NBA Finals

[youngsaint]

Only payer with a worse +/- that the Bostrich was Stojacovic. Just saying Mavs......play Brewer over this liability/

Oh but he can shoot 3's

 

[Westy Bogan]

Only payer with a worse +/- that the Bostrich was Stojacovic. Just saying Mavs......play Brewer over this liability/

May as well take a punt on Butler over Peja.

It reminds me of Korver last series. He was such a liability on the D end. This Heat team expose bad wing defenders more than any other team.

 

[WALL-e]

At least Korver isn't 57 years old. I don't care how good his facial hair is, Peja can **** off.

 

[Westy Bogan]

Both teams still can improve massively.

Dallas at some stage got to get their devastating 3 ball going.

Miami will at some stage get a 30+ game out of Lebron.


Equation pretty simple for Dallas now. They must win the next 2 games at home. Would be too hard to beat Heat 2 more time in Miami.

 

[peternorth]

Equation pretty simple for Dallas now. They must win the next 2 games at home. Would be too hard to beat Heat 2 more time in Miami.

ill go one better.

dallas need to win the next 3 to win the title
miami only need the next 2.

 

[peternorth]

ill go one better.

dallas need to win the next 3 to win the title
miami only need the next 2.

 

[tigs2010]

If they had of waved off Snakes 3 point prayer after a back court violation then Dallas win this.

and then if they had of called Kidd for a travel and he didnt get that free throw we could have watched overtime!

 

[JP Sauce]

Good game, but **** you Bosh!

 

[rhaz]

and then if they had of called Kidd for a travel and he didnt get that free throw we could have watched overtime!

and if they stopped calling shitty loose ball fouls the last few minutes would've been entirely different

these things happen

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

and if they stopped calling shitty loose ball fouls the last few minutes would've been entirely different

these things happen

 

[peternorth]

lol.

at times of stress and pressure what the bball world needs is calm, level headed posts. we dont need end of the world posts, or calls to sack the entire playing roster

 

[Westy Bogan]

lol.

at times of stress and pressure what the bball world needs is calm, level headed posts. we dont need end of the world posts, or calls to sack the entire playing roster

Good points Pete...

On a totally separate topic,

What did you think of the Lakers season and the appointment of Brown as coach?

 

[peternorth]

Good points Pete...

On a totally separate topic,

What did you think of the Lakers season and the appointment of Brown as coach?

 

[Westy Bogan]

NBA desperate for any finals story =

Mavs forward DeShawn Stevenson is no stranger is to trash-talking.

He's verbally sparred with the Miami Heat's LeBron James in the past, but now is taking aim at Dwyane Wade. After Monday's practice, Stevenson said Wade has a tendency to excessively complain to referees about foul calls. He went far as saying the Mavs need to use it to their advantage.

"Coach said it before the series we have a chance to push the ball like we like because [Wade] complains to the ref a lot," Stevenson said. "We've got to take advantage of that. They tend to do that and we've got to take full advantage of that … He does it all the time. He did it like seven times [Sunday]."

Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/wireta..._Complains_Too_Much_About_Calls#ixzz1OZRTYYYy

 

[NSWCROW]

I love Dwyane Wade.
( No homo )

 

[Westy Bogan]

I found Hollingers article re-produced on another website and therefore free and thought I would share it with my BF bruddas. (Especially for you MDC)




DALLAS -- The fake storyline is that Dallas is dead, because all 11 times we've had a 1-1 series in the 2-3-2 format, the Game 3 winner has gone on to win the series.


Welcome to the world of small sample sizes and arbitrary end points. Given that last year the team that lost Game 3 in this situation was the same club that had a 13-point lead in the second half of Game 7, you'd think we'd be describing Miami's situation in less ironclad terms.


The red herring in this stat is "since the switch to the 2-3-2 format," which is an irrelevant distinction; either way, each side has two home games left after Game 3. In fact, the year before the switch to the 2-3-2, the Game 3 loser, Boston, won the series in seven games. Even better, the 1978 Bullets were down 2-1 and had three road games left thanks to a bizarre 1-2-2-1-1 format -- yet won the title.


Of course, other teams were down 2-0 in the Finals, then 2-1 after Game 3, yet went on to win. The 2006 Heat, 1977 Blazers and 1969 Celtics all qualify; the 2005 Pistons, like the 2010 Celtics, led Game 7 in the second half before falling short.


Instead, let's take a step back and look at the big picture. We have many more series to look at than just our small sample of NBA Finals, and in those, a 2-1 lead is helpful but by no means ironclad. The Game 3 winner of what was a 1-1 series has won just more than three-quarters of those matchups, a 76.4 percent success rate. Memphis, for instance, led Oklahoma City 2-1 in the second round after an overtime win in Game 3 but lost the series. More famously, Cleveland had a similar advantage on Boston last year before imploding in the final three games.


There's no reason to think this series should be a glaring exception, because it's a close 2-1. Through three games, Miami has outscored Dallas by a total of eight points. Factor in the Heat's extra home game, and the true difference is smaller still. This also corresponds to the small difference between these teams in the regular season -- although Miami had a superior scoring margin during the season, the Heat finished with only one more win.


The Heat and Mavericks are both somewhat flawed but relatively evenly matched. For all the talk we heard all season about superteams loading up and leaving the masses in their dust, whoever wins the title this season will have slipped through a crack between the Lakers' dynasty and whatever comes next. It's only the fifth Finals in the past 33 years with neither a 60-win team nor a No. 1 seed.


But here's the other reason to think Dallas still has a shot: It has more cards left to play than the Heat do.


As star-studded as Miami's roster is, its potential adjustments are relatively limited -- especially if the Heat continue to insist on benching James Jones, who I would argue is a superior alternative to Juwan Howard for the short minutes at the end of the first and third quarters. Otherwise, Miami's main tactical options are "close big" (with Mike Miller and Wade in the backcourt) or "close small" (with Mario Chalmers joining Wade).


Dallas, on the other hand, is deep, and with depth comes options. The Mavs have lined up several different ways throughout the season and could shake things up again for Game 4. In particular, two adjustments could make a lot of sense for the Mavs as they try to claw their way back into the series on Tuesday:



1. Start Jason Terry



This is the nuclear option, and I'm not sure the Mavs are willing to go here yet, because they would have to change virtually everything about their rotation to accommodate this switch.


Nonetheless, it's compelling. As Bill Simmons and I discussed in our pre-Finals podcast, this is the only option sitting on the table for Mavs coach Rick Carlisle that could radically shake up the series, and at this point, a radical shake-up doesn't seem like a bad idea. As I projected before the series, the start of halves has been a problem for Dallas -- DeShawn Stevenson, normally the first starter to check out, has a plus/minus of minus-17 in the three games.


Meanwhile, this look would address a pair of usage imbalances. First, Dallas' best unit all playoffs long has been Jason Kidd-Terry-Shawn Marion-Dirk Nowitzki-Tyson Chandler, but that quintet typically plays together only at the end of each half. The players would get about 12 more minutes of run together if they were the starting group.


Additionally, Terry just isn't playing that many minutes, and he needs to play more. He has seen 96 minutes of court time in the three games, whereas the other key players on each side have played around 120. The drawback to playing Terry off the bench is that it reduces his overall minutes, and in a Finals series in which starters are playing 40-plus, that disparity becomes particularly glaring.



2. Shake up Dirk's minutes



This is probably the most urgent item for Game 4. Dallas' substitution pattern for Nowitzki simply isn't working. When Peja Stojakovic comes in for Nowitzki in the first and third quarters, it opens up a glaring mismatch at the 3 or the 4 because LeBron James and Chris Bosh are still in the game.


Carlisle likes to give Nowitzki his breathers early in the half, but this doesn't fly against Miami's rotation. Dallas has played only 20 minutes without Dirk in the series, but in that time the Mavs are a staggering minus-31. At that rate, Dallas would lose a 48-minute game by 74 points. Basically, the Mavs are outplaying the Heat as long as Nowitzki plays, but they're getting killed in his few minutes of rest.


This issue has as much to do with his replacement, Stojakovic, as it does Nowitzki. As good as Peja was in the first two rounds, he was subpar against Oklahoma City and has been downright awful in three Finals games.


One potential counter is to wait until Juwan Howard enters the game before bringing in Stojakovic, providing the Serb with a place to hide on defense. The less obvious move would be to use defensively talented but offensively bereft Corey Brewer in Stojakovic's place.


Another strategy might be to combine the two ideas above. By starting Terry, the Mavs could bring in Stevenson to give Nowitzki his rest and have a solid defender remain on the court. In fact, they could use Stevenson if they don't change the starting lineup just by tweaking the guard rotation to bring in Terry a couple of minutes earlier (which needs to happen anyway), then bring in a fresh Stevenson near the end of the first and third quarter in the Stojakovic spot.


At any rate, the Mavs need to shake things up a bit. They've been close but are constantly playing from behind and are likely due for a regression on defense once Bosh makes some shots.


Down 2-1 is not a death sentence despite the gory "11 straight" stat you'll hear incessantly for the next day and a half, but the pressure is certainly on Dallas heading into Game 4.

 

[peternorth]

I found Hollingers

tl;dr


_____

 

[lionel_luthor]

If the Heatles get up and win the chip, will Spo become the Alan Joyce of NBA coaches, seems likes his bradburying his way to a title despite having NFI

 

[mdc]

If the Heatles get up and win the chip, will Spo become the Alan Joyce of NBA coaches, seems likes his bradburying his way to a title despite having NFI

I'd say he's more like the Doc Rivers of NBA coaches.

 

[Borgsta]

I'd say he's more like the Doc Rivers of NBA coaches.

yeah I could see that comparison.

 

[Westy Bogan]

Hope that Bosh wears an eye patch for the game...

Pirate Bosh

"Ahoy there me hearties...."

 

[Westy Bogan]

Dirk = hero
Lebron = Villain

No matter what happens in this series.

Why have the media already forgotten what Lebron did in Boston/Bulls series when Wade was struggling big time? Some are saying now that Wade is the best player on the team

Dirk has a good series and suddenly he is top 10 ever and the next Larry Bird. He turns it over in the second last play of game 3 and then misses the game tie and we dont hear one negative about Dirk not being able to close it out. Imagine the backlash if that was LeChoke?

Lebron tries to take over game = media say he is selfish and wont trust team-mates

Lebron passes ball to Bosh and lets Wade take over in the 4th = Lebron shrinking from the moment.

He has said that he would trade all his individual accolades for his career for just one ring. He also said that if he wanted individual recognition he would play tennis or golf.

No matter what the media want their pound of flesh.

If Wade wins finals MVP then Lebrons ring will be considered tarnished?

Haters will be hating until the end.

 

[Primetime Pricey]

Miami are paying $3.30 for HT/FT for today. I had no choice but to take it as i need some satisfaction if the empire strikes again

 

[Westy Bogan]

Miami are paying $3.30 for HT/FT for today. I had no choice but to take it as i need some satisfaction if the empire strikes again

I think the Alliance will be getting some help Endor Moon style.

 

[Primetime Pricey]

i like.

Was going to post Cyndil as Dirk but that would be unfair and unwarranted