6/5/11: Dirk Unable To Carry Mavs Past Heat In 86-88 Defeat

Did anyone else feel like last night’s contest was eerily similar to game two?  Yeah, the Mavs lost this time, but think about it: Miami was clearly playing better basketball–getting much better looks and locking everyone but Dirk down defensively–yet they still led by just five at the half.  Game two was actually tied at the break, but it was a similar story.  It seemed that Miami should’ve held a reasonably-sized lead.  Last night, it seemed as if the lead should’ve been larger than five.  Had Chris Bosh, the eventual hero, been able to make a few open jumpers and various finishes in traffic, the lead would’ve been much larger.

The second half had similarities as well.  Miami began the third quarter on an 8-0 run that started at the defensive end.  Joel Anthony actually managed to block a Dirk Nowitzki jumper.  That possession was followed by one of Shawn Marion’s many ugly shot attempts, and then came a turnover on a bad pass by Nowitzki.  Dallas shot themselves in the foot with 14 turnovers on the night… I suppose 14 really isn’t that many, but when you’re only shooting 40 percent from the field, taking care of the basketball becomes especially crucial.  Also, as I’ve stated in the past, you can’t go coughing the ball up against the Heat; they’ll turn your f@ck ups into slam dunks quicker than you can say “SH!T!“.  The Heat came up with eight steals on the night… Dallas takes a little better care of the ball?  They probably win this game.

Retaining possession wasn’t Dallas’ only problem on the offensive side of the ball.  Aside from Dirk Nowitzki, pretty much everyone in a white jersey had every problem under the sun.  LeBron James completely locked Jason Terry down in the fourth quarter… the guy was rendered completely useless.  By the time Terry got an open shot (would’ve put the Mavs in the lead with 58 seconds to go), he was visibly rattled and pulled the string on it.  JET went just 5-13 in the game and was unable to score a single point in the fourth.  Credit LeBron James for making a huge difference in the game with his lockdown D.  He only scored 17 points, but holding the Mavs only potent offensive threat not named Dirk Nowitzki scoreless in a tight fourth quarter is just as big a reason that Miami won this game as any.  Watch LeBron son this reporter who foolishly tried to make things out as if LBJ didn’t do sh!t down the stretch of this game…

 

I suppose he must’ve missed LBJ’s slip-n-slide, too.  It was a massive contribution that got Miami like 5,000 trick points closer to a gamebreaker.

No idea what the hell I’m talking about?  I feel bad for you, because your youth years were not as cool as mine.

Where was I… oh yeah; the Mavs’ offensive struggles.  Well, let’s just put it this way: only two Mavericks not named Dirk Nowitzki shot better than 38 percent from the field.  One of them was my main man DeShawn Stevenson, who went 1-1…

…and the other was Peja Stojakovic, who went 1-2.  They accounted for just five points.  Shawn Marion, who was HUGE in game two, went 4-12 (his eight misses included a blown dunk attempt that flew over the backboard and some of the funniest looking midrange hook shots that you’ll ever see).  Jose Juan Barea had one memorable finish to four three-point bricks, and Tyson Chandler failed to finish a few decent opportunities around the rim (I thought he was fouled a few times as he went 1-4, but LeBron was fouled on a few of his layups with no call, so whatever).  Brian Cardinal went stat-less in seven seconds.  Meanwhile, Miami was getting 18 combined big ones from Mario Chalmers and Udonis Haslem.  It turns out that three of Mario’s 12 shouldn’t have counted…

 

…yep, slow-mo replay proved that it should’ve been called a backcourt violation.  However, you can’t really be mad at the refs here; two thirds of his foot was in the frontcourt, and I mean, sh!t, I had no idea it was backcourt in live motion.  It’s an unfortunate twist due to the fact that the game was decided by two points, but I don’t want to hear anyone crying conspiracy or any of that sh!t.  Dallas had plenty of chances to win this game long after this missed call.  They turned the ball over, failed to get good looks at the basket, and Dirk finally missed a must-hit shot. 

Dirk did score 34 points in the game on 11-21, and he basically had this game tied up by himself with a minute to go.  Chris Bosh had just passed up an open jumper that resulted in a Miami shotclock violation, and like I said earlier on in the post, he hadn’t been able to hit a goddamn thing all night long… so I suppose he was due:

How ’bout that backhanded pass (right on the money!) from LBJ, and that completely illegal screen/NFL maneuver by Udonis Haslem?  I’m glad they didn’t call it, but I’m just saying… that isn’t legal in the first 47 minutes of an NBA Finals game, and it probably would’ve drawn a 10-yard flag from the pocket of Ed Hochuli.  Anyway, that bucket turned out to be the game winner.  Bosh made just 7 of 18 shots, but hey, he stepped up and nailed the one that put Miami’s stellar defensive effort over the top.  Give him credit for having the stones to shoot the ball just moments after passing up a good look, and give LeBron credit for making the right play out of the double-team.  Said LeBron James: “I don’t care if he missed 15 in a row. He was wide open and that’s his sweet spot. … It’s the trust we have in each other’s ability, no matter what the point of the game is at.”

Excellent call, LeBron.  I’m happy for you that Bosh made it, because if he hadn’t, all the morons would’ve been running around calling LeBron a pansy because he didn’t shoot the ball.  Whether Bosh makes that shot or not, this was the right play.  He’s an All-Star with a wide-open shot within his range.  That’s a good look.

So, even though James only scored 17 in this game, I liked the way he played.  He came out really agressively from the opening jump, as did D-Wade.  I think I heard they took something like one jumper combined in the entire first half.  Both of them were attacking the rack with fury, which shows in the points in the paint category (40-22, MIA).  LeBron did dish nine assists, and D-Wade took care of the scoring down the stretch with 29 points on the night.  Basically, what I’m saying is forget who had what; Miami got better shots than Dallas in this game.  That resulted in six extra makes and a huge road win. 

Is Dallas toast?  Sadly, I feel that they are.  It’s going to be hard watching Dirk Nowitzki go down… again… in what will likely be his final chance… after seeing him dominate throughout all four rounds (the dude is even denying dunks like he’s prime Bill Russell now).  Yes, I would consider his game last night pretty dominant… it’s just that the dude got ZERO help and missed one key shot.  He scored 34 points in a game where his team finished with 86.  According to my math, that’s 39.5 percent of his team’s offense.  Throw in 11 boards and 50+ percent shooting from the field against the league’s best defensive team… and throw in the fact that everyone in the arena knew he was going to have to shoot the ball throughout the entire game because no one else could get the job done… yeah, he was awesome.  I was surprised when he missed the one at the buzzer.  I actually said “it’s good” as it approached the hoop.  He created more than enough space for a clean release.  I suppose he had to miss one eventually… but the way he’d been rolling, it was hard to believe it finally happened.  Anyway, yeah, I think the Mavs are toast.  I’m going to say it happens in six.  Dirk isn’t going to be getting enough offensive help to win this series.  Miami will continue to keep everyone else on lockdown, and the sports world will go apesh!t as LeBron collects his first of what will likely become a couple fistfulls of rings.  Be prepared, because it’s happening, and there isn’t a damn thing your hateful ass can do about it.

“Hey, DeShawn, do you happen to know of a place where I can get this thing removed?”

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4 Responses to 6/5/11: Dirk Unable To Carry Mavs Past Heat In 86-88 Defeat

  1. Phil Olson says:

    Dude, I LOVE your blog. It is the best ever!!! Keep the great work man. Oh, and I do know what you are talking about with regard to LeBron’s “Slip-N-Slide” move. NBA Street bro! One of the best video games ever for ps2! You are the man. If I am every out in the northeast, I will have to to hit you up and talk some b-ball. You need to get hired by Slam Magazine or something.

    • Stephen Coston says:

      Thank you for all of the kind words… I appreciate all comments, but especially ones like these! NBA Street was the greatest thing ever to happen to my teenage years.

  2. dr.dirk says:

    Go Dirk, i love you and Dalas

    Miranda

  3. Pingback: Alexander7

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