Dating back to LeBron James’ decision to take his talents to South Beach in 2010, Miami Heat coverage has been a staple of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.
In fact, the show’s focus on the Heat played a major role in it moving from local Miami airwaves to national syndication with ESPN before becoming the flagship program of Meadowlark Media.
But while the Heat used to be the NBA’s most high profile contender, they now find themselves a perennial Play-In team — albeit, one that still managed to make the NBA Finals a year ago. As a result, Heat-related discussions on The Le Batard Show have been less celebratory and more contentious with the show’s cast fighting with itself about the state of the franchise.
The in-fighting reached a fever pitch this week as the Heat fell down 0-1 to the Boston Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. But while noted Heat mouthpiece Dan Le Batard and Heat homer/sideline reporter Jeremy Taché have spent the better part of the past week arguing with former Heat homer-turned-skeptic Mike Ryan Ruiz, the one thing they all agreed on was that Miami doesn’t have much of a chance to win a single game in its first-round series against the Celtics.
It took all of two days, however, for that take to age poorly, with the Jimmy Butler-less Heat beating Boston 111-101 to even the series at 1-1 on Wednesday night. As a result, Thursday’s episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz began with one of its patented “parade of gasbags,” a montage highlighting its freezing cold takes.
"They're a joke…everyone is laughing at them…Tyler Herro, not good." – @MichaelRyanRuiz
"If you take out Tatum, the Celtics are still sweeping the Heat." – @IzGutierrez
"This team is…not even going to pull off one game against the Celtics." – @jeremytache
New parade… pic.twitter.com/2tUaNhKhr8
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) April 25, 2024
Some of the highlights:
“It’s hard to see how the Miami Heat are going to win a game in that series” – Dan Le Batard.
“They’re a joke right now! Everyone’s laughing at them!” – Mike Ryan Ruiz.
“This team is not going to, more likely than not, pull off one game against the Boston Celtics this year” – Jeremy Taché.
“It’s not a Code Red because if you take out Jayson Tatum, the Celtics are still sweeping the Heat. So slow down, Scalabrine” – Israel Gutierrez.
“Get f***ing Ruiz up out of here. They down 0-1, they about to go down 0-2 tonight and your season’s about to be over in the next four days” – Paul Pierce.
“The Miami Heat could go 100% from the field, 100% from the 3 and they’re still going to get swept in this series. They just don’t have the personnel to matchup with the Boston Celtics in this series. That’s it” – Kendrick Perkins.
As always, it’s a credit to the Le Batard Show that it’s willing to poke fun at itself. For as insufferable as some of their Heat conversation has been in recent weeks — and the show would admit at as much — the payoff was well worth it.
[The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on X]
