A few years is a long time. A few years ago, the Mavs were building around Nash, Finley, and a young Nowitski. Terry, Stackhouse, Howard, and Harris weren't even in the picture. The Rockets' future was Francis, Mobley, Mo Taylor, and Yao. Trying to predict anything beyond a year or so is futile in the NBA - especially when dealing with a Rockets team that has gone through so many revamps over the last 10 years.
I'm in Dallas on sales calls and listened to a lot of radio (mainly The Ticket & FM103.3) during the day. Pretty much the consensus is the Mavs gave the game away and the Heat had to play their best ball just to win by 2 points. Wade and Haslem are getting respect but nobody else is, certainly not Shaq. Gary Payton is being ridiculed. Most everybody expects the Mavs to take the next 2.
I think the Mavs win tonight, but I hope the Heat do so at least that guarantees another game in Dallas...
I know nobody has came back from down 2-0 in this 2-3-2 format, but I still think this is a must win for Dallas because if the Heat win the momentum could carry them to a game 5 win, and I just don't trust Dallas to win 2 elimination games in a row. Anyway, if you go by appearances Wade is really hurt (had to be carted to the press conference yesterday), but then again, he killed them dudes after Shaq fell on his knee so he's probably just being a drama queen as usual. Speaking of Shaq, I love how he played in game 3. He was doing things I've never seen him do before like taking charges (flop?!), dive on the floor for loose balls, and step out aggresively on screen plays which produced that steal he had on Terry. Plus he was a huge reason why the Heat won the rebounding battle, which is something that's very underrated even though something like 70% or more of all playoff games are won by the team who gets the most rebounds. Heat are only favored by 2 points this time... Should be a great game.
I don't know if I'm in the minority here, but I really am tired of seeing nothing but white in the stands for Heat home games. It just seems too uniform. All I can see is white, I can't even tell if the fans are cheering or not (maybe they aren't, Miami crowds have never seemed to be that great). I think rally towls would have been better served to create pandemonium.
Apparently the Mavs are supporting Wade in his quest to set a new career high tonight... he could go off for 50 easily.
It's probably not a good idea to get Shaq into foul trouble anymore if it means that Wade becomes the focus of the offense.
Jesus.. the Heat can't buy a rebound to save their life... and yet the Mavs continue to miss wide opens hots. Both teams are clearly having some flaws... the level of play needs to step up (for both teams) for this to be considered finals-worthy basketball.
For those saying we have to be like the Mavericks, watch how the heat are playing the Mavs right now...... Notice that Wade is on the opposite side of the ball for the secondary pass after O'neal passes out on the double team. He can either drive or shoot a wide open 3..... This is EXACTLY what the Rockets need to do. DD
Someone call JVG and show him how effective a ZONE defense can be in spurts...... Hey JEFF....WAKE THE HECK UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE !! DD
