Raptors vs Miami Heat: Who’s got the edge?
By Brian Boake
Here’s my first take on the Heat-Raptors Eastern Conference semi-final. Game One of what I project to be a long series is tomorrow night at the Air Canada Centre.
Oh, how quickly things change. I had postulated a Charlotte Hornets close-out of the Miami Heat, and was dead wrong. Miami stole Charlotte’s candy with a Game 6 road win, then demolished the upstarts in Florida last night.
The Toronto Raptors are in tough. Miami, even without Chris Bosh (we’ll come back to him), puts a veteran, refuse-to-lose squad on the court.
Their starters in all seven first-round games:
- PG – Goran Dragic…a left-handed Jose Calderon, a pass-first European who isn’t shy about taking a 3-ball or driving to the hoop…don’t sleep on him, or he will burn you
- SG – Dwyane Wade…ageless superstar already has 3 championship rings…he could retire tomorrow and be a first-ballot Hall of Famer…tied for lead in Heat in playoff scoring with 19 points per game [PPG]
- SF – Joe Johnson…that man again…a huge problem for Raptors in Nets series two years ago…playing like a beast since joining the Heat after Nets let him go…highly efficient shooter from anywhere on the floor
- PF – Luol Deng…co-leader in playoff scoring…20 of 39 from beyond the arc so far…do-it-all “glue” guy
- C – Hassan Whiteside…best value for money in NBA…crazy rebounding and shot-blocking numbers for a guy who was playing pickup in the local Y two years ago…a taller Bismack Biyombo
Coach Erik Spoelstra is a two-time NBA Championship winner, so has the respect of his aging but still highly dangerous squad. His playoff rotation has been tight, with young swingmen Josh Richardson and Justise Winslow seeing significant action in every game.
Veteran tweener Gerald Green is the only other Heat-er (I dunno – any ideas?) who has played in all 7 games, but sparingly. Creaky Amar’e Stoudemire has been trotted out, as has useful big man Josh McRoberts. Otherwise Spoelstra has been riding his best horses hard.
Bosh has been making noise about returning to the lineup, but I have a hard time seeing that happening. The risk to his health is too great. Besides, he hasn’t played since early February.
Let’s make some sense of these teams by a head to head comparison.
| Position | Heat | Raptors | Edge | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Guard | Goran Dragic | Kyle Lowry | even | Unless and until Lowry rediscovers his outside stroke, "even" is optimistic. |
| Shooting Guard | Dwyane Wade | DeMar DeRozan | Heat | Experience trumps (relative) youth. If DD is consistent, this will be a draw. |
| Small Forward | Joe Johnson | DeMarre Carroll | even | Our man is a better defender, and he'll need to be. |
| Power Forward | Luol Deng | Patrick Patterson | Heat | Deng has the credentials, while 2-Pat fell into the jobe with Luis Scola's failure. |
| Centre | Hassan Whiteside | Jonas Valanciunas | Raptors, barely | JV hits his free throws, and can create his shots. Whiteside can't do either, but he makes up for it. |
| Rotation | J. Winslow, J. Richardson, G. Green, A. Stoudemire | T. Ross, B. Biyombo, C. Joseph, N. Powell | Raptors | This one isn't close. Our second-unit guys should go to town on theirs. |
| Coach | Erik Spoelstra | Dwane Casey | even | I thought Casey handled the rotation well in RD1. Spoelstra was supposed to win when he had the Big 3, and did. |
| Momentum & Intangibles | Raptors | The Heat have to be missing Bosh. Meanwhile, the Raptors got the playoff monkey off their backs. |
This series is so tight, it squeaks. When the decision is a coin flip, I’m taking our team. The Raptors push out the Heat in seven games.