Pat Riley pulled off the near impossible last summer when acquiring LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh to join forces in South Beach. Something the NBA has never seen before with three perennial all-stars teaming up in their prime. Only comparable to what Swackhammer was able to accomplish after stealing the talents of some the NBA elite including Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Larry Johnson in order to defeat Michael Jordan and the Tune Squad in “Space Jam”.
While Riley looks the part of the typical bad guy, Miami’s “Big 3” has provided fans with reason to hate them. After the smoke cleared back in July following the over-the-top celebration press conference the Heat have been known has villains to everyone outside of Miami. LeBron, Wade and Bosh betrayed so many in so many ways leading up to free agency.
LeBron had been a celebrity in the Cleveland-area since he was in high school. He had the privilege to stay home and play for Cleveland after he was drafted number one overall by the Cavaliers and had grown bigger than Drew Carrey, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the whole Cleveland Indians organization.
Fans began to worry when LeBron wouldn’t say if he was staying or going and gave up during the playoffs. “The Decision” changed everything though. When LeBron went to Miami, he was no longer the hometown hero, instead a backstabber who not only quit on his team, but the whole state of Ohio. It was a similar situation with Wade, who played the Bulls during the summer when had the opportunity to return to his hometown to complete an all-Chicago backcourt with Derrick Rose. Bosh, on the other hand, was not only thought to be the best power forward on the market along with Amare Stoudemire, but the last chance Canada had to keep any type of basketball greatness in the country.
Now these players who had been loved by the masses since they were all drafted together in 2003 had
transformed into a hated group of characters. And if the disgust hadn’t set in during the summer, the overexposure during the regular season helped. They quickly gained all the media hoopla, predictions of beating the all-time record for wins in a season, and the favorites to win it all. Every game throughout the year was over-analyzed on ESPN and even their losses were the top story around the nation.
Their play only reassured fans this was the team to root against. When they are winning, the Heat are loud, cocky and love to showboat. If it’s not an emphatic dunk up by double digits, it’s poising after hitting a jump shot or screaming following an and one. However, there is always an excuse when they lose. It never seems to be there fault. Must have been the refs for not buying the act they put on to try and draw a foul.
And even though their supporting cast seems to be a bunch of Nerdlucks, Miami is in the NBA Finals after defeating some of the great “good guys” in the league with only Dirk Nowitski and the Dallas Mavericks standing in their way from writing a new ending to the Warner Bros. classic. But after Dirk’s Jordan-like performance in Game 4 battling the flu, Dallas has us all hoping the rest of the Mavs can channel their inner Bugsy Bunny, Donald Duck and Lola Bunny.