By Chad Rhym – Sports Editor
I hate the Miami Heat.
I despise the idea of Miami Heat forward LeBron James cowardly leaving his home city to assemble a “Marvel’s Avengers” esque super team. I hate every bandwagoner who flocked to the Heat back in 2010. And for pete’s sake, who could forget, they stole Ray Allen! However, the number one reason behind my deep internal hatred for the Miami Heat is their success.
I’m your classic “Heat Hater.”
On June 3, the Heat defeated the Indiana Pacers in a seven game series to close out the Eastern Conference Finals. As much as the alliance of “Heat Haters” and I truthfully despise the Heat; there’s one adjective that describes every basketball fan’s thoughts on the Heat winning the Eastern Conference Finals.
Grateful.
Take a second and imagine what could have been if the Pacers would have pulled out the win in game seven. Potentially, the Pacers could have faced the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 National Basketball Association Finals.
No disrespect to Spurs, but they don’t call San Antonio center Tim Duncan the “Big Fundamental” for nothing. Duncan reflects the whole team’s style of play. You’re not going to see Duncan throw down a mean tomahawk slam over a defender, you’re not going to see players emphatically beating their chests after splashing a late game buzzer beater and you most certainly will not see a crack of a smile from head coach Gregg Popovich.
What you will witness include the following: crisp bounce passes, elegant left-handed lay ups and Pop’s perfectly executed high post pick and rolls.
Why watch the Spurs when there’s plenty of paint drying somewhere else?
Again, no disrespect to the legendary Spurs, they just aren’t a fun team to watch. This also applies to the Pacers. Now think of how un-sexy of a match up the two most dull teams in the NBA playing for a championship sound.
It sounds awful to me.
Even though I’m not a fan of the Heat, I am a fan of LeBron and friends handing out their signature posters each game; that’s just the defeating truth.
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