The Miami cHeat: In the BAD comments, AnacondaHL said: "Tomorrow's post could just be an in-depth play-by-play of the last 5 minutes." We'll start with a basic play-by-play of Miami's offensive possessions over the final six minutes and 50 seconds:
6:50: Chris Bosh missed 18-footerTo sum up: missed jumper, missed jumper, turnover, turnover, turnover, missed jumper, missed jumper, missed jumper, missed layup, two made free throws, missed jumper, one made free throw, dunk, missed jumper.
6:05: Bosh missed 18-footer
5:15: Bosh turnover
4:48: Dwyane Wade turnover
4:18: Mike Miller turnover
3:33: Miller missed three-pointer
2:59: Wade missed three-pointer
2:25: LeBron James missed 17-footer
2:25: Miller offensive rebound
2:17: Miller missed layup
2:16: Wade loose ball foul
1:53: Bosh 2-for-2 from the line
1:09: Haslem misses jumper
0:30: Wade 1-for-2 from the line (missed tying free throw)
0:09: Wade dunk
0:01: Miller airballed desperation three-pointer
Remember: Miami's offense feature two of the top five players on the planet. And another All-Star to boot.
Also remember: LeBron James is either the Next Michael Jordan or destined to be even greater. Speaking of which...
LeBron James: Remember how Jason Terry's trash talk was supposed to "fuel the Heat's fire"? And how, when Terry questioned whether LeBron could consistently shut him down in the fourth quarter over seven games, Bosh said:
"You have to let sleeping dogs lie sometimes. It's motivation. For us, it is an opportunity to not let up. Guys are talking and it fuels you.Well then.
"If he wants LeBron to turn it up then that's great motivation for LeBron," Bosh said. "Guys remember that when we're out on the floor. LeBron is going to remember that late in the game when it is close and Terry is going to try to get going. LeBron is going to guard him and we'll see who comes out on top."
From ESPN Stats and Information:
One of the big storylines heading into Game 4 was the comments made by Jason Terry and how LeBron James would guard him in the fourth quarter. Terry backed up his talk and nearly outscored the Heat's Big Three by himself down the stretch. Terry had eight points in the final quarter and didn't turn the ball over while Wade, James and Bosh combined for nine points and five turnovers.LeBron's final line: 46 minutes, 3-for-11, 8 points, 9 rebouns, 7 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers, 4 fouls, -6. And, of course, that big old goose egg in the fourth quarter.
LeBron had eight points and it was the first time in his 90 career playoff games that he was held to single-digit points. His teams are now 0-7 when he scores 15 points or fewer in a postseason game. James attempted just one shot in the fourth quarter and failed to score despite playing all 12 minutes. This is just the second time he's failed to score in the final period of any playoff game.
Dirk's dominating performance and LeBron's disappearing act in the fourth quarter this game continues a trend from the entire series. Nowitzki has now outscored James 44-9 in the final period while making as many field goals as James has attempted while making six times as many free throws.
Said Bosh: "He struggled. Point blank, period."
Continued LeBron: "I've got to do a better job of being more assertive offensively. I'm confident in my ability. It's just about going out there and knocking them down."
Added cHeat coach Erik Spoelstra: "We'll have to look at the film. Obviously we would like to get him involved. He's a very important piece to what we do. So we'll work to help make it easier for him next game."
Wait, what? Miami's coaching staff needs to look at the film to get LeBron James more involved in the team's offense?
Anyway, back to...
The Miami cHeat: I highlighted the final 6:50, but check out Miami's fourth quarter totals: 14 points on 5-for-15 shooting (33 percente) with 6 turnovers. LeBron went scoreless. Bosh went 8-for-12 in the first half but only 1-for-7 over the final 24 minutes, and he clanked consecutive jump shots down the stretch. Wade missed a freebie that would have tied the game with half a minute to go.
Then, after Terry knocked down two free throws with 6.7 seconds left to put Dallas up 86-83, Spoelstra called a 20-second timeout to get possession in the frontcourt. Miller inbounded to D-Wade, but Wade (who was curling around a screen) took his eyes off the ball and it bobbled off his hands. Pookie barely managed to recover the ball and fling it to Miller for what may have been the crappiest and most hopeless last second shot attempt I've ever seen in a Finals game: A 30-footer over Tyson Chandler while falling out of bounds.
Said Wade: "I saw an opening. Mike threw the ball and I was trying to get to the opening, probably before I caught it. That's how I lost it. Obviously I would love to have that play back. We would love to have a lot of plays back."
Another fourth quarter collapse. And this is a trend, folks.
Jeff Fogle of Hoopdata writes:
Let's take a look at the final six minutes from each of the four games played so far. That will give us a 24-minute "half" of basketball we can use for a crunch time comparison.Some people are citing fatigue, which sounds reasonable considering the Nazgul keep logging 40+ minutes a game. But then how do you explain Dirk's 44 fourth quarter points over four games? Nowitzki's logging epic minutes, too, and he scored 10 points down the stretch last night despite a sinus infection and a reported fever of 101 degrees.
FINAL 6 MINUTE "SCORES" IN EACH GAME:
Game One: Miami 17, Dallas 15
Game Two: Dallas 20, Miami 5
Game Three: Dallas 12, Miami 7
Game Four: Dallas 11, Miami 7
Total: Dallas 58, Miami 36
How's that for a "halftime score?!" Let that register for a minute. Dallas is up 22 points IN CRUNCH TIME, putting points on the board consistently against a defense that now, suddenly, isn't looking so scary. And, Miami should be pretty humiliated that they just popped 5, 7, and 7 points in the final six minutes of the last three games. It took a huge first game just to get them to 36! Dallas is up 43-19 in the final six minutes of action during the last three games.
By the way, during these Finals, Dallas is now +30 when Dirk is on the floor and -35 when he's not. With all due respect to Henry Abbott and Rick Reilly, in my humble opinion, the MVP of the playoffs so far is seven feet tall and blond.
Dwyane Wade: Pookie was Miami's player of the game (32 points, 13-for-20, 6 rebounds) but he bricked three freebies -- including one that would have tied the game -- and blew the final play of the game to hell. As stephanie g pointed out: "LeBron looked like a big armless Rondo out there and Marion is arguably outplaying him for the series, or at least playing him to a draw. All the same, imagine if LeBron missed a critical freethrow and had butter fingers on the inbound pass like Wade did."
Three-point shooting: Clink. Clank. Clunk. Dallas went 4-for-19 from downtown and Miami was 2-for-14. The two starting lineups combined to go 0-for-13. Is fatigue setting in on both sides? Sure looks like it.
Peja Stojakovic: His NBA Finals minutes were stolen by...Brian Cardinal.
Wow.
Brendan Haywood: How poorly did he play in his three-minute stint? His only stat was one foul committed and the Mavs were outscored by 10 points while he was on the floor, prompting Tyson Chandler to jump up and ask Dallas coach Rick Carlisle to be subbed back in.
Said Chandler: "I told Coach, 'You have to get me back out there, I will play 48 (minutes) if I need to.'"
Speaking of Chandler...
Tyson Chandler: We call this an ego-ectomy:
LeBron James, flop machine: Didn't James Harden get crucified for shenanigans like this? Memo to LeBron: You're too good for theatrics like this.
Dirk Nowitzki, quote machine, Part 1: "Just battle it out. This is the finals. You have to go out there and compete and try your best for your team. So that's what I did."
Dirk Nowtizki, quote machine, Part 2: "There's no long term. I'll be alright on Thursday. ... Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight, take some meds and be ready to go on Thursday."
Tyson Chandler, quote machine: "The average person, you know, has sick days and battling 100-something (fever), it's just tough to get out of bed. This guy is playing against the best athletes in the world."
Chris Bosh, quote machine: "There is not an illness report before the game or anything. I've never been out there and somebody pointed and said, 'He's got a fever!' "
Erik Spoelstra, quote machine: "This series is a jump ball. These guys live for these type of moments. It's about execution and disposition in the fourth quarter, being able to close out. We have a golden opportunity in the next game."
Jason Terry, quote machine: "The aggression was there for me personally. And I like that, that I was on the attack, which I said I would be. But as far as that relating into baskets, it didn't really happen for me."
Brian Cardinal, quote machine, Part 1: From TrueHoop: "It's The King vs. The Custodian! It's an unbelievable player against ... me."
Brian Cardinal, quote machine, Part 2: Also from TrueHoop: "[The Custodian is] a nickname from back in the day. Now I'm just happy if people call me Brian."
Chris' NBA Finals Lacktion Report: Brendan Haywood hobbled his way to a foul in 185 seconds, earning a +1 suck differential and a 1:0 Madsen-level Voskuhl. Fellow Texan Peja Stojakovic had only two seconds of playing time for a celebratory Super Mario!
Labels: 2011 NBA Finals, Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Lebron James, Miami Heat, Worst of the Night
83 Comments:
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Bawful After Dark: June 7, 2011Worst of Game 3 of the 2011 NBA Finals: National D...
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Someone needs to screen shot that and upload it.
Dirk was probably thinking "revenge never tasted so sweet"
No respect from me for Henry. He used to be one of my favorite bloggers but it really seems like he was designated the LeBron cheerleader position on ESPN before the season and now he seems just as fake as all the others to me.
http://deadspin.com/5809507/jj-bareas-sprite-ad-in-puerto-rico-takes-a-shot-at-el-ego-de-kobe
Deadspin commenters can try a little too hard sometimes, but the comment by dont-forget... is pitch perfect, "Hey Kobe, tell me how my ads taste."
Divac does not aprove it!!
Oh, and I NEVER want to hear another peep from anybody about Bron being better than Jordan. NEVER. Bron should be at his physical peak now, yet he's being played even by Shawn Marion? FFS. That's disgraceful for a "future Hall-of-Famer," and a profound joke for a putative pantheon player. People forget that Jordan also had stinker games, but he never got outclassed by Pip for an entire series, much less an entire playoffs run. It's been said many times, but Bron ain't even the best guy on his own team.
Wade, on the other hand, clearly gets it. Yeah, he's had some brief rough spots, but dude is playing like a beast, with admirable intensity. And unlike Bosh, Wade is facing tough defense. Respect for Wade! {Except for the pathetic flops, of which I saw far fewer in game 4}
Question: can the series MVP go to a loser? Because thus far, even if they lose the series, Dirk is the best player on the court. A couple of stinker games might change that, and Wade is an extremely close second, but Dirk has utterly redeemed himself from 2006. Even if they lose, Dirk has shown himself to be tough and uber-clutch. And apologies to Dirk for the lack of umlaut on uber. :)
And let me toss out an hypothesis: is it possible that the Heat are getting psyched out by their intense media coverage? Wade seems to be the only guy locked in, and even he has changed his behavior (far less whining to the refs in game 4). I think these guys are reading their own press, a spectacularly dumb thing to do during a playoffs run. Or maybe this is just another way of restating the old adage: veterans play better in the crunch. The key Mavs have been there, and of Miami only Wade and Haslem qualify (Bron doesn't since he got his ass swept in the Finals). Haslem spends almost all of his energy on D, and I think he's doing it really well. But the dude ain't in Finals shape.
Anyway, this may be the Heat paying their dues.
And I assume that the winner of game 5 wins it all. I still see the odds slightly favoring the Heat. But if Dallas wins game 5, I feel good about them winning one of two in Miami. If the Heat win game 5, unlikely Dallas wins two in Miami.
40 min, 36 pts, 14-for-24, 12 ast, 8 reb, 3 stl
36 min, 33 pts, 15-for-18, 13 ast, 7 reb, 2 stl, 1 blk
52 min, 29 pts, 11-for-28, 9 ast, 9 reb, 4 stl, 2 blk
44 min, 28 pts, 11-for-20, 13 ast, 5 reb, 2 blk
48 min, 30 pts, 12-for-23, 10 ast, 4 reb, 5 stl, 2 blk
LeBron's in these Finals*
45 min, 24 pts, 9-for-16, 9 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl
39 min, 20 pts, 8-for-15, 8 reb, 4 ast, 4 stl, 1 blk
45 min, 17 pts, 6-for-14, 9 ast, 3 reb, 2 stl
45 min, 8 pts, 3-for-11, 9 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl
*Presumes Heat win the title.
It's funny though. Bosh had a great first half but disappeared just as much as LeBron in the second half. I swear he has borderline stone hands. He only catches it cleanly on the perimeter and if it's a bounce pass. Any sort of force behind it, or if he's moving, and it bounces right off of him.
I almost feel bad for Wade. Dude was giving it his all.
But in all seriousness I believe that LeBron is deferring way too much to Dwayne Wade right now,m and I think after this game he will take notice. Miami isn't deep enough to have just one of them play good, and LeBron needs to be more agressive and not let Wade carry the load 2006 style. Whether or not LeBron decides to come out agressive and play at the level Pookie is playing is what will determine if the Heat win a title or not.
Okay, LeBron apologists: what have you got to deflect the putrid odor that he emitted once again in the 4th quarter of a Finals game? His D was weak, so I guess that leaves ...?
It's hard to believe the "better team" is one missed shot away from 3 straight 4th quarter collapses; even without that missed shot, yikes. I stand by my comment from the last game: in the biggest moments, LeBron is exposed. He recently said last year that when he struggled in game 5, his team mates didn't rise to the occassion - they have this year, so now what?
As far as that team the Heat are playing in the Finals (oh yeah, who actually won last night's game)... Dirk. Motherfuckin. Nowitski. What a hoss.
Chapman would have made it :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPJaVwAQ8a8&
Admittedly, there might have been some, you know, mild sarcasm involved.
Sooo...the MVP of this series is Brigitte Nielsen?
Too bad he's the flop king. Those same acting shenanigans kept me from ever liking Reggie Miller...
Nah. He'll bounce back next game. Book it.
I fully expected him to dominate the fourth last night after the criticism from game 2 & 3, but he disappeared once again - again, inexplicably since he attempted only a couple shots when it was clear his team needed him to step up. Instead, he deferred. I can't agree that it's a certainty he'll bounce back next game, based on his history.
After LBJ's atrocious performance in Game 4, I can only imagine what kind of comments there would be on Reilly's most recent article about LeBron if ESPN actually allowed comments on his articles.
Neither one was a flopper to me until this season, but this is some shameless shit they've been pulling off (especially in these playoffs).
i was thinking about that too. maybe james was kinda upset that people gave wade too much credit for carrying the heat to a win in game 3. maybe he wanted to say "here wade, try to win the game by yourself this time."
But he'll certainly play better next game because he'll definitely hold the ball more and try harder. Booking Lebron for a 20 point+ game is a virtual sure thing.
The series should have been a sweep. Miami only needed to do a couple of things here and a couple of things there and it'd all be over already. That they haven't is interesting. Dallas could well go off next game and all of a sudden it's do or die for Miami (in that case, I suspect they die). Or Lebron comes back with the 40 point game I think half of us expected last night.
They've always been floppers. Wade usually takes it to the basket similar to a younger Ginobili before he flops, but LeBron has always acted like he got shot from a cannon after getting brushed...
I remember when he played against the Wizards in the playoffs one year and got brushed in the face... looked like he got KOed...
http://deadspin.com/5810114/charles-barkley-miami-has-the-worst-fans
It's even better now because he doesn't have to pretend to be analytical about it. Just say it, Chuck, "They're assholes!"
"Henry Abbott, TrueHoop: This time of year I find there's nothing like two shots of espresso. In all seriousness, we all know that you work hard every day, and get great results some days. Just life. If he just keeps working, most nights he'll get dramatically better results."
These 5 on 5s are usually pretty cool though.
Now some of you guys may agree with Barkley on this, but he's going a little overboard. All he does is play stupid and claim that he barely says anything negative about the Heat, but for the past nine months he's been ripping the Heat a new one. I don't know if he's just butt hurt about LeBron and Wade being more successful than he ever was as a player, but he can tone down the whole "keeping it real" act. He does nothing but rip the Heat and everything they do, even openly root against them when he's supposed to be an objective analyst, and then cries like a little baby himself when the Heat defend themselves in any sort of way.
And as far as ripping Heat fans go, they are pretty docile and quiet; but the Heat are not an integrated part of the city like the Lakers or the Celtics. The only people that can afford lower bowl seats are the loaded and celebrities. People like that have never been loud. The truth is there are a lot of things to do in Miami, and Heat games dont rank highly for some people. Now the REAL fans that actually do love the Heat cannot afford that. They are stuck in places like Hialeah and Carol City and have to root from the comfort of their one room apartment. If I could afford it, I would be in the lower bowl every game yelling at the top of my lungs. But I can't so sorry Chuck, the Jersey Shore cast just doesn't make that much noise courtside.
And Stevenson is poking the lion once again. Taking it back to his Washington days
Also, on this series and how Dallas "deserves" to win. I'm not buying it. Look, I've been following the NBA for like 15 years already (I'm 27), I've seen a lot of great teams and a lot of teams that deserve to win titles and Dallas just isn't one of them. And I also disagree with the fact that Dallas has shut Miami down in the 4th. They haven't. I'll come back to my original post: Miami just turns on their crap mode in the 4th. For whatever reason, they seriously suck ending games in this series and while the Dallas defense probably has something to do with it, anyone can see it's Miami just fumbling play after play after play. If Dallas' defense was so good, they wouldn't be outplayed for 3 quarters every game. This is no homerism, it's just the way it is.
That being said, I hope to God Lebron is going to bounce back in game 5. If only it were to shut Stevenson and Terry up. Could you even imagine Lebron or Wade saying that sh? They'd probably be lynched. Literally.
Blake Griffin dunks over a tiger
The NBA already review the games because we’ve seen technicals rescinded many times this year, so it wouldn’t be much of an extra burden. It’s the only way I can see to police this crap.
Having said that, I also think there is a difference between exaggerating contact and flat out faking it.
In basketball it's the final score that shows if you deserved the win or not, it's not soccer where one team can dominate and still lose.
That being said, I hope to God Lebron is going to bounce back in game 5. If only it were to shut Stevenson and Terry up. Could you even imagine Lebron or Wade saying that sh? They'd probably be lynched. Literally.
Kind of like the sh you just said about Mavs, even though the Heat can't close them out, and Dallas clearly isn't scared of them anymore (you should be 3-1 or on parade, yet the series is still in doubt). Careful Heat fans, you're prematurely entering "the better team lost" territory; the last pathetic refuge of the defeated. Speaking of which, the way the Heat and their fans have behaved the past year is far more egregious, including this whining now that the "inferior" team, not worthy to compete with yours, won't bow down and show proper respect to your 8 point MJ. So if what DeShawn Stevenson says bugs you, you should now understand why everyone hates the Heat and their fans so much, even the gregarious Charles Barkley.
It's like footb... soccer in the Premier League: if a guy dives and gets a penalty, or pretends to be hit and makes an opponent sent off, he can get suspended (if caught on camera).
Those brits take their fair-play pretty serious...
Trying to not to be a Mavs homer, here, but they don't "deserve" to win? Are you forgetting this team swept the defending champions, put their foots on the throats of a very talented but young Thunder team and now have absorbed two haymakers from the Heat and refuse to back down?
You're starting to sound like condescending Spurs fans I know, who seem to forget they faced an 8th-seeded Knicks team in 1999, a Kidd-Jefferson-Kenyon Martin stalwart in 2003, and Lebron + assorted crap in 2007.
I'm pretty sure the Mavs have passed enough tests this postseason to be "deserving." Now they gotta get two more.
Did his mom get arrested again? I actually feel for him if that's the case. I mean, even Bill Simmons said he did poorly last year against Boston because he found out his mom slept with West.
Haha, props, (as one who dabbles both in Deutsch and Español) I love this.
Either you win it or you lose it.
Although in today's society it seems the ones that complain the most get what they want. (If any canadian knows you have to complain and threaten to leave your phone company to get a good deal)
anyway, you win 4 games you deserve to win, you win less than 4 games too bad better luck next time
8 point MJ. I LOLed.
And yes, the NBA definitely needs to do something with this ridiculous flopping. And for what its worth, Dweeane used to flop more but whine less. Remember in the 06 playoffs when he would literally throw his body into a crowd to get a foul
Anyway, I don't care if there are 10 more of you that agree or disagree with me. I don't feel the Mavs would be a worthy champion, and that doesn't even have anything to do with me being a Heat fan. They could be playing the Bulls and I'd still feel the same way. BTW, didn't a lot of you say Miami don't deserve to be champs either? Last time I checked they beat a couple of very worthy opponents to get to this point as well. Hah, apparently it's all good as long as you're not saying anything pro Heat...
-zach @ the fat burning furnace blog
Why am I not surprised by this? Wouter, no one said you can't speak your mind, but if you bring up bad points, there will be consequences.
Just because a certain number of people on this blog have said the Heat don't deserve to be champions, don't let that view represent the whole. If I recall, even though Bawful himself has shown disdain for the Heat in his posts, he has admitted that the Heat are finally working the way they were envisioned to work (if you overlook their play as of late). No one's taking away from the Heat that they haven't beaten their fair share of good opponents either. Though I'm still rootin for the Mavs in this one. If they're gonna beat down my Lakers like they did, at least if the Mavs win it all we can say we lost to the champs.
Also, is anyone else anticipating heartbreak tonight? Even though a Lebron (or any of the Big 2.5 for that matter) meltdown would be great, I have a feeling if the Mavs do their usual 3 quarters shenanigans tonight, they're definitely going to pay for it. I don't envision constant fourth quarter comeback runs (even though history has proven otherwise). I mean, Herr Dirk can only plug along for so long right..... right??
@Wouter: what "logic" (assuming there is any) are you basing that ridiculous statement on? You think Miami deserves to win the championship, but if Dallas beats a team that "deserves" to win it, they don't deserve to win it? That is beyond stupid. As has been said, whoever wins 4 games deserves to win it. You want to toss out your opinion, be prepared to back it up with ... well, something.
As for your bawful knowledge, Wouter, you might have want to watch this year's playoffs instead of talking about your years of experience, because the Mavericks and Heat have far and away been the best performing teams. It's actually NOT surprising the series is this close if you were purely going by the numbers and not perception.
Anyway, this year's excuse for LeBron sucking is Rashard Lewis banged his girlfriend. Pass it on.
Lol-patrol. Was that Delonte rumor ever corroborated?
I get what you're trying to say Wouter, I haven't ignored the fact that you'd still feel the same way even if the Heat weren't in the Finals, but doesn't mean we agree with it. Yeah, you may argue they've been getting punked around for 3/4 of the game, but it does take championship qualities to stay standing to grind out the last quarter and stay alive. Winners win most of the minutes, but champions stay fighting for all 48 (times seven).