Just to play it out...
If I were the Heat I'd probably use Lebron on McHale, Bosh on Parish, and Battier on Bird in crunch time. Those aren't horrible matchups for the Heat; problem is, McHale would foul Lebron out in about 20 minutes of play, so you'd need to be tactical about using that alignment. I also suspect Bird would score a whole lot of points off of Battier at this point in his career (though Battier is not dissimilar skill-wise to guys like Cooper and Pressey who defended Bird solidly).
So, let's call it 10 minutes a game Heat try that matchup. 15 minutes they go with Bosh on McHale (and have their best offensive group out there). And perhaps 10 they go with Haslem. It's not the end of the world for Miami, but it isn't a good matchup any of those times, it compels them to play Haslem a bunch and play away from their offensive strength, and it causes foul problems with the guys they need offensively. It'd be a big storyline and the inability to match up with Celtics front line feels like a huge problem to me. Lebron would have Jordan-esque numbers, but all other matchups are good one for C's defensively. I just don't see how this one isn't a C's win.
If I were the Heat I'd probably use Lebron on McHale, Bosh on Parish, and Battier on Bird in crunch time. Those aren't horrible matchups for the Heat; problem is, McHale would foul Lebron out in about 20 minutes of play, so you'd need to be tactical about using that alignment. I also suspect Bird would score a whole lot of points off of Battier at this point in his career (though Battier is not dissimilar skill-wise to guys like Cooper and Pressey who defended Bird solidly).
So, let's call it 10 minutes a game Heat try that matchup. 15 minutes they go with Bosh on McHale (and have their best offensive group out there). And perhaps 10 they go with Haslem. It's not the end of the world for Miami, but it isn't a good matchup any of those times, it compels them to play Haslem a bunch and play away from their offensive strength, and it causes foul problems with the guys they need offensively. It'd be a big storyline and the inability to match up with Celtics front line feels like a huge problem to me. Lebron would have Jordan-esque numbers, but all other matchups are good one for C's defensively. I just don't see how this one isn't a C's win.