Dirk & Mavericks Stop the Heat Cold and Steal Game 2

06/02/11

Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks had no business winning Game 2, but that didn't stop them from doing just that.

The Mavericks won Game 2 of the NBA Finals 95-93 with a last second layup from Dirk Nowitzki, and send the series back to Dallas tied up 1-1.

What seemed like a sure thing for the Miami Heat coming down to the final 7 minutes in the 4th quarter and up by 15, the Mavericks made their signature come back. We saw Dallas do the same exact thing to the Oklahoma City Thunder, making an unlikely push late in the 4th to steal a big game.

The combination of the Dallas Maverick defense,poor shot choice by the Miami Heat led to a ridiculous 22-5 run to end the game and steal a huge game in Miami. Dirk Nowitzki led the way for the Dallas Mavericks scoring the last 9 pts of the game, and hit all the clutch shots Dallas needed to get a win. Miami Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said it best after the game. ""That's about as tough a fourth quarter as you can have. When it started to slide, it just kept on going."

"The Big 3" for Miami played extremely well all game long, and combined for 68 of the 93 pts. Lebron, Bosh, and Wade all had their share of highlight dunks, put-backs, but in the end the Heat scored less than the Mavericks and that's all that counts. Dwyane Wade had the biggest game of the big 3 by scoring 36 pts, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals. Lebron James scored just 20 pts on just 15 shot attempts, but had 5 turnovers that really hurt the Heat down the stretch. Chris Bosh gave his critics another reason to say he's still a soft player, scoring only 12 pts on 4-16 shooting, and most of his shots coming from outside jump shots. He was anything but an inside force that the Miami Heat so desperately need from him. Bosh said this after the dissapointing loss: "We just didn't execute down the stretch," Bosh said. "There's no shock. There's disappointment. But the reality is the reality. We might as well get used to it and focus on the next one."

Going back to why we questioned Miami's possible deep run in the Playoffs from the start was the Miami depth, bench scoring ability, and the big man presence they lack. Throughout their run so far in the Playoffs we really haven't had much to question on those areas, but after tonights loss, I can't help but point to those areas of concern. Miami got a whopping 11 total pts from their bench, and 12 pts coming from their big men-if you count Bosh as that player, since Joel Anthony put up a goose egg in the scoring department. That's not going to cut it against a much deeper team in Dallas.

Like I said earlier, the Dallas Mavericks had no business whatsoever winning this game, period. They really didn't play well throughout the entire game, minus the last 7 minutes where they really focused on the task at hand. Dallas has to be one of the most resilient teams we've seen, getting wins when they aren't even playing well. Jason Terry had this to say after the game: ""You can just sense it in us that we weren't going to give up, we were going to be resilient." But, that's what great teams do, win even when they aren't at their best.

The Mavericks got great play once again out of Shawn Marion, who has revived his play in the Playoffs. Marion scored a much needed 20 pts on 9-14 shooting, adding 8 rebounds, with 3 of those being offensive rebounds. On an offense that at times looked lethargic, Marion gave the Mavericks that boost when they needed it, and his hustle really sparked the Mavericks down the stretch. Jason Terry also proved huge in the 4th quarter, scoring 8 of his 16 pts in the 4th quarter.

Jason Kidd had a very odd game, having 5 turnovers himself, but had 6 pts, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Kidd hit a huge 3 pt shot that brought Dallas within 6 pts with 3:54 remaining in the 4th quarter.

Dirk Nowitzki also having an odd game, losing 5 turnovers also. But, Dirk more than made up for it when he took over the game when it meant the most. Dirk ended up with 24 pts, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists. His demeanor early on in the game just looked off, like he didn't have that killer instinct that he's been playing with all Playoffs long, until the 4th quarter. He came alive when he hit a shot with 2:44 left in the game, and got Dallas within 2 pts. He wouldn't miss after that, and was the entire offense for Dallas down the stretch. That's what great players do.

Moving onto Game 3, the series switches to Dallas for the next three games. Will Dallas come out the new NBA Champions at home, or will we see this series go 6 or 7 games?

Ask Mark Cuban, I'm sure he'll have your answer.

http://www.nba.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1106/finals.game2/content.12.html

Miami Heat Win Thriller In OT, Go Up 3-1 In Series

05/24/11

Derrick Rose may have been the MVP in the regular season, but he isn't ready for the big show quite yet.

The Miami Heat won Game 4 in overtime by the score of 101-93 and went up 3-1 in the series.

Given, they did what they were supposed to do, and covered their homecourt advantage. But with that, the Miami Heat are one game away from the NBA Finals.

Lebron James had another huge game, going for 35 pts, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Chris Bosh added some big shots down the stretch in the 4th quarter, and in OT, finishing with 22 pts and 6 rebounds. Dwayne Wade had what you would call a terrible game. He shot 5-16 from the field, and had 14 pts. Even going 33 straight minutes without scoring a single point. But even with Wade not having a good game, the Heat still managed to get a win. Overtime was where the "Big 3" shined, scoring all 16 pts in overtime for the Heat and leading the the way to victory.

Even though the Heat didn't play their best basketball tonight, they still got the win. That's what tough teams are made of, and their defense carried them once again, getting stops when they needed to.

Lebron James, and Dwayne Wade both had some huge individual defensive plays in the 4th quarter and OT. Lebron forced Rose to take an awful last second shot with 1.9 seconds remaining in regulation, and sent the game into OT. Then in overtime Wade got a huge block on a Rose 3 pt attempt. At that point the momentum had really swung in Miami's favor, and got the Heat up by 2. The Heat would never trail again.

Once again the Miami Heat shut down Derrick Rose, and forced others to make plays. That didn't bode too well. Rose once again had a bad shooting performance going 8-27 from the field and 1-9 from behind the arc. The Heat defense also forced Rose to have 7 turnovers, and a total of 19 from the Bulls team. Your best player, and point guard can't shoot that bad against a team that isn't giving up many points throughout this entire playoffs. Rose has shot 36% in the series against the Heat, shooting a combined 33-91 from the field. Rose had this to say after the game: "Tonight, definitely it was on me. I had two opportunities to end the game. Couldn't do it. If anything, learn from it. Too many turnovers. Really was my fault but I'm going to learn from it." That sums it all up.
The Bulls did get good play out of Carlos Boozer and Luol Deng, who both scored 20 pts and each shot 50% from the field. But, the next highest scorer on the Bulls was Ronnie Brewer, who had a whopping 7 pts. The Chicago Bulls as a team shot 6-24 from the 3 pt line, and as a team shot 40.2% from the field. That just won't get it done with a team as good as the Miami Heat, who are a much more efficient team. The Miami Heat took 12 less shots, and had less turnovers than the Bulls.

The Bulls turnovers, and bad possessions down the line is what killed them. The Bulls also only shot 22 free throws compared to the Heat's 38 attempts. The Heat were taking it to the Bulls, and getting intot he lane. The Bulls weren't repaying the favor on the other side of the court, and was the single reason alone that the Heat had more free throw attempts.

Heading back to Chicago after this tough of a loss will sure be interesting to see how the Bulls will respond. After the game the players looked and sounded deflated. Will they come out with energy at home for one last stand at taking back this series? Or will they come out and play like an already beaten team?

With both of the series at 3-1, I think we can go ahead and say that we can expect another Dallas Mavericks vs Miami Heat Finals matchup. This time, it's a completely different look, for both teams.

Two of the hottest players in Dirk Nowitzki and Lebron James meeting head to head in the Finals should make for an awesome series.

But first, both teams need to close out their opponents.

Image Source Page: http://yala100.deviantart.com/art/LeBron-James-Miami-Heat-165944815?q=sort%3Atime+gallery%3Ayala100&qo=0