Sunday, June 5, 2011

NBA Update: Game 3

There has been a lot of publicity surrounding the fact that since the NBA went to a 2-3-2 format for the finals back in 1985, and the series has been tied at 1, the teams that won game 3 have captured the title every time. This has happened 11 times. Certainly the Mavs and the Heat are playing like this one is for all the money. The Heat led 67-64 after three quarters, and they now lead 79-72 with 7:18 left in the game. Do the Mavs have another run in them?

7 comments:

  1. Mavs 78 - 81 Heat (4:56 left in 4th quarter)

    Dirk Nowitzki makes two FTs to cut Miami's lead to three. He has 26 points and 8 rebounds. Wade has 24 points and 11 rebounds for Miami, but LeBron has only 17 points -- which is not enough.

    This is a huge game. The Heat have been winning games by cranking up their defense in the fourth quarter, and using their great defense to overcome their poor half-court offense. But Dallas is really hard to defend in the half court -- mainly because Nowitzki can score from anywhere. Miami needs to score at least 10 more points to win this game, and it's not obvious where those points will come from.

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  2. Mavs 86 - 86 Heat (57.1 seconds left in 4th quarter)

    Well, the Heat just have no half-court offense. Wade hit a three-point shot, and Wade hit a 20-foot jump shot, and that's been it for them. On the other hand, Nowitzki has scored 8 points, giving him 34 for the game. However, Dirk is not getting any help. Jason Terry just missed a huge shot that would have given Dallas the lead, and Miami now have the ball.

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  3. Mavs 86 - 88 Heat (39.6 seconds left in 4th quarter)

    Dallas put two people on Wade, so he passed it to James who flipped it over to Bosh. Bosh then hit a 15-foot jump shot, one of his few successful jump shots in the series. Dallas calls time.

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  4. Mavs 86 - 88 Heat (4.4 seconds left in 4th quarter)

    The Mavs worked the ball to Nowitzki -- he was double-teamed -- and he threw the ball away.

    Miami came down with a chance to clinch the victory, but their possession fell apart as usual. With 1 second left on the shot clock, LeBron threw up a 3-pointer that never had a chance. So Dallas will get the last shot with a chance to win or tie.

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  5. Mavs 86 - 88 Heat (Final)

    Give Miami credit. They don't have a half-court offense, but they do play tough defense down the stretch. This time, they put Udonis Haslem on Nowitzki, and he forced Nowitzki into that fall-away jump shot that teams so often take against Miami at the end of games. This one missed -- as they almost always do -- and the Heat had a big win. They have now re-gained the home court advantage.

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  6. That's an interesting choice on defense. Has this guy Haslem typically been guarding Nowitzki?

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  7. No, not really. I'm not sure how this worked out, although Haslem was a better choice than Chris Bosh.

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