We at Cosby Sweaters are not big fans of the Miami Heat. We have no beef with D-Wade, but like the rest of the world, we hate LeBron (though we respect his game), and we think Chris Bosh is a goober.
We can’t wait to root hard against the Heat as long as they’re alive in the playoffs.
Which is why we’re rooting for them to win right now. Let’s take a look at the Eastern Conference standings:
In Round 1 of the playoffs, the #1 seed plays the #8 seed, the #2 plays #7, and so on. So if the playoffs started right now, the Celtics would face the Knicks, and the Heat would face Sixers.
Notice how close Boston and Miami are. If Miami finishes strong over its final seven games, it can easily snatch the #2 seed from the Celtics, which would almost certainly give the Heat a dream matchup against the Knicks in the first round.
Here’s why the Heat should want to play the Knicks: The Knicks suck. Everyone knows it, and everyone has written about it. Here’s Kelly Dwyer from Yahoo, Caleb from Knickerblogger, Jonathan Abrams from the New York Times, and Zach Lowe from Sports Illustrated. All those guys say it better, but the gist is that the Knicks play no defense, they can’t rebound, and they haven’t meshed after adding ‘Melo.
Meanwhile, the Sixers are playing excellent basketball. Coach Doug Collins has them playing gritty defense, Elton Brand looks like his old self, and they have a stable of fearless scorers in Thaddeus Young, Jrue Holliday, and Lou Williams. Jodie Meeks is killing it off the bench. Oh, and they have the best perimeter defender in the league: Andre Iguodala. (Click on that link last. You can thank me later.)
As I write this, the 76ers are winning 102-73 over the Nets — with over seven minutes left in the game!
We bet the Heat would sweep the Knicks in the first round. (Hell, we think the Cavs would have a shot of beating them in 7.) But the Heat would have a far, far tougher matchup in the first round if they had to face the hungry, scrappy 76ers. We could easily see the series going 6 or 7 games.
So if you want a shot at rejoicing over a Heat upset in Round One of the playoffs, root for the Celtics to keep their lead over the Heat and hold on to that #2 spot to play this year’s patsies, the Knicks. And force the Heat to struggle against a 76ers team with a real shot at knocking them off.
