This series has got be the most intriguing, as the Heat come into the playoffs hot, led by their MVP Dwayne Wade, and the Hawks have played consistently all season long, and are hungry for a series win. After last season’s hard fought seven game series loss to the eventual champion Boston Celtics, the Hawks are the favorites in this series, and should be.
On paper the Hawks are the better team, and when it comes down to game time, they are also the better team. The lone reason being, the Hawks are not a one dimensional team like their foes, who are nothing without Dwayne Wade.
The Hawks have plenty of scorers and go to guys in this series, starting with Joe Johnson who led the team in scoring with 21.4 points. Johnson is a big time player that can hit jumpers and step up his play in crunch time. It will be fun to watch Johnson and Wade battle each other on the defensive end.
To support Johnson, the Hawks have Josh Smith, Al Horford, and Mike Bibby. All three of these players can score and play defense. Especially Smith and Horford who are excellent defenders and that will play into Atlanta’s favour. Also, Smith could defend Wade and limit his chances, which will give Johnson a bit more energy.
With the Heat, they have some solid youth in Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers, but they are like the Hawks from last year, good but just not playoff good. Defensively, the Heat aren’t exactly the best defensive team out there, and have shown they can’t play at a high level of defense all the time.
The Heat will only go as far as Dwayne Wade is able to take them, and it looks Wade and the Heat could push this series to a seventh game. When the Heat won the championship in 2004, Wade had a solid second player in Shaquille O’Neal, and this season’s Heat doesn’t have a solid supporting cast. That, along with home court advantage gives the series edge to the Hawks.
If the Hawks could contain Wade, and allow him to average 22-26 points a game, compared to his 31 points a game during the season, this series will finish much quicker.
SERIES PREDICTION --> THE ATLANTA HAWKS WILL WIN THIS SERIES IN 7 GAMES. BOTH TEAMS CANNOT PLAY ON THE ROAD, AND THE HOME TEAM WILL BE PERFECT AT HOME.
*THE MIAMI HEAT CAN WIN THIS SERIES IF THEIR PLAYERS SURROUNDING DWAYNE WADE COULD ACTUALLY PLAY, AND A ROAD WIN WOULDN’T HURT EITHER.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment