Miami Heat: Will winning the intangibles game be enough to upset the Lakers?

Will the Miami Heat’s intangibles be enough to upset the Los Angeles Lakers

With the exception that LeBron James’ defensive assignment is already in foul trouble prior to the NBA Finals Game 1 start, the Miami Heat has several intangibles in its favor.

If you happen to be sick of the oft-used “Heat culture” line that’s been beaten to death over the last few weeks, perhaps I can interest you to the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers are listed as heavy favorites to win the title.

All the pressure is on Los Angeles to win while the Heat is essentially playing with house money.

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More specifically, all the pressure is on LeBron James. Currently, the living legend is 3-6 in the NBA Finals. Losing to a Heat team devoid of a single superstar the caliber of he and Anthony Davis would be a devastating blemish to his legacy.

Heat fans should know a thing about how LeBron James handles pressure.

Many would argue that he had an epic meltdown in the 2011 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks was enough on its own merit to eliminate him from the “GOAT” conversation.

By the way, a fun little game you can play in sifting through the unabashed LeBron apologists this week is hearing their response to how an NBA Finals loss to this Heat squad would impact his legacy.

Another factor to keep in mind is karma.

The Los Angeles Lakers are a two-headed monster of a team but both of those monsters had an unceremonious way of saying goodbye to their former homes.

When LeBron first came to Miami, Pat Riley warned him that a four-year contract rather than a three-year one would limit his ability to bring the team more talent.

LeBron chose to sign a four-year contract regardless and it ended up biting him and Miami in the butt when the collective talent of the San Antonio Spurs over-matched Miami and the Chosen One was limited with teammates he could pass the ball to.

The summer following, he agreed to meet with Pat Riley to hear Miami’s pitch while the World Cup was playing on a TV in the room and LeBron’s head representation – Maverick Carter – wasn’t even there.

It is well-documented how much of an ax Riley has to grind with LeBron based on how he ditched the man most responsible with getting him his first and second championship.

Riley chose better than to reduce himself to a Dan Gilbert letter of condemnation but it’s probably safe to say the man who made Armani famous is not likely to be in attendance when LeBron gives his Hall of Fame speech. At least that’s my guess.

Anthony Davis was no better. Davis signed with Klutch sports while he was a member of the New Orleans Pelicans and forced his way out of town.

The entire year served as a PR nightmare for the team and the guy who was actually once tabbed as the heir apparent to LeBron James in the “best player in the NBA” conversation decided he’d rather join the man than beat him.

Look, say what you will about the player empowerment era that LeBron James essentially coined, but it’s pretty messed up when you sign to play for a certain number of years and don’t fulfill that contract with threats and bogus injuries.

If LeBron and the Lakers win, it will make for a feel-good story that will be topped off with endless shout-outs to Kobe Bryant and the championship-starved city of LA.

But if the Lakers lose, that may be enough to even overshadow the LA Clippers choke job a few weeks ago that cost Doc Rivers his job.

The last intangible that needs to be mentioned is something I call “the bonehead factor.” For whatever reason, it’s always the case that there’s a guy who will make at least one bone-headed play that will change the course of a series.

J.R. Smith famously decided to dribble out the clock in Game 1 of the NBA Finals a few years ago when the game was tied. He THOUGHT the team was up and ultimately the Cleveland Cavaliers lost the game.

A year prior to that, Draymond Green committed a stupid foul that led to his suspension in Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals. At the time, the Warriors were up 3-1 against the Cavaliers and his absence was enough to swing the momentum of the series.

And so on and so forth.

If you look across the Miami Heat’s lineup, it appears “bone-head” free.

The Los Angeles Lakers, on the other hand, have a few strong candidates. In case you didn’t know, Dwight Howard has successfully alienated his way off more teams in the league than the Kardashian family.

The last MVP award JaVale McGee won was on the TNT-program “Shaqtin’ A Fool.” Dion Waiters, who was recently a member of the Miami Heat, also has had his history and downfalls. And last, but not least, because 2020 has been such an unbridled and controversial misery of a year, J.R. Smith is on the Lakers as well!

My prediction is the Miami Heat end up winning this series in seven and that LeBron James will get a touch-up on his hair replacement surgery to help make up for the pain of falling 3-7 all-time in the NBA Finals.