my final thoughts on this series/game:
- first off, wow, just an incredible series. strange but incredible. different role players stepping up, tons of runs, close games, etc. please no lockout!
- second, lebron shied away from the moment. there was a sequence on offense with about 5:00 left where lebron barely moved, got the ball twice and immediately chest passed it out. earlier in the quarter, haslem was battling for a rebound and lebron was basically just watching. i almost couldn't believe it. i hate to pile on lebron like this, but c'mon. you claim you just want to win...well show it! at some point, you have to abandon getting everyone involved. you have to put your head down and make something happen. even if you dribble it off your foot, at least you tried.
- continuing on with lebron, but somewhat OT: i really think it's something psychological. whether the media gets into his head, opposing players, combo of both, i don't know...but there's something off there. physically, he has it together for the most part. he seems to overthink and question himself late and for a guy that talented, being a glorified PG who doesn't want to shoot just isn't enough. dumping the ball to a 40 year old juwuan howard late isn't gonna cut it. lebron was aggressive early on. 5 points in less than 3 minutes and it looked like it was going to be one of those 30 point triple double games. instead, he was a minus 24 (-24). yo, i don't always follow that as a hard rule but when everyone else is at least a 0 and you're pulling a damn -24?
- miami are frontrunners so when dallas were up 9 going into the 4th, i had a hunch that dallas would win. sure enough, hero shots starting to pop up on miami's side.
- missed FT's and TO's late really did miami in. even when they cut it to 7 late, they kept shooting themselves in the foot and couldn't get closer.
- but man, i have a feeling the media onslaught for lebron is gonna reach fever pitches. crank it up a couple more levels and i think i'm gonna start to tune out in a major way...kind of already have. it's just...there's other players in the league worth talking about. lebron, man, just ignore all the media. you get nothing out of it unless it's gonna drive you. don't try to answer everything, vindicate this or that, or whatever.
- i thought carlisle outcoached spo but at the same time, i'm not gonna say spo is a bum. i think he's got a fairly bright future ahead of him. i can just see plenty of people using him as a scapegoat and making him out to be one of the worst coaches in the league. let's see what happens next season first.
- it's hard to avoid the miami narrative, but enough about that. time to focus on the deserved champs, dallas. they battled throughout the playoffs. just a really gritty team that played like...a team. they made the extra pass most of the time and never gave up.
- i was impressed with kidd's poise. he just manages that offense so well. i don't think he hardly ever took an early shot even if he was open. he'd always go through his options and hell defensively, he's still one of the better PG's in the game. he took turns guarding wade and lebron. he also guarded durant during stretches. dude is 38...i don't think you can ask for more than that. we need to stop making fun of players who struggle vs. kidd and recognize that he's an all-time great on ball defender for his position. period. it's not an insult to be slowed by kidd. he took NJ to two finals and i think this win is just as sweet as one of those could have been.
- terry was huge this series. as much as i've criticized him in the past, he backed up his words. he hit big shot after big shot and wasn't ready to go away with a loss.
- dallas hit 45% of their contested catch and shoot jumpers. now that is just gonna win ball games.
- i don't think there's a team that played like a TEAM like dallas did since '04 pistons. you can still win with a full team today. i also believe dallas' defense was kinda underrated all season. chandler, marion, stevenson, kidd and even terry can play above average defense. chandler's energy was great. his ability to help, then recover was awesome. chandler is yet another player teams gave up on (chicago, NO, OKC). this is just a team full of veterans and team players. great spacing on both sides of the ball. when they go into zone, they mostly know their assignments. i'm not sure there's many teams at all that can play zone like dallas currently. not crucial but a nice mix up at times. maybe the media will focus more on teams instead of superstars but i doubt it. superstars sell and teams are looked upon nothing more than a 'feel good' story or 'we'll talk about eventually' thing.
- so on that note, congrats dallas fans. well deserved FMVP for dirk. long time coming as a 13 year veteran with one team. pop the champagne. stop reading this and celebrate.
sorry if this isn't organized...straight off the dome though. live it up
$hit mavs have already done it...100 bottles of rozay at a miami club. this after dirk and terry showed off that larry o'brien:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxct8h54J4U
miami = not a sports city. strictly parties.
- to the bandwagon miami fans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmUi0qXdFCA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5QGk...ature=youtu.be
- to the true miami fans...i think ya'll will be back. just keep those fool bandwagoners in check. the obnoxious ones who posted incessantly all season in a self-serving, righteous way
ehh OT again: how money was barkley in these playoffs. first off, he was saying dallas was the best team in texas for a couple months. then right before the playoffs said they were the best team in the league. he also called grizzlies beating the spurs. outside of chicago vs. miami, he was almost right every time. you win some and lose some but it his winning season for chuck. now that fool is gonna go straight back to gambling
mo williams said 'dallas healed my heart' on twitter
Re: 2011 NBA Finals Game 6 thread: Mavericks at Heat
figure it out, NBA.
