The Heat love is out of control. They barely made it out of the Eastern Conference last year.

They talked about this on Inside the NBA last night. Basically the East is the Heat, and everyone else. Anyone could beat anyone when looking at 2-8th, and the Heat will probably have a cake walk to the finals. I don't think anyone in the East could beat them.

The Celtics are obviously worse
The Knicks are not very good
The Nets are not very good.
The Bulls are worse than they have been the last two seasons.
Everyone else is just a big blah...

The Bulls haven't played them in the playoffs since 2011. Defensively the Bulls were in every game with the Heat. Last year the loss to the 76ers sort of exposed players like Korver, Brewer, Watson and Asik for what they were, which was average role players who couldn't score consistently down the stretch. The Bulls do miss Asik's defense, but you don't necessarily need a huge center against the Heat because they don't have a dominant center. If they meet up this year Rose will be the deciding factor.

No. The Bulls will make it out of the East this year if all the starters, including Rose, are healthy. If not, the Heat will lose to the Thunder or Spurs in the Finals.

My silly little guess is that while the Heat are the best team I think this 82 game season will take something out of them. Either Wade's knees or Ray Allen or some other breakdown. I am perplexed as to why B&B can't see that besides LeBron they are pretty old. Like as old as Celtics.

It depends what day of the week it is. Dan and Terry on Monday talked at length about how now this season matters again, as Miami was sluggish, and the East sucked. Now they're back to the all hail Lebron mantra, since the Bulls got smoked last night. Which is exactly the type of knee jerk change of opinion they rail against.

I hope you are right, but isn't that pretty much the same thing people were saying last year at this time too?

B&B seem to think it's automatic that no one can beat the Heat from the East in a 7 game series. Do you agree?

My silly little guess is that while the Heat are the best team I think this 82 game season will take something out of them. Either Wade's knees or Ray Allen or some other breakdown. I am perplexed as to why B&B can't see that besides LeBron they are pretty old. Like as old as Celtics.

Right now, they are already the NBA Champions. The Heat are far & away the team to beat in an awful Eastern Conference. I'm still waiting to find out who the second best team in the East is. The Knicks? Not impressed. The Pacers? Ditto. The Nets? Absolutely not. The Bulls? The Hawks? Miami beats whoever their opponent in an EC Final in at least 5 games.

If the Heat don't repeat, teams like the Thunder & Spurs might be best equipped in a top heavy Western Conference.

The Bulls haven't played them in the playoffs since 2011. Defensively the Bulls were in every game with the Heat. Last year the loss to the 76ers sort of exposed players like Korver, Brewer, Watson and Asik for what they were, which was average role players who couldn't score consistently down the stretch. The Bulls do miss Asik's defense, but you don't necessarily need a huge center against the Heat because they don't have a dominant center. If they meet up this year Rose will be the deciding factor.

Regular season games only matter if THEY say that they matter.

Zach Lowe ‏@ZachLowe_NBA
Have been randomly asking execs around NBA who in East poses biggest threat to MIA: NY, CHI, IND, or other. By far most popular answer: CHI.