by Robel Wondimu ’13

Miami Heat (2) vs. Dallas Mavericks (3)

Déjà vu, anyone? This is the exact same championship game as in 2006, The Heat should again win the series, likely in a four-game sweep. The only major differences this year are that the Heat now have LeBron James and Chris Bosh, but not veteran big man Shaquille O’Neal. This means that I must regretfully inform you that LeBron James will in fact be a part of a championship team. He couldn’t do it himself, so he decided to guarantee himself a championship ring and rode the coattails of Dwyane Wade, one of the most well-known and popular players in the league.

The reasons the Heat should win are simple. For one, they can overpower the Mavericks with their big three, Wade, James and Bosh. The Mavericks have no hope aside from Dirk Nowitzki to effectively guard them, but Nowitzki, the glue of the team and the likely reason the Mavs are in the playoffs, injured a finger on his non-shooting hand during game one of the series. This should prove to be a costly injury to the Mavs. Furthermore, the Heat stole game one in a stunning fashion. They were down for an entire half, but made a spectacular comeback like they did in four of their five games against the Chicago Bulls in the conference finals. This was thanks in part to the strength of the Heat’s bench. With all these factors stacked-up against them, it would take more than a miracle for the Mavs to win the championship, let alone one game in the series.