The Western Conference Champs of 2011: Dallas Mavericks
via d.yimg.com
For most of the night, the Mavericks hung around a 6-8 pt deficit. You kind of got the feeling that they felt they could turn it on in the end and just sprint past the Thunder. Which was what they did, sort of. The Mavericks turned up the defense and stole the ball twice from the Thunder. But what ultimately killed the Thunder was 2 key rebound fails: First, with the Mavericks deficit at 2, Dirk Nowitzki goes for a 3 and misses. Russel Westbrook failed to secure the rebound (or officially, he DID get the defensive rebound, then lost it to Jason Terry), and the ball made its way back to Dirk who took another 3 and hit it, Mavericks up 1. Second, with the Thunder down 2 and 17 seconds to go, Dirk takes a 2 that rims out, but AGAIN, the Thunder could not get that rebound. It went to Kidd instead, game over.
And so, the Mavericks return to the Finals to face what will most likely be the Heat in a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals. But first, the Heat need to close out the Bulls, which brings us to tonight.
Tonight's lineup
| Game | Time | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| Miami Heat @ Chicago Bulls, Game 5 | 5:30pm PDT | TNT |
Miami Heat @ Chicago Bulls, Game 5
"I'll get the fishing poles!" "I'll rent the boat!" "I'll drive us to the lake!"
Let's look at the Heat scoring in overtime in Game 4: Bosh 2 FTs, Bosh jumper, Wade jumper, LeBron layup, Wade layup, LeBron jumper, Wade 2 intentional-foul FTs, LeBron 2 intentional-foul FTs. The Heat's Big Three did all the scoring in OT. Hmm, so that's why the Heat signed them.