RUN DLC. The Three Kings. South Beach NWO. Whatever you want to call the new look Miami Heat, the NBA has dated its hunting season and YOU are the prey. League commish David Stern wasted little time in deciding to turn up the Heat on Miami's rebuilt, revamped basketball team.
After all Stern did not need to consult with a marketing firm to decide whether to give as much league exposure as possible to this rock star of a basketball team. It's so easy to understand why the NBA season opens on October 26th with a nationally televised Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics game.
No tune up games here, not the Philadelphia 76ers or LA Clippers. Nope. There will be no sacrificial lambs for the Heat on opening night. Only a true test right off the bat against the mean, nasty, defending Eastern Conference Champions who only recently added some beef in the middle with the acquisition Shaquille O'Neal, a former teammate of Wade and James.
Get ready for the "super bowl" hype usually reserved for the two weeks prior to the big game, only this time for the entire season, with this basketball team. NBA TV had an hour long special last week just on the early season matchups including Heat vs. C's on opening night, and also spotlighting the October 29th home opener against Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic, as well as a Christmas Day showdown against the 2-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.
Here we sit on the verge of another NFL season, and yes it is common knowledge that football is king when it comes to all sports yet the Miami Heat have had everyone talking NBA basketball ever since they assembled their dream team. The hype machine will not stop. That Pat Riley is some kinda visionary isn't he? Every move this team makes will be covered like no basketball team since the ‘92 dream team of Magic, Bird and Jordan.
We have already seen the late night TV appearances by the Big 3, Vegas has already installed them as the favorites to win it all, everybody outside of the 305 hates them, in fact they were recently listed on a Sports Illustrated poll of all time most hated teams at number 25, and they have yet to play a game!
Get ready for even more paparazzi South Florida. We should be used to this kind of stuff here in South Beach, but it's going to go to another level this NBA season. The world has not seen anything like this yet.
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