2006 NBA Finals again

For kicks, scroll down to “NBA Finals Forecast” and read the first sentence   

This Finals was probably the craziest NBA Finals I’ve seen–where one team looks like it’s going down 3-0 and then turns it up a couple notches to eek out a win at home for Game 3 and then win 3 straight after that.  The Heat in the first two and four-fifths games played as bad as any championship contender that I’ve seen.  In a lot of ways, it wasn’t so much that the Heat played well (an insane amount of turnovers for a team in the Finals)–except for when it mattered down the stretch—as it was the Mavericks choked during the last 3 or 4 minutes of games 3,5, and 6.  4 games were decided by 3 points or less! I remember over a year ago, I engaged in an online debate over whether Dwyane Wade is better than LeBron.  Ironically, it was against a Heat fan who contended that LeBron was better that I had this debate over.  I argued that Wade was more versatile since Wade not only could be the unquestioned leader of a team, but he could also play second fiddle (a la Scottie Pippen) to someone like Shaq (when it was necessary).  Wade is a better defender than LeBron and all he needs to work on it seems is a consistent outside jump shot.  Although I’m not a Heat fan, I rooted for them during the playoffs because 1) I wanted to see ‘Zo get his ring, and 2) I always thought D-Wade was underrated (compared to LeBron)–I usually root for the underdogs anyway.  I’ve been following the NBA since 1988 and ‘Zo is the best defender in the low-post that I’ve seen.  Not only is he tenacious on defense, but he was also the Hornets and Heat’s primary scoring option for years.  I felt he deserved to win the MVP award back in ‘99 when Malone won it (less than 100 votes separated Malone, Mourning, and Duncan).  And that whole kidney thing.  Crazy. I think I learned a lot from watching the NBA Finals this year.  How you gotta be hungry enough to win and gotta do all the little things and accept your roles/sacrifice.  From what i’ve been observing, Pat Riley’s quite a motivator and that may have been the difference in the series.  Too bad I don’t bet on sports…  The reality for the Heat is that they have bring in some younger players in order to defend their title.  I don’t know if they can repeat.  Dwyane Wade’s going to get better (scary thought, especially when he works on improving his on-the-ball defense with Kobe this summer, and the outside jump shot), Shaq is showing his age that he’s starting to look more like a liability than a dominant presence.  Looks like Mourning and GP will retire.  My pick for next year’s the Phoenix Suns.  Look how far they got without Amare.  Need I say more?