Washington Wizards v/s Miami Heat December 18, 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Each of the two regular season matchups between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat are bound to be exhilarating, as would a potential showdown in the 2013 NBA Finals. The teams are evenly matched across the board after the squads reloaded during the offseason.
L.A. added a talented point guard and center to its roster during the summer, immediately vaulting The Purple and Gold to the top of the Western Conference power rankings and in the same upper echelon of NBA teams that the Heat currently occupy.
It's only natural that a position-by-position breakdown of the two teams ensues.
Steve Nash was one of the two biggest offseason additions for the Los Angeles Lakers, and he gives the team a huge advantage over their Eastern Conference opponent in this competition.
While point guard isn't exactly a weakness for the Miami Heat, it's by no means a strength either. Mario Chalmers is the resident punching bag, even if he does play good defense and hit the occasional three-pointer.
Something tells me that Nash won't be the punching bag in L.A.
Even at his advanced age, Nash is one of the best facilitators in the NBA. Even if the offense is slower than it was in Phoenix and the ball isn't in his hands as often due to the Princeton Offense, Nash will still lead the league in assists, or at least come very close.
In what is perhaps the most intriguing matchup of all, the shooting guard battle between the Lakers and the Heat could end up coming down to health.
Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade are the two best 2-guards in the NBA by a wide margin, but not much separates them from each other.
Last season, Kobe put together one of the most overrated campaigns in the league. Even though he was up near the scoring lead—and might have won the scoring title if he'd played in the 66th game of the season—he was an extremely glorified volume shooter.
Part of that was due to necessity, but Kobe's low percentages devalued the points that he did manage to score.
Somehow, someway, these two rosters managed to stack up so that the Heat's best player matches up against the Lakers' worst member of the starting five.
Metta World Peace might be a solid defender, but if you think he's capable of slowing down LeBron James, then you need to take off the glasses that are causing your purple-and-gold-tinted vision.
While the man most recently featured in the news for throwing an elbow is capable of knocking down some three-pointers on kick-outs, he can't make nearly the same impact as LeBron.
James is the reigning MVP for a reason—he contributes in every facet of the game.
In another fairly close matchup, Pau Gasol and Chris Bosh will be battling for supremacy whenever the Heat and Lakers duke it out on the hardwood.
Both power forwards bring a lot to the table when it comes to the offensive side of the ball, but Gasol's versatility gives him the edge in this head-to-head showdown.
While Bosh can hit his fair share of mid-range jumpers, Gasol can do so as well. He also has incredible passing skills for a seven-footer. In the new Princeton Offense, Gasol will only thrive.
Bosh has the potential to take this matchup over if the Heat continue to utilize him as they did during the NBA Finals and the second half of the series with the Boston Celtics.
Joel Anthony might be a defensive specialist, but his defense is going to look downright offensive if he's left in single coverage against Dwight Howard.
The only knock against D12 here is that his defense isn't going to look very good. After all, you're only doing well on defense if you make a player perform at a lower offensive level than normal.
Other than Nash and Howard, Antawn Jamison was the biggest offseason acquisition for the Lakers.
Formerly with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jamison is serving as the sixth man in this article regardless of whether or not he's actually the first player off the bench. Jodie Meeks might be the first to leave the pine, but Jamison is the best member of the second unit.
Even at 36, the power forward can still use his smooth stroke to knock down the triples. He'll do a lot of that as he leads the Lakers backups in scoring during the 2012-2013 season.
However, Jamison can't touch the level of impact that Ray Allen is going to make for the Heat.
Allen will primarily shoot threes for his new team, just like Jamison, but he's going to do so at a much higher level and significantly more often.
Basketball happens on a court, not just paper. Chemistry matters. Playing styles matter.
And obviously, the benches and coaches matter.
With that in mind, the Heat are still better than the Lakers, despite only holding the advantage at small forward in the starting five.
I'm not concerned with placing numerical values on the 10 starters, nor analyzing the gaps between the two players at each positional matchup.
Simply put, the Heat have a worse starting five on paper, better chemistry between those five players, a better sixth man, a better overall bench and a better coach.
Miami also happens to be the current resting spot for the Larry O'Brien Trophy and the Maurice Podoloff Trophy.
Until that changes, it's hard to imagine someone beating them out for the top spot.
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