Theres still 6 games left (potentially)

if you can somehow take game 2 then you should feel pretty good coming home for the next 3. if you lose the next one though.......

but, where have we seen down 2-0 before in the finals....... ;-)

mavs had to get this one... miami's defense is much better than i thought and they won without lbj or wade having great games. i think we will be lucky to get back to miami

Mavs just need to split these 2. To say they need game 1 more than game 2 is like expecting them to sweep both of em.

The Heat defense was good and all, but the Mavs shot horribly. There were missed open layups, missed runners and Dirk wasnt into usual form (not to mention uncharacteristic and untimely TOs by JKidd). If they come out Thursday with a sense of urgency and execute 10% better than tonight, they will win.

None of the Big3 looked overpowering or able to create consistently for lesser players. The zone really reducing the Heats able to penetrate and throw off the defense.

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The Heat defense was good and all, but the Mavs shot horribly.

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you can say the EXACT same thing for the heat

what's your point

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None of the Big3 looked overpowering or able to create consistently for lesser players.

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lebron looked like steve nash for most of the second half

I'm on board with DC's comments. Miami played better in a couple of spurts and that was difference.

But that was abysmal bench from the Mavericks, who have the best bench in NBA. Somebody has to knock down an open jumper. None of them provided any energy to the team on defense or offense. Barea normally does that. He missed too many easy shots tonight.

Chandler and Haywood protected the rim well. They are gonna get dinged for fouls (some phantom), but they have 12 to play with. Use them.

I never want to see a touch foul, especially if you are 7ft tall and built like a locomotive. Get your money's worth. Make them think twice about driving to the rim.

Dirk was just so-so for him. He's played so well that we just assume that he's gonna make everything.

Kidd has to shoot some jumpers. It would be nice if he made them, but he must shoot. Heat are just laying off him, Kidd must keep them honest.

Carlisle was killing me. He put out some combs that just weren't working. Make a substitution and change something. He's too good of a coach to flounder like that two games in a row.

Mavericks cannot wallow around after this loss. They could have won it, but shouldn't have won it. Forget it and figure out a way to kick their ass in Game 2. About half the Mav roster can't play any worse...

The Mavs don't match up well at all. Miami will make adjustments as well. I can't figure out why LeBron and Bosh aren't covering Dirk more. Miami has every other position covered.

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I'm on board with DC's comments. Miami played better in a couple of spurts and that was difference.

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Miami controlled the game from the get-go. It was a dominating performance allbeit not shown on the scoreboard until the final minutes. The only time they let the Mavs have hope was the start of the 3rd, and they immediately retook control. They lock-down D and wear teams down then let Lebron/Wade run wild late and nobody can keep up.

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But that was abysmal bench from the Mavericks, who have the best bench in NBA. Somebody has to knock down an open jumper. None of them provided any energy to the team on defense or offense. Barea normally does that. He missed too many easy shots tonight.

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There were very few open jumpers missed. The Heat are faster at every position except when JJ is on the floor, and if you put Lebron on him, forget it.

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I never want to see a touch foul, especially if you are 7ft tall and built like a locomotive. Get your money's worth. Make them think twice about driving to the rim.

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You think a guy like haywood is going to intimidate guys like Wade and Lebron? Haywood could be carrying a chainsaw and nobody would cower from him.

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Kidd has to shoot some jumpers. It would be nice if he made them, but he must shoot. Heat are just laying off him, Kidd must keep them honest.

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Again, Miami's speed is too much for him. They close too fast for him to get his shot off clean. He has that no-jump shot that he puts out in front of his face, you won't get that off too often again the heat.

I feel like you could pump-fake that closing speed back into submission.

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The Heat defense was good and all, but the Mavs shot horribly. There were missed open layups, missed runners and Dirk wasnt into usual form (not to mention uncharacteristic and untimely TOs by JKidd). If they come out Thursday with a sense of urgency and execute 10% better than tonight, they will win.

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All of what you described sounds like a product of the Heat defense.

Missing a wide open shot (Peja!) is not a product of good defense.

I wasn't overwhelmed by the Heat defense last night. It was good, but didn't look as dominant as it did against Chicago.

Peja missed a couple wide open threes, we missed several wide open 2 point FGs, layups, put-backs. I think more than anything, after hearing all week about how great the Heat defense is, the way the Mavs were anticipating this vaunted defense to just instantly smother them on open shots had more of a mental effect than an actual effect. I guess in that regard the Heat defense caused the missed shots.

Hopefully we get a better performance in game 2 so we can make this a series.

clay - You really don't know what you're talking about.

The Maverick big men aren't expected to make James and Wade scared. They are supposed to protect the rim and they did a pretty solid job. Several times Heat players drove the paint and were rejected. They also missed more layups because of defensive presence. Heat won because of 3 pointers, not Wade and James driving.

The foul comment is about touch fouls. If Haywood is going to commit a foul, make sure they don't make the basket. Never get dinged for reach-in eight feet from the basket.

Heat defense was good, but not perfect. Barea missed tons of buckets. They weren't jump shots or really defended well. He just missed shots that he nearly always makes.

You're dead wrong about Kidd and it makes me believe you didn't watch the game. The Heat game plan is to let Kidd shoot. The Heat are NOT playing defense on Kidd's early shooting. They are playing pass first and last. And the Heat are dropping beneath the pick every time.

If Kidd does pick/roll and immediately shoots, the Heat have no chance whatsoever to stop it. He needs to shoot early in the shot clock a few times to keep them honest. When the Mavs are swinging the ball around and it comes to shooter, the Heat are doing good job of flying at the shooter. That 5 second look that Kidd got against Thunder is never going to happen.

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Miami controlled the game from the get-go. It was a dominating performance allbeit not shown on the scoreboard until the final minutes. The only time they let the Mavs have hope was the start of the 3rd, and they immediately retook control. They lock-down D and wear teams down then let Lebron/Wade run wild late and nobody can keep up.

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Huh? The mavs led after one. They led at the half. There were 10 lead changes. The only thing the Heat dominated was the 2nd half of the 4th when Carlisle decided to go with Barea for a unbelievably long stretch despite the fact that he was 1 for 1,000,000 and couldn't guard a single person on the court.

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Heat won because of 3 pointers, not Wade and James driving.

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The Heat made 11 threes. The Mavs made 9.

The Heat took 83 shots. The Mavs took 67 shots. Dallas averaged taking 78 shots per game throughout the season.

Dallas lost because they bricked open shots and shots from the lane and they couldn't rebound.

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If Kidd does pick/roll and immediately shoots, the Heat have no chance whatsoever to stop it. He needs to shoot early in the shot clock a few times to keep them honest. When the Mavs are swinging the ball around and it comes to shooter, the Heat are doing good job of flying at the shooter. That 5 second look that Kidd got against Thunder is never going to happen.

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Kidd is a much better catch and shoot guy than pull back guy. The pick and pop is not at all Kidd's game and I don't think Dallas is going to be that effective if they do that.

Dallas played good enough defense to win. I like Kidd on Wade in the clutch. Wade made some great perimeter shots to close the game, then Lebron held it together. Marion and Kidd with help from Chandler plus spot duty from Stevenson and the Carlisle/Casey zone can cover Wade/Lebron better than anything they've seen in the playoffs. They only had what 6 total freethrows?

Heat dominated.

Mavs too slow.

Mavs bench sucked.

Heat defense too good.

Mavs old.


Look guys, this was the first game of the series and the home team won the first one. I don't think you can extrapolate anything out over the whole series based on just this one game. Both teams will make some adjustments and then we'll see what happens. I think you have a much better read after game 2.

Way too soon to make any definitive statements.

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The Maverick big men aren't expected to make James and Wade scared. They are supposed to protect the rim and they did a pretty solid job. Several times Heat players drove the paint and were rejected. They also missed more layups because of defensive presence. Heat won because of 3 pointers, not Wade and James driving.

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You make a good point for the Heat to be even better. They missed 10 layups and had 4 blocked. They make just 25% of those and its a blowout.

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Heat defense was good, but not perfect. Barea missed tons of buckets. They weren't jump shots or really defended well. He just missed shots that he nearly always makes.

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Barea is not used to playing guys that are as quick as him. He was bothered, looked out of sorts, and rushed his shots. He didn't play well because of the Miami D.

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You're dead wrong about Kidd and it makes me believe you didn't watch the game. The Heat game plan is to let Kidd shoot. The Heat are NOT playing defense on Kidd's early shooting. They are playing pass first and last. And the Heat are dropping beneath the pick every time.

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I am not wrong in the slightest. The heat slack off of Kid and run him as soon as he starts his slow low shot. Their closing speed prevented him from shooting it several times. You don't know what you are watching if you think the Heat are letting Kidd sit there and shoot open 3s, its more than obvious they did not do that. They get a hand on him everytime and don't let him shoot it in rhythm.

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If Kidd does pick/roll and immediately shoots, the Heat have no chance whatsoever to stop it. He needs to shoot early in the shot clock a few times to keep them honest. When the Mavs are swinging the ball around and it comes to shooter, the Heat are doing good job of flying at the shooter. That 5 second look that Kidd got against Thunder is never going to happen.

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Thanks for making my point. Kidd is slow to get it off and the Heat get a hand in his face almost each time.

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Huh? The mavs led after one. They led at the half. There were 10 lead changes. The only thing the Heat dominated was the 2nd half of the 4th when Carlisle decided to go with Barea for a unbelievably long stretch despite the fact that he was 1 for 1,000,000 and couldn't guard a single person on the court.

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The Heat dominated the game start to finish, and put punctuation on it in the 4th. It played out exactly how they wanted it to. This is their game plan. Terry himself said the Mavs would prefer more tempo. The Mavs cannot win a defensive struggle over 7 games. They won't win this series unless Dirk goes off.

clay can't be serious, nobody is this dumb

Kidd on Wade late??? Please... Kidd is 38 years old.

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Kidd on Wade late??? Please... Kidd is 38 years old.

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+1

although, Kidd doesn't always play like he is 38 years old.

Muy, must have been painful to watch Wade tear into the Mavs late in the game, again.

Kidd did pretty well against Kobe late as well as Durant when he got switched on him late.

I thought Kidd played very good defense last night against Wade. Forced him into some bad shots early, stripped him one or twice. If DWade is going to drain fade-away 3 pointers like he did in Kidd's face last night, he's going to do that to anybody. Overall I was pleased with Kidd's defense.

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clay can't be serious, nobody is this dumb

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Evidently you don't follow his posts on M&W.

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I thought Kidd played very good defense last night against Wade. Forced him into some bad shots early, stripped him one or twice. If DWade is going to drain fade-away 3 pointers like he did in Kidd's face last night, he's going to do that to anybody. Overall I was pleased with Kidd's defense.

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Co-sign.

I'd like to add that I thought our rotations looked pretty stupid last night.

At the end of the 1st, Kidd took a seat for Barea and then sat halfway into the 2nd before going back in. Same story in the 3rd, and then sitting half way into the 4th. Granted, I wouldn't be complaining if he was making shots, but those are long stretches considering what a defensive liability he is and how important Kidd is to every facet of our game. Barea suffers from "too short, head down and go" syndrome. I don't know if he can't or won't, but he is not good at finding cutting players off the pick and roll.

What team does Claym root for?

I seem to remember him rooting for the Spurs, but it seems like he was a big supporter of the Decision last year.