Heat without Heart

In the medieval era courageous generals, kings and knights would lead their troops into battle riding high upon a majestic steed. This way the peasants fighting for them would be able to see them throughout the battle. The courage of the general, king or knight would be visible to the other combatants and would help to strengthen their resolve as well. Yet this could have the opposite effect as well. Often when a general, king or knight was knocked off his horse the soldiers would lay down their arms, run in fear or simply surrender. Without a leader, they ceased to be an army. They were peasants again.

Saturday night the Miami Heat once again turned into peasants. With their general Dwyane Wade knocked off of his horse by a rib muscle, the Heat simply seemed to have lost the will to deal with the Detroit Pistons. Detroit showed little mercy to the leaderless crew from Miami and crushed them and potentially their hopes of an NBA title. Miami looked listless and awkward without Wade. The Jones boys, Damon and Eddie showed that without Wade to make them better they were barely effective. So much has been made about how having Shaq on the team has made everyone better. Yet judging by the 2005 NBA playoffs, perhaps Wade should have been considered for the MVP award as well.

The Heat have won several times in the playoffs with Wade carrying them on his back. If the conference finals were the battle of Troy, Wade would be Achilles. He is the warrior that rallies the troops, drives home the final blow to the opponent and is willing to take on any and all who oppose him. (Incidentally, Shaq is Ulysses, wiser than most but not the warrior he once was, and with his impending contract status you feel there is trouble ahead.) Wade’s rib has become Miami’s Achilles heel. Without him they are left to failing and panicked. You could even make the case that they fled in game six.

Miami’s only hope is that Wade’s rib is really a Trojan horse. If Wade can come back and dominate in game seven, it will allow Shaq room to produce inside, the Jones boys will look above average and Stan Van Gundy and Pat Riley can sit back and make like Menelaus and Agamemnon and watch the carnage with a smile.

Check out Espn's coverage of the Eastern Conference Finals here

Check out more about the battle of Troy here