NBA Miami Heat

Did Miami Heat Fall Victim To Unexpected Hype?

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By @blackirishpr

Miami Heat

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Three weeks into the NBA season and the Miami Heat are already finding themselves falling victim to unexpected bandwagon hopping.

That’s not to say that they started to get caught up in their own hype, but with the success of an early 5-2 start came media, fan and player gushing alike. So much so that TNT analyst Kenny Smith predicted that the team would be meeting LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in a made for television Eastern Conference Finals storyline.

Out of the great play came talk of Chris Bosh as an early candidate for MVP and how much being alongside the best player in the game stifled him.

Of course all of this discussion came after he upped his 17 PPG average to 20 PPG this season, but the praise resulted in three straight losses and Bosh shooting a combined 12-for-49 with a hobbled, then-sidelined Dwayne Wade and two of those games featured Bosh not making more than three total field goals. But back to D-Wade.

After giving him kudos for starting off the season in great health and raving about the milestone of suiting up for three back-to-backs and four games in five nights, he proceeded to injure his left hamstring in the first quarter of the very next game.

Without their shooting guard, the franchise looks more like the 2008-10 Heat teams that struggled in their attempts to make it out of the first round of the playoffs under the new face of coach Erik Spoelstra, rookie Michael Beasley and a rejuvenated semi-vet. You know, the team where consecutive early exits prompted Wade to say, “This will be my last first-round exit for a while.”

He may have been right for the past four years, but if he doesn’t shake the expected injury bug, president Pat Riley doesn’t find the team quality insurance and Bosh doesn’t stop folding under No. 1 pressure, Miami could be destined for a spot that they haven’t been in a long time — watching the top teams in the East from their houses.

Richard Nurse is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @blackirishpr or add him to your network on Google.

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