(2) Miami Heat vs. (6) Brooklyn Nets
The Miami Heat have been off for nearly a week, following their first round sweep of the injury-plagued Charlotte Bobcats. They will be facing a familiar rival in the Brooklyn Nets. Not the franchise itself, but more-so Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett; who are the Heat’s arch nemesis. The Nets fought a tough 7-game series against the Toronto Raptors, winning consecutive games to close out Sunday afternoon on the road. Brooklyn started to show age down the stretch, but kept their composure and used experience to defeat the young and rising Raptors squad. They do have something to be very confident heading to South Beach being the only team to 4-0 sweep the Miami Heat in the regular season.
While Dwyane Wade missed two of the four meetings, Nets played efficient basketball and exposed the Heat’s lack of shooting and inside presence during the outing. We know the Nets have a little more to play for than most teams in the NBA, when challenging the Miami Heat. Even without their best player on the team being Brook Lopez, Brooklyn has still remained intrigued to play hard for a chance in the playoffs. The Heat come into the playoffs without their former long-range dead eye shooter Mike Miller, who was let go in the off-season.
They’ve looked to James Jones to fill the void temporarily, along with Norris Cole emerging as a legitimate 6th man off the bench this season. There’s nothing that can be said about this team that nobody already knows, as LeBron James will be filling up the stat sheets every game and whether Wade can remain healthy; but the story for this team has been their front court production. This series should be one where Chris Bosh takes over down the stretch due to the lack of 7-footers. Udonis Haslem has still been trying to get seasoned after missing time throughout the year (along with Greg Oden), but they’ve been looking towards Chris ‘Birdman’ Andersen for added point production. In comparison to their coasting of the regular season and LeBron having his second week off in the last 30 days for more rest, the Heat will be looking to end this series faster than some would think. The Nets have the tools to give the Heat problems, but the inconsistency of Joe Johnson, age and Miami’s backcourt defense is our deciding factor to side with the boys in South Beach.
Game 1: BKN at MIA | Tue., May 6, 7:00 PM ET | TNT
Game 2: BKN at MIA | Thu., May 8, 7:00 PM ET | ESPN 2
Game 3: MIA at BKN | Sat., May 10, 8:00 PM ET | ABC
Game 4: MIA at BKN | Mon., May 12, 8:00 PM ET | TNT
Game 5: BKN at MIA | Wed., May 14 | TNT | If Needed
Game 6: MIA at BKN | Fri., May 16 | ESPN | If Needed
Game 7: BKN at MIA | Sun., May 18 | ABC | If Needed