The Miami Heat will win the NBA Finals.

Thanks for your response. ===> INTRO <=== To begin, let's be very clear- predictability in sports is impossible, which is why there is always an underdog. Regardless of what arguments my opponent brings, none of them can lead us to believe the Heat will win; they can only help us conclude that they are currently a good team. This applies to all of his arguments. I'll provide some specific examples. The Clemson Tigers of '07 put on a show playing college basketball for 17 games. They were undefeated! The average college season is around 30 games; per the words of ESPN: "Just last season, the Tigers beat Mississippi State and Old Dominion on their way to a 17-0 start, one that included wins in their first three games in ACC play. You know what happened next: Clemson dropped nine of its final 13 league games and then went out in the opening round of the conference tournament, the final piece in an almost inexplicable fade from nationally ranked to the NIT." [1] Football, anyone? "With the Super Bowl on the line, look who had the perfection thing down Pat: Eli Manning and the road-conquering New York Giants. And what a beauty their 11th straight road victory was, a 17-14 Super Bowl win Sunday that shattered the New England Patriots' unblemished season. In one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, Manning, New York's unlikely Mr. Cool, hit Plaxico Burress on a 13-yard fade with 35 seconds left. It was the Giants' fourth consecutive postseason away win and the first time the Patriots tasted defeat in more than a year." [2] When all is said and done, we must keep in mind that NOTHING can help us make an accurate prediction in sports. ==== CONTENT ==== o Refutations o Summary o Sources =============== ===> REFUTATIONS <=== C1: Expectations and Fan base As regards the expectations point, this argument, I would argue, flows Con, because it proves that the Heat are inconsistent. Their first 17 games were barely split in favor of winning (9-8), and this was only because they face teams with losing records a majority of the time. Their record against teams above .500 was 2-7, which is rather disappointing when they crushed teams with losing records (mostly), with a 10-1 record against them. [3] The argument from the fan base is weak, and is merely a Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy, which is my personal favorite- I'm from Texas [4]. It can be disregarded. C2: Star Power & C3: Bench Star Power is a poor argument; over 90% of the teams that make it into the playoffs have a star player or two, which makes it a non-unique argument to the Heat. We can look at the top 8 teams from the East and West [5]. ~EAST~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~WEST~ Boston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . San Antonio Miami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dallas Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Los Angeles Orlando . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Utah Atlanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oklahoma City New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Denver Indiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New Orleans Milwaukee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Portland All of these teams have outstanding players, and if my opponent requests I can list them off, but I don't think this is necessary. Moreover, most of these teams have impressive depth charts, and the Miami Heat would not pose a problem to them at all. ===> SUMMARY <=== History tells us never to count a man out. For all we know, Blake Griffin and the Clippers could rise out of the Western ashes to the top and take over the league, possibly win several championships under the leadership of the young Griffin and attract a fan base large enough to make them millions and sign off future free agents Carmelo Anthony and David West, for example [6]. Or, Monte Ellis and Stephon Curry of the Warriors could similarly steady their game and end up as All-Star selections, surprising us all and snatching a title that the Warriors have not had an opportunity since 1975 [7]. No matter what arguments are brought up, concluding that "The Miami Heat will win the NBA Finals" is far fetched and overly ambitious, which is why I urge a Con vote regarding this resolution. Although I do like their chances... I wish my opponent luck, and everyone a happy 2011. ===> SOURCES <=== [1] http://sports.espn.go.com... [2] http://nbcsports.msnbc.com... [3] http://espn.go.com... [4] http://www.fallacyfiles.org... [5] http://www.nba.com... [6] http://sports.espn.go.com... [7] http://en.wikipedia.org...