Roughing Up Miami Heat Isn't Actually the Way to Beat Them

By winning games and—occasionally—escalating the violence themselves, the Miami Heat have proved in the 2013 NBA playoffs that they can't be bullied.

The Heat aren't really "victims" in any traditional sense, but they've clearly been targets for quite a while. Both the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers have tried their best to impose some serious physicality against Miami in this postseason, but neither opponent has met with very good results.

Chicago's rough stuff actually dates back to the regular season.

The Bulls ended Miami's 27-game winning streak on March 27, and they did it by playing with a physicality that bordered on being unsportsmanlike. Well, that's how LeBron James felt about it, anyway.

He pointed to a couple of suspect plays in which Kirk Hinrich executed a pretty nice takedown and Taj Gibson made some contact with his neck as being particularly bothersome. Fed up, he even earned his own flagrant foul for trying to bowl over Carlos Boozer on a screen. LBJ then made some postgame comments that set off a firestorm.

According to ESPN, James said, "Those are not basketball plays and it's been happening all year. I've been able to keep my cool and try to tell Spo, 'Let's not worry about it too much,' but it is getting to me a little bit."

Everyone had an opinion on LBJ's complaints. Danny Ainge even got involved, eventually earning a pretty hilarious tongue lashing from Heat president Pat Riley.

Chicago's 101-97 streak-ending win would be the last time Miami would take the bait, though.

The two teams met again on April 14, and even though Chicago tallied more fouls (30) than field goals (29) in a 105-93 loss, the Heat were clearly better prepared for the style of play. Instead of trying to get even, Miami simply outplayed the Bulls.

James' postgame comments after the win exuded a more mature understanding of exactly what the Bulls were trying to do. More importantly, he indicated that the Heat were plenty comfortable with a little physicality.

According to ESPN, he said: "You're definitely not just going to show up and win against these guys. You're going to have to work for it. So for us, to continue to get better and for us to have a really physical game, good game, testy game, we liked it."

The postseason series between the Heat and the Bulls featured more of the same. But by this point, Miami was fully aware of what Chicago was trying to do. Instead of putting the Heat off of their game by playing physically, it was the Bulls that lost their cool.

In Game 2 of that series, the Bulls lost by 37 points and both Joakim Noah and Gibson blew their tops in the fourth quarter, earning a pair of ejections.

The Heat took that conference semifinal series in a tidy five games, a feat that should have showed the league that physical play and the occasional cheap shots just weren't going to be enough to beat them.

The Pacers have been nearly as "hands-on" as the Bulls were, but guys like David West and Lance Stephenson have managed to mix mayhem and productive play more effectively than anyone on the Bulls did. West has been hitting anything that moves (Mario Chalmers and his bum shoulder have been a favorite target on screens), and Stephenson's aggressive play has clearly bugged Dwyane Wade.

At the same time, neither player has let the bumps or elbows cause them to play poorly.

A funny thing has happened in these conference finals, though: The Heat have actually become the aggressors.

Dwyane Wade has been administering elbows to Stephenson's head whenever the opportunity has presented itself, and Chris Andersen nearly committed a felony on Hansbrough in Game 5. Plus, Udonis Haslem looked ready to throw down with West in defense of Chalmers.

Perhaps what we're watching is the final phase of the Heat's three-tiered response to rough play. The first phase involved complaints to the media and a couple of ill-advised retaliatory moves in that March 27 game against the Bulls. Phase two occurred in the playoff series against Chicago, when Miami simply rose above the Bulls' chippy play on the strength of sheer talent.

(Sure, there were a few cheap shots from Chalmers and Andersen in that series. But you get the idea.)

Now, though, Miami is in phase three, which apparently involves initiating the physicality while also outplaying the opposition. Not only are the Heat now doing the bullying; they're also doing it while playing at a ridiculously high level.

Look, teams have always tried to attack great opponents by irritating them. The Detroit Pistons made the strategy famous by knocking Michael Jordan out of the air for about four years in a row. It didn't work then against MJ, and it's not working now against the Heat.

Assuming the Heat close out the Pacers, they'll be in for some good news: The San Antonio Spurs won't be trying any dirty tricks in the NBA Finals. Of course, the bad news is that the Spurs are a technically sound destruction machine that doesn't need to resort to cheap shots or shady tactics to win.

They're good enough to beat anyone on the strength of their talent, execution and poise.

Remember, the Spurs came through a tough playoff slate and made it to the finals with just two losses, which is one fewer than the Heat have amassed in their half of the NBA bracket. San Antonio is going to space the floor, move the ball and make the Heat work for everything in the next round.

And really, that's what could make this year's NBA Finals so great: The ugliness of the earlier rounds will be replaced by sheer hoops brilliance. That'll be a nice respite from the shoves and elbows we've been watching thus far, won't it?

So, the Heat can relax in one sense: They won't be ducking head shots or looking to dole out any of their own. But if Miami eases up in a more dangerous way—by bringing anything less than its "A" game against the Spurs—a finals knockout could be in the cards.