5. Motivation
Simply put, the Heat, especially Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, have a lot more motivation than the Cavs this season to prove the naysayers wrong. Nobody is expecting the Heat to make any noise in the East this season, while the whole world is putting the Cavaliers high up on a pedestal. With this chip on the team’s shoulder, the Heat will have that extra motivation and fuel to go out and compete for every single regular season game.
As Bosh put it best, “It’s refreshing, a bit, to appreciate every victory,” meaning that the Heat have not put the regular season in cruise control as they were so accustomed to doing last season.
The Cavs are on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. They have been given so much firepower prior to the start of the 2014-15 season that anything short of a championship will be perceived as failure. The Cavs are 5 to 2 favorites to go all the way this season and a lot of spectators are already crowning the team as champs. Without a chip on their shoulders and only lofty expectations to arise to, I can’t see the Cavaliers finishing with a better record than the Heat this season.
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