I don't remember who said it, but someone said the mavs will win because "unlike the bulls, they have no problem scoring."

Lol.

 

Great defense by the Heat.

But who didn't expect Miami to win the series opener at home??

Not really a shock or indicative of how this series will play out.

 

Yup. Zone wasn't a bad idea, but the Heat as a team are too versatile and can win in so many different ways.

Tonight they did it with shooting and amazing defense.

They also didn't let Dirk get a billion points from the line like he has been in the playoffs

 

Throughout the playoffs both teams have showed the ability to close out games (very strongly) at home and away. Not only did Dallas really only begin losing it at the end, but they collapsed under Miami's defensive pressure. I think that's a sign of things to come.

Though I'm not sure if the Heat will be able to shoot this well for 3 more games (talking about 3's).

Although I disagree with people that think the Mavs have no trouble scoring, if the series becomes about offense then the Mavs do have a much better chance than if it remains a defensive series. Dirk is the best jump shooter in the Finals and the Mavs have more consistant 3 point shooters.

 

They always shoot a good amount of 3's... They usually don't make 11... Zone or not you have to be able to knock them down... Good win, nothing unexpected, with the 2-3-2 format winning at home is HuGe.

 

The finals format does favor the heat.

I thought i would see more of DIRK down the stretch.

Again it comes down to Miami having two clutch performers and Dallas only having one.

Right now Miami is playing their game and Dallas is not.

Lets see what happens on THURSDAY.

 

Yup and Miami has been able to lean on Bosh when Wade and Lebron are struggling.

One of the biggest personnel advantages the Heat have is that they don't have to rely on one player to close games or be big down the stretch. If the Mavs rely too much on Dirk in the first 3 quarters, he obviously won't have a lot left for the 4th. If the Heat rely heavily on Lebron or Wade or Bosh in the first 3 quarters, the other two can (potentially) step up in the 4th.

The fact that what's been winning games for the Mavs won't work against the Heat should be scary for Mavs fans though. The Heat won't let Dirk win games by himself, and the Mavs small/fast line up won't give the Heat any problems because they can go bigger and just as quick.

Personally I think Heat more or less control their own destiny in this series. If they play their game, they won't lose. The Mavs just need to hang in there and wait for the Heat to make mistakes, because mistakes will be made, and then take advantage.

Even though I still think the Heat will win, I'm also willing to bet that if the Mavs can win game 2 and 3 they have a really good shot at it. The combination of losing at home, and then losing 2 in a row will be tough to overcome for the Heat.

 

Affirmative on that.

Consider this. Lebron just won his first finals game and Kobe has all five fingers covered in rings. Clearly we are a long way away from even comparing Lebron with Kobe and MJ.

 

Lebron won his first finals game in his first season with an adequate team.

"Adequate" because you can't even compare this Heat team to the Lakers/Bulls dynasties.

 

I believe it was the lowest scoring game for the Mavs in this playoffs.

As long as the Mavs play ZONE they will have problems with rebounds and 3 pointers.