Yup I mean Eddie House in Game 6, Mario Chalmers for most of the series, and Udonis Haslem for some of the series stepped up so their depth wasn't exactly an issue especially when they have 3 very talented players. The lack of depth for the Heat is the excuse man used for them not winning a title throughout the year but watching the finals it's obvious as hell to see why they didn't win a title and that lies at the shoulders of LeBron James. I said it months ago and I'll say it now. LeBron James put more pressure on himself by going to Miami than if he had just stayed in Cleveland.
Who had the best average in the 4th quarter? Wade or Dirk? Might be an important stat when you consider that the heat collapsed in that quarter so many games. I'm not going to argue it, but yes Dirk was BY FAR the best player in the series and he knew it.
It's amazing how many late voters have come in, Dallas in 6 was barely half of Miami in 6 when i voted for it, lol
i don't care if you argue for dirk, but by far means you don't know what you are talking about. a guy that doesn't do anything else but score doesn't make him BY FAR the best player in a series, when the other guy scores, defends, rebounds, creates. and wade did them all at a high level. and he scored in the 4th except for tonight (evened out with dirk sucking in game 1 in the 4th).
Dirk was the most clutch player in this series but to say he was by far the best player in this series is comical considering how great Wade played. Difference between Dirk and Wade is Dirk teammates he big shots along with him playing good, while Miami was mostly all Wade in those late games situations.
mavs might have won going away tonight if dirk didn't play. they kept passing the ball to dirk in the first half and he kept missing or else they might have had a 15-20 pt lead with the way the others were shooting. dirk's supporting cast was HUGE this entire run; they allowed him to play 1-on-1 all the time. a lot of the times the heat guarded dirk like he was freakin' chris bosh.
Every game of this series but 1 game was won in winning time. Wade had his chances and couldn't get it done. Dirk did. When the game got tight wade wilted, just like lebron did.
What I meant was in the final 6-7 minutes of games 2-6, the Heat's defensive effort faltered enough to allow the Mavs to get hot. (Sure enough, some of the shots by Jason Terry were sick). Because Carlisle was methodical about giving key players rest throughout the game to keep them fresh, the Mavs had more gas in the tank in crunch time to D-up and make shots. I agree some of it was choking by the Heat, but Kidd's words tonight may have a lot of meaning. I agree the primitive Heat offense and LeBron's passivity made them easier to guard. We'll see about next year. Your optimism in this series was misplaced and your hopes on next season may be also. I see the Heat taking to another level in the regular season, but the playoffs are a question mark. When the Mavs lost to the Heat in 2006, it was chemistry beating talent. Talent the next season went on an incredible 50-5 run after a slow start and before a slow finish. The playoffs were a disaster. So, I'm not ready to pronounce the Heat 2012 Eastern Conference champions just yet. The #1 seed? Maybe so.
Gotta score to win and dirk hit all the big shots when it mattered most. Plus grabbing 9 Rebs a game is hardly considered not doing anything. Also remember Miami was so focused on dirk that it allowed Kidd Terry barea etc etc to get open looks. If that is not creating for others I don't know what is
Queen James choked, but what I wonder is... what would the series had been like if Riles had been coaching? Spoelstra is toast. He'll be replaced, in my opinion, and there will be a long line of veteran coaches trying to get that gig.
You call that clutch. By the way, I've never heard anyone make a distinction between a player being JUST CLUTCH rather than being the best. The fact of the matter is you, like T_mac, just want to argue the other side because dwade played pretty good. Why? is my question? Sure you can MAKE an arguement but it is a pretty far reach when the player that was supposedly the best player in the series lost in 6 games. Rare stats tell you nothing. Winning and 4 quarter close outs are what matters.
the heat lost b/c of their inability to score. they had a lead for every game until game 6 in the 4th. if they score an extra 1-2 buckets to sap the momentum, they would have won. in game 2, dallas scored 95 points. the heat had a 15pt lead and if they scored 4 more points, they won. in game 4, dallas scored 86 points. that's great defense all-around. they lost b/c they choked, primarily lebron. you and I know the heat had one of the most rudimentary offenses in the L, even in game 6 of the finals. it was lebron or wade iso/pick and roll and go. when i say the heat taking their game to the next level, i mean their offense will go to another level next year. they went to the finals PURELY off of their defense. their offense was crap for the most part all playoffs. the mavs team you refer to never had the defensive background to do anything, and they won with offense--meaning talent. the heat don't win with offense, they win with defense. therefore, when their offense catches up to their defense, they should go to another level. they do have the offensive pieces to make for a great offensive team. they just do not know how to utilize them yet obviously i was optimistic for their chances in the finals b/c of their clutch performances. i never expected lebron to choke like he did, in historical fashion. you can't predict for those kinds of things to happen after what he did in the clutch the previous 2 series. the heat will win the east again next year. you can mark that. and it will be easier than it was this year.
dirk shot 41% the entire finals. stats don't tell you a whole lot, but it tells me dirk wasn't dominating the whole game. he may have been clutch, but it tells me his teammates picked up a lot of slack to keep the game close for him to have a chance to be clutch. that 41% is a huge drop off from what he shot in the playoffs in general at 52%. AND HE FACED SINGLE COVERAGE. wade averaged more points, assists, steals, blocks, shot WAY better from the field (49%). i don't know what series you were watching to claim dirk was by far the best player. dirk was a chump in game 1, for 3 quarters of game 3, and 3 quarters of game 6. you can argue he was the most clutch player in this series, but the best player award goes to wade. b/c they should. they choked in historical fashion. dirk faced single coverage. on pick and rolls, they would rotate off dirk to double barea/terry. they couldn't double him b/c of the shooters. kenny smith says it best: dirk is a great 1-on-1 player who gets to go 1-on-1
I think the difference was that Wade had great games but he had a few very crucial turnovers in the late minutes of the 4th throughout series. Turnover that really impacted the series...
and I'm not so sure. Everything that's leaked over the last calendar year has said that LeBron doesn't listen and is borderline uncoachable. Rudy T lasted less than a year trying to handle Kobe. If you don't have a guy that LeBron will back down and follow, it needs to be a puppet coach just massaging the egos. I don't know if many vet coaches want to jump in and face a pack of guys this full of themselves. Coaches want authority. Good luck getting it with this crew.
