Okay, I'll stop trolling for just a minute to address this. You know I'm a Lakers fan so I'm not really passionate about this conversation, which is why I haven't been saying anything truly productive.
With that said, the Heatles are the Heatles. They are God damn good. I like the Pacers, like them a lot. Loved Granger. Love George. I also believe there is a reason why teams don't go to the finals four straight years (at least not since the 80s Celtics). It's hard, very hard. What helps is having turnover in your roster. No complacency among your leaders/stars. Veteran leadership from those stars and your coaching staff. Multiple options that can step up in big games. Heatles have some of these things but not all of them.
There's been little turnover and that turnover has come, most notably by you, in the form of Michael Beasley and Greg Oden. One who is inconsistent and boneheaded while the other would have a very expensive premium on his health insurance if he had to pay it himself. Oden has never had this much PT (which is hilarious given how he's averaging like 10 minutes a game) so he looks fine now (I've only seen two or three games of his) but those knees will be tested. Especially in the postseason against Indiana. They should have kept Joel Anthony as insurance/another big.
Shane Battier/Michael Beasley will have to fill in for what Mike Miller did last year in the postseason (notably, the finals). It isn't hard to find a veteran to come through for you in a game here or there. I'm sure Battier will figure it out/come through for them. Beasley? Not sure. Especially since Battier and Miller came through mostly from beyond the arch. So is that going to fall to Chalmers or Douglas?
The games we see Wade play, we don't really see much. You could say he's super coasting or you could say his body and age are catching up with him.
Yes, the Pacers bench isn't that great. So what did they do? They made a move for Turner. Turner isn't great but he provides a punch off the bench and can create his own shot (something my boy Granger really cannot do anymore). With how good of a defensive team Indiana is, that's all they really need. They grabbed Bynum too. Bynum probably won't even see much PT, which further proves the chess being played between Riley/Pritchard (I'm sure Bird has a say in things but give credit where credit is due, they have a GM for a reason).
It's going to be a great series. One where home court won't mean much, IMO. You're putting too much emphasis on home court based on Vogul and the boys saying some things in October/November. They set a goal and are going after it. It's the NBA, it isn't going to be easy to get home court. You're also putting a lot behind the Heatles coasting all year. I've seen multiple consecutive championship runs with multiple lulls and periods of coasting. It's relatively normal but eventually it catches up to them and they falter. I haven't watched the Heatles close enough to say if it has or it hasn't caught up to them but don't completely disregard the other side of the coin.
There's only one thing I know for certain. Given the Heatles roster and what I'm expecting (in terms of the depreciating play and multiple question marks surrounding everyone on that roster not named Bosh or Bron), LeBron is going to have a postseason for the ages. He'll have to in hopes of carrying this team to their 4th Finals appears in as many years.
See you in June.
[ Edited by GameOver on Mar 6, 2014 at 3:22 PM ]