[DunksNJordans23Participant]

 After last night it looks like he left his talents in South Beach. Wade went HAM with 32, Bosh even had 24. LeBron has also logged the most minutes by any player in the playoffs, as much as I would love to see the Heat if they do want to win they need more than this 8 man rotation. I still don’t understand why James Jones hasn’t been getting any minutes. Do the Heat need to adjust their rotation or will they be fine with just using Miller, Chalmers, Haslem and ocassionally Howard.

[DunksNJordans23Participant]

 My bad on the double post I know how annoying these are

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

My keys to the Mavs winning the series were, of course, Dirk doing well, but they needed Marion to play great too (last night: only 4 rebounds, but had 16 points and a block).  Then they had to hold the Big Three to 65-70 points or less, and their bench had to do great. In the game 2 win the Mavs held the Big Three to 68 and won by two (ironically, if Wade hit that buzzer beater 3 the Heat would have won the game and the Big Three would have gone for 71).

In game 3 the Big Three had 64 but the Mavs bench only outscored the Heat bench by 8 points and it was not enough.  In game 4 the Big Three were again held to 64 points but the Mavs bench came up big, outscoring the Heat bench by 13 (28 to 15). 

On defense I thought they had to contain James and Bosh and then let Wade try to beat them (score 30 plus points).  Well, the Mavs did that and won the game even with Wade getting 34. 

Another key for the Mavs was to stay close on the boards.  In game 2 they won the rbounding battle.  In game 4 the Mavs were only outrebounded by 3 after they got DESTROYED in the first quarter on offensive rebounding.  I think a healthy Haywood would have swung the rebounding edge in the Mavs favor (Haywood had zero rebounds in 3 minutes with Cardinal only getting one in 7 minutes.).

I saw one article last night about how the Mavs have great toughness which is true.  They aren’t a bunch of softies.  Dirk is mentally tough, rebounds well, hits big shots, and is not afraid of contact.  Chandler and Haywood have been playing solid up front with Kidd, Marion, and Stevenson bringing perimeter toughness and some added rebounding.  When JJ Barea plays tough and fearless the Mavs are really hard to beat.  Mahimi and Cardinal have also brought some toughness off the bench in limited minutes this series.

… as I said before the playoffs I think that LeBron has either peaked or will peak by next year.  He can extend his prime by developing a low post game but he has not yet developed one.  Until he learns to play on the blocks with his back to the basket his game will decline rather noticeably over the next couple of years.  After that he will be a glorified 2nd or 3rd option.

[Author]

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