The Weekly Chat: NBA Finals Game 2

Cam:  wow, what a game 2 in the NBA Finals. In the 4^th Quarter, the Heat go on a 13-0 run to get up by 15 with about 6:20 left in the game after Bosh jams in the putback against the Mav’s small lineup.  Carlisle immediately calls time out and puts Chandler back in.  The music is bumping in Heat’s American Airlines Arena, the fan noise is being blared through the speakers, about 25% of the fans are standing up and politely clapping….it was a mildly amused fanbase dressed in all-white

On a very lengthy side note: have you noticed that there are hundreds of all-white t-shirts in American Airlines Arena after the game?  Do the fans not care to take the Finals souvenir home?  Or are they so small brained that they think that they have to take off their free shirt and leave it at the arena?  Why isn’t there some kid who runs through the seats and collects them all selling them on e-Bay?  Is there not a market for the all-white Heat finals t-shirt?  On the other hand, did you notice how full the Dallas version of American Airlines Arena was?  Yes, both Miami and Dallas’ arena’s are called “American Airlines Arena”.  How stoked is American Airlines? http://www.nba.com/2011/news/05/29/arena-names.ap/index.html Those Dallas fans watching on the big screen were pumped.  If Dallas hands out free t-shirts at Sunday’s game, I bet we will not spot one lone Finals t-shirt while watching the post game report in their arena.

But then, boom!  The Mavs go nuts.  Dirk scores the last 9 and the Mavs close on a 22-5 run to win it.  They were so clutch, especially on defense.  I can go on but I think you probably want to blogger something by this point.

ThrillsToTha…: I noticed a lot of the people in the front rows were wearing white, but not the free T’s. It was like one of those racist “Wear White Parties” you see in the big city. Kind of like this:

They're on a boat. Take a good hard look, cuz they're sailing on a boat.

I think these guys were at Oracle back in 2007 when they opened up the arena for the first round road games against Dallas.

Anyway, I thought the Mavs played mediocre through the first 3.5 quarters. Bad passing by Kidd, poor shooting from Dirk and zero help defense from Chandler. The Heat had so many wide open dunks they can’t even make posters out of them. No defenders were even in frame! But surprisingly they hung in there until the fourth when the Heat “went off”. After D-Wade sunk his corner 3 and celebrated with LeBron, I almost turned off the game in disgust. I couldn’t believe the Mavs were f’in up so bad. But I’m glad I didn’t change the channel. It was a remarkable comeback that very well swung the entire series in the Mavs favor.

Cam:  Fastbreak dunks and putback slams, even when they’re done while the ball is still inside the cylinder, only count as two points.  Blocks at the rim my Mr. Canada Joel Anthony still only count as a missed shot.  At least that’s the way the Mavs react to these things.  No matter how loud the Miami sound editor turned up the canned crowd noise, they went about their business.  The Mavs were getting to the line (boring) shooting pretty well (boring) and out rebounding (boring) the Heat through the first 3 quarters.  I don’t think that they were playing badly, just boring.  The Heat were playing more exciting, yes, but they weren’t playing any better.

And then the 4^th quarter hit.  The Heat went nuts putting on their big run.  The Heat make these runs all the time, yes. But lately it has been at the end of games to win.  This time, though, they made their run a little too early.  With 7 minutes and change left, Wade hit the three pointer infront of the Mavs bench.  He held his follow through for a little too long, posing as Carlisle called that time out.  LeBron wanted to get in on the love and started punching him in the chest.  The celebration was on.  And this fired up the Mavs beyond belief.  The Mavs have gone on a few huge runs themselves these playoffs.  16 down vs. the Lakers.  12 down vs. the Thunderkittens.  And 15 down last night.

I’m not sure how this will play out.  If Terry keeps losing his man and missing J’s, it’s going to be tough to win.  If Peja or JJ can’t catch fire for a game and propel them to a win, I’m not sure the Mavs can do this.  The Heat will just continuing being the Heat.  They will go on runs, they will dunk and posterize the Mavs players, they will block shots, and they’ll miss free throws.  They’ll have stupid possessions where LeBron or Wade dribble around until there’s 3 seconds left on the shot clock and then chuck a three.  The only thing I know is that this series is all on Dallas’ shoulders.  If they play great, they can win this thing.  If they play just good or worse, Miami will be Miami and the bad guys will win their ring.