Monday, June 13, 2011

Dallas Mavericks NBA Champions!!! Miami Heat 2nd Best For Now....

The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Finals 105 - 95 to take the series 4 games to 2 and win their very first championship. A lot of experts and fans didn't give the Mavs a shot to beat the Heat, especially after losing Game 3 at home and going down 2 games to 1 in the series. But Dallas jumped back on their horse after that game and proceeded to win the next 3 games in a row to send Miami packing without rings for the summer. Series MVP Dirk Nowitzki was ice cold from the field for a good portion of Game 6, which was very uncharacteristic of him, particularly since he had good looks at the bucket. But Nowitzki hand turned hot as he drove the steak through the heart of the Heat championship dreams down the stretch in the 4th quarter. The Mavs had some key performances by some of their other players like JJ Barea (penetration & shot selection), DeShawn Stevenson (hit some big 3 pointers) and Brian Cardinal (filled in big minutes while Mavs big men were in foul trouble). But no star shined as brightly as Jason Terry for the Mavs as he lit up Miami from the field making 11 of 16 shots (3 of 7 from downtown). Terry really was huge in this game; he held the Mavs' heads above water as Nowitzki was going through his foul trouble and unusual cold streak. He gave the Heat fits with his perimeter game as well as with his drives to the hoop. Terry finished with a game high 27 points but it seemed like he had 50.

The Miami Heat will be kicking themselves all summer about this series. Even though they were down 3 games to 2 going into Game 6 there was a feeling that the Heat could still pull off winning two straight home games to win the title. If  LeBron James and Dwayne Wade could have played to their offensive potential, Miami possibly would have been celebrating their 2nd NBA Championship. Surprisingly, neither player showed up big in Game 6. James started off pretty hot but eventually cooled off. Wade never really seemed to get on track offensively. Chris Bosh played a good game but expressed after the game that he wished he had more opportunities (hmm, future problem?). The Heat as a team also missed a ton of free throws in Game 6. They missed 13 to be exact and obviously that had a big impact on the game. But the bottom line is the Heat biggest flaw is their half court offensive. ANY team that tries to run with them will lose. If a team can force them into becoming jump shooters, they will have a chance to succeed. The Mavs forced the Heat into jump shots. They also did the same thing at the end of Game 2, which really was the critical game of this series. In that game the Heat blew a 15 point lead in the 4th quarter when Nowitzki turned up the offense and the team turned up the defense forcing the Heat into an outside game. If the Heat would have won Game 2, I think they would have won the series. But they didn't, so they "didn't". 

I'd like to congratulate the Dallas Mavericks on winning the 2011 NBA Finals. It's great to see veterans like Nowitzki, Terry, Jason Kidd,  Shawn Marion and Tyson Chandler finally get their championship. Also it's nice to see Mav's owner Mark Cuban finally win it all. Love him or hate him, he is a player's owner and the kind owner that a fan loves because he does almost anything to make his team a winner. He and his organization has endured some ugly playoff experiences, with one just occurring last season. But today, they are the champs (even swept the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers on their way). The Heat will be taking a lot of "heat" all summer about their failure to win the Larry O'Brien trophy, but the truth is, they had a good season. I thought it was silly for folks to predict them to win more than 72 regular season games and win the title all in their first year of playing together (see http://klassybreeze.blogspot.com/2010/11/hating-heat.html ). For them to make it all the way to the NBA Finals in the first year of playing together as a unit is pretty remarkable. Give this team time to gel a little more and add another piece or two. I fully expect to see them back on this stage again - very soon.