Alas the long wait is over (I just looked at the date of the last post...5 months ago, I should be ashamed, I mean what excuse do I have...that med school was hard and took up all of my time, god what a cliche)...I’ve been done with school for two weeks now and have been meaning to write a playoff recap blog, and I still plan to, I just was busy (read: lazy), but last nights events were just too incredible a post was unavoidable...
Dirk. One word. One German. One big time stud. I will admit that I was starting to lean back to luke warm on Dirk for the first 3 quarters last night. (Ok well that isn’t true but I was ready to take him a level down from the outlandish Bird-esque comparisons he has been garnering this postseason. I should have listened to Jay from 40 year old virgin “you never put the German on a pedestal”...not what he says?, ok regardless... I did and I still stand by my decision.) In the last series against the Thunder, Dirk looked like he knew he was the best player on the floor, he knew there was no one that could guard him, and he knew he was going to score anytime he touched the ball. And he did. At a near historic shooting clip. But in the seven and half quarters of the Finals that look was missing. He was missing open shots, he wasn’t rebounding, he was playing terrible matador defense at the rim, and without Dirk playing at a consistently high level I thought there was no way for the Mavs to win at all. But then Wade hit that three, held his follow through up a little too long, was congratulated a little too loudly by LeBron, and you all know the rest of the story. The Mavs pulled off a quick 8-0 run with the first real Jason Terry sighting of the Finals and just like that it was a 7 point game with just under 5 minutes left. Enter the greatest German export since the BMW. Dirk’s teammates started playing with some passion and it seemed to ignite a fire within him, he hit a jumper off a screen and roll, he tied it on a transition finish, he hit a “there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this shot is going in to complete this incredible comeback and steal this game” 3 pointer to take the lead, and then most importantly he abused Bosh to the tune of a sweeping, game winning lefty layup. It is a word overused in sports, but in that run, both Terry and Dirk got their mojo back, and that only spells more trouble for the Heat as they head to Dallas for the next three games. Because those two guys, especially Terry with his silly “I’m a little kid flying around like an airplane routine” (and for the record, I love JT and have since his days of high socks at the U of A) feed off the home crowd and believe me that place is going to be rocking.
(Quick side tangent...I don’t truly know what owning the naming rights to a stadium does for a company in terms of marketing value or whatever, but if it does anything than American Airlines is gonna clean up these next two weeks...I’m assuming that other than 2006 when these two teams previously met in the finals that no other Finals in any sport for that matter have pitted two teams with the same arena sponsorship. Really American Airlines, you need an Arena and a Center..how about you sell the rights in which ever city loses and use the millions to not charge people 50 bucks a bag for a month or so for people flying out of or into the winning city?...seems like a genius marketing strategy to me.)
Now that we have talked about the good, we also need to talk about the bad. Because in the NBA, teams don’t just come back from late double digit leads without some serious help from their opponents. (Just ask the Trail Blazers, Lakers, and Thunder who all fell privy to the same fortune as the Heat last night in blowing a 12 point or larger second half lead on their home floor to these Mavericks.) So while the Mavericks got some huge stops, and made some even bigger shots, the Heat also continued their trend of premature celebration without actually winning anything. Now they can say all they want that there wasn’t a celebration, but I have been on the court in a moment like that, and believe me, they thought that was the dagger. They were already soaping each other up in the shower in their minds, half way to the Larry O’Brien trophy. This was already written on ESPN, but to borrow some words, those last 7 minutes highlighted all that was criticized about the Heat the entire season. First...Chris Bosh is soft and is not ready to perform on this stage. I actively wanted the ball in his hands for every Heat possession down the stretch because I knew he was going to either miss, turn the ball over, and curl up in the fetal position. Also I love it because it worked out in the Mavs favor but why in the hell was Bosh guarding Dirk on that last possession, and even worse why didn’t he foul him on the drive when they had a foul to give (or thinking back a few plays earlier, why not foul Dirk on the fast break layup to tie it...yeah I know Dirk is shooting like 108% or something from the line this postseason, but still...have to make him knock down two big ones.) Secondly, the Heat can’t close tight games. Yes they seemed to have figured it out when all of sudden LeBron started becoming a knock down shooter, especially in huge 3s, (quick pause while I exhale in anger and/or break something) but all returned to form last night. LeBron hitting those shots forced him into the false hubris to keep launching “hero” fallaway 26 footers. Can he make those...yes, is it a good shot by any stretch of the imagination, especially after he had just free reign to basket all night...NO! (Wait what am I saying, yes LeBron, keep shooting them, they have to go in sooner or later.) The Heat’s last 5 possessions they took 3s ( three of them were contested fall aways by James or Wade, the Chalmers wide open practice shot, and Wade’s last second heave.) They had no semblance of an offense and Shawn Marion (more on him in a bit) played great individual defense on LeBron, and they because of that they only had one field goal (the Chalmers 3) the last 7:44 of the game. Third, Spoelstra is over-matched as a coach on this stage. Why he doesn’t call plays at the end of games (even Scott Brooks could have designed a falling down 30 footer), why did he not have Joel Anthony in at the end of the game after he had protected the rim so well all night (including two big time blocks), and once again, not to harp on it, but it was only the biggest play of the entire series...WHY WAS CHRIS BOSH GUARDING DIRK?!?!?...It is truly “mind-bottling.” Like who thought that was a good idea, well except for Dirk, Rick Carlisle, and the collective states of Texas and Ohio, the answer is NO ONE. Bosh made Carlos Boozer look like Bill Russell compared to his effort (just to clarify, even I could score on Boozer and Russell was the greatest defensive center of all time, hope that makes it clearer). I don’t understand it, but some things better change for the Heat on the offensive end, because this is the best offensive team they have faced in these playoffs and you can only keep them down for so long.
Lastly, a major shout out needs to go to Shawn Marion. The Matrix isn’t going to get much national love because he does nothing pretty, but from a basketball standpoint he is playing at an incredibly high level on both sides of the ball. He has scored twenty plus points in both games, and especially in Game 2, he took it upon himself to rebound (the Mavs got absolutely killed on the boards in the first game), and he played as good of defense on LeBron in the fourth that I have ever seen. In the playoffs, yes you need your stars to play big, but titles are won by role players stepping up and swinging a series (why do you think Robert Horry has 7 rings??), and that’s exactly what the Mavs got from Marion, JT, and even little JJ Barea who last night scored some big early buckets to keep the Mavs in the game and then gets to fly home to a former Miss Universe, tough life huh.
Without a true team to root for I’ve just been watching these playoffs for the high level of basketball, and because I’m a hoops junkie who needs his fix. I got the Finals matchup I wanted (yes I did want the Heat to get there, just so they could lose to the Mavs for a 2006 vindication) but my plan almost backfired with the Heat taking a 2-0 lead. After Wade hit that 3, I tossed the remote in disgust, put the dogs away, and locked up the house. I didn’t want to watch they show off anymore, but because I am truly addicted I convinced myself that I would watch just a minute or two more. And no one is talking about this, but after the time out the Mavs didn’t score and the Heat had two 3 point chances (Wade and Chalmers) to push the lead to 18, and if either of those shots goes in, the game is over. But they both rimmed out, the Mavericks got two easy transition scores and I just had a weird feeling that something special was going to happen. Last night was the reason I spend hours watching sports. I had already given up on the Mavs once this postseason and missed their incredible comeback against the Thunder, and I knew I wasn’t going to again. So while I may need another cup of coffee at work today, it was all so totally worth it...can’t wait for Sunday. #cavsformavs
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