Lakers a contender now

Additionally, if the Heat lose to the Knicks today (and they are down 14 at halftime as I type this) they will be 0-5 vs. the Pacer and Knicks. Why are we to believe that they will be able to get past those 2 in the playoffs?

The Heat did not lose to them.  They turned it on and won.  What I am to believe personally is that the Heat were just sort of diddling around the first half of the season and are now really starting to focus in.  As a Lakers fan you certainly can't claim you don't know what that is about because the Lakers did that a lot during those title years when they had Shaq.