The HEAT Blog: The Joy of Being A True HEAT Fan

     It has been a crazy week in the top 5. The red-hot Cavaliers are winners of 10 in a row, the slacking HEAT and Hornets have gone 5-5 in the past 10 games. The Lakers, clinched the top seed in the wild-wild west, and of course Orlando is now in sole possession of the 2nd seed in the east. This week, we see LeBron James taking his turn in the ever so fragile number one spot in the MVP rankings, and we see Dwyane Wade going down to number two. This week, we also see Kobe rise to the number 3 spot and Howard decline to the number four. There’s plenty of basketball left so don’t assume James has this in the bag.

1. LeBron James: Cleaveland Cavaliers: Record 59-13

     This week, LeBron averaged 24.8 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 7.8 apg. Pretty nice stats if you ask me. His Cavaliers are riding a magical season winning 59 games (most in team history), and they are riding a 10 game win-streak. One big note could be added to this, the Cavs are 34-1 in the Q. So, what does all this have to do with LeBron and his MVP candidacy? Well how about this, I was wrong. yes I know, it’s a shocker but without King James – surprised i called him that?- the Cav would not be THE hottest team in the NBA at this moment.

2. Dwyane Wade: Miami HEAT: Record 38-34

     Wade had a decent week, averaging 29.5 ppg, 6.5 apg, 3 rpg and a whopping 1.5 Blocks per game. Wade, as we all know is still the best shot blocking guard in the NBA but his only heroic this week was the game-saving block in Detroit last sunday. during the win over Memphis, Coach Spoelstra wanted to rest him but, the HEAT showed why he should have a strong case for MVP by not closing out the lowly Grizzlies, making Wade play 32 Minutes. After, Wade was pretty quite in the losses to Indiana and Chicago. going 5-24 from the field in Indy… 

3. Kobe Bryant: Los Angeles Lakers: Record 58-14

     The Lakers, winners of their last 5, are a mere one game behind the Cavs for the best record in the league. Here’s the thing, the Lakers have 2 against Cleveland this season and therefore win the tie-breaker, meaning they have home-court should a Cavs-Lakers NBA Finals was to happen. Some of you might ask me why on earth is Kobe third behind Wade if his team is doing better? Well, I would answer with on thing.. MVP not MVT, Most Valuable PLAYER not Most Valuable TEAM. I know it’s probably one of those things i preach about more than you want to hear but, Wade is much more valuable to his team and this league than Kobe is this season.  No disrespect to Kobe he’s a great player, but this is Wade vs LeBron not Kobe vs LeBron.

4. Dwight Howard: Orlando Magic: Record 54-18

     Howard had his second 20-20 game in 10 days with 24 points and 21 rebounds in the Magic’s important 84-82 win over Boston in Orlando this week. People are begging to warm up to the idea of Howard and his superman-type skills. His only kryptonite in that huge win over Boston was that he did not score one point in the forth quarter.. Yes folks, not even one. No worries, he still have 2 double-doubles this week and averaged 12 and a half blocks per game. Here is my prediction, Howard becomes a more dominant player in the NBA than Shaquille O’Neal… far-fetched i know.. how about this one, Cavaliers vs Orlando in the eastern conference finals? who knows, one of those is bound to happen now.

5. Chris Paul: New Orleans Hornets: Record 44-27

     Hornets coach Byron Scott told the Times-Picayune: “I think if you look since the All-Star break when we got back into it, I think our defense has been fantastic. I think that’s one of the reasons we’re (14-6) since then.” Sorry, but I have to disagree with you… The main reason the Hornets are doing better is because of their MVP Candidate Chris Paul and his NBA leading 2.8 steals per game. I don’t expect Paul to win the MVP this year but he certainly deserves prop for guiding the Hornets to the playoffs this season.