When Miami staged its ridiculous celebration last summer, they captured one title, that of most hated team. And now that the Heat are doing what almost everyone predicted all along, has that changed? At least one ESPN basketball analyst thinks so.
Longtime coach and broadcaster Jack Ramsay said the Heat “have become not America’s team, but they’re now likable, and everybody loves a winner, and this team has been proved that it can be a winner.”
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Ramsay’s reasoning? They are dedicated. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade dive after loose balls and make exciting plays.
But as the finals get underway Tuesday night vs. Dallas, broadcaster Mike Breen issued a hold-on-there-a-minute comment.
“I’m still hearing an awful lot of people say I want anybody to win but the Heat,” Breen said. “People have grown to respect them. How do you not respect the way they’ve played. But there’s still a lot of people who are rooting for whoever is playing the Miami Heat.”
And there’s really only one way to change that or to convert new fans.
“The bottom line is when you win all of a sudden people embrace you,” ESPN’s Mark Jackson said. “People embrace hard workers and the way that they have answered and responded to the critics and to the pressure.”
Then again, Dallas has been likable all along. Nobody on its roster has won a ring, and, well, the Mavericks are playing the Heat. Safe to say Miami still isn’t anyone’s sentimental favorite.
