NBA: Why Eric Spoelstra and the Miami Heat Won't Win the Championship

Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich, Larry Brown, Pat Riley and Doc Rivers.

Over the past 15 years, this elite group of coaches has led their teams to the NBA Championship. Just five coaches have been in control of the last 15 titles, and Popovich and Jackson account for 12 of them.

Unfathomable. 

Despite the various motivational techniques and differences in X's and O's, one indistinguishable factor stands out.

These coaches were able to instill a belief in their players that they could win. 

Phil Jackson might have had the world's best players like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, but he also got them believing in his system.

Gregg Popovich has spent a career shouting at players like Ginobili, Parker, and Duncan, and they embrace it.

Doc Rivers had the big three and Rondo believing they could win, and they did.

Larry Brown took a team of scraps and put together a recipe for an NBA championship.

Spoelstra has no recipe.

The Miami Heat simply lack the cohesiveness to win an NBA championship this season. The players do not believe that they can.

LeBron James has been there before and has given up. Dwyane Wade has been battered and bruised this season, his latest hurdle being a bruised right thigh. It would be implausible to suggest that Dwyane Wade and LeBron James—both of whom play over 37 minutes per game this season—do not suffer fatigue in May.

Chris Bosh has shown flashes of a dominant interior presence; at other times he has the finesse of a participant on Dancing With the Stars. Yet the accountability does not fall on the players.

All of it rests on Spoelstra.

The world is not fair; Spoelstra was given more than he could ever bargain for, but in the end this will all rest on his shoulders.

He was physically handled by his own player this season when LeBron James—who also "bumped" into Mike Brown—brushed shoulders with him during a time-out. Dwyane Wade has publicly questioned his rotations, and Chris Bosh has demanded the ball in the post, and yet continues to shoot elbow jumpers.

Blame Spoelstra.

He has not managed players, he has simply contained egos.

At 54-23, the Miami Heat have an exceptional record but remain 0-3 against the Boston Celtics, 0-3 against the Chicago Bulls, and 2-2 against the Orlando Magic; all of which are the Heat's closest competitors. Spoelstra's strategy involves magic.

He thinks that the big two will magically have fresh legs, despite playing over 37 minutes per game and getting physically dominated by teams like the Celtics and the Magic.

We witnessed all 171 pounds of Rajon Rondo attack the Heat's physicality, and they had no answer.

Spoelstra thinks that Mike Bibby will magically become a legitimate scoring option, despite averaging 8.8 points and 3.4 assists in 28.4 minutes per game.

Instead of allowing others to get involved, Spoelstra has relied heavily on LeBron and Wade with the occasional star appearance of Chris Bosh.

History has proven that they will pay for it against elite teams.

The Miami Heat, who held a championship-winning parade before the season began, are in for an alarming surprise. The cohesiveness and the belief just aren't there.

They are a very good team with a heavy reliance on two and a half exceptionally great players.

This is not a recipe for success, and Spoelstra is to blame.