Miami We're going to see that Dampier is no where near the 2nd best center in the league... That title goes to Yao. No stopping Wade... Pat Riley is the superior coach... Shaq will manhandle the Mavs' bigs, even winded.... Miami in 6
Like your posts, but I'm really surprised you discount Wade like that. My comments included in (). Wade has really impressed lately. Miami in six.
I don't know either, if you were 34% wrong on a test you get D, that is a lot of wrong people. Miami is going to get so many easy buckets in the lane it will be silly, Dallas has zero interior defense. Wade will penetrate at will and Shaq will do his thing against crappy centers. Dirk, Howard and Terry will have to be lights out offensively, because there is no way Dallas can stop Miami. Dallas couldn't guard Phx or SA, and Miami's offense has been a lot more consistent than those teams of late. One other factor is for the Mavs offense to be at their best and cause Miami problems defensively they would have to go small, and that would leave Dirk or Howard to guard Shaq (laugh). Dallas really has a problem here, they would rather not to have Diop or Damp in so they can spread the floor and try to have Walker and Shaq's footspeed exposed, but that leaves Dirk or JH covering Shaq, which more than negates the benefit of the small line-up. I don't even think they want Dirk or JH playing Zo much either when Shaq is out. Again, I assume Dirk will get his (but Haslem and JP and AW and maybe even Zo will make him work). But Diop and JH must play excellent defensively versus Shaq and Wade in lots of 1 on 1 situations, and JH and JT must be very effecient offensively to help Dirk. Lots of things must fall in place for Dallas to be competitive, it is long odds. Dallas will be happy to have made the finals and got by SA finally, and try to salvage a game or two for respectability.
Wade has publically given Howard props for his defense against Wade. The other guys....yeah, I'll agree with those comments. And as much as it sickens me to admit, I think the Mavs are the favorite to win the series. That said... GO HEAT!!!!
All the Mavs haters on this board might like Miami to win but Vegas has Dallas as 3/2 favorites to win the series. I would say that Vegas might be just a bit more objective than a bunch of Mavs haters. I especially like the part where you say that Dallas has "zero interior defense". Wow, the Mavs beat Memphis, SA, and Phoenix with zero interior defense. Amazing. I wonder why they held those teams to low offensive totals? This must really suck for the Spurs who lost to a team with zero interior defense. Good God man, come back to reality. The Mavs strategy will be to relentlessly attack the basket and make Shaq and Zo stay out of foul trouble. Believe me. That will be Avery's strategy. It worked with SA and it will work with Miami too. Unless, of course, Miami is able to block shot after shot without fouling. Mavs in 6 games. Oh, and I can't wait for all the Mavs haters crying about the officiating and how the refs stole the series from the heat because Shaq was in foul trouble.
it will all be about how they Ref the game I think in the games the heat win . . . it will be significantly different than the ones Dallas wins Rocket River
Pau got 20 a game (didn't shoot great though). Duncan got over 30, but they lost because he didn't have constant perimiter help all 7 games. They had the game wrapped if it werent for manu's dumb foul. Diaw got over 20 a game. Sorry, but I haven't seen the Mavs interior defense.
You do know that just reflects the even point in response to where mostly causal fans place their money. You do know both Phx and SA outshot Dallas. You do know Duncan averaged his playoff series high in umteenth years (32ppg) and the Spurs had two more players averaging 20PPG with much of it through going to the rack. The only other big time interior player this Mavs team faced in the playoffs for two years was Amare, and he like Duncan went for almost 30PPG. Even Gasol, a lower 2nd tier or third tier big, scored 20PPG and his team completely sucks for a playoff squad. Don't misunderstand me. Dallas is an excellent overall team. Dallas isn't a bad defensive team either, particular on the perimeter. Dallas is also an excellent offensive team. Dallas is a quick and deep team. But Dallas IS a bad interior defense team, particularly for a team trying to win a title. The degree they were hapless versus Duncan and Amare (basically the same Dallas team) does not bode well for them slowing Shaq on the defensive end. Their only prayer is Diop versus Shaq at C, and he did show some flashes against Duncan, but it is quite another to sustain it in a series and against the smaller Duncan they could protect Diop more because KVH and Dirk could share the load with Diop/Damp (now try KVH or Dirk versus Shaq). While Dallas is a good perimeter defensive team, it is quite another thing to contain Wade. Nobody else has contained him for 2 years, I don't see what Dallas has to throw at him that Wade hasn't beaten. If you want to kill Jason Terry's confidence one sure way is to make him d up on the much stronger and bigger and just as fast Wade. The Mavs strategy will be to try everything they can to speed the pace, as they did and reasonably succeeded versus SA. (Though people seem to forget had SA made any of 1 more basket in three different games or not foulded Dirk Dallas loses. Dallas showed almost as many flaws in the SA and Suns series as they showed strengths, at least for a team competing for a title). Dallas will need to shoot very well to tire the Heat, along with forcing Miami into lots of turnover and fouls to make up for the half court mismatches and half court efficiency that favor the Heat. The dry spells the Mavs went into against the zero D Suns and the Spurs suggests they will happen versus Miami too, but I just don’t see them ever getting enough of a handle of Wade and Shaq (stopping Miami). The problems the Mavs had versus TD, Parker and Manu will be exemplified playing Wade (Parker and Manu rolled into one) and Shaq (no longer as good as Duncan individually but there are fewer Mavs who can even try to D up on Shaq), and Miami’s role players are playing a lot better right now than the aging Spurs role players who ultimately failed them. I am not a Mavs hater, I picked and routed for them the beat the Spurs for crying out loud. You might try a bit of reality yourself, along with a few less insinuations. Dallas wins one for pride, Miami in 5, Wade MVP.
Actually, Vegas sets the line and then lets the public change it one way or another. Dallas was SET at 3/2 favorites by Vegas. They are betting on the Mavs winning the series You said the Dallas had "ZERO" interior defense. Now you are just saying the Mavs have a "bad interior defense team" So which is it? Zero or just bad? Check the boxscores of both Mavs/Heat games this season. The Mavs did ok on Wade there. The difference is Shaq not wade. Ok, now the Suns play ZERO D? You love to throw out that ZERO word a lot don't you? Who said you were a Mavs hater? I was merely stating that the Clutch Poll is biased by Mavs haters. Vegas is a better, non biased indicator of what should happen. Maybe you should practice what you preach.
The Heat is structured similarly to the Rockets. Last year the Rockets were poised to beat the Mavs, taking a 2-0 lead in the series, but failed due to the absence of their starting center. Even so the Rockets took the Mavs to game 7, with T-Mac playing out of position at pf, with scrubs like Padgett and Bowen playing the rest of PF minutes, with a bunch of slow and old role players. Clearly, the Heat is a superior team to last year's playoffs Rockets, and the Mavs have improved, or matured a lot than last year. I say it's anybody's game and a competitive series.
I really think it will go 7 games and both teams are very good and capable of winning it, however I do give the slight edge to the Mavs. Homecourt will be huge, the home team could win every game. Everybody is talking about Shaq being the biggest worry for Dallas. As far as i'm concerned, I see shaq putting about 20 and 10 for the series, but he is not going to dominate by any stretch. Dallas also has big bodies like Diop and Dampier they can bang shaq with and foul with. Therefore thte key matchup is against Wade for Dallas and of course agianst Nowitzki for Miami. Whoever is able to contain those guys better will have the advantage in the series. I could see Dallas using Terry, Harris, Stackhouse and Howard either 1on1 or double team against Wade and maybe contain him somewhat. The reason I give Dallas the edge in the series is that the Heat have absolutely no answer for Dirk. Haslem is too slow to stay with him on the perimeter or in the post and Dirk is still taller and can't shoot over him with the rainbow. Walker is way too short and slow to do anythink agianst Dirk and Posey is way too small as well. I could see Nowitzki dominating these finals, just a bit more than Dwayne Wade will.
The line is set by what they think people will bet, than adjusted by what they do bet. It is more of an election/popularity contest than a systematic analysis. To clarify I don't mean a mathmatical/philosophical 0 when I refer to Dallas having ZERO interior defense or the Suns have ZERO defense. Please replace with "little" or "way below par for a title hopefull" if that is more palatable for the rhetorical police. This Heat team little (not ZERO) resembles the curent team in terms of intensity, focus and health. Plus, this is the playoffs. We always used to say we would smoke Jordan's Bulls if we everr got to play them because Hakeem, Max, and compnay had the upper hand most of the time in the regular season. In truth we have no idea how a finals match would have turned out. In your post entirely in response to a series of my comments you quoted you sprinkled in Mav haters three times I believe, and didn't address any other posts or comments by others. I guess I must have somehow, somewhere, come to the wrong conclusion that you included me in the group of Mav haters. I'll try to be sharper next time.
I'd like to come in to defend Desert Scar here. When we use the word 'zero', we use the term loosely and figuratively. Unless we were talking about statistical facts (i.e. He shot ZERO for 20 from the field; He had ZERO rebounds), then the term 'zero' should be reflected as a figure of speech that means someone or something has a lack of but not a total lack/devoid of said ability (i.e. Dallas had ZERO interior defense against the Spurs). If that figure of speech can be defended by statistical means (i.e Dallas had ZERO interior defense against the Spurs. How many points did Duncan put up?) then the term 'zero' is validated in its usage. Carry on.
