NBA Finals Schedule; Dallas Mavericks vs. Miami Heat

can’t believe how many trash-talking mavericks trolls are posting in the yahoo boards.

But one thing’s for sure. As soon as I go to class, I’m gonna be either very pissed off or so hyped up!

Most analysts have favorably given the final series to the Big 3. Interestingly, the Mavs players seem unpertubed and see the Heat like any other team. Why not, since they took care of the Suns, the Lakers and lately, OKC Thunder in the play off and took care of buisness in the regular season with the Heat.Much can be said about the growth in the Heat team between the regular season and now. However, if the big 3 have to do well against the Mavs, the big 3 need to make some adjustments in their games. Looking at the series between the Mavs and the Thunder, the Thunder proved a worthy opponent to the Mavs because of thier very good ball movement which can not be said of the Heat. The Heat tend to fall into the ugly habit of playing static offence with their 1-on-1 offense and that often gets them into trouble. They can not do that against the Mavs defence which is fiercely territorial, thanks to Chandler and Marion.The Mavs will dare you to take jump shots and if you do not have good shooters, you are dead.The Thunder had good shooters in Durrant and Westbrook and surprisinlgy Handen rose up to the occasion too.He was the x-factor for the Thunder.What Thunder seem to lack, the Heat have. And that is veterans and the experience that comes with it.Notwithstanding, the Heat have to make some adjustments and by this we mean the big 3, since they provide >70 % of Heat’s offence.

Chris Bosh: Of the big 3,to his credit he has had to make the greatest adjustment so far in his game since going to the Heat.From being the go to guy, CB is now the 2nd or 3rd option on offense.He has done so with humility and discipline.He also has improved his passing game (more work has to be done still) and presence on the boards.He has improved his instincts on defense.Sometimes, he is slow on rotation and has to work more on this as Dallas depends on creating mismatch in their offense. I would wish that CB adds 3 points to his arsenal.Imagine how menacing he will be with 3 points shooting.Probably, it is because of the role he is made to play with the Heat but it will be in the interest of his market value if he added 3 points shooting to his package.

D-Wade: Again like CB, since the making of the Heat’s big 3, there has been some noticeable changes in D-Wade’s offense. And I dare say that the change has not made his game better.D-Wade was as we knew him an all round offensive player.He could make 3 points. mid range shots, excellent catch and shoot, fade-aways, name it.For the most part of the regular season, we saw him make less and less of these shots. He mostly drove to the rim. No wonder he had difficulties when the Heat played the Celtics and the Bulls during the regular season and the play-off.These teams largely blocked the drive lane for D-Wade just as the Heat played Derrick Rose.Hence, D-Wade struggled.He had during the regular season moved away from peripheral and mid range shooting.This affected him in the play off when he needed those skills. We could see the difference he made in the last 3 minutes of game 5 against the Bulls when he made those shots.D.Wade has to go back and work on his outside shots.On defense, D-Wade remains as reliable as we know him.

Lebron: He has been everything we expected from him.Mostly, with the Heat he has been a facilitator for other guys.Largely, because he can make plays for him self when he wants to.Lebron has the uncanny ability to read the defense.The only two players I can compare him with are MJ and Kobe.Lebron however, has the advantage of size and physical strength compared to MJ and Kobe.When Lebron wants to drive to the rim, no one can stop him.He either makes a basket or gets a call to his favor.He is that good.Since joining the Heat, I have noticed that his 3 points shooting accuracy has dropped.This may be so, as he takes fewer of those shots since joining the Heat.And as they say, the more shots you take, the better you get at making them.Conversely,the same is true.When he was in Cleveland,Lebron was noted to take very deep 3s like no other person.We have not seen much of that threat with the Heat, fortunately he made one in the final minutes of Game 5 with the Bulls.Lebron, like the other member of the big 3 also tend to fall into the ugly habit of 1-on-1 static offense often. Often we have seen that the Heat’s chances at scoring improve significantly when they move the ball around and I hope he helps with the ball movement on offense unless in the act of taking the shot himself. He remains a joy to watch on defense.

On defense,teams pay most attention to Dirk. I will add Terry and lately Beurer.There is a reason why Terry is the only ‘06 memebr of the Mavs still in Dallas with Dirk.The Mavs win games when both Terry and Dirk play well.Terry when he plays well draws defenders from Dirk, leaving Dirk open for jump shots whick Dirk makes easily.Dirk however is a constant while Terry have some nights when he is off which you can not tell, so it is equally important to pay close attention to him too.Beurer has picked up his game and he is a worthy PG playing along side the veteran hall of famer to be Jason Kidd.I have no doubt that the Heat’s defense will do a good job on the Mav’s offense. I will write later my suggestions on how best to match up the Mavs offense with the Heat defense.

I look forward to the Finals series, it should be very interesting having veterans in both teams.

Go Heat, Go!

Ooop!, meant Brewer.