Our Miami Heat are the Eastern Conference champions!!!! One of the most concentrated efforts I’ve seen all season long from top to bottom. The stand out performance has to be J Williams. O’Neal was awesome as well and did an incredible job soaking up the paint. Williams kept us ahead and kept Detroit on the ground all game long. Suprisingly he only missed one shot and it was a layup. He went 10-11.

Walker had a great game as well, kicking where he needed to and scoring and drawing fouls at the right spots.

I know fans had to be worried when Detroit cut the lead from 21 to 13 with 8 minutes+ left, but this is where J Williams and great rebounding by pretty much everyone on the glass, made the difference.

Congrats to the fans and the Heat baby!

Who should we face next? The Mavs or the Suns?

Here comes Detroit. Miami is clashing with Detroit for a second time in 2 years in the Eastern Conference Finals.

What’s different this year?

-The bench of the Miami Heat is stacked with veterans as opposed to untested playoff first timers.
-Two first rate, albeit old, but veteran, point guards as opposed to Damon Jones and an unfamiliar and injured Dwayne Wade bringing up the ball.
-A slimmer quicker Shaq.
-Multiple deep three threats in James Posey, Antoine Walker, Jason Williams, Gary Payton, and now Wade as opposed to just Damon Jones.
-Defensively, they might be slightly better due to veteran wiles and the ability to take more charges. Udonis Haslem has improved his defense tremendously over last year.
-Chemistry with Shaq is better. Especially between Shaq and Haslem/Wade.
-Big time shooting Robert Horry style with Antoine Walker, Gary Payton, and Dwayne Wade as opposed to just Wade last year.
-The ability to get to the basket more with Williams, Wade, Shaq, Haslem, Payton, and Walker. Last year it was Wade, Shaq, and sometimes Haslem. None of the perimeter players could really get to the basket last year (aside from that hellacious dunk on The Franchise by Keeyon Dooling last year).
-Lets not forget coaching. The coaching staff has naturally gotten better with some more experience under their belt. Oh yeh they added Pat Riley too.
-Announcers. Yes The Coach, Tony Fiorentino got better at calling the games and doing color. Eric Reid, like Coach Rothstein, had no way of improving after so many years. They just maintained their greatness.

I’ve been Antoine Walker’s biggest fan it seems if you listen to the callers on 790 the ticket. Not the hostsmind you. but the callers. I remember people saying we should be playing Dorell Wright over Antoine. I don’t think so now and I never did then. Without Walker it seems we would not have beaten the Nets. Hes had 3 big games in this series including clutch baskets we needed.

I’m filing under this under coaching as well. Riley knows Walker is the last key to the puzzle to spread the defense giving Shaq and Wade more room. If Haslem can get his bounds and baskets in addition to those 3 then we will beat anyone.

30 points is the magic number for Wayne Simien to step into the game. The matchups for Dallas I think require Simien’s presence. In fact, we need need him in alot of games. He may not be the answer, but he will sure provide some f’ing energy for this team.

I don’t care about the required minutes the vets have to play. You sit Doleac the entire season and you think hes gonna produce? No. This was something Van Gundy incorporated well last year. Rotating his whole bench night in and night out.

Oh and now there is this talk about Shandon being the potential key to our team D all of sudden. He was there last year doing the same thing. Hes one of our only decent defensive players. Its sad, I know.

You’re either in or you’re out. Riley is in and Van Gundy is out. I don’t like it, but the players I guess do.

I know Alonzo is a big Riley fan and vice versa. They have a tremendous amount of respect for each other. Maybe Zo can elevate his offense now.

We have a ton of veterans on our team and they are not gelling correctly. Maybe it was because of Van Gundy, maybe they didn’t respect him enough, maybe it was just because the team was losing and looking for a scape goat.

Riley has been wanting to come back to try and work this clay into a Heat Championship since the playoffs last year. Here is his chance. I really hope this doesn’t screw us up more.

Riley likes Walker’s game alot so I expect the three people to be getting the most touches will be him, Wade, and Shaq. We also see some new defensive schemes, something I have been disappointed in this year.

I’m willing to bet Riley makes us better in the half court offense and defensive boards.

Pat Riley and Stan Van Gundy met back in August and everyone was unsure if Pat Riley was gonna step in as head coach and fire Stan. Well those rumors were put to bed as Stan stepped on the court Tuesday night for their first exhibition game against the defending Champions San Antonio Spurs.

The Heat was victorious 103-101. After the game the media asked Stan what Riley had discussed with him in the offseason. He said he wouldn’t be where he was if Pat Riley had not given him a chance to learn under him and give him oppurtunity to coach. He also mentioned that Pat and him were on the same page and are looking forward to making this team an elite team and not just good looking on paper, but produce on the court. Stan Van Gundy has a chance to do good things with this team this year. His coaching will be key in making these players believe in his system.