NBA: Are the Miami Heat Still Contenders?

Reservoir God

Mar 8, 2011

I joined some of my fellow Wages of Wins Journalists Andres Alvarez and Arturo Galletti on a podcast Monday night to discuss where the Heat stood after the Bulls game in relation to the other title contenders.

Here's a quick rundown of the teams that were covered and brief summary of my thoughts on each:

San Antonio Spurs — As I said in this post, the Lakers are a problem for them, and we got an idea of how big a problem last Sunday.
LA Lakers — The Spurs are the only team standing between them and the Finals.
OKC Thunder — I don't think Kendrick Perkins makes them a title contender.
Chicago Bulls — I don't take them seriously because they can only beat you with defense as long as Derrick Rose keeps holding back the offense by taking and missing the most shots on the team.
Miami Heat — They're going through a rough patch that they won't come out of until March 20, but no team can match this team when playing at its highest level, and that's the level they'll be at in the playoffs.
Boston Celtics — They're too old and injury-prone for me to take seriously.
Dark Horses — I don't think any of the division winners will be upset in the playoffs.
Finals — Heat vs. Lakers, where everyday will be like Christmas.