Miami Heat

Southeast Division

Miami Heat Power Rankings - 2012-13

Power Ranking
WEEK	RECORD	RANK	COMMENT
Week 24	64-16	1	Remember how LeBron's 2012 was about as storybook as a calendar year could be? 2013 ain't shaping up too badly, either, with the Heat so hot -- on a 35-2 surge -- that they won't worry a bit when they hear how the team with the best record has won it all only once in the past nine seasons.
Week 23	60-16	1	The Heat are 16-1 on the road since an 11-11 start, getting handy late-season rest for their stars and happily watching New York and Indy strain to convince us they're worthy of Biggest Threat To Miami status while various West contenders are awash in injury misery. It's good to be a Heatle.
Week 22	58-15	1	Thanks to that stunning win in San Antonio with LeBron and D-Wade being rested, Erik Spoelstra is bound to keep looking for opportunities to recharge his key guys, with home-court advantage throughout the playoffs virtually clinched and three back-to-backs to go. It's good to be a Heatle.
Week 21	55-14	1	The committee (of one) cannot tell a lie. We certainly adhere to the no-cheering-in-the-press-box rule ... but we also wouldn't mind seeing the Heat stretch this thing to 29 in a row. Because then we'd be dispatched to cover their shot at No. 30 in a row in San Antonio on Easter Sunday live.
Week 20	51-14	1	The Heat have gone from scoffing at the question to legitimately wondering if they can get to 25 (or beyond) and prove this is a pretty special group orbiting their otherworldly superstar. Ten straight road wins now after Miami failed to win more than two in a row on the road before the streak.
Week 19	47-14	1	The Heat are the ninth team in history to uncork a single-season win streak that spanned at least 18 games. And five of the previous eight, if you're curious omenwise, went on to win it all. Only Boston (19 in a row in 2008-09), Houston (22 in 2007-08) and Boston (18 in 1981-82) fell shy.
Week 18	43-14	1	LeBron is bidding to become just the fourth non-center in NBA history to average at least 27 points while shooting no less than 56 percent from the floor; Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and Adrian Dantley are the only predecessors. Side effect: Miami's 14 straight wins include nine by double digits.
Week 17	40-14	2	If you suspect that no one in the East dared to make a big deadline-day deal because trying to unseat the Heat is a futile exercise, you're not alone. And if you're not the sort who pays much mind to PER ... even you've got to be impressed when you hear that LeBron's PER is 37.1 in February.
Week 16	36-14	2	Ray Allen is shooting 25 percent from the floor in February. Udonis Haslem is hobbled by a bruised leg. And Miami's D is only 11th in the efficiency rankings. So this team hasn't even approached its ceiling yet. Not with that LeBron James dude around. (Tom Haberstroh, Heat Index)
Week 15	34-14	2	We're no dummies here. If LeBron James keeps shooting 70 percent from the field and 60 percent from the 3-point line, like he's doing in this fairy-tale February, any previous suggestions (here or otherwise) that Kevin Durant had nosed past The King in the MVP race are fully null and void.
Week 14	30-14	3	This really only matters if these teams hook up in the playoffs again, but it was fairly eye-catching (at least to us) to read that the Heat have managed a mere eight points in transition in their two losses to the Pacers this season. The champs average just over 17 transition points nightly.
Week 13	28-13	3	Just when the Heat thought they were rolling -- with LeBron announcing that they were playing their best ball of the season -- offensive flow and trust issues resurfaced in Sunday's loss to the Rondo-less Celtics. Not too many signature wins on the Heat's ledger when you really look at it.
Week 12	26-12	4	Victories over the Warriors and Lakers salvaged something from the champs' long road trip, but concerns about defense and rebounding and size persist. Hence the signing of Birdman Andersen. Also: Miami is 20-2 when scoring 100 points ... but hit triple digits only once in its past eight games.
Week 11	24-11	5	More road woes for the champs. More fretting about rebounding, team D and a dwindling average win margin now at a mortal plus-5.3. More rumbles about the nightly load LeBron is lugging around, too. Boredom can't be the alibi for all that, but we ask again: Who in the East can capitalize?
Week 10	23-9	5	On top of the ongoing concerns about the defending champs' nightly ability to muster sufficient motivation in the regular season come fresh concerns about LeBron James' own physical freshness. They're still the only Eastern Conference team at the minute that can sniff the top five, mind you.
Week 9	20-8	4	The Heat uncorked a vociferous defense of Dwyane Wade after his one-game suspension for kicking out at Ramon Sessions, then played precious little D in dreadful weekend L's at Detroit and Milwaukee. So much for the notion that going on the road would get the champs properly plugged in.
Week 8	18-6	3	After looking admittedly bored at times by the scheduling that called for one road game in a span of 32 days, Miami has quietly won four in a row by a combined 72 points to rev up for Christmas with OKC. Can't even begin to explain LeBron's 250 straight minutes without a foul, though.
Week 7	15-6	5	Did the Heat get a free pass from media pests like me after the Washington loss because we're all so consumed with the Lakers' chaos? Does a 30-point weekend rout of the Wiz atone for that no-show? Do you realize Miami's other five losses were all inflicted by teams in our top seven?
Week 6	13-5	6	Not a single scout we consulted for the Weekend Dime betrayed even a hint of concern about the Heat's dreadful D to date or the fact that several of their wins have been underwhelming, too. As for that LeBron postgame workout? A message to his own teammates, not us external pests.
Week 5	12-3	3	One of the factors we can only presume prompted Gregg Popovich to do what he did Thursday night: San Antonio's visit to Miami, which happened to be the Spurs' fourth game in five nights on the road, was only the third of four games that the ultra-rested Heat had to play in a 16-day span.
Week 4	10-3	3	It's a lot easier to say so after the champs scored the final nine points in less than two minutes to complete a Houdini act against visiting Cleveland ... but life is good now that they're back off the road. How good? They've got only two road games between now and Christmas ... and one is in D.C.
Week 3	8-3	5	Looks like it's not just LeBron who has been liberated by a ring. Chris Bosh is off to a sensationally efficient start, too, averaging 19.6 ppg on 55.2-percent shooting while playing nearly three fewer mpg than in his first two Heat seasons. Which certainly helps when Wade (foot) is hurting.
Week 2	5-2	3	Although the small-balling Heat were duly punished in Memphis in their first date with a power team, no one on South Beach is about to panic. Not when LeBron is routinely flirting with triple-doubles and does it with such ease that he makes you think he's saving some gas for the long haul.
Week 1	2-1	1	The so-called "position-less" era of Heat basketball sported a thoroughly defenseless look in Week 1. No matter how early it is, Miami shouldn't be ranked 30th in defensive efficiency and allowing 114 points per 100 possessions. Not after ranking fourth in DE (97.1) last season.
Preseason	0-0	1	The last team from the Leastern Conference to repeat as champs? Michael Jordan's 1996-98 three-peaters. Why dredge up the Leastern Conference stuff so soon? Because there's realistically only one team in the East that can keep Miami out of the Finals: Boston.
Training Camp	46-20	1	How can they not start out peering down at 29 other teams? Even if the Heat do launch slowly with Wade and Ray Ray healing, it's not just our rule about defending champions that matters. Also: Mr. James returns as undisputed King of his sport for the first time ever.