Ok, we dropped 2 in a row. Thank god it wasn't at home. Now our Heat is coming back home being down 0-2. What's our plan? Watching from tonight's game, there was definitely something wrong with the team. It's like they don't care any more. Shaq looked frustrated, Wade looked sicker than he said he was, Walker mistimed getting his shooting touches(finally) when we were down by 20 something with 5 minutes to go or so. I'm still hoping to see the real Heat next 3 games and make this series interesting again. What's our plan? I also give huge credit and respect for the Dallas team. Avery Johnson and his players have done very well.
Having seen my Warriors beat the Mavs 3 times during the regular season and having seen the Mavs destroy any and all star guards they've faced in the playoffs I think it's safe to say that the Mavs' weakness is big guards who will punish smaller guards on the block. Jason Richardson and Baron Davis obviously couldn't be contained on the block by guys like Terry, Harris, Daniels, Stack, or Howard. J-Rich and Baron are just too strong and to skilled on the block while all of those guards specialize more in staying in front of their man and using their speed and athleticism to shut down opponents. We've seen Manu, Parker, Wade, and everyone on the Suns get shut down by Dallas's speed lineup but none of those guards can punish Dallas's guards on the block. To beat the Mavs you're going to need to overpower them because they are too athletic and fast to penetrate against and they've got enough huge athletic centers to throw fouls at other dominant bigs. The only possible matchup I can see the Heat taking advantage of is posting up Antoine Walker on other SFs but that's just not enough for the Heat to win. Obviously its also much more difficult to win a game when the Mavs win the rebounding battle and the long range shot isn't falling but the only way to consistently attack the Mavs is to overpower their guards. I could see a team like the Kings being able to beat Dallas in a 7 game series. Artest/Bibby are too physical for the Mavericks guards to handle and the Kings also have skilled bigs who can shoot and score (and therefore not be shut down by big oafs like Damp and Diop). I don't think the Heat have any options against the Mavs with their current roster. It would probably help if Gary Payton was a little younger and could post Terry/Harris but he's been terrible. The Heat would also benefit from a PF who could hit the three and provide space for Shaq but they lack this as well. Unfortunately I think the Heat don't have enough favorable matchups in this series to win more than a game or two, if that. The Mavs just have too much speed on the perimieter for Dwayne Wade to dominate against and too many big centers (with 6 fouls each) for Shaq to be able to score against.
