God, I hate the Mavs... please no!!! If they win, I'll never hear the end of it from my arrogant Dallas cousins... Ugh.
The thing that strikes me most about this game is that Dallas still has so much more room for improvement, whereas I just don’t see much more that the Heat can improve upon. Wade played great, Walker played better than he usually does, Shaq made nearly 80% of his field goals, Jason Williams shot the ball well, Haslem rebounded the ball well and played great D on Dirk. They also outrebounded Dallas and had more assists. They turned the ball over a lot and missed free throws, but they’re turnover-prone and a poor free throw shooting team. They’ve average 15 TO’s a game and turned the ball over 15 times tonight. And they’re dead last in free throw percentage during the playoffs. Dallas, on the other hand, really did not get a good game out of anybody other than Jason Terry and they still won. This is the real difference between Miami and Dallas. Dallas can collectively have a poor shooting night and make mistakes (14 turnovers tonight), yet still find a way to gut out a victory. They’ve done it many, many times throughout these playoffs. Miami needs to get a great game out of everybody and Wade needs to make 60% of his shots for them to win.
I was really impressed with Haslem's defense on Dirk, otherwise, the game went as expected. Dallas is the better team and will win the series. Look for Howard and Dirk's shooting to pick up. Terry is a streaky shooter and he looks in a groove. Devin Harris has not been heard from yet. Stackhouse will also get better. Walker is a problem more than a solution for the Heat. I love Wade, but he needs to work on this long range shooting. Shaq's batteries have really run down, he is in his twilight years. Almost 70% of the ClutchFans posters picked the Heat? Not very objective guys. I know, it is not over yet. It may go seven, but I doubt it. I am sticking with Dallas in six.
Of course it's not objective. The question was "Who do you want to win?" At least, that was the question <a href="http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=113566">here</a>.
Miami doesn't have room to improve? They aren't a good free throw shooting team, but they aren't going to go 7-19 every night. Shaq will probably shoot better than 1-9 from the line. The Miami bench gave them nothing, and Wade was completely indecisive and passive down the stretch. They will get better. Jason Terry played out of his mind and the Mavs narrowly won a home game, yet some of you are already taking the victory lap. Hello? This was a game Dallas was supposed to win. Heck, last season San Antonio crushed Detroit in both of the first two games in SA, and a lot of people proclaimed that series was over... when it ended up being very, very close. Dallas won the game, and props to them. But it wasn't exactly a commanding performance, and let's not forget this was a game they were supposed to win. No one really makes a statement in this series until a road team wins a game. Until then, it's far too early to start calling people out about their objectivity. I picked the Heat to win the series in 6, and I expected Dallas to win tonight. They did, and nothing's really changed in how I view the series.
How did Jason Terry play out of his mind? Performances like this are becoming the norm for him. You can pretty much expect atleast 20 a night from him in each game and 30 is by no means a shock. How is that playing out of his mind? If Terry is going to negate Wade's production, the Heat are in serious trouble. I felt that the Heat played just as well as they possibly can. They played a very good game defensively, with some stifling D in the 4th to get back into it, got good production from Walker and Williams, and Wade was Wade. They had turnovers, but they're a high turnover team. You expect that. Dirk and Shaq both played poorly, major props to Haslem. But who do you think is more likely to bounce back with 30+? Dirk. It's a labor for Shaq to even get 20 anymore and those missed free throws are the norm. Miami kept Stackhouse, Harris, and Dirk at bay and still lost. The Mavs are just too much to handle.
That’s the thing that makes Dallas so tough to stop. You can pretty count on one of their players to play out of their mind almost every game and you never know who it’s going to be, so it’s very difficult to prepare against them. One game Devin Harris will bust out a 30 point game out of nowhere, next game it’ll be Stackhouse pouring in +25 points, the following game it’ll be Josh Howard, then Dirk will drop a 50 point game. In many ways, they remind of the championship Rockets teams, where you could pretty much count on one of their role players to step up and have a huge night, and it would be a different player every night.
Shaq and D Wade were the only Heat to attempt free throws...I know Shaq shot the majority of them, but if he had hit a few more than 1 and if Wade hadn't missed 4 free throws...this game is neck and neck down the stretch
I would be alot more encouraged if the Mavs just blew the Heat out of the water offensively, but instead, the Heat defended them just about as perfectly as you can. They read every switch correctly, took away the screen and roll game, and shut down Dirk. The problem is that offensively, the Heat just don't stand a chance. I felt like I was watching Yao and McGrady out there with the three musketeers once again. And the sad part is that Williams and Walker actually played good games. These guys just can't score with Dallas, even when Dallas is at its worst. They have Posey and Payton, two offensive ZEROS, playing HUGE minutes and that just kills you on offense. (More on Payton later) You can't expect much from Haslem either or Alonzo when he's in the game. Re: Payton, my god he is absolutely awful. Remember how bad he looked with the Lakers a few years back? Why does Riley insist on playing him in crunch time? Jason Williams atleast gives you some scoring. There was one play when I wanted to pull my hair out when Payton tried to back his man down in the post only to have to kick it back out to Walker with the shot clock winding down. The thing that makes Payton doubly terrible is that he still thinks he's good.
Everything I thought was going to happen pretty much held up. The Heat frontcourt didn't have a decisive advantage, my main man GP was-as always- subtly horrible, and I'm not even taking into account that "other level" that Van Horn's got in the tank that we've yet to see. 12 points in the 4th quarter for the Heat? Wade is Jordan! I don't know why teams don't always go under the pick with this guy, or let him get a running start on the high pick and roll; I'd dare him to shoot from beyond 18 feet. Still, I forgot about this gimmick 2-3-2 finals format. I could easily see Miami sweeping at home, which would put the Mavs in a classic meltdown situation in game 6 or 7. Terry's botched layup immediately put that thought into my mind. They haven't proven themselves in the 2 minute-drill. Still, I can never get a good read on this Dallas team from game to game, so I'll predict they go up 3-0, drop the next two in Miami, then close it out in game 6.
Wade wasn't Wade. When the game was on the line - down 3, down 4, down 5, down 7 - he didn't look to shoot the ball or drive inside. I'm not sure what the problem was, but he deferred to both Shaq and Walker and was not the aggressive player he needs to be in that situation. As for Terry, for the playoffs, he averaged 17.7 ppg on 42.6 percent shooting going into tonight. Tonight, he close to doubled that with 32 points on 72.2 percent shooting from the field. 17.7/42.6 compared to 32/72.2. If you think that's anywhere remotely comparable, I'm not even sure what to say. It's the norm for Terry to have a couple of games per series where he plays like this, absolutely. But he's not going to do it every night. Maybe he will continue to put up the huge numbers and neutralize Wade, but there is very little statistical precedent to form that assumption. We'll see, but the probability is strong that he won't play close to what he did tonight. If you think that was as well as the Heat can play, I question how much Eastern Conference ball you've watched this season. Shaq was slow, inactive and routinely beaten to loose balls. The biggest play of the game was the offensive rebound that Dampier got with about two minutes left. That wasn't the Shaq we saw against Detroit. He won't play like this every game. Also, Wade's going to have a couple of games where he shoots above 50 percent from the field, especially against this defense. It's coming. Dirk might be more likely to get 30, but I think a more active Shaq can easily get 20-25 and quite a few more rebounds. Plus, as I said earlier, the evidence also says Terry will come back down to earth. Miami kept Dirk at bay, but Dallas kept Shaq at bay. Stackhouse was right at his postseason average, so I'm not sure what rationale you have for expecting much improvement from his performance. Harris has been mediocre to below average for the entire postseason with the exception of the San Antonio series and Game 1 of the Phoenix series, and there's no reason to expect a lot from him. There's a reason he was pulled from the starting lineup and only played 17 minutes. This was a close game that is relatively indicative of how much of the series will go. You're right, the statistical probability is that Dirk will have much better games, but the probabilities also say that Shaq will have better games and that Terry won't play nearly this well. Dallas made the plays it needed to make, and they had slightly too much to handle... at home. But the tempo was in Miami's favor, and I like the matchups enough to have a lot of confidence in Miami when they're at home. Yes, the Heat need to win at least one in Dallas also, but I have faith in Wade to help steal one of these games in Dallas late (in spite of his indecisiveness tonight).
Wade wasn't 100% healthy. Ussualy, he's very agressive in the 4th. If you watched Miami-Detroit series, you know Wade can hit his outside shot when he feels confident. It's game 1.
"I make them when it counts." Every game in a playoff series counts, Shaq. Please don't let the Mavs win the title.
its amazing how terrible Payton has become in his old age and how Sam Cassell, like fine wine, is still demanding double teams.
Everyone knows they need to shut down Dirk. Rockets did it almost entire series last year and they still lost to Mavs. This Mavs team is just too deep. You can shut down Dirk, but some other guys could go crazy. It could be Terry, Howard, Starkhouse or even Harris. In this playoffs season, they proved again and again that they could handle inside or outside, big or small, slow or fast and yet a lot of people still seriously underestimate them. To beat Mavs, I think the opponent should score 90pts at least. Some guys in this thread spent huge amount of time over hyping Shaq and Wade as if these two are enough. The truth is Shaq + Wade < Shaq + Kobe. Wade may has the ability to match Kobe, but Shaq is not the old Shaq, he is the OLD Shaq now. The best he could give in the playoff is 28. I will be very generous to say he will average 25pts in the Finals. If Wade averages 30pts, that is only 55. The role player will have to consistently contribute the other 35pts and play great defense all the time. I don't see that happening. That is why I say Mavs will win the Finals.
Payton's game was much more dependant on his quickness. He was a defensive force because he was quick of his feet and his hands. Also, he never ever shot the ball particularly well. And now that he's old, he can't penetrate at all anymore and as a result he's stuck taking bad jump shots that he could never make in the first place. On the other hand, Cassell's game was never so contingent on getting to the basket. His jump shot is still really crisp and he's pretty crafty when it comes to finding ways to seperate and get room to shoot the ball. Also, he's matured a lot as a player and has evolved his game as time has passed. Payton on the other hand really can't do anything anymore.
Amen to that! I was ROTFLMAO at his pitiful attempts at shooting last night. He just kept jacking up shot after shot after shot. For a minute there, I thought I was looking at a rerun of Rockets guards shooting the ball.
Amazing intro from ABC. I'm glad Rudy and Hakeem made the cut. Did anyone catch Marc Jackson set Patrick and Wilborn straight? When they were discussing great centers they didn't even mention Dream, but Jackson put him at #3 when they asked for his rankings. As usual, most players don't pick Shaq ahead of Dream. Game 1 was entertaining. If I were Miami I wouldn't be too worried. They basically controlled the tempo and Haslem showed that he can at least make Dirk work for his points (assuming they dont call bs fouls on him). They had too many TO's and shot horrible from the line, yet they had a chance to win. Plus Wade wasn't himself (11-25), Shaq seemed slow and JT shot 72%!! If Miami can cut down on the TO's (those were really the only times I saw the Mavs run) and get a great game from one of their stars I think they will be ok.
