The Miami Heat, with the holy trinity of James, Wade and Bosh, talked the talk 7 months ago, but have failed to consistently walk the walk. Yes they have qualified for the post season, but after a recent run of 5 losses (including some very public crying) followed by 3 wins, they do not at this stage have the aura of invincibility that the Celtics, Lakers, Spurs and the Bulls have.
Speaking of which, the Bulls have excelled under the supreme leadership and performances of Rose. He is currently the MVP favourite and justifiably so. He is currently generating 40.5 points a game (averaging 24.9 points and 7.8 assists) and involved in clutch after clutch play. The last two seasons the Bulls finished with 41-41 win loss ratios and this year they are back to Jordan-esque results. Barring a catastrophic run in to the finals, the Bulls should finish with at least 55 wins and will be neck and neck with the Celtics to be the number 1 ranked eastern conference team.
Despite the naysayers arguing that this year's Celtics will reach for walking frames before they reach for the Finals trophy, the Celtics should still shake up the post season. KG, Rondo, Allen, Shaq and Pierce all on court at the same time will be a force that most teams will struggle with - if they can all keep fit and healthy - not to mention that they have all been there, done that and smoked the celebratory cigars before.
The Lakers, the reigning champs, are as consistent as celebrities 'accidentally' releasing sex tapes/photos, and the finals would not be the same without them. Kobe, whilst he is getting on a bit (being a 14 year veteran) he is still averaging 24.8 points a game and has lead the Lakers at this stage to a 49-20 win loss season. Like the Bulls, with four weeks to go they should also reach at least a 55 win season and with the experience from last season and the four other recent championships to boot, the Lakers will be tough to beat.
If the Lakers are to repeat, they will, however, have to get past the multi-national, multi-talented, tight-knit Spurs who have the leagues best record with only 13 losses to date. With 4 weeks to go, the Spurs have already betted their last season's performance and as a team there are no better. They have 9 players who have played 50+ games so far this season and those 9 players average a minimum of 19 minutes on court. They are much like the dutch total football masters of the 1970's with all players being multi-dimensional and able to shoot, pass, rebound and give out good trash talk (in 4 languages no less).
The other teams in the mix for the finals are the fast finishing Knicks (with Melo being the injection of inspiration) and Thunder (currently on a 6 game winning streak), the Magic, the Mavericks, and the Hawks, but they should not really test the top five. Then again, stranger things have happened, I mean who knew Elin Nordegren could swing a 1 wood so well?
Bring on the finals series......
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