Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James and the Miami Heat are looking pretty unstoppable at the moment. With their win streak at 18 and counting, thanks to a thorough handling of the Indiana Pacers Sunday afternoon, the team looks like a lock to not only make their third-straight NBA Finals, but walk away with their second-straight NBA Championship.

However, this won’t be the year of the Heat.

Why?

Well, something freakish will derail this historic season put together by James and company. Since this is a freakish performance so far put on by Miami, only an event of similar description will be able to overcome the club.

With that being said, here are three ways the Heat will lose before the Finals in this year’s playoffs.

All predictions are based off current seedings.

Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

3. Carmelo Anthony Will Channel His Inner Dirk Nowitzki

When the New York Knicks are forced to face the Heat in the second round of the playoffs, Carmelo Anthony will revert back to the form he displayed at the beginning of the season and play better than James and company. Anthony will put the team on his back and will them to win four games over the Heat.  After he does this, we will forever refer to that performance as ‘Melo “channeling his inner Dirk.” Heck, we’ll even see him fall away off the wrong foot, a la Nowitzki.

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

2. Derrick Rose Will Play As If He Never Hurt His Knee

With a healthy Derrick Rose for the playoffs, the Bulls will take care of the Brooklyn Nets in the first round and then the Indiana Pacers in the Conference Semifinals. Since Rose has been gone for about 10 months now, the rest of the team will have created some confidence in their abilities and won’t need to rely on Rose so much. But that doesn’t mean Rose won’t play well. He’ll perform as if he never missed any time. He’ll average 20 points and eight assists during the Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat. He’ll lead the Bulls to a victory in Game 7 in Miami.

Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

1. LeBron James Will Choke

The most freakish thing I can think of (besides having Bane take over American Airlines Arena and taking LeBron James hostage) is James choking.  For the season, he’s shooting 56 percent from the floor. During the playoffs, however, that will dip to 45 percent. Miami will be without once-in-a-lifetime-season James. They’ll just be stuck with a regular, run of the mill LeBron James. Disappointing.

Michael Linberg is a staff writer for Sir Charles in Charge. You may follow him on Twitter at Linberg2000

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA season is winding down and the number of games left is in the neighborhood of 23 for most teams. The 2012-13 year has been somewhat wacky, so with that in mind, here are 12 extremely bold predictions for the rest of the season.

These predictions are in no particular order….

12) The Miami Heat will win the NBA Finals in five games, no matter who the opponent is. It’s just that LeBron James is having an all-time great season and it doesn’t look like any team will be able to stop him or the rest of the Heatles.

11) This gets progressively more bold: The Sacramento Kings will find a way to keep the team in Sacramento, build a new arena downtown and will win the first-overall pick during the draft lottery. For once in my life I want to see that happen.

10) The Toronto Raptors will make the playoffs. At the moment they are six games back of the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference but are 6-4 in their last 10 games. All they need to do is catch the Milwaukee Bucks and Brandon Jennings, who looks to have checked out the rest of this season. Rudy Gay has helped the team and will undoubtedly help with a playoff run. Stranger things have happened.

9) Either Al Jefferson or Paul Millsap from the Utah Jazz will suffer a season-ending injury. That means Derrick Favors will be given the starting nod and will produce 20 points and 10 rebounds for the rest of the season. Watch, it’ll happen and my fantasy team will shine for it!

8) Let’s get some rookie love in here. Dion Waiters has been on fire the past five games. During that time he’s averaging 20.4 points on 52 percent shooting. Waiters will keep this hot shooting up for the rest of the season and up his season average to 17 points per game. Put it in the bank.

7) Stephen Curry is one of the best players in the NBA when he’s healthy. Not only that, but he’s fun to watch too. You might not have heard, but he scored 54 points against the Knicks a few nights ago. That won’t be his highest output; he’ll put up 60 before the season ends. Curry can definitely improve upon those 11 three-pointers he nailed against New York.

6) The Los Angeles Lakers have been a fascinating story this season, however chaotic. Currently one game under .500 at 29-30, L.A. is two games behind the Houston Rockets for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Lakers will clinch the eighth spot and will take the San Antonio Spurs to seven games in the first round, but will not win the series.

5) I’m going to stick with the Lakers theme here. Dwight Howard will demand Mike D’Antoni to be fired, Kobe Bryant be traded away, a statue of himself to be erected outside Staples Center but then leave for the Brooklyn Nets in free agency. Come to think of it, that might not be such a bold prediction…

4) Carmelo Anthony won’t attend another Syracuse basketball game. The last time he went to one, the Orange had a nightmare of a time trying to find the bottom of the net against Otto Porter and Georgetown.

3) Andrew Bynum will play for the Philadelphia 76ers with a clean and stylish fade that doesn’t make him look homeless. And he’ll play well……although….

2) Andrew Bynum will hurt his knee in a knitting accident after his first game back.

1) Derrick Rose will play in the final regular season game but will not participate in the playoffs. Then we won’t have to say he sat for the entire season.

Michael Linberg is a staff writer for Sir Charles in Charge. You may follow him on Twitter at @Linberg2000

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