NBA Basketball Sports Fan Blog

Down 15 points with a little over 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter, the Dallas Mavericks ended Game 2 on a 22-5 run to stun Miami Heat and even the series at one game apiece. With the game tied at 93 with 24 seconds left, the ball went exactly where everyone knew it would go — Dirk Nowitzski’s hands. A few seconds later, after Nowitzski skillfully went around Chris Bosh, Dallas had a 2 point lead, and now head home for 3 straight games with the NBA Finals all tied up.

So what was the bigger story: the Heat’s collapse or the Mavs’ incredible comeback? Or was it the inexplicable three-point contest LeBron James and Dwayne Wade decided to take part in once Miami had a commanding 4th quarter lead? Mike Bibby making a jump-shot? So many options. Here are my notes and reactions:

—Before we go any further, let’s all promise ourselves to not do what we did after Game 1 and think this series is “over” because someone won a game. The Mavs will not win this series 4-1. The Mavs won’t win this series because of this comeback. The series is tied. That’s what 1-1 means. It also means Game 3 is a huge game, but one that will be as unpredictable as who the Knicks will hire as their new team president now that Donnie Walsh is out. I just sent my resume in. You should probably do the same.

—If I take anything out of Game 2, it’s that the biggest mismatch of these NBA Finals is one that’s gotten almost no attention: Rick Carlisle vs. Eric Spoelstra. I’m no basketball expert, but I’m pretty sure the Heat were running exactly 0 offensive plays in the last 4 minutes of Game 2. It was basically get the ball to Wade or LeBron, set a bunch of crappy screens, and then have LeBron shoot a fade-away 30 footer with Shawn Marion draped all over him. On the other hand, the Mavs in the fourth quarter ran some great plays to get Dirk open, they got the ball inside, found the open shooters, all the things well coached and disciplined teams do in crunch time. And this is just when I was ready to write a “Spoelstra proves all the naysayers wrong and is actually a good coach” post. So much for that.

—Speaking of Shawn Marion (and not to take away from what Dirk did last night – the guy simply has ice water in his veins and is as determined to win as anyone I’ve seen in a long time), if I’m most happy for how well anyone is playing in these Finals it’s him. Marion has basically spent his entire career in the shadow of other players on his team, whether it was Nash and Amare in Phoenix or Wade with the Heat, and is hands down one of the most versatile and underrated players in the game. He can play anything from the 2 to the 4, rebounds defends extremely well, and is a huge part of why the Mavs are even in the NBA Finals. He’s been putting up lines like last night’s (20 points, 9-14 shooting, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block) for 10 years and still gets very little respect. So start respecting my man The Matrix.

—I’m not even close to buying the “the Heat players celebrating in the 4th quarter sparked the Mavs’ comeback.” Give me a break. Don’t get me wrong — it probably didn’t hurt. What also didn’t hurt is the Heat offense completely disappearing, the Mavs not turning the ball over like they did the first 3 quarters, Jason Terry finally making a few shots, and Dirk being Dirk. If the Heat make 1 or 2 of the shots they missed in the last 4 minutes the series would be 2-0 and everybody would be crowning the Heat as the champions of the universe. So while I can understand why some of the Mavs players would say that after the game was over, I don’t think it was what sparked their comeback. Like Dirk said in the post-game, Dallas has a bunch of veteran players that have seen everything and been in just about every situation you can be in playing the game of basketball. They’ve been down in the 4th before and have come back to win games before. Just ask Oklahoma City.

—Bosh is shooting 9 for 34 so far in the Finals… He also had a huge turnover in the last two minutes of last night’s game when the Mavs had trimmed Miami’s lead to 2. And then Nowitzski absolutely abused him to win the game. Not good. Not good at all. And I thought Bosh was the best option to guard Nowitzski… Again, not good.

That’s all I got for today. Thanks for tuning in and make sure to check back in Monday morning for some Game 3 reactions. Also, it’s getting down to the wire in terms of buying your Miami Heat or Dallas Mavericks goods and memorabilia so you can impress your friends and your girlfriend’s dad by showing them how big of a fan you are now that your team is in the Finals. So definitely get on that. Peace.

The much anticipated 2011 NBA Finals finally got underway Tuesday night, as the Miami Heat took Game 1 at home behind yet another strong performance by the Big-3, who racked up 65 points, 28 rebounds, and 14 assists. There was a lot to talk about pre and post game on Tuesday, and a lot of early questions about the Heat-Mavericks match-up got answered in Game 1, so let’s look at some quick reactions/notes from the opening chapter in the 2011 NBA Finals. (Which by the way TNT is trying to sell us as the apocalypse or something, and I’m not going to lie, it’s kind of working. Some of their promos/intros have been nothing short of epic. Like this one.)

—Boy was that first half ugly. 17-16 at the end of the first quarter? 27-26 with 5 minutes left in the first half? I guess it was to be expected with players’ nerves and both teams trying to get a feel for each other in the early goings. Both defenses obviously played a part in the low score — which I’ll get to later — but that was still a brutal half of basketball. When Shawn Marion is making the prettiest plays and shots early on you know things aren’t going well.

—It’s crazy to think that Game 1 was played at exactly the tempo Miami wants the game to be played at, and yet the Heat, who clearly have the better athletes, only had 7 fast break points. It’s also crazy to think that two of the Heat starters, Joel Anthony and Mike Bibby, combined for 0 points. So as much as the talk after Game 1 was about how “the Heat played the perfect game and completely dominated tempo,” let’s keep in mind that this Miami team can beat you in more than one way, and actually played far from a perfect game. So before you go ahead and think that if Game 2 is won in the 110-115 point range the Mavs are golden, remember that Miami has a few guys that aren’t too shabby in an up-and-down track meet type game. Even if only 4 Heat players score and Mike Bibby can’t make an open jump-shot for his life.

—Hate him or love him, LeBron James does things no one else in basketball today can do. That ridiculous fall away  three-pointer at the half-time buzzer was inhuman. While any other player taking that kind of shot looks like they’re trying to heave a bowling ball 40-feet through the air, James looks like he’s taking a free-throw during warm-ups. Fact.

—Before I get crucified by the Mavs fans, let me say that Dallas is far from out of it. Everyone will want to jump all over the Heat and crown them champions (sorry they already did that after the Celtics series), but it’s still very early in this series, and as Wade would tell you from leading the Heat back from a 2-0 hole against these very same Mavericks, it’s not over till the fat lady sings. Or in his case it’s not over till the 40,000 people living in Miami who just this year started calling themselves “Heat fans” sing. That being said, the Mavs have a tough task ahead of them. Dirk Nowitzki’s finger injury on his left hand surely won’t make things any easier, and Dallas badly needs to find a way to crack Miami’s defense and get some better match-ups on the offensive end. Having Jason Terry going up against LeBron James is just cruel.

I’ll leave it at that for today, as I could very easily write a book or two on Game 1 and what we can expect to see the rest of this series. Make sure you tune in to Game 2 on Thursday at 9:00 PM Eastern on ABC, and order your jerseys and memorabilia before it’s all over so you can impress your friends and family and show them how you are a huge fan of whoever wins. And yes, that’s a direct stab at Heat “fans.”

Dallas Mavericks (Last Year’s Record: 55-27)
Throughout this decade the Mavericks will be considered as the team that could’ve been. The if only’s are seemingly never-ending. A devastating Finals loss in 2006 at the hands of a young kid and a diesel when they were about to go up 3-0, only to lose four straight to choke away the series; An absolutely stunning first round exit in 2007 to the Golden State Warriors, who barely sneaked in the playoffs with a 42-40 record; And most recently, another quality roster full of talent and potential ousted in the first round yet again by their Texas-rival Spurs, who were the seventh seed.

This year doesn’t present any foreseen differences. The Mavs are high on Rodrique Beaubois right now, but he has a foot injury and could miss a couple games to start the season. In addition, he is a tweener guard. He’s not quite a point guard but often plays the two. It’s possible he could see some time at the point when Jason Kidd gets a rest.

New additions to the team include Tyson Chandler, acquired from the Bobcats in a trade involving Erick Dampier. I could see Kidd and Chandler hooking up on a couple of nice lob plays, similar to Chandler’s stint with Chris Paul and the Hornets. The Mavs also reacquired Tim Thomas and signed free agent Ian Mahinmi away from the Spurs.

The Mavs have the same core returning. They have their rock in Dirk Nowitzki, an aging yet still capable Jason Kidd, the sharpshooting ace in Jason Terry, the defensively minded Shawn Marion, and tough-minded scorer in Caron Butler. I’m afraid they are headed for similar results unless Dirk shows us all something we’ve never seen out of him, or if Mark Cuban can land Carmelo Anthony (ha, long shot). Dirk just hasn’t shown that he can be a featured player on a championship team.

Different year, same results. I think they finish 54-28, good for one of the top four seeds, but lose in the second round.

By Josh Delp of the Sports Fan Blog Network

Dirk Nowitzki was amazed. Even after hitting nearly every shot he took, the San Antonio Spurs still weren’t sending more defenders at him.

So he kept shooting. And scoring.

Nowitzki made 12 of 14 shots and all 12 of his free throws, coming up with 36 points to carry the Dallas Mavericks to a 100-94 victory over the rival Spurs on Sunday night in Game 1 of their first-round series.
“Sometimes,” Nowitzki said, “you have one of those nights where the basket is big.”
The Spurs slowed Nowitzki in the first round last year by swarming him with two and sometimes three defenders. He was expecting it again this series and practically begged them to bring it on with the way he attacked whoever was covering him.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Dirk Nowitzki became the 34th player in NBA history — and the first European — to hit the 20,000-point milestone.

The Dallas Mavericks’ perennial All-Star power forward passed the milestone at the 10:57 mark of the fourth quarter Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers, the 876th game of Nowitzki’s career. He hit a 14-foot baseline jumper off a pass from Jason Terry, giving him 17 points for the game and 20,001 in his career.

Lakers star Kobe Bryant is one of five other active players with at least 20,000 points. The others are Cleveland’s Shaquille O’Neal, Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson and Boston’s Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

Click here to read the full article – By Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com

Win, lose or draw, the Mavericks’ fate lately always seems to come down to Dirk Nowitzki.

And as long as he’s on, the Mavericks can lack all the style points in the world and still have a great chance to win.

The game in Milwaukee proved it.

Wednesday night’s 99-94 victory over the Spurs reaffirmed it when Nowitzki tipped in the basket that ended up getting the Mavericks to overtime.

The Mavericks slogged around for three quarters, couldn’t find the basket with a GPS and basically looked like they should be losing instead of up by four points, which they were.

Click here to read the full article – By Eddie Sefko of dallasnews.com

Dallas Mavericks Sports Memorabilia
and other Dallas Mavericks Gifts and Collectibles
Below are links to memorabilia available for Dirk Nowitzki.