Why the Heat will not likely be the Yankees (and why Chris Bosh has disappeared )

I know that a Heat prediction post was all the rage from July-October and now it's past peak. This prophet has been prophesying their demise all along, but in the hustle of school, work, etc. this oracle hasn't committed his dire predictions to print until now.

Last night the Heat gave up 72 points in the second half and another 12 in overtime in route to coughing up a 22 point lead to the Jazz and suffering their first home loss, leaving the Heat with a surprising 5-3 record. The record comes as a surprise to many who predicted dominance from a team with 2 of the 5 best players in the league. The Heat seemed to be the NBA analog to the NY Yankees, whose all-world saturated lineup has contributed to a string of championships in the late '90s and strong performance throughout this decade.

But the NBA isn't the MLB. In baseball, offensive success is predominately complementary between teammates. But in basketball, touches and shots are competitive. To illustrate, if Derek Jeter leads off with a double, that's one more runner on base for Robinson Cano or Mark Texeira. If Jeter gets three hits in a night, that's enough to get an extra at-bat for the first three batters and more opportunities to pad their stats. There is no limit to the amount of at-bats per game.

In basketball, there are limited touches. The clock is always running on your team. Thus every shot taken by James is a shot not taken by Wade or Bosh. This is why Bosh has struggled so far. He has never had to compete for shots on the Raptors. Now he has become a distant third to James and Wade.