March 20, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) drives past Phoenix Suns center Marcin Gortat (4) during the second half at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

The Phoenix Suns(1-2) will take on the defending champs Miami Heat(2-1) tonight in south beach in hopes of upsetting the defending champs. After last night’s pure implosion against the Orlando Magic the Suns should look to redeem themselves against Miami although the odds aren’t exactly on their side. Miami are the favorite in tonight’s game by a margin of 13.5 points according to ESPN.com and with the circumstances as they are with the Suns coming off a back to back they’ll have their work cutout for them.

Keys to the game Suns:

The Miami Heat are second to none in terms of talent and the Suns will lose 99 times out of 100 if they just go out on the court and try to blatantly stomp the champs in front of their home crowd. If the Suns want the win tonight they must play smart basketball which means no turnovers as the Heat thrive of turnovers and turn it into a transition basket. The Suns will also need to work the ball inside, as good as Miami is their interior defense isn’t causing anyone to shake in their boots. The Suns have Marcin Gortat and Luis Scola to attack the Miami interior and it’ll be relied upon Gortat and Scola to clinch the W tonight.

Keys to the game Heat:

The Heat’s game plan is pretty straight forward in this match-up as the Suns game plan as it always is which is to push the ball. Miami would love nothing more than to get into a run and gun game with Phoenix since the Heat has the advantage in that kind of style of basketball. Miami doesn’t exactly have to take their game to the next level to take on a mediocre Suns team. The Suns have fallen to Miami in their last 4 match-ups and the Heat have won on an average of 11.75 points.

The X-Factor!

The X Factor in this game will be the Suns bench. The Suns have some very talented defenders like Wesley Johnson and P.J Tucker on the bench who can match up well against Miami’s ultimate 6th man Ray Allen who’s been red hot to start the season and most recently completed a 4-point play during the final seconds in the Heat’s last game against the Denver Nuggets to steal a win away from Denver. The Suns bench has been less than mediocre thus far and a good performance from them tonight will go a long way.

Key Match-Up

Tonight’s key match-up in my eyes is between the small forwards! LeBron James and Michael Beasley. Beasley was Dwyane Wade’s former wing-man before James, and if Beasley able to hold his own or maybe even out play LeBron, it will be a huge step forward in Beasley’s improvement as a basketball player to go up against the best player in the league and hold his own or even win the match-up and without question will do wonders for his confidence.

July 22, 2012; Barcelona, SPAIN; USA forward LeBron James (6) and Kevin Durant (5) react during the first half of an exhibition game against Argentina in preparation for the 2012 London Olympic Games at Palau Sant Jordi. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

This is the third day of a five day segment where I personally rank the top 5 players at their positions. I’ve already covered point guards and shooting guards so today I’ll be covering the top 5 small forwards and I’ll be covering the power forwards tomorrow!

1) LeBron James

- Hands down the best player in the game right now. James is your classic do it all player that rebounds, scores, plays defense and can dominate the game with his passing as he showed at the Olympic games where he was pretty the point forward for team USA. James is also the most gifted athlete in the NBA, he’s the same size as Amar’e Stoudemire yet he moves like a guard. It’s obvious at this point LeBron is not only the best player at his position but the best player in the league. He’s 27 years old he has won 3 NBA MVP awards, 2 Olympic gold medals, and an NBA championship.

2) Kevin Durant

- Kevin Durant, the second best player in the NBA. Much like LeBron, KD’s physical gifts allows him to dominate. KD is a lengthy 6’10 guy that has a 7’6 wingspan and moves like a guard. KD is a very close to LeBron at this point, KD is a better scorer, they’re equals in terms rebounding, but LeBron is a far better play maker than KD. Durant is coming along as a play maker but hes also got to improve his defense if he’s going to pass LBJ.

3) Carmelo Anthony

- Anthony is the third best scorer in the game behind Durant and Kobe but if you asked me a year ago today who I thought was the best scorer in the game I would’ve said Carmelo Anthony. Anthony’s ability to be an effective scorer from anywhere on the floor is second to none. The only thing that has stopped Anthony from being a superstar among superstars is his lack of interest on the defensive end of the floor. Anthony is also one of the best clutch shot makers in the league, it just seems when there’s less than 24 seconds left in the game and your team needs a bucket, if you got Melo your good.

4) Paul Pierce

- Pierce was a great scorer during his prime but at this point he’s not the player he use to be but he’s could still ball. Pierce is another do it all wing player who can score, rebound and make plays. However unlike the 3 guys ranked ahead of him Pierce won’t be the best player on a championship team even when his Celtics won the title back in 2008 the best player on that team was Kevin Garnett.

5) Andre Iguodala

- Iggy is one of the most underrated players in the league. He may not be the scorer that you’d want in a star but he’s got everything else. He’s a solid play maker, rebounder and above all else he’s a lock down defender. The fact that Iggy’s scoring numbers are low is a little overblown; he played on a Philly team that focused mainly on team basketball. Last season Philly’s leading scorer was Lou Williams off the bench. Philly also played a very slow paced style of basketball that promotes efficient, no turnover basketball, as they were last in the league in turnover ratio and also 24th in pace. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of number Iggy will put up this season with Denver, a team that plays a fast up-tempo style of basketball that should benefit Iggy’s numbers and play style.