Awkward. That’s the word I would use to describe Tuesday night’s Finals game between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks. Awkward because each team didn’t play like themselves until after Lebron James hit the three to end the third quarter did the Heat look like the Heat. Awkward because the shooters of Dallas were largely ineffective and a large part they stayed in the game for so long last night, was because of their big men; even though these same big men were outrebounded by Lebron James and Dwayne Wade. But mostly, awkward because moving forward, no one understands how this series will end, something to which a Game 1 of the NBA Finals will usually lend some understanding.
It’s in complete contrast to how this series was defined in such a black and white manner. The battle of Good versus Evil (Pop Quiz! Guess who’s who?). The obvious team mentality of Dallas versus the three player team of Miami. Hell, even the teams play different defensive concepts, although Dallas’ zone defense has more to do with hiding their small guards than further separating themselves from Miami’s man-to-man defense.
Nothing played out the way it should have Tuesday night, but overall I felt like Dallas gave the Miami Heat the game. I’m not trying to take away anything from Miami’s win but will the Heat ever play so poorly at home again for three quarters? No. I’ve never watched a game swing momentum so quickly off of one play but simply for the sake of emphasis, that Lebron three pointer at the end of the third quarter was the most important play of the game. Drama aside, that shot forced Jason Terry and other Dallas veterans to attempt to return to their former selves, which was painful to watch. It’s like Harrison Ford’s career: he was great, athletic, and sexy in his first two franchises Star Wars and Indiana Jones but realized he couldn’t make those movies forever. He focused on the other aspects of what is a great action move; confrontations, over the top romance, engaging dialogue; in a movie like Air Force One and hid his age deficiency. Then he felt pressured into reviving his old form in a sequel to Indiana Jones and at first it was fun to watch but then there was an epiphany along the lines of “this dude is old.”
Both Jason Terry, Peja Stojakovic and Jason Kidd to some extent looked decrepit when trying to keep up with Wade and James. JJ Barea, who was a big reason Dallas swept LA, was pitiful as well but overall the Dallas team didn’t look ready to seize the opportunity handed to them. The soft label that haunted this team during the ’06 Finals is not easily applied here as big men Shawn Marion and Brendan Haywood (weird seeing my own name in a column) willed the team to stay in the ball game for as long as possible, it just wasn’t enough.
I’m not going to lie; I love the Dallas story if they win the NBA Finals, exorcising the demons against the team who didn’t deserve the win five year ago. However, if Lebron is hitting shots like he was Tuesday and the shooters of Dallas continue in their slumps, I’ll be writing how easily the Heat can win not one, not two, not three, but six championships barring injury. The Mavericks may be the last team to ever win a championship with just one star on their team and challenge the notion of team basketball versus a three star team. But there is no such thing as team basketball when the team doesn’t support their star.
Mostly, they need to win because all of America is terrified what will happen if Mark Cuban doesn’t receive his trophy since he turned twelve. (I think the plot would go something like this. Inspired by the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Cuban aligns with Russian owner Mikhail Prokhorov to destroy the world of basketball as we know it. Cuban with the help of Prokhorov guts the Dallas roster except Brendan Haywood and forces various trades to acquire players like Ron Artest, Kenyon Martin, Jermaine O’Neal and especially Reggie Evans to induce BasketBrawl Two with the Miami Heat. After convincing Rasheed Wallace out of retirement, Wallace talks trash the whole game to Chris Bosh calling him various names like Raptor, AlienHead, and the Fat Kid on Two and a Half Men. Evans then goes for a repeat performance from his patented Chris Kaman move [he grabbed his junk] on Wade during a rebound, prompting Wade to react into a fight. Artest ignores the fight on the court, jumps into the stands causing terror. ESPN runs the fight on loop for the next three days and create a catchy symbol of BB2: This Time It’s Personal, only the subtitle drops out and the first B flips creating the Big Black symbol. Tell me you wouldn’t enjoy that.)
The Miami Heat aren’t guaranteed winners but if the one advantage Dallas has in their bench doesn’t play up to their capabilities, and Wade and Lebron are hitting their outside shots, the Miami reign will begin earlier than any of us expected.
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