Will the Heat survive "Blue Devil Syndrome"?

[LSanders]

NBA opening night, and the Heat are in Boston. At halftime, the "old men" of the Celtics own the Heat, dominating in pretty much all aspects of the game.

Made me wonder how their season will go. Duke is always the biggest game of the year for pretty much every team they face. Facing that kind of pressure and intensity night after night can drain teams by tourney time.

The Heat are now THAT team ... The one with the huge target on its back. Already the Celtics are blistering them. What will the Heat look like after a season of this every night? Many NBA teams look like they're mailing it in a lot of times, in theory, because of the long season. If the Heat don't bring it, they're likely in for a bunch of long evenings.

What will that do to them? How much will they have in the tank in the end?

I typically only watch the NBA when one of our guys is playing (and there's nothing else on.) But, this side story intrigues me.

[prefan21]

I think calling it "Blue Devil Syndrome" is apt, not only because teams will give the Heat their A game, but also because fans really seem to despise the Heat after Lebron's antics. I expect their experience during road games will be similar to Duke's during the JJ Redick era.

[Duke: A Dynasty]

You have to remember these guys have not played together yet as a team. Its also the first year for Lebron and Bosh in this system and that their are key injuries still in affect to role players. This team will be scary good once they start clicking. Bad analogy: Say KI was injured this year and missed all the practices and first bunch of games and Singler missed half as much as well. Well Duke would look slopy their first game back together too. And dont forget this is the Celtics who were in the finals and still have a hall of fame coach.

[RoyalBlue08]

Miami is even getting the "overrated" chant now....... where have I heard that before?

[SupaDave]

Miami is even getting the "overrated" chant now....... where have I heard that before?

Well for now, they most definitely are and they have very little inside presence to boot. They missed tons of jumpers tonight yet they continued to shoot them. They will have to be lights out for a good portion of the year with the current roster. Ironically, minus some great point guard play (we hope), the Heat's style of play should be similar to Duke's.

[Acymetric]

I would rather not associate the Heat with Duke, but maybe that's just me.

Well, ok, D-Wade gets a pass.

I do think they'll get everyone's best shot, but I don't think that's why they won't have a successful season (doubt they'll be in the finals, may not even make the conference finals). When you put stars like that together the whole is less than the sum of its parts, and I think that'll become painfully clear over the course of this season.

[COYS]

I would rather not associate the Heat with Duke, but maybe that's just me.

Well, ok, D-Wade gets a pass.

I do think they'll get everyone's best shot, but I don't think that's why they won't have a successful season (doubt they'll be in the finals, may not even make the conference finals). When you put stars like that together the whole is less than the sum of its parts, and I think that'll become painfully clear over the course of this season.

I'm no Heat fan, but I'm also not a Heat hater. I don't think that your last statement necessarily rings true. Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and KG came together as stars who dominated the ball on their previous teams (or, in the case of Pierce, on the Celtics). However, when the three got together, they decided they would commit to defense and sharing the ball on offense which led to a title in their first season together and another finals appearance last year. Bosh and James willingly chose to play with Wade in Miami. They are well aware that they will need to be unselfish to make things work. Obviously, it is possible that the experiment becomes a big failure, but it is definitely not true that putting stars together like this "never works." The east is very top heavy and I wouldn't be surprised to see any of the Heat, Magic, and Celtics emerge as the conference champs. That being said, even if the Heat don't make the finals this season, it doesn't meant he experiment was a failure and it doesn't mean that after a year of playing together and the chance to add higher quality role players with a midlevel exception (if that still exists), they can't suddenly become a juggernaut that owns the NBA for several seasons.

[Indoor66]

They need a little time to learn to play with each other. D. Wade played 3 minutes of the pre-seasion before pulling a hammie. He sat until last night. Also, Miami's last pre-season game with Orlando - in Tampa - was cancelled because the floor was slippery. They just have not played together.

[hurleyfor3]

I think it's far more likely they'll start taking games off and fighting amongst themselves. That is most certainly NOT any sort of "Blue Devil Syndrome," not under Coach K it ain't.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Btw, since we're talking about Duke and the Miami Heat in the same post, check out this article on ESPN. Great read.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hruby/101025_miami_heat_most_hated_team&sportCat=nba

[HaveFunExpectToWin]

Just to be the contrarian, I'm rooting for the Heat this year because of Lebron, Wade, and Bosh. I have no significant allegiances to any team and pretty much just follow players in the NBA, so why not root for a team with three of the better players in the league?

As to the original post, yes I agree that the Heat will be the big ticket this year for most of their road games, much like Duke, but the difference is that people are coming to see Lebron, Wade, and Bosh, not the Heat. There's no built up hate for the Heat, people are just coming to see the show.

[hq2]

It's a long season. The Heat have not been together very long, and need work on making their offense happen. They haven't figured out how to mesh the talents of the big 3 yet; they'll get better. As for the C's, well it was a must-win last night; a loss would have shown that the Heat were already better, even if they C's had played together a long time. Now, I'd say by season's end, barring major injuries (which could easily happen) they'll both be competitive. Remember also that the C's didn't have Perkins or Delonte West, both of whom will make them better too, so they will improve too.

[tele]

Maybe a comparison to the us national team playing other international teams is more fitting. Also, unlike duke, and the recent national team, I wonder if the heat have the coaching to make this work. Maybe the heat are more like the US national team when it was coached by Larry Brown.

[theAlaskanBear]

It's a bit too early to be proclaiming the Heat a failure. And by a bit, I mean about 8 months too early. For a team that has hardly played together, I am surprised they didnt get blown out of the gym by a championship team with 3 years of cohesion. No, James and Co are not going to dominate on a nightly basis, but I bet by the end of the season they are looking pretty damn good.

[DukieInBrasil]

I do think they'll get everyone's best shot, but I don't think that's why they won't have a successful season (doubt they'll be in the finals, may not even make the conference finals). When you put stars like that together the whole is less than the sum of its parts, and I think that'll become painfully clear over the course of this season.
Worked pretty well for the Celtics a couple of years back. In fact, it's still working for them.

[Troublemaker]

Heat are going to win 60+ games if healthy just based on the weakness of the bottom 11 teams in the very top-heavy Eastern Conference. Agree with those that said the Heat just need some time to gel especially since Wade was out all preseason. I'm rooting against them (and for Austin Rivers' pop) but they'll be fine. Too much talent and too easy a schedule not to be fine.

[Duke: A Dynasty]

Worked pretty well for the Celtics a couple of years back. In fact, it's still working for them.

This is why I do not understand all this hatred for the Heat.

[NSDukeFan]

This is why I do not understand all this hatred for the Heat.

See Decision, The.

[LSanders]

See Decision, The.

:D Well put.