With all the hype surrounding LeBron James’ decision and the Miami Heat “Big Three” predictions of a 70-plus win
season surfaced in media outlets across the country.
With a roster of stars including James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, there was even talk about the possibility of the Heat breaking Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls NBA record of 72 regular season wins, a mark that was set in the 1995-96 season.
Now that the dust has settled from all the hype and six games are in the books for the 2010-11 season, take a look at the current NBA standings.
Like many other seasons there are a few unbeaten teams remaining with the Atlanta Hawks and L.A. Lakers leading that group with perfect 6-0 records. Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets are also perfect at 5-0 and that comes after their 96-93 win against the Heat last night.
The Heat dropped to 4-2 with that loss and trailed the entire game until James was granted and hit two free throws with less than a minute remaining in regulation time. They also trailed the entire game against the Celtics in their season opener loss. As the cliché goes, “You have to play the games.”
Yeah it’s early and the Heat, like the Lakers or any other NBA powerhouse team, could go on a roll banging out a dozen wins in a row at any given moment but it’s beginning to look like the hype should shift to the fact there is only one ball. That said, at the time of this article, after six games the Heat actually sit in third place behind the undefeated Hawks and the 3-1 Orlando Magic in the Southeast Division and in the overall records in the NBA are way down the ladder tied in the 9th spot.
So the early stages of this NBA season isn’t playing out like much of the media hoped and anticipated. Can you imagine the headlines and hype if the Heat started out like Joe Johnson’s 6-0 Hawks?
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