Miami – During the regular season, the Miami Heat had the Eastern Conference’s best record, had two all-stars in Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade and stole the spotlight from reigning NBA champion Detroit. But few fans remember what happens in the regular season.
It’s time for the Heat to face the most daunting expectations in team history. Anything less than an NBA Finals appearance might disappoint Heat fans who have watched O’Neal transform their franchise.
“I don’t see it as pressure,’ Heat guard Eddie Jones said last week. “We know we’re the No. 1 team in the East. We’ve got to go out there and beat other teams around us, bottom line.’
While this season’s Heat doesn’t have the best record in franchise history, it does seem to hold the best chance of winning a championship.
If, that is, the 7-foot-1, 300-pound O’Neal can get healthy – and stay that way. He suffered a strained left knee Feb. 23. Sunday, he suffered a bruised right thigh when he was kneed by Pacers forward Jermaine O’Neal. He sat out the final two regular-season games and, while expected back for the playoff opener Sunday against New Jersey, told The Miami Herald this week his thigh remains swollen.
“I really can’t bend it,’ O’Neal said. “It’s pretty swollen. I’ve been doing double, triple treatments. If I can bend it, if I can run and jump, then I’ll be ready to go.’
It will be tough for any team to find a formula to stop a healthy O’Neal and the shifty Wade. Add Jones, an outstanding third scoring option, point guard Damon Jones, one of the NBA’s top 3-point shooters, and Udonis Haslem, one of the league’s most underrated power forwards, and you have multiple reasons why Miami is expected to reach the NBA Finals. The bench is loaded with proven veterans, including Alonzo Mourning, Michael Doleac, Shandon Anderson, Christian Laettner and Steve Smith.
And maybe the most underrated Heat ingredient is its commitment to team play.
“We have a team built to win a championship if we play the way we’re capable of playing on both ends,’ Damon Jones said. “Everyone is unselfish. There is no individual agenda throughout this locker room. Everybody is trying to play their role to help this team win.’
Said O’Neal: “You just have to have those one or two guys who are going to do it every night. We have that. Then, you have to have every other piece step up.’
The 1996-97 Heat won a franchise-best 61 games, but those were the days Michael Jordan ruled the NBA. Jordan’s Bulls dispatched Miami in five games in the Eastern Conference finals. This season’s Heat finished with 59 victories, though it almost certainly would have surpassed the club record had O’Neal not missed nine games with injuries.
Like the Bulls in 1997, the Pistons are coming off a championship. But that hasn’t kept the Heat from getting the accolades during the regular season.
Miami’s fun style of play and O’Neal-infused personality has made it a national story since training camp. O’Neal, obtained in a blockbuster trade with the Lakers last summer, gave Miami a presence that immediately vaulted it to title contender.
Pistons guard Chauncey Billups understands, though he said he believes his team gets overlooked.
“We are under the radar,’ Billups said. “They talk about all these other teams. But people know to win the championship, you’ve got to beat the Pistons.’
Detroit finished No. 2 in the East. Billups is looking forward to an Eastern Conference final against O’Neal and Co.
“If it goes the way it should, the best two teams will play each other,’ he said.
Said O’Neal: “We’re not trying to be the best team right now, we’re trying to be the champions. All those little comparisons mean nothing to me.’
Miami has Detroit’s attention. The reverse is also true, said Miami coach Stan Van Gundy.
“They deserve to be very confident,’ Van Gundy said of Detroit, which had won 10 in a row before losing its regular-season finale to Charlotte on Wednesday. “They should be. I’ve said all year, any team in the East has to understand that the road to win the Eastern Conference goes through Detroit.’
Staff writer Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
