2013-14 Midseason Report

The Miami Heat have surpassed the halfway marker of the 2013-14 NBA regular season and it looks as if the club is going to make another run at an NBA championship. At 41 games the Heat finished at 17 games over .500 and firmly in the 2nd spot of the Eastern Conference. Let's name the 3 highs & 3 lows of the 1st half of the season.

Lows

1. Dwyane Wade's deterioration is now at a point where he can no longer play every day. When he does play sometimes he's rested and great, other times he's out of the loop.
2. Defensive lapses are occurring more and more as the dog days of the season have hit with the Heat allowing any team a chance at beating them.
3. The Indiana Pacers are determined to make their statement this season and the Heat are still trailing them in the standings along with some Western Conference teams.

Highs

1. LeBron James continues to be the best basketball player on the planet even with competition like Kevin Durant trying to unseat him.
2. The Heat experiments with Greg Oden and Michael Beasley have been successful so far and both players making strides could put the Heat back over the top before the regular season ends.
3. Chris Bosh has stepped up in the wake of Dwyane Wade's constant absence to be the 2nd best player on the team. This could put a lot teams off as they are not usually prepared to handle Bosh when he's on fire.

So there you have it. The Miami Heat are much in line with the past few teams that have challenged to three-peat record-wise so there is no time to panic in January. The Heat are almost guaranteed a 2nd seed as the Southeast division champions again and have defeated every team ahead of them in the league standings.