Miami Heat Or San Antonio Spurs: Which Team Has More To Lose?

This is it.  The time has come for the Miami Heat and The San Antonio Spurs to unleash their highly touted athletic abilities in an epic battle for NBA supremacy.  Whether this series ends in a sweep or a long seven game nail biter, one team will walk away with not only another championship but also with a sense a pride that their legacy has been firmly set in stone.  Will Tim Duncan obtain his fifth ring to cap off a hall of fame career or will LeBron James earn another accolade to further bolster his title as being the greatest player since the legendary Michael Jordan? Whichever way this series concludes one thing is abundantly clear; one team will go home with the glory while the other will succumb to the depressing notion that they failed to finish what they started since the first game of the regular season.  While each team has a tremendous amount of dignity and pride at stake, it can’t be denied that one has more to lose than the other.

While it could be argued that the Miami Heat have more pressure riding on them since they have a younger squad that is expected to exert themselves with a greater degree of intimidation and athletic aptitude, a veteran team like San Antonio also carriers it’s own set of lofty expectations.  Despite not being as spry or deep as the Miami Heat, the Spurs have always been an organization that carries itself with a high degree of poise and intellectual professionalism which as resulted in this teams monumental success since their first championship in 1999.  Between Tony Parker’s progressive maturity to become one of the best and most balanced point guards in the league and Tim Duncan’s insightful leadership qualities on and off the court, the Spurs have shown they are the epitome of a class act that can win with their honed skills over playing dirty.

However, the Heat are also under the microscope, perhaps even under a bigger magnification than the Spurs.  What separates the Heat’s expectations from the Spurs’ is the amount of anticipation that has surrounded this team since the inception of the big three (Bosh, Wade, LeBron).  Ever since this highly touted squad was brought together, the outlook of this team has always been that this franchise has now been built to win championships and nothing less.  When you have a team that consists of a highly talented point guard in Dwayne Wade and one of the best all around players in LeBron James, the message being sent is that South Beach will become the new hub for crafting a continuous championship legacy.  On top of that, when your best player publically guarantees that this team will win multiple championships in a short time span (not six…not seven…you know the rest) the onus of who controls this teams destiny to success falls squarely on the team members who ingratiated themselves in the beginning.  In that light, the Heat have more to lose than the Spurs because if they fail the viewing public can point to unfulfilled promises which could possibly taint the credibility that this team had because of how high they set the bar initially.

This is not to say that if the Spurs lose that the results wouldn’t be devastating.  If anything it would an unmitigated disaster.  This team has already proven that they can win and play with a tremendous amount of heart regardless of their opponent.  The fact that this organization has been able to win four championships within the last nine years suggests that any season that passes without a championship is a complete disappointment.  Along with the immense expectations this team carriers as a championship franchise, the individual pressures on an aging Tim Duncan can’t be denied.  At 37 years of age, Duncan’s prestigious career is nearly at its dramatic conclusion.  If he was able to obtain a fifth and final ring to end his career he would not only go out a champion he would also be considered one of the best players of all time.  His accolades would put him in the same elite category of legendary icons, specifically that of Kobe Bryant who is easily one of the most successful and prolific players in the modern era of the NBA.

However, while it is difficult to say that one team has more at stake than the other, in the end the expectations are set slightly higher for the Heat.  LeBron James still has a long way to go before he can be discussed in the same conversation as the best player of all time in Michael Jordan.  On top of that, the Heat as a whole (since the inception of the “Big Three”) has only obtained a single championship together and will have to win several more if they are to be considered a legendary squad that follows through with guarantees more than they choke on the big stage.  If the Heat can’t close out this series, this season will not only be an immense failure, it will tarnish this teams reputation of being considered the unstoppable juggernaut of the NBA.