The NBA community would love to see a David versus Goliath showdown in the first round of the playoffs, between the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers.
The NBA has lacked parity over the last few years, with the infusion of super teams and the Western Conference being so dominant via the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, San Antiono Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder (pre-Kevin Durant leaving to the Warriors).
In the Eastern Conference on the other hand, it’s been an entirely different story; LeBron James and the Cavaliers have been the lone rangers steamrolling through the East with no resistance (post-James leaving the Miami Heat in 2014). The NBA has been trying to sell a new challenger on the Eastern Conference block for some time now; the Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics (now with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward), have been anointed as the ones to dethrone the man who many call King.
However, only to the NBA’s displeasure, they’ve found out that the Raptors and Wizards (who both recently blew double-digit leads to James and the Cavaliers) pose no threat to him whatsoever and he knows it. In fact, you can make an argument that he owns those teams.
Then there’s the Celtics, who looked like they were finally going to be the team to take down Goliath. Unfortunately, Hayward went down in the first game of the season (versus the Cavaliers) with a gruesome lower leg injury, and Irving is now done for the season due to knee surgery.
Is there anyone left to challenge James? Excuse me, I mean, Goliath?
There may be a team out in South Beach that could give James a run for his money. The Heat knows James very well; so well in fact that James, since leaving the Heat in the summer of 2014, hasn’t won at AmericanAirlines Arena (0-7, and 4-13 all-time as a visitor).
Wait, am I getting ahead of myself, here? These teams couldn’t possibly match up against each other, could they?
Well, recently, certain scenarios were predicted that had the Heat on a one-way ticket to match up against the Celtics or the Cavaliers. As it stands currently, the Heat sit sixth with a 43-36 record, while the Cavaliers are holding steady with a 49-30 record, good for third in the East.
The Heat’s last three games are against the New York Knicks, Thunder, and Raptors. If the Heat can win two out of those three games and the Cavaliers win on Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers, this prediction will become a reality. If the Heat don’t take care of business, they’ll need help from other teams for this scenario to play out.
Why the NBA needs a Miami Heat versus Cleveland Cavaliers playoff series
Having a scenario where you can have two future Hall-of-Famers in James and Dwyane Wade (who happen to be best friends), playing against each other is simply too good for the NBA ratings and drama, to pass up. The story of the blue collar scrappy team that fights, works hard, is family orientated and takes care of their own (the Heat… aka, David), versus the entitled royalty team that gets what they want, how they want, when they want (the Cavaliers… aka, Goliath), is must see television with all the trimmings: suspense, drama, excitement with some, “Thrilla in Manila.”
Next: Miami Heat: The Kelly Olynyk experiment is a major success
So what are the Heat’s chances if they were to actually match up versus the Cavaliers? To be continued.