[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

Heat in 6

 

LeBron James is going to be unstoppable and there’s still the question; Who’s guarding Wade?  Dirk can go off for 40 a game, but if Terry, Marion, and Kidd are contained, where else will they be getting help?  Who’s Kidd, Terry, and Nowitzki going to be guarding in the last 6-8 minutes of the game when the Heat go with their Wade-Miller-James-Bosh-Haslem lineup?

Dirk is going to get his and there’s no doubt about that, but the Mavericks main strength is their 3pt shooting.  What defends 3pt shooting the best?  Athleticism.  And the Heat have A LOT of it.  Miami is a top 10 team when it comes to defending the 3ball.  Shutting down Terry and Kidd is a lot easier than you think, especially when you have defenders like Chalmers and Wade on them.

When you’ve guarded Rondo, Rose, and Holiday in the last 3 series, Wade and Chalmers can finally take a breath.  They get to guard slower guards that rely on whether or not their jumpshot is falling.  Not only that, LeBron James takes a huge sigh of relief.  Being guarded by physical guys like Iguodala, Pierce, and Deng, they made him for for everything.  Now he’s being guarded by Shawn Marion.  He’s not the old Shawn Marion and yes, he defended Durant pretty well but the way he defended Durant was purely with strength and athleticism.  Marion cannot defend LeBron using athleticism and strength simply because he’s severly outmatched.

Russell Westbrook was doing whatever he wanted last series and the only person that could stop him was himself.  Now we have a different version of RW0, a more controlled, better shooting, and better decision making version, his name?  Dwyane Wade.  He will be completely unstoppable and will make Terry and Kidd’s life hell.  Chandler is most likely guarding Bosh, but what’s going to happen when James or Wade drive in?  Chandler picks his poison.  He leaves a knockdown 15-18ft jump shooter open for easy shots or does he try to defend Wade and James and pick up a foul.

The Miami Heat as a team has beaten the best offensive team in the league (Celtics) in only 5 games and they’ve beaten the best defensive team in the league (Chicago) in 5 games as well.  Not only that, Miami ranks 2nd in both those categories.  On the other hand, Dallas (4th on offense, 8th on defense) has beaten the Thunder (10th on offense, 15th on defense), the Blazers (24th on offense, 21st on defense), and the Lakers (11th on offense, 5th on defense).  The point I’m making here is, they haven’t played the level of competition that the Heat have played… And they haven’t played a team as defensively and offensively potent as the Heat in these playoffs.

[adumParticipant]

I’m just looking toward to new teams in the finals
To be honest I’m sick of seeing Kobe and garnett in the finals
It’s gonna be a good series
Not gonna pick a winner but whoever wins it’s going to be in 6

[HitsterParticipant]

Miami are probably the favourites whilst a lock of neutrals will back the Mavs with Kidd and Dirk chasing an elusive title and as it’s against LeBron and co. The match ups are interesting and I wonder if Dallas may look to use Chandler a bit more on offence given his size and speed advantage over a lot of Miami’s C combos.

I also feel that D-Wade could be a key as he has that title winning experience which none of the other major players on either side has. Dallas’s bench will need to outscore Miami’s quite a lot to stay in contention but Dallas swept the Lakers when no-one expected it.

My heart says Dallas, my head says Miami. Either way it’s a great story, the 3 man combo assembled and won a title like Boston in 2008 or that elusive title for Dallas.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Fewer games the better, but this will be an incredibly tough series. The Mavericks shooting is no joke, and the fact that they have two legit post defending Centers could be an issue. Still, the Heat have LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, while Chris Bosh should get his in as well. As long as the Heat’s supporting cast does just enough to offset that of the Mavs, the Heat have a great chance of winning a title with this team. It will not be easy, Dirk will go off in a few games, but ultimately this is an opportunity for LeBron to put on a performance we have all been waiting for.

[ghrghrParticipant]

 I have the Heat in 6. 

What I think will decide the series is the Miami bench. If a Miami bench guy scores 15 points Miami will win that game, because I can assure you that the big 3 will score at least 65 points combined and Miami’s defense will limit Dallas’ potent offense. Miami hasn’t allowed 100 points yet this playoffs and they had overtime games.

Dallas can win this series, though, if they move the ball extremely well and get their shooters open shots from 3. I just don’t think that Miami’s defense will allow that.

I would love to see Dallas win this one. I’m not a Heat hater and I’m a huge LBJ fan so I was hoping for them to get to the Finals and I hope it’s an amazing series, with Dirk and James playing great, so that nobody can say they choked, but Lebron is young and has an unbelievable team, so he’ll have the chance to get his 2-3 rings. Dirk won’t be able to carry his team for much longer, so this is maybe his last shot at a title being "the man".

[gatorheelsParticipant]

 Heat in 7

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

ghrghr

Actually, Miami allowed 100pts once in game one vs Chicago.  Still, one 100pt game in 15 games is an amazing feat.

MikeyV

I’m suprised I wrote more than you!  Truely an accomplishment by me.  Lmao 😛

[kevnix5Participant]

Miami in Six. Home court advantage and athleticism will win this series. I would love to see Dirk getting his first championship before Lebron but the Heat are on a roll right now and are playing with more confidence than they have had all season. Getting Haslem back has been a huge boost to this team. If by some ridiculous stroke of luck Caron Butler can get in this series and play 15 good minutes a game things could definitely change but as of right now Miami has to be favoured. Dallas should be able to get atleast one at home can’t see them getting swept, Dirk will win one game on his own, but may be over in a hurry if the Heat continue to play the way they have.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

But I had written more about this earlier, so I did not want to go on ad nauseum. It is fairly obvious as too why people are choosing one team or the other at this point, and it has, like most final series, gotten to the point of beating a dead horse with all of the hype. I have stuck with the Heat this whole time, and I am just ready for this game to start at 9. The play-offs has been great, the twists and turns have been really entertaining, and this board’s overreactions to certain things have been very amusing.

My favorites:

Grizzlies fever after their winning of Game 1 vs. OKC: Great series, and the Grizz were very close, but people made it seem like they completely owned the Thunder and that Westbrook was going down in a heap. My boy Scarecrow predicted they would go down in 5, Memphistyga was talking about OJ Mayo winning a chip and what it would do for his "legacy". Slight overreaction.

Bulls Game 1 victory over Miami: Of course this had me worried. When a team loses Game 1 by over 20, gets murdered on the boards and a player who may be the best in basketball has an incredibly weak game, it does not look good. But, the cockiness and disgusting thread descriptions (http://www.nbadraft.net/forum/when-bulls-are-heat-2nd-edition) were out of control.

Than I remember this (http://www.nbadraft.net/forum/bulls-are-winning-series). Sorry for calling these people out, feel free to do so to me as well, I have been wrong on many an occasion and prefer debating rather than just getting a thumbs down with no response (I even prefer if you give me a thumb down to tell me that what I wrote was stupid, at least I will know that is the reason rather than you just being a bitter human being). As long as you have given a reply, or have just decided you agree with the majority consensus who have, it is cool. I personally did not thumb down any of these posts (other than Bulls in Heat, which I thought was an image I did not need and was incredibly ridiculous), but I just am giving an example of the hilarious overreactions that am sure to come after either Miami or Dallas wins this first game.

[fennisdemboParticipant]

all credit to the mavs and their great run but they are about to run into a buzzsaw defence the likes of which they have not seen all year. the lakers and thunder just werent playing the same kinda D as the celtics or bulls were and the heat are still playin.

heat 4-1

i remember the same thing happened when the pistons overwhelmed shaq and kobe’s lakers. they were just coming out of the east where the top teams were really playing inspired D. the west were playing run and gun and inspired D won easily.

i see it the same way this time. this kinda defense comes around every 8-10 years or so and we are seeing it now. the mavs are going to be exposed everywhere on the court. the heat will have some troubles with the dallas zone but not much else.

we are all seeing something special these playoffs on the defensive end. the heat block everything! haha fun to watch, but that dirk fade won’t get blocked, he better hit a ton

 

[Jlv2011]

all the way.  Dallas is just too ridirkulous.

[NYK2010Participant]

Miami hasn’t faced an offensive team like the Mavs, the Bulls had a weak offense.  Boston was missing Shaq, Perkins and are an old team so Miami’s lack of rebounding didn’t hurt them.

The Mavs bench has players good enough to start for some teams like Terry and Haywood.

I agree the Lakers and Thunder don’t play defense like the Bulls or Celtics but they were much better offensive teams.  Also Bosh, Bibby, Mike Miller aren’t exactly great defenders.  I wouldn’t get carried away with Udonis Haslem he’s not going to have the same impact Nick Collison had in the playoffs.

More experience, better vets, deeper bench, better offensively esp. hitting 3’s.

More experienced coach and the most unstoppable offensive player in the game is on Dallas.

Also Dallas has the advantage at PG, PF, C.

Heat have the best SG and SF in the game but Dallas does has 2 very good defenders in Stevenson and Marion to slow them down some.

2 things some might forget Kidd doesn’t have to guard a lightning quick PG in Westbrook who can rebound so he won’t be as tired and Miami doesn’t run that much.

Chandler doesn’t have to wrestle with a big tough rugged big like Perkins anymore. Bosh, Haslem and Anthony are no where as physical.

Mavs are more tested they lost twice to the Blazers after blowing a huge lead in Game 4 of the 1st round.

How do they bounce back by winning 7 in a row over the Blazers, Lakers and  Thunder.

They lose Game 2 to OKC and win the next 3 games 1st game a blowout and 2 with great come from behind wins.

Might be Kidd’s last year I think he goes out with a ring as Dirk gets his revenge for 2006.

Mavs in 6

[Michael.S.Participant]

WTF?! Gatorheels?!?!

[6-6-6-lolParticipant]

Dallas has more depth and a huge frontcourt. If the Mavs play correctly then I think they will win. Their overall team is just too talented imo. Let’s not forget that they swept the Lakers. Their offense is ridiculous and their defense has improved greatly this year as well. They no longer have the "soft" image.

Shawn Marion will have to play really good defense against Lebron. Wade will also have to be somewhat contained. Dirk, Lebron and Wade are going to get there’s, it’s just a matter of what their teammates do.

I’m rooting for the Mavs. I think they are very motivated after their collapse (leading 2-0) in the finals against the Heat several years ago.

[boxn1Participant]

I feel that LBJ,D.Wade,and Bosh are ready to win now. They will be dominate in this series,but it won’t be enough. Those 3 are ready,but besides Haslem their role players will produce less than they average. Dallas role players are better at their roles than Miami’s. True J.Kidd isn’t gonna score,but he will be a bigger threat because of Miami’s smaller gaurds. Now, can a 40 or 50 point game from Wade or LBJ win a game,of course. But I have been waiting for Dallas’ shooters to miss,and they haven’t yet. Dallas in 6

[KayjayParticipant]

In 6. Miami hasn’t face an offense like the Mavs. But the Mav’s have yet to go up against a defensive team like the Heat in the post season. I look at Miami’s road to the finals and see how hard they had it to get here. And I really don’t think the Mav’s have nearly enough swagger to beat them this late in the season. We will see…

But it should be said I wasn’t confident of Miami against the bulls or the Celtics. But I feel nothing here. It seems like its a good match up. Could potentially go either way, but I’m going with Miami. I’m all in.

[the I in winParticipant]

I agree with you but the stats about defensive and offensive rank don’t take into account that the Bulls, Celtics, and Heat get to play the garbage teams in the east while the Lakers, Blazers, and Thunder played the superior competition in the West.  Don’t get me wrong I think the top of the east is better than the top of the west but comparing entire conference to conference it isn’t close.

[torukParticipant]

 in five.

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