Now that's much more like it. That's what I want to see in these Finals. The Heat reverted back to their early season brand of basketball. Pulled out to what they felt was a comfortable lead, and then started getting sloppy. There was the overdone Dwyane Wade celebration in front of the Mavs bench, followed by Lebron joining in on the fun. Maybe that lit a fire under the Dallas Mavs because they proceeded to go on a 22-5 run to finish the game.
After the game they showed Eric Spoelstra addressing his dejected and confused Miami Heat squad. What he said surprised me. He told his players that, "This is where we're at our best. We've been here before... in the regular season." Ummm ok? So you're saying you guys have had this problem before? Yeah, we've actually noticed. The fact that it's coming back to haunt you in June is not ok. The time for learning lessons is over. By now this team should understand the importance of playing hard for all 48 minutes. No, the Mavericks didn't win this game because of Lebron and Wade's celebration. They've pulled shenanigans like that plenty of times before in big blowouts. The Heat relaxed. They eased up and by the time they realized they were in a ballgame they couldn't regain their rhythm.
But enough anti-Heat. I could rant all day. The Mavs deserve all the credit in the world for how they closed out this game. Looks like no one has to be worried about Dirk and his left middle finger or whichever one it is. He did take over down the stretch and pulled out the Dirk face for South Beach but to say he won this game by himself would be ignorant. Shawn Marion (20 points, 8 rebounds) had a great offensive night. Jason Terry (16 points, 5 assists) pulled it together in the fourth quarter to hit some timely shots. And Jason Kidd, that cagy vet, always seems to pull out the three ball when his club needs it most.
But perhaps the biggest reason for the big run to end the game was the Dallas defense. They clamped down on the Heat and really dug in for the last 6:30 of regulation. You can say that Miami was settling for jumpers or you can say that's all the Mavs would give them. It was a little bit of both. Just goes to show the Wade and James tandem is stoppable. All you have to do is make them feel comfortable and then they'll relax. That will only work until they're old enough to know better. Sort of feels like Lebron has had a bad influence on Wade in that way. That "us against the World" stuff just doesn't seem to go over too well for them.
I'm not sure how much this worries the Heat but the Mavs (arguably) main weapon off the bench has yet to really show up in this series. The freakin Puerto Rican J.J. Barea has gotten off to a rough start so far. From what I've seen he's been getting the same looks he saw all postseason, but right now the shots just aren't falling for him. I don't see that continuing. I'd look for Barea to find his rhythm in Game 3 back in Dallas. That should help propel Dallas to a 2-1 series lead.
No comments:
Post a Comment