Los Angeles Lakers vs. Miami Heat: Positional Breakdown and Bold Predictions

Tonight the Miami Heat will host the Los Angeles Lakers in the first of two meetings between two of the NBA’s powerhouse teams.

There are plenty of hot storylines heading into tonight’s contest. For starters, the league’s top two leading scorers, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, are set to square off. Chris Bosh and Pau Gasol, two of the game’s top post players, are set to lock horns down in the paint, and current Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown will face LeBron for the first time since he coached the two-time MVP while both men were with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

This article will preview tonight’s matchup, full of analysis, positional breakdowns and predictions of the game’s winner and MVP.

The Benches

The Miami Heat’s second unit got a huge lift when Mike Miller returned Tuesday. In his first game back recovering from a sports hernia, Miller went 6-of-6 from beyond the arc, finishing with 18 points and four rebounds.

The Lakers’ second unit is still trying to find a player—or more likely a combination of players—to make up for the hole left by the departure of Lamar Odom.

Mike Brown had high hopes Metta World Peace would flourish as the team’s sixth man this season, but the mercurial forward is producing career-low numbers across the board. Also, the Lakers’ leading scorer off the bench, backup point guard Steve Blake, is out up to a month with a rib injury.

Neither team’s bench is nothing to gush over, nor does either team’s second unit have a huge advantage over the other one.

But in what I figure to be a close, low-scoring game throughout, whichever team’s bench ends up producing the most could be the difference in the ballgame.

Advantage: Heat

Point Guard

Every team in the league has the advantage at the point guard position when playing the Los Angeles Lakers—Miami’s duo of Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole included.

Thanks to Steve Blake's aforementioned rib injury, the Lakers will now have to rely on players from extreme ends of the age spectrum, 16-year veteran Derek Fisher and rookie Darius Morris.

Morris has made his fair share of rookie mistakes, but has been far from terrible since gaining more playing time since Blake went out with injury.

Expect for Morris and Fisher to swap minutes during the first three quarters, with Fisher likely to play the lion’s share of minutes in the fourth.

Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole are currently averaging 12 and nine points, respectively, as the Heat's starting and backup point guards.

Advantage: Heat

Center

This is the one area in which the Los Angeles Lakers have the biggest advantage over the Miami Heat. Joel Anthony, or any other center on Miami’s roster, isn’t as big, as strong or as talented as Andrew Bynum.

Bynum has been playing so well to start the season (16 points, 13 rebounds and eight double-doubles in his first 11 games), the young center is seeing double-teams for the first time in his career.

Monday night against the Dallas Mavericks, it appeared as though Bynum was having an easier time adjusting to the extra defender, after he struggled in past contests.

Bynum was better anticipating where the secondary defender was coming from, in addition to making some nice, timely passes to the open man.

Double-team or no double-team, the Heat big men should have their hands full with Bynum.

Advantage: Lakers

Power Forward

It appears as though Chris Bosh is becoming more comfortable playing in a Miami Heat uniform. After an up-and-down first season with the team, Bosh is averaging more points, blocks and is shooting a higher field-goal percentage in his first 13 games of the 2011-12 campaign.

Bosh had arguably his best game since joining Miami on Tuesday night against the San Antonio Spurs, scoring 30 points, including eight rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Conversely, Pau Gasol is trying to regain his comfort with the Los Angeles Lakers. It would be over-exaggerating to say Gasol has played bad to start the season, but he is averaging a career low in points and has spent most of his time on the perimeter shooting jumpers, rather than grinding in the paint.

Whether it’s the fact he is still getting over the fact the team was willing to trade him this offseason, his sore shoulder, trying to get accustomed to Mike Brown’s new offense or having to adjust to the fact—thanks to Andrew Bynum’s stellar start to the season—that he is now arguably the team’s third banana, Gasol is in somewhat of a “limbo,” trying to carve out his niche this season.

I still think Gasol is still the overall better player, but Bosh is playing better and more confidently at the moment.

Advantage: Heat

Shooting Guard

There is a chance Dwyane Wade could miss tonight's contest, nursing leg and ankle injuries. I think the Los Angeles Lakers have the advantage at the shooting guard position regardless, given the way Kobe Bryant has been playing (a league-best 30.8 points per game).

If Wade sits out, expect the Heat to start James Jones in his place, or possibly Shane Battier, who has a history of moderate success guarding the Black Mamba.

No matter who takes Wade’s place, look for Kobe to move a little easier without Wade harassing him for the majority of the game.

Lakers fans took a sigh of relief the other night when the team defeated the Dallas Mavericks with Kobe not playing that well, although he finished the game with a very impressive seven assists.

Prior to that, Kobe had scored 40 or more points in four consecutive contests and had people wondering if the Lakers could beat a worthy opponent without Kobe putting up gaudy numbers.

While it’s extremely entertaining to watch Kobe score 40, the Lakers need for him to be more of “distributor/pick and choose my times to dominate” Kobe if the team hopes to beat the Heat tonight.

He must also bolster the confidence of his teammates while they are trying to learn Mike Brown’s new offense.

Advantage: Lakers

Small Forward

Obviously LeBron James and the Miami Heat have the advantage here, so instead of boring you with numbers showing how great LeBron is, I will do a little foreshadowing.

Let’s say the game is really close in the fourth quarter, which I fully expect it to be. What will LeBron’s mindset be? Will he be more passive, looking to Dwyane Wade and/or his other teammates more? Or, will he smell blood playing against Kobe Bryant and be more aggressive down the stretch?

This is potentially a chance for LeBron, was has been battling criticism for his play at the end of games since the 2010 postseason against the Boston Celtics, to temporarily silence his critics by playing well down the stretch against a big-time opponent.

Yet, it’s also another chance LeBron to add another chapter to his collection of passive performances at the end of games.

No matter which scenario plays out, it will be must-see TV.

Predicting the Winner

Both the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat are top-tier defensive teams, ranking fifth and seventh, respectively, in overall defensive rating.

But unlike the Lakers, the Heat are amongst the league’s best offensive teams, ranking first in points per game (107.2) and sixth in offensive rating.

The Lakers have not played, and probably won’t for that matter, a team so efficient on both sides of the ball.

Combine this with the Heat playing at home, having a little more firepower on the bench and not being in the process of learning new systems like the Lakers, and I see Miami winning a close game, 91-84.

Predicting the Game's MVP

After it’s announced Dwyane Wade will miss the game, Chris Bosh will step up yet again by having his second straight 30-point game for the Heat, scoring 30 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and handing out three assists.