Five teams that can spoil Miami Heat’s journey to the next NBA championship (Part 1)
The Miami Heat had a terrific journey last season, before they hit the wall in the National Basketball Associations Finals. That poor show against the Dallas Mavericks put their entire effort under shadow as prior to the NBA Finals
Miami successfully attained the 58-24 in the regular season, a record second only to Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference.
Later in the postseason, they competed against three solid teams to make their way into the Finals. Although, a number of analysts believe that Heat are favourites to make into the Finals next season, but after losing the finals,
the Heat still have that similar pressure on them which they had in the last season.
If Miami wants to make their way into the next NBA Finals they should remain cautious from five teams that have the capability to upset their championship run.
Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls were not only the best side of the Eastern Conference in the previous NBA season; they were the best regular season team in the whole league with a 62-20 record.
Although the Bulls lost the Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat in the 2011 playoffs, but they still have the firepower to surprise Miami in the next season. The focal point of their offense is the 23 year old point guard
Derrick Rose, who won the Most Valuable Player in the previous season because of his outstanding play.
Rose is among the very few players of the NBA, who can win games for his team almost single handedly.
This can be judged from his postseason scoring average which was 27.1 points per game. However, what Rose didn’t have, was the support of his team and the Bulls now require a solid player, who can share Rose’s burden. In addition
to that Coach Tom Thibodeau’s team require just minor tweaks in order to lift their performance against the heavy weights of the game.
So the Heat shouldn’t take them lightly when they’ll come face-to-face in the next season.
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Heat faced Oklahoma City Thunder twice in the previous regular-season with each team winning one game. The two games were close fights, as each team had to play hard in order to pull the victories. Moreover, the fourth ranked
team of the Western Conference was able to make their journey to the West’s conference finals.
Small forward Kevin Durant remained a livewire for the Thunder and led all NBA scorers for the second time running. Russell Westbrook is also a top player and he together with Durant forms the foundation on which OKC stand on.
The Heat needs to work on this duo if they are to stop them for spoiling their party.
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