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All season, the Miami Heat have been the NBA’s resident super villains. “Who will vanquish the Tri-ami Heat?” commentators asked. “Who could topple this royal flush of basketball teams?” com- mentators begged. No one wants to see a colluding colossal rule, and no one wanted the Heat to suc- ceed. As the NBA’s narrative unfolded, however, no hero was needed to save the world from this Mi- ami monster. LeBron and company turned out to be the thing standing between the Heat and world- domination. Well, mostly the “and company” part. James, Wade and Bosh are not the problem, but they are the crux of the problem. In making a mockery of how NBA teams have always been constructed, Pat Riley’s Miami organization has shown a mas- sively exciting and polarizing way to unsuccessfully construct an NBA team. This can be better understood by comparing the Heat to the team that did dominate the 2011 NBA season, the 62-20, best-record-in-the-league Chica- go Bulls, who represent if not a hero foil to Miami, at least stand as an antithesis to it. The Heat undebatably have the most talented three-man core in the league. But they also have one of the worst benches in the playoffs, if not the entire NBA. They are a bunless In-N-Out burger, amazing in the middle but lacking fundamental ele- ments of a complete product. No matter how good a car’s engine, it is nothing without wheels. The Bulls have a V12 riding on 22’s. Chicago’s forward Carlos Boozer is a literal force of nature, an uncivilized primate in the paint aver- aging 17 points and 10 rebounds during the regular season. Joakim Noah is his low post mate, an unre- fined mass of rebounding power who bangs around the posts like he’s writhing in pain. Noah’s elbows are more volatile than uranium. His movement is a sin-curve of danger. Taj Gibson is a young backup forward with a game as smooth as his bald head, who is learning, and showed in game five against the Pacers, the grime and action necessary to battle in the trenches. On the perimeter, there is Keith Bogans, a vet- eran defensive anchor. Luol Deng is quietly one of the most confidently athletic small forwards in the league. He has been a high ceiling guy his whole career, which is not to say that where he is located right now is not extremely high. Kyle Korver is the prototypical, one-dimensional, white, three-point- shooting sage that all other prototypical, one-di- mensional, white, three-point shooters aim to be. Ronnie Brewer gives length, athleticism and energy off the bench, a relatively mellow description of his game except for the fact that he is around the 8th player in Chicago’s rotation. And of course, point guard Derrick Rose man- ages it all. This season, Rose has evolved from a premiere talent to the premiere talent. He might be the most hard to defend point guard of all time. Everything he does, he does with a brute strength that is also somehow brutally beautiful and smooth. Rose crosses over as quick as anyone, a surprising feat considering the power with which he dribbles. He passes and moves like Mike Vick, so angular but so spontaneous, so forcefully but so efficiently. So much effort. So much ease. He will be the MVP. This is the Chicago Bulls. Their team is deep, intricate, interesting, fluid and purposeful. Their team is successful. In comparison, the Miami Heat are empty. LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh are immensely talented and entertaining. But that, they are thoroughly unimpressive. Mike Bibby and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are decrepit. James Jones is an interchangeable bit of nothing. Mario Chalmers is nothing close to the type of playmaker he was drafted to be. Miami’s stockpiling of stars this summer began as a “because we can” situation. One round deep into the playoffs, this all-star nucleus has become a “because we have to.” The Heat are not an elite team without every piece of their holy trinity on the court. Teams know it. To beat Miami, you wait for the stars to rest and then you attack. If you are a quality team, then you win. Contrasting this, in Chicago’s fifth game against the Indiana Pacers, the team with the best record in the league laid down a series-ending blowout with their one superstar, Rose, only playing 63 percent of the game. He got into foul trouble and contributed 30 minutes. The Heat with only 30 minutes of LeBron James or only 30 minutes of Dwayne Wade are anarchy. They have role players, the cliché key to NBA suc- cess, but Chicago has shown that what it really takes are good role players. Anyone can play a role. Only the Christopher Waltz’s of the world can win an Academy Award. The way the Heat exist right now, they will not win anything. 12 SPORTS MAY 2, 2011 Iliad SEVEN INNINGS IN: Senior Andrew Dages pitched a complete game on April 26. After allowing three runs in the first, he shut out Ramona for the rest of the game. NEEL DOPPALAPUDI // The Iliad A comparison of ideology Despite the graduation of 15 seniors from last season, and having only three returning starters left for the 2011 season, boys’ varsity baseball continues to maintain a strong program. Their record is 18-4, and they are currently ranked number 18 in the state according to “Max Preps Baseball.” “This season has been a pleasant surprise; a lot of people stepped up and helped out,” senior captain Connor Joe said. The team competed in the Lions’ tournament in Poway, starting with a 10-0 win against Green Valley on April 18. That victory led them into a game against the Edison Chargers, the number one team in the nation. In the bottom of the fourth inning, senior Chris Dennis started a rally with a single into right field. Senior Tyler Duarte followed with another single into right field, leaving runners on first and second with one out, bring- ing junior Devin Dooney to the plate. With two outs, he sin- gled into left center, scoring Dennis and making the score tied at 1-1. Again, in the bottom of the fifth inning, the top of the line- up strung a few hits together to score lead-off hitter, Ryan Moreno. The run batted in (RBI) was awarded to clean-up hit- ter Derek Hasenbeck, putting Poway ahead 2-1. Senior hurlers Jordan Godwin and Chad Smith kept the Chargers at one run, giving the Titans the victory with a final score of 2-1. Joe was enthusiastic about the win, “We all came together as a team. It was a good team win; it had a feeling of a CIF championship game, and everyone was pumped.” The following night the team played Otay Ranch, coming out with a 7-0 victory and a spot in the semi-final game the following morning against La Costa Canyon. Taking a hard loss of 18-8, Poway fell out of the tourna- ment just one game short of the championship game. “The tournament was a good challenge. It was a good test to see how we would do against teams outside of San Diego,” Hasenbeck said. With their last tournament out of the way, the boys are fully focused on working through league and getting better for CIF. “On the field we are fundamentally sound and very rich in talent, but we need to work on setting up for games and stay- ing focused. Right now, our focus should be on wining league games and getting back to the Tony Gwynn Stadium for the championship,” Dennis said. Poway’s next game is at home against Torrey Pines on May 4. HALEY STEELE Staff Writer Poway baseball upsets nation’s number one
