NBA Finals Preview

NBA FINALS: (2) Miami Heat vs. (3) Dallas Mavericks

By: Carrington Caul

HOW THEY GOT HERE:

DALLAS MAVERICKS

The Dallas Mavericks season started with a resigning of Dirk Nowitzki and a team that had the ability to go to the playoffs but wasn’t expected to make it far, with only role players of Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, and Shawn Marion. The Mavericks finished the season strongly with a 57-25 record and locked up the third seed and looking at a matchup against sixth ranked Portland Trailblazers who a lot of experts thought could upset the Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks finished the Trailblazers in sixth games and headed into a second-round matchup against the second-seeded Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers were just coming off a championship year and the experts were looking for them to try and go for their three-peat; the Mavericks had different ideas, after taking a commanding 2-0 lead against the Lakers with both games being in Los Angeles the Mavericks went home for games three and four.

Like before most experts thought the Lakers were going to win game three and try to turn this series into an actual competition but they lost game three and were looking at elimination in game four. No, there was no way the defending champion, the Los Angeles Lakers were going to get swept in a series especially when they were trying to make history but once again the Dallas Mavericks had a different mindset that what experts predicted. Jason Terry hit and tied the NBA most three’s hit in a playoff game by player with nine and the Mavericks hit a total of 20 three pointers. After sweeping the Lakers in a shocking style they looked to their matchup against fourth ranked Oklahoma City Thunder.

After defeating the Thunder in a quick five games they find their selves in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2006 when they lost 4-2 against the Miami Heat now they’re back in the Finals and are looking at a matchup against; Miami Heat.


MIAMI HEAT

The Miami Heat road to the finals was a little more theatrical than Dallas’s or any team in the past probably. It all started last summer during the free agency, arguably the biggest free agency in the history of the league the three biggest names that teams were looking to go after were LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh.

The biggest being James who many have titled “the best since Jordan” after a few weeks of meetings and speculations the Miami Heat had announced that they had resigned Wade and also signed new acquisition Chris Bosh, now the world was waiting, there were a lot of rumors that it was either Miami or Chicago for “King James” and then on July 8th, 2010 LeBron made his decision on a ESPN televised event where the proceeds went to the Boys and Girls club. LeBron announced his choice to go to South Beach, Florida with Wade and Bosh, and compete for championships, James stated “In this fall, this is very tough; in this fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat... I feel like it's going to give me the best opportunity to win and to win for multiple years, and not only just to win in the regular season or just to win five games in a row or three games in a row, I want to be able to win championships. And I feel like I can compete down there.”

After James decision he received a lot of criticism for leaving teams and trying to better his career which turned him and the rest of the Miami Heat into America’s villain on the basketball court. After starting 9-8 the Heat were facing a lot of scrutiny about being arrogant, not able to blend well, and coach Spoelstra being the wrong coach for the Heat. Later on down the road the Heat started getting things on track until they lost to the Chicago Bulls for the 4th time in the season and coach Spoelstra said players were crying in the locker room which lead to even more criticism and shots being taken at the Miami Heat. But the heat finished the season with the second best record in the East which earned them the second seeded spot against the Philadelphia 76’ers who they eliminated in the 1st round which took them to the second round against the Boston Celtics who they also had a tough time beating in the regular season. After five games they beat the third ranked Celtics and moved to the matchup a lot of people had been wanting to see; the Chicago Bulls.

After getting swept in the regular season by the Bulls the Heat were ready for the Chicago Bulls or so people thought, after the first game which they lost 103-82 and getting blown out in the entire second half people started wondering where the Bulls the Heat’s kryptonite, could they beat them. They were outrebounded, outhustled, and outperformed which led to more speculation but the Heat answered back and won the next three games heading into Chicago in game 5 as a elimination game for the Bulls and it was looking like game one again. Entering the fourth quarter the Bulls were up 62-57 and never looked back. At the three-minute mark the Bulls were up 77-65 and with Dwayne Wade struggling it looked like the Bulls were forcing a game 6 in Miami.
Then Dwayne Wade started catching on hitting two quick shots and LeBron draining a three they were back in it 72-77.

Derrick Rose scored again putting the Bulls up 79-72 but on the next play Rose fouled Wade on a three point which went in and helped Miami get a four point play pulling them 76-79. Rose drove again and missed which led the LeBron’s three pointer on the next play taking them to a 79-79 tie. LeBron shot another quick shot after stealing a pass from Rose and giving the Heat an 81-79 lead with 29 seconds left in the game. LeBron fouled Rose on the next play sending him to the line where he missed his second free throw making it an 81-80 game. Chris Bosh shot the two free throws that ended the game and game Miami and 83-80 win and a 4-1 series closer against the Bulls in Chicago.

Now Miami looks to do what they pledged at the beginning of the season and that is to bring Championships to the city of Miami, and they are looking for their “Big Three” to lead the way.


X-FACTORS OF THE SERIES:

DALLAS: Dallas X-Factors on defense are going to have to be Shawn Marion and Jason Terry, Marion and Terry are going to have to find a way to slow down James and Wade respectively, both being a top 5 scorer and shooter in the league they have to great on defense. Offensively they have to look to Terry and Marion to be able to make shots. With LeBron guarding Paul Pierce, Derrick Rose, and Deng he is a great defender and Marion and Terry are going to have to find a way to create shots around two of the best defensive players in the game.

MIAMI: Defensively Miami is going to have to look for Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem to be able to create pressure on Dirk Nowitzki, Chalmers and Bibby are going to have to apply a lot of pressure on Jason Kidd and Barea. Wade has to be able to slow down Terry on his shots off the pass and off of screens, while LeBron has his hands full with Shawn Marion and Pete Stojakovic. Offensively the Heat are going to need Wade, Miller, and Jones to step up big, Wade is going to have to play like he was playing on the Boston series and Miller and Jones are going to have to be ready to shoot on the outside when they get a chance and create points for the Heat, Haslem and Bosh are going to have to find a way to penetrate against Chandler and Nowitzki.