Basketball - NBA Breakdown of the Miami Heat

MIAMI HEAT 33-20

What has changed: In December Pat Riley finally took over for Stan Van Gundy after months of rumors. The Heat have since gone 23-11 with  Riley as coach (although to be fair Van Gundy went the first 20 games mostly without Shaq). Was Riley's offseason moves and his own  step-in as coach really for Miami's better?

Since Riley took over Shaq has been completely healthy but had career-lows in points and rebounds. To top it off, he missed 18 games but  it was enough to make the All-Star team. Dwayne Wade has improved his scoring, rebounding, passing and shooting from last year and is  clearly now the team's best player.

Injuries have hurt the Heat up to now. Jason Williams has missed time at PG as has Shandon Anderson. Stepping up has been Alonzo Mourning,  who has been leading the NBA in blocks for the most part of this season.

A big concern was whether Payton and Walker would gel in Miami. They combine for 21.1 PPG, which isn't bad considering how both have been  on the decline lately. Udonis Haslem hasn't done well with the shortage of minutes and is down in points, rebounds and blocks.

While Wade may be the Heat's best player it is Shaq who is the most valuable. Thanks to him Miami are 2nd in rebounds, 1st in FG%, 5th in  blocks and 7th in opponents FG% and 1st in free-throw attempts. Even though he is not as dominating as he used to be, his presence is  enormous.

Trades and signings are a possibility for Miami. Pat Riley, like Phil Jackson and Larry Brown, does not like to play rookies. Players like  Gerald Fitch, Wayne Simen, Jason Kapono and Michael Doleac are all refuse for Riley who is bound to move one of them before the trade  deadline. Latrell Sprewell is in talks with the Heat and getting him could make or break the Heat club. The chemistry isn't great in  Miami. They lead the League in technical fouls and are all mostly one-on-one players. It'll be interesting to see which move Riley does or  does not make.

Miami hasn't shown to this point that they are a contender like Dallas, Detroit and San Antonio. They have yet to win a road game against  any of the division winners. Even in their win against Detroit, it took every shred of Dwayne Wade and they still only won by 2. If he and  Shaq are healthy they should probably get to the Eastern Conference Finals. But whether they can go farther than that is yet to be seen.