The Miami Heat may have finished 4th in the East this year, but Charles Barkley has virtually no faith in their ability to go deep in the playoffs.
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Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo shepherded Pat Riley and his beloved Miami Heat to an NBA Finals not long back. The date, in fact, was just 12 months back when they lost Game 6 of the 2020 NBA Finals.
Since that time, the team has had setback after setback – both on and off the court. The Meyers Leonard incident on Twitch last year aptly represents their topsy-turvy 2020-21 regular season and playoff run.
However, it seemed that the Heat’s fortunes had taken a turn for the better during the offseason. They were successful in landing Kyle Lowry on a sign-and-trade deal that sent Goran Dragic the other way.
The Kyle Lowry trade and PJ Tucker signing aside, Tyler Herro has also played exceptionally well for them. Herro projects as a prohibitive favorite to win Sixth Man of the Year honors this time around.
Despite these improvements across their roster, the Heat haven’t done anything to convince Charles Barkley that they’re title favorites or contenders.
Charles Barkley says the Miami Heat will lose handily to the Brooklyn Nets if they meet in the playoffs
Speaking to Ernie Johnson and the Inside crew yesterday, Charles Barkley professed his distrust of the Miami roster. In his opinion, Kevin Durant and co will be way too much offensive firepower for the Heat defense to stop in the playoffs:
“If the Miami Heat play the Brooklyn Nets, the Brooklyn Nets will beat them… I’m not sold on Miami.”
Based on pure player power, what Chuck says might definitely ring true to many, many basketball fans worldwide. KD is the world’s most effervescent, yet effortless scorer at the moment – a behemoth of basketball.
What the Slim Reaper did for the Nets during last year’s playoffs was nothing short of miraculous. But if the 4-time scoring champion is to prove Charles Barkley right, he’d definitely be in for a tough one.
