Panther's Perspective: So much for all that hype

After arguably the most covered off-season in the history of sports, and after the most anticipated start to an NBA season in history, the Miami Heat are 0-1.

So much for all that hype.

Miami's Super Friends played their first game together on Tuesday, October 26 at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston against the Celtics.  For the Heat, it was a lackadaisical effort put together by the biggest free agent acquisitions in the history of the sport.  LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined to go 17-for-48 from the field while Bosh and Wade combined for only 21 points. 

But that's not what was scary for the Heat, their big named stars will eventually get it together;  the fact that they had no interior defense whatsoever and on the offensive end, had to settle for nothing but jump shots was much scarier.  When Joel Anthony is your starting center, I don't know how the Heat expect to stop the Dwight Howard's and Pau Gasol's of the league.  Miami's big men (or lack thereof) made Shaq look 10 years younger; and if Shaq is dominating Miami's interior defense; Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, and Yao Ming must all be licking their chops.

For much of the game, I thought I was watching the Celtics play the Cleveland Cavaliers of the past two seasons.  LeBron James left Cleveland because he was tired of all the one-on-one isolations and was tired of walking the ball up the floor on a stagnant offense that had no rhyme or rhythm.  But if you watched Miami's offense on Tuesday night, that's exactly what Miami's offense was.  LeBron and Wade essentially took turns walking the ball up the court only to dribble around for much of the possession before one of them jacked up a well defended 20-foot jump shot.  All you needed was Anderson Varejo there to do some flopping and you would have had last year's Cleveland Cavaliers team.

Regardless of what all the so-called experts will say on ESPN, the Heat will face some serious problems come playoff time.  If you don't have a big man in today's league, you cannot win a championship.  It's that simple.  The past six teams that have made the NBA Finals over the last three seasons have all had dominant frontcourts (Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers thrice, and the Boston Celtics twice).

If the Heat have the fortune of playing any of these teams in the playoffs in May, I think we all know how a Dwight Howard versus Joel Anthony matchup is going to turn out for the Heat.