the Lakers have no true three-point shooters compared to the Heat who have Mike Miller, who is coming off a season where he shot a career high 48% from deep, Eddie House, James Jones, and Mario Chalmers who all can hit from deep if given the chance.

They won't find as many open looks because of the terrific balance that the Lakers possess, but after a regular season of having opportunities to improve their shot, the Heat's plethora of three-point shooters will have an easier time of shooting from deep than the Lakers. With only one three-point shooter, unless Bryant wants to spend more time behind the three-point line, the Heat can focus their perimeter defense solely on Barnes or Derek Fisher when he will be on the floor.

It's going to take every thing the Heat has to dethrone the reigning NBA champions, but they have the talent and youth in the starting lineup to pull off the upset if they form the right chemistry and learn how to play this Lakers team that knows how to play offenses such as this.

Los Angeles faced a similar foe in the Boston Celtics not too long ago and learned from their mistakes in the 2007 NBA finals and made up for it in the 2009 NBA finals. Like the Heat, they also had a big three with a far superior point guard to go along with it, but they lacked youth and they didn't have the same hunger for a championship as players like LeBron James or Chris Bosh do that are looking for their first title.

It's nearly impossible to break the drive and ambition that Kobe Bryant possesses, but it is possible and it has happened before. Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and LeBron James all have their eyes set on the same prize and they know who they'll have to go through to get it.

Next year will possibly one of the last year's of Kobe in his prime and will be one of the few chances we get to see these two powerhouse of team's of players in their primes face off against each other and every NBA fan should have the chance to witness five of the top 15 players on the same court duke it out with one goal in mind.