7:39: Brought my A-game today food-wise. Had a hot dog combo from Costco (The best $1.59 ever spent), followed by 3 slices of pepperoni pizza, with a footlong Russo sub ready in the fridge. If the Heat don't make it happen tonight, it won't be on me.
7:50: Mario Chalmers starting in place of Bibby. Panic move? Not really. Other than Game 2, Bibby has been awful throughout the playoffs
7:57: 1st Mountain Dew of the night. I'm going for 5,000 calories by midnight.
8:06: Before we get started, let's get 1 thing straight: this is a huge blow to Miami if they don't win it all this year. I don't want to hear any "LeBron and Bosh are only 26, they'll have more opportunities" nonsense. There are no guarantees of the Heat returning to the Finals year after year, and nobody knows how long the egos of Wade and James will be content to share the spotlight. Blowing a chance to get a ring in their 1st year together would sting.
8:11: James with Miami's first 5 points. Huge to get him going early. 7-6 Heat, 9:29 to go in 1st
8:14: James opens 4-4 with 9 points. When the J is falling, he is truly unguardable. 14-10 Heat 7:50 1Q
8:19: Poor Jason Kidd. He doesn't have a chance when Wade is running at him. 20-13 Heat, 5:43 1Q
8:24: Heat double Marion in the post and leave Terry wide open for a 3. When was the last time Shawn Marion beat a team with his post game? Does he even have a post move? Over-helping is a problem with the Heat's defensive scheme.
8:28: Dirk comes out, Mavs promptly go on 8-0 run. Missed opportunity for Heat to extend lead. 27-24 Mavs, 1:50 1Q
8:32: I didn't think the whole coughing thing was a big deal. Believe it or not, it is okay if players from different teams aren't in love with each other. A little bad blood always makes things more interesting.
8:34: As good as Heat were in the 1st 6 minutes, they were just as bad (maybe worse) in the last 6. When Dallas goes to zone, Miami has noone to hit the 3 (see Eddie House getting minutes). James Jones' injury (which nobody will publicly acknowledge) has really hurt Miami in this series. 32-27 Mavs after 1
8:38: The fact that Miami stopped scoring as soon as Dirk came out (17-2 Mavs run) is not a coincidence. For all of his offensive brilliance, he is an awful defender and an even worse rebounder.
8:42: Speaking of awful rebounding, Chris Bosh everybody. 40-28 Mavs, 9:30 2Q
8:46: Good for Mark Jackson for pointing out media hypocrisy in crushing Wade/James for Game 2 celebration, yet letting DeShawn Stevenson slide for acting like a clown everytime he hits a wide open spot up 3. You're a professional, and they're leaving you WIDE OPEN. Don't need to pimp yourself everytime you hit one.
8:53: BANG!! Eddie House is in the building! I'm so confused. House barely saw any action during the regular season, now Spo dusts him off and it's actually working...Haslem starts trouble with Stevenson after the timeout. The benches have cleared! Now we're playing playoff basketball! 42-40 Heat, 6:25 2Q
8:57: Okay let's get this thing sorted out. Ts on Chalmers, Haslem, and Stevenson. I can live with that. Stevenson had to be dealt with. Whistles are gonna be quick now. Should favor the Heat. 42-41 Heat, 5:45 2Q.
9:07: Mike Breen is having a hard time hiding his support for the Mavs. He probably should've worn a suit instead of his Nowitzki jersey. Heat putting House on Terry was probably not a great idea, either. 49-47 Mavs, 3:33 2Q.
9:16: Heat's half-court offense is all types of bad. Need to push the ball on misses. Their best shots usually come off the break. On cue, a shot clock violation. LeBron has been MIA (get it? Okay that was weak) since his 4-4 start. 53-51 Mavs at halftime.
9:20: Halftime thoughts: Dirk has been terrible (1-12), but Terry has been pretty incredible (8-10). Heat struggling to contain dribble penetration, and when they send help they leave Dallas' shooters wide open. That thinking plays right into Dallas' hands. Mavs would rather shoot jumpers than finish at the rim. Total opposite on the other end, where Dallas is daring Miami to shoot perimeter jumpers, giving them uncontested looks. The strategy works because Miami's only legitimate shooting threat is House. The Dallas zone cuts down the opportunities for Wade and James to penetrate into the defense, and the Heat are pretty much forced to shoot jumpers. Heat need to get out and run on misses before Dallas has a chance to set up their defense. It's Russo time!
9:51: I'm back. The sandwich was outstanding. Chris Bosh's defense and rebounding is not. Might not be a great idea to leave Dirk and help on a penetrating Brian Cardinal. If Heat wind up losing they'll have themselves to blame. Ton of missed FTs and overall unintelligent basketball.
9:53: Wade with an easy charge call and compounds the mistake with a T. When you're down 6 in a game where you can't get a stop to save your life, might not be a good idea to get T'd up.
9:56: Uh oh. Call arena security, someone called Brian Cardinal a bad word. When you openly embrace being called "The Custodian", I think you forfeit the right to complain about verbal abuse. 74-69 Mavs, 2:00 3Q
10:00: Heat hanging around, even though they don't really deserve to. 10 missed FTs. Unbelievable. 76-71 Mavs, 1:00 3Q
10:09: Mahinmi at the buzzer and the Mavs lead by 9. I'm not saying it's over, but it's probably going to take 1 of those ridiculous performances by Wade to push the series to 7. For all of his immense talents, LeBron does not have THAT type of mentality.
10:11: Nice backcut by Wade, who finishes at the rim over Nowitzki for the And-1. You're not gonna believe this, but he missed the FT. Heat's tally up to 12 now. 81-77 Mavs 10:32 4Q
10:15: Barea hits a tough 3, but the fact that House is guarding him made it a lot easier. When House's 3s are falling, he's an asset on offense. But his defense is consistently atrocious. There is simply nowhere to hide him (other than the bench), and Dallas exploits him by going to whoever he's guarding. 85-77 Mavs 9:20 4Q
10:20: Simply put, Dallas is the better team tonight. Heat will kick themselves all summer for giving away Games 2 and 4, though. In my last-ditch effort to stir up some Heat magic, Dallas led 89-76 in Game 3 of 2006 Finals with 6:30 to go when Wade turned into something from another planet. But, as Jake Taylor said in Major League 2, that was a different team. 89-77 Mavs 8:12 4Q
10:26: Scott Foster trying to keep the Heat in it with a highly questionable continuation call for the Chalmers And-1. Doesn't really matter, though. Dallas is scoring at will. 94-86 Mavs, 5:56 4Q
10:32: Evil Rio picks a really bad time to appear. Dumb turnover followed by dumber foul. Then commits an even dumber foul on the next possession. Just when Heat fans thought he had turned the corner, too. 95-87 Mavs 4:32 4Q
10:34: LeBron is getting rid of the ball like it's on fire. As a Heat fan, it's maddening. As a basketball fan, it's just disappointing. For all the bravado and arrogance he portrays, it's clear that he just doesn't believe in himself when it's time to win the game. At least we can stop with all the ridiculous MJ talk.
10:42: That's all. Give Dallas credit. Miami let them back in the series when they had a chance to take control, and the Mavs took advantage. Dirk was as efficient and devastating in this series as Wade was in 2006. By far the best player in the series. As is usually the case in the NBA, the team with the best player won.
10:47: Closing thoughts: Miami was never going to be a finished product this year. Developing chemistry between Wade and James was a struggle throughout the year, although there were times when the duo was unstoppable. Dallas did a good job of forcing Miami to beat them from the outside, a task that the Heat were not up to. Moving forward, the Heat have some holes to fill on their roster. Having a healthy Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem will help, but the hole at the PG position is glaring. Mario Chalmers emerged during this Finals series, but his contract is up and he may have played himself out of the Heat's price range, depending on the terms of the new CBA. Mike Bibby isn't expected to return, and Eddie House is nothing more than a 5-10 minute energy boost off the bench at this point in his career. The Heat hold the 1st pick of the 2nd round in the NBA Draft, where they will likely have a chance to bring in someone who can play a considerable role on a team littered with past-their-prime veterans. They'll need a quick, defense-first type who can knock down an open 3, as Miami struggled all year against the better PGs in the East.
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