Give praise unto the Lord The theme, as far as the actual team goes, was that they simply needed to be better. Not just good. Not good enough. Better.
In beating the Miami Heat last night 86-83, the Mavericks were better.
First and foremost, the defense, I felt, was pretty stifling, especially late, and I would consider it the best defensive performance, as a team, in the playoffs. There was zero room to operate for the Heat. Zero. They couldn't move. There were white jerseys flying all over the court. It felt like watching the Mavericks the last 10 years in the playoffs -- no matter what, it was always a bad shot and there was nothing there.
The Mavericks completely shut down the role players. As stated yesterday, there is no way the Mavericks' bench should be getting beat by the Miami bench. Last night, the roles were reversed. It was the Maverick support staff (Jason Terry, DeShawn Stevenson) that outplayed the Heat bench players. The Mavericks allowed a miserable 2-14 shooting from behind the three-point line rendering the likes of Mario Chalmers and Mike Bibby virtually useless.
Then there was Tyson Chandler. Again, yesterday I noted that there is zero reason why the Heat should be within shouting distance of the Mavericks in rebounding. It's odd, but the Heat actually outrebounded the Mavericks, again, 44-41 along with 15 offensive rebounds.
However, and here's the good part, 10 of those offensive rebounds came in the first half the two top rebounders in the game were Mavericks (Chandler, 16 and Dirk Nowitzki with 11) by a wide margin.
Chandler, honestly, was a beast, and he had his best game of the playoffs since probably the Portland series and I would even suggest that this was his best game of the series. Wherever the ball fell, I thought I saw Chandler in the area, getting a hand on the ball, contesting the rebound or grabbing it himself. He had nine offensive rebounds by himself. Add in 42 minutes played, 13 points and salty defense all night and I present you the Mavericks MVP, at least for one night.
Generally, it was just better and in this series all the Mavericks need to be is better. They don't need to shoot the lights out. They don't need to go to the line 50 times a game. They just need to get better. Before last night, I never quite felt the Mavericks were laying it all out on the line. I think it's clear that they haven't had that extra gear like so many champions have and I saw some of it last night.
It was not pretty. This is the Mavericks out of their element completely. However, professional athletes are exceptionally gifted. It is what perplexes us most nights. Why can't he do this? Why can't he get better at that?
The truth is, they can. If an NBA player wants to get 15 rebounds a game, they generally can. If Lebron James wanted to post up every play, he can. Why they don't is the great mystery. Why Steve Blass couldn't throw a baseball is an even bigger mystery.
It doesn't make any sense. If the Mavericks play like they did last night, they will win this series. I have little doubt. However, on a night when we thought Lebron and Co. were going to be super motivated, they looked as helpless as a calf at an open gate against a simple zone defense.
It doesn't make any sense. I do have this figured out: I think game 5 is a must-win for the Mavericks. They need to win two straight at some point. They needed to take two of three at home (at least) to set up winning at least one on the road.
This series is so far from over it's not funny. Neither team should necessarily feel well about how they've played, but neither team is out of this thing.
Oh. Did I not mention Dirk? Well, umm ... what more could I possibly say? Tell me! I will say that his lay-up late in the fourth quarter was tons harder than it seems. Udonis Haslem did an OK job of forcing Dirk to go wider than he probably liked despite getting beat. Dirk just made an excellent shot. That lay-up is missed a lot more than we probably realize.
