Heat or Mavericks

[IcyPatriot]

Okay ... who do you want to win - not who you think will win ... okay.

You can choose 2 if you want - I did ... Maverick's and I hate all things LeBron.

 

[ausbacker]

Mavs because I like Dirk as a player.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Mavs because I like Dirk as a player.

2 players of recent NBA finals were big on the Celtics wish list. Gasol & Dirk were 2 players who the Celtics wanted badly ... I find this interesting. Watching Dirk play is inspirational and enjoyable for sure. Let's hope he can keep it going through the series.

 

[Kontradiction]

I'm probably the only one who will vote for the Heat on this entire forum.

 

[IcyPatriot]

I'm probably the only one who will vote for the Heat on this entire forum.

.............

 

[jcdavey]

i picked heat, but then reading the first post....it's tricky in terms of wants


this is one of the few nba finals i can remember where i'm not really caring who wins it all, and i only say that because dirk winning it all would be a great feel good story.


i'm a big lebron fan, but the mavs got screwed out of a title in 2006 in my opinion....

 

[BradyManny]

No offense, jcdavey, but I'm not sure how anybody could be a big fan of Lebron if he didn't play for your favorite team. He's hated by just about everyone around him, just ask the beat writers in Cleveland or Miami.

This one's a no-brainer, I want the Mavs to win. I don't even like the Mavs, but David Stern will have finally killed all things good about basketball if Miami wins this series. It's degeneration into a one-on-one game that turns into a free-throw contest will be complete. A team with 3 superstars who all play best in isolation and deliver highlight reel worthy play. David Stern's dream come true.

And that's not to take away anything from how Miami is playing right now. They are clearly the best team in basketball at the moment, and have improved their chemistry tremendously. But their offense is still based on one-on-one play and matchups. I just think any team that resembles the original Dream Team more than an NBA squad is bad for the game, longterm.

 

[Kontradiction]

No offense, jcdavey, but I'm not sure how anybody could be a big fan of Lebron if he didn't play for your favorite team. He's hated by just about everyone around him, just ask the beat writers in Cleveland or Miami.

This one's a no-brainer, I want the Mavs to win. I don't even like the Mavs, but David Stern will have finally killed all things good about basketball if Miami wins this series. It's degeneration into a one-on-one game that turns into a free-throw contest will be complete. A team with 3 superstars who all play best in isolation and deliver highlight reel worthy play. David Stern's dream come true.

And that's not to take away anything from how Miami is playing right now. They are clearly the best team in basketball at the moment, and have improved their chemistry tremendously. But their offense is still based on one-on-one play and matchups. I just think any team that resembles the original Dream Team more than an NBA squad is bad for the game, longterm.

The ratings disagree with you.

 

[BradyManny]

The ratings disagree with you.

Unfortunately, good ratings != good basketball.

But it does make David Stern happy.

 

[BradyManny]

And here comes the over-officiating to turn the game into a FT contest, mixed in with the expected brutally home-cooking calls Miami is getting. Why do I even bother watching this stuff.

Edit: Wow, that call on Dirk was horrendous.

 

[BradyManny]

Decent effort by the Mavs in yet another 5 on 8 game in favor of the Miami All-Stars. I thought the Mavs were by far the better team for the majority of the night and impressed by their interior presence. They have a legitimate shot of beating this Miami team because of it.

They were also the more aggressive team all night, whether they were rewarded for that aggressiveness or not (I know they shot more FTs than Miami, but it really should've been a lot more). If they can figure out how to defend the 3, they'll make a series of it.

The only interesting thing all night was seeing Javie place his hand on Lebron's hip for no good reason while he got ready to check in. Guess Javie just wanted to touch greatness. Gives a little insight into what starstruck losers these refs are.

 

[JPPT1974]

Not an NBA fan but will take the Mavericks. The Heat are co*ky, overconfident, and overrated!

 

[Kontradiction]

Unfortunately, good ratings != good basketball.

But it does make David Stern happy.

You're basically complaining because the Heat are playing the way most people are expecting they would. D-Wade and LeBron were guarded by THREE GUYS tonight, at LEAST one of them being a seven footer, and they were still able to make shots. What does that tell you? That tells you that they're just that much more talented than the Mavs.

 

[Tunescribe]

The NBA sucks, and the Miami Heat is a major reason why. I watched the game tonight and it'll be the last one I watch this season.

 

[Kontradiction]

And here comes the over-officiating to turn the game into a FT contest, mixed in with the expected brutally home-cooking calls Miami is getting. Why do I even bother watching this stuff.

Edit: Wow, that call on Dirk was horrendous.

I personally thought that the officiating was MUCH more tilted in favor of Dallas. The Heat couldn't even breathe on Nowitzki without being called for a foul. He was dead cold in the first quarter when the referees were at least calling the game as balanced as they could. In the second quarter he was off as well but was able to keep going to the line. I blame that for his outburst in the second half. He was having trouble with the Heat's defense but was still able to get to the line because he was able to back his man down without getting called for a foul, then got his man called for a foul as he did so and either stepped back for a fade away (which I don't have a problem with as it's impossible to stop a seven footer with an outside shot) or drove into the lane while either getting a ridiculously easy lay-up or getting called for a foul that was absolutely phantom the majority of the time. Dare I say that LeBron was called for a lot of these?

No, what killed the Mavs is exactly what I expected to hurt them coming into the series... a lack of offense outside of Dirk. Dirk, in spite of you saying that he got robbed by the ref's, was only three points short of 30 for the game and was two rebounds away from a double-double. If he was getting screwed by the ref's, he wouldn't have had nearly as good of a game. The Heat's defense did what I expected them to do, which was slow Dirk down. Nobody's stopping him. He's elevated his game to a point in which he's going to contribute at least 20 points either by shooting or by posting up. No. What killed the Mavericks was the failure of everybody else around him to contribute. Who else contributed? Jason Terry? He was draining them in the first half until the Heat adjusted at halftime. In the second half, he had a constant hand in his face and was cold. Was that the act of the referees as well? Outside of him and Dirk, the only other player in double figures was Shawn Marion and his borderline ******ed shot with 17 points. The Mavericks' bench only scored 17 points to the Heats' 27. Was that the referees as well?

Look, coming into this series, I could hail what the Mavs had done. It's not easy. Dirk set a couple of records during the Western Conference playoffs while the Mavs swept the Lakers then eliminated the upstart Thunder in five. That's impressive. But still, they are just one man surrounded by good role players going up against three superstars and a decent to good bench depending on the night. The Heat are stronger, faster, and far more athletic. That's why they won tonight and that's why they'll win the series.

 

[Kontradiction]

Not an NBA fan but will take the Mavericks. The Heat are co*ky, overconfident, and overrated!

****y and overconfident I'll agree with. The Heat are ****y as hell. But overrated? You don't reach the Finals by being overrated.

 

[Kontradiction]

The NBA sucks, and the Miami Heat is a major reason why. I watched the game tonight and it'll be the last one I watch this season.

The NBA needs a bad guy like the Heat just like they needed Jordan to take over as soon as Bird and Magic took a seat (keep in mind that he didn't win a title until those two stepped down and the NBA, as a whole, became mediocre). Use your critical thinking skills for a second, step back, and look at this from a point of view that isn't a rabid Celtics fan's. The Celtics were on the receiving end of all of this (only not as magnified, given they didn't celebrate a championship in July) in 2008. If you weren't a Celtics fan, you mostly either thought the NBA sucked because it wasn't fair or that the Lakers were getting screwed by the ref's. There was VERY little in between. But look at the ratings for that series. That was where the NBA began to come back. Flash forward three years later and listen to LeBron give credit to the Celtics franchise for the Heat's Big 3 coming together and you have the exact same thing. Like I said to BradyManny, the ratings disagree. You're hating the Heat because they're doing exactly what non-Heat fans were saying they wouldn't do in the offseason, and that's make and compete in the NBA Finals in spite of their flaws. You hate it now, but how will you feel when the Heat begin to get older, slower, and start losing to the upstart teams in the conference? That's the fun of sports.

 

[Kontradiction]

By the way, our "crowd" was absolutely embarrassing tonight. I'm glad I don't root for any Miami teams outside of the Heat.

 

[jcdavey]

the heat bench outscored the mavs bench by 10...won the game by 8

if the heat bench can keep that up, this series could be a sweep


mavs bench just needs to respond, they missed way too many shots in game 1


the mavs actually got to the FT line more than miami, so that's a plus for them if they can keep that up...but they're going to need their bench to show up....that was supposed to be the mavs advantage going into this series.

 

[Kontradiction]

Mavericks vs Heat 2011 Finals • Lakers Forum

Lakers fans sound even more vile than you guys.