Miami Heat: Is Miami's Victory over L.A. a Sign of Future Greatness or a Mirage?
The Miami Heat got a statement victory over the Los Angeles Lakers last night and proved that, despite a recent five game losing streak, the club is still a legitimate contender in the East.
After losing to the Portland Trail Blazers and seeing their woeful losing streak extend to five games, the Miami Heat would have taken a win wherever they could find it.
The situation was starting to get so dicey that the media decided to check in with Pat Riley just to see if his unflappable confidence in head coach Erik Spoelstra was wavering a bit.
Riley responded to these questions with a firm vote of confidence for his coach and commented on what he perceived to be the media’s love of turning nothing into something.
“It’s the media being neurotic,” Riley said of the talk of firing Spoelstra.
Despite that clever jab at the media, you had to know that not everything was right in Miami. A five game losing streak wasn’t part of the plan when LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh signed on to take their talents to South Beach.
That is why it was so important that Miami regain some of their momentum after getting kicked around five straight times.
Last night, the Heat regained their swagger in a big way in the form of a 94-88 victory over a defending champion L.A. Lakers squad that was riding an eight game winning streak.
It was a contest in which the Heat finally defeated their late game demons, outscoring the Lakers 6-0 in the final two minutes to claim the victory. This was a contest in which Chris Bosh scored 24 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Yes that’s right; Bosh finally lived up to his lofty price tag and played like the All-Star he was in Toronto.
This game only counts for one win, but in reality, Miami’s victory over Los Angeles is worth so much more.
With this win, the temperature on Erik Spoelstra’s chair cools off, if only a little. The victory also allows for the “Big 3” to regain some of their former swagger that was taken away from them in the midst of their losing streak.
I will not make any bold predictions about Eastern Conference dominance or NBA Championship glory after this one victory, but I will say that the Heat needed this victory more than most will understand.
Only time will tell if last night was truly a season changing night or if the Heat will revert back to their old ways of mediocrity. Last night, Miami finally won a heavyweight fight after getting knocked out in similar brawls earlier in the season.
Miami needs to hold onto this positive momentum and play the same way tomorrow against Memphis that they did against Los Angeles last night. If the Heat can deliver a similar effort throughout the rest of the season, they might just be able to live up to their lofty expectations, rather than sit behind Boston and Chicago in the East.
