RealGM

Who wins in 7?

Which version of the Heat?

The one in the finals/playoffs with an injured Wade or the one in the RS winning 27 straight with a healthy Wade?

2013 Lebron would have a field day against the Warriors' defence.

As a far less superior version of him was killing them.



Also, you have to consider that GSW has a habit of turning over the ball a lot during live play.

Which would allow the Heat to just kill them in transition

As a result, I think the Heat win in six games.

I think the 2013 Heat would whoop the last 3 NBA champions given the COVID-19/injury situation in the league.

It's weird because it doesn't feel like this Warriors roster is all that strong but they had a pretty dominant playoff run going 16-6 overall. Heat didn't only struggle with the Spurs but also the Pacers. With Wade injured I think the Dubs are probably better.

I feel like the Heat are better despite the hobbled playoff situation, I take Lebron by a good margin over Curry here. Wade while probably not as dynamic a guy like Brown is just a far more skilled player, don't think his handles are a problem here.
I really question what Bosh's role would be in a series like this, he's definitely not like Rob Williams, but maybe he would mimick JJJ's impact? As good as the Warriors defense is, I don't see Miami's offense struggling as much as Boston's did with their lack of interior rim protection. Their defense just seems to be far more suited to play against a team like GS compared to a Denver or Dallas too.

But this might be a situation where the advancement of the league/strategy/coaching has come so far in 9 years that it would be tough to overcome that. Warriors relatively are definitely a deeper team and have a lot more flexibility in how they lineup than Miami does.

Warriors ball movement and shooting would kill Miami's trap defense. Spurs killed them in 2014, and Warriors are better than that team.

Statlanta wrote:I think the 2013 Heat would whoop the last 3 NBA champions given the COVID-19/injury situation in the league.

Last two champions, the Heat would be quite dominant against I think. But I'm not sure how the '13 Heat do against the '20 Lakers. No answer for AD who played the best basketball of his career that year, including in the playoffs.

Gooner wrote:Warriors ball movement and shooting would kill Miami's trap defense. Spurs killed them in 2014, and Warriors are better than that team.

Yeah surprised nobody's bringing this up. Feels like their defensive scheme would play exactly into how Warriors like to play

Relative to league at the time, the 2013 Heat (even the hobbled playoff version) is clearly better. But I do question how that team would adapt to the dominant strategies of today, which hadn't emerged yet in 2013 despite the same rules in place. I look at that Heat roster and I don't see enough passing/shooting - remember that Mike Miller was hurt too and missed a lot of playoff games. Haslem would be unplayable, Norris Cole unplayable, Birdman unplayable.

Lebron would do well minus Duncan's interior defense but would he completely feast against Draymond and Wiggins? I have a hard time forgetting his jumper disappeared for the first 6 games of the Finals, would could be a death knell against the Warriors given Wade was a shadow of himself.

Gooner wrote:Warriors ball movement and shooting would kill Miami's trap defense. Spurs killed them in 2014, and Warriors are better than that team.

The 2014 Heat were worse and on top of that the Spurs had a freakishly outlier shooting performance. The 13 Heat were still great defensively even with hobbled Wade.

No-more-rings wrote:

Gooner wrote:Warriors ball movement and shooting would kill Miami's trap defense. Spurs killed them in 2014, and Warriors are better than that team.

The 2014 Heat were worse and on top of that the Spurs had a freakishly outlier shooting performance. The 13 Heat were still great defensively even with hobbled Wade.

The 14 Spurs also matched up way better with the Heat as well thanks to Kawhi and them also having Duncan in the interior to make driving to the basket harder

Heat went 7 vs a team that didn't win 50 games and was down 3-2 with HCA and down 5 with 30 seconds left in game 6 of the finals at home.