Monday, June 13, 2011

NBA Finals Game 6/Series Recap

Braunfeld Press

DALLAS -- As the clock ran down to 00.0, the TV cameras and all of America turned to Dirk Nowitzki. Nobody would argue that he would already have been a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame at the end of his career, but now that he had the validation of a championship ring, what would be his reaction? There was no fist pump, there was no jump for joy. There was no screaming, he did not hug any of his teammates. In a scene eerily similar to LeBron's handshake (or lack thereof) fiasco after being dumped by the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009, Dirk simply jumped over the scorer's table and a few rows of seats, and hastily made his way back to the locker room, maintaining a poker face the whole time. No emotion, simply his style. With security officials behind him, some with their cameras out recording Dirk's every move, he entered the locker room, and was not seen again until the trophy presentation some minutes later. We can only speculate as to what Dirk did alone in the locker room in that time. Did he phone a visibly emotional Holger Geschwindner to thank him first? Did he speak to his mother and father? Did he think about 2006? Or (as most of us would like to believe) did he simply let the emotions that have been bottled up over the past 13 years finally take him over? After all of the accusations of being soft, lacking versatility, choking, possessing no leadership skills, Dirk had shown everyone. He had won an NBA Championship. For those of you who watched the beginning of any of these Finals games, you were treated to an expertly-done montage of images and audio from past NBA Finals. To me, the most audible of them all came in the last few seconds, when some radio announcer exclaimed, "The Miami Heat are champions of the basketball world!" Dirk Nowitzki never once watched the replays of that series, claiming it was too painful for him to relive. Now, those memories could be erased, and those demons finally exorcised.

Free throws are so named because they are exactly what they imply, uncontested shots at the basket from a position exactly perpendicular to the backboard from 15 feet away from the rim. In my opinion, they should really be called "free points", because at the NBA level, every player is expected to be skilled enough to hit any undefended shot they take. In fact, one could go so far as to say that any NBA player that cannot hit 95 out of 100 open shots either is not focused or simply does not care about whether or not the shot goes in. In Game 6, Dallas did exactly what it had been trying to avoid doing for the entire series. They gave the Miami Heat a lot of "free points", 33 in fact. But in a move representative of Miami's attitude and level of play for the entire series, they decided they either didn't want all 33 free points or (more likely) simply didn't care. Out of the 33 "free points" the Mavs gave the Heat, the Heat decided they only wanted 20 of them, 60.6%. As a juxtaposition, it is worth noting that Tyson Chandler hit almost 60% of the shots he took in the Finals. By the way, those were all contested. In this sense, the Mavs did everything they could to give Miami Game 6, but, as mentioned previously, Miami simply didn't want it. Dallas gave the Heat a 15 point lead with 7 minutes to play in Game 2, but Miami didn't want that. Dallas allowed the Heat to score over 100 points and get into the paint seemingly at will in Game 5..."meh". As if playing against the best 7-foot shooter to play the game didn't make things difficult enough, Miami sealed their fate in this series when they made it obvious that they simply did not want it enough. If those examples didn't convince you, here's a stat you'll want to hold onto: Dirk Nowitzki scored 62 points combined in the 4th quarter during this series, which also happens to be the exact same number of points scored by LeBron James and Dwayne Wade combined in the 4th quarter during the series. After all of the hype, all of the celebration, all of the drama, the Miami Heat treated the 2011 NBA Finals like a 5-year-old treats gifts of clothing on Christmas.

Enough about generalities, I want to talk about the "Big 3". I'm not sure which scene I enjoyed more, Chris Bosh falling to the floor in the tunnel in tears after Game 6, or LeBron being visibly beaten down by questions from reporters in the post-game, but this is not about those wonderful, joyous scenes. Dwayne Wade may have been the most visible and higher-scoring of the 3, but you know who had the best series? Chris Bosh. After all of the talk of "2 and a half men" and "2 superstars and a tagalong", Bosh was the most consistent. Not counting Games 1 and 2, Bosh shot 50% from the field and had a better +/- (team point differential while the player is on the floor) than LeBron in 4 of the 6 games, despite outscoring James in the other 2 games. He took advantage of the open shots he was given when the Mavericks brought help to guard LeBron and Wade. When it came down to it, Bosh did his job, but it was not enough to make up for LeBron and Wade's inability to do theirs.


Here's another shocker for you. Three players on the Mavericks had a +18 last night, and not one was named Dirk, Terry, or Chandler. Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, and The Custodian, Brian Cardinal, were the most effective players for the Dallas Mavericks in Game 6. But, as all things in this series go, I must bring it back to Dirk. As most of you know, Dirk Nowitzki hit one shot in the first half. He took 12. LeBron James could do better than that, in the 4th quarter. But, as I remembered saying to my dad as we sat and anxiously watched as Dirk missed shot after shot, there was no other option but to keep shooting and keep shooting he did. Dirk hit 8 of the 15 shots he took in the second half and scored 10 points in the 4th quarter. As all great stars do, Dirk shot himself out of his own slump. As if all the stats on Dirk weren't enough already, here's one more: On top of the playoff record he set earlier this post season for most free throws made in one game without a miss, Dirk Nowitzki managed to hit 45 out of the 46 free throws he took in the series, the one miss coming when he was suffering his triple-digit fever.

As I mentioned after Game 4, the Mavericks had spent barely 30% of the series in the lead, yet were tied 2-2 with the Heat. If I had given you that statistic along with the idea that Jason Terry had not once shown up in the first 3 games other than during 7 minutes of the 4th quarter of Game 2 and that JJ Barea had been nonexistent, not one of you would have thought that the Mavs had won any more than 1 of those 4 games, at the most. As one ESPN.com writer put it best, this could be called a "zombie team". No matter how many times you knock them down, they kept getting back up. The reaction of those of us who have watched the Mavs for the last 10 years would probably be something like "You're talking about the Mavs? Are you sure? There's no way that's right", along with a little chuckle at the end. I predicted after Game 2 against the Lakers that if the Mavericks beat the Lakers in 5 or fewer games, they would go on to win the title. Many people were convinced of their destiny after they put away the Trail Blazers following an embarrassing collapse in Game 4, but I was convinced in a different way. Despite the fact that I have not followed the Mavs as a fan for over 3 years now, it was obvious how this team used to play. They choked away leads and had no mental toughness. After beating the Lakers twice in LA, if Dallas could pull off a sweep, or win Game 5, a THIRD game in LA, I would be convinced of their mental toughness. There is no tougher of a player to play against than Kobe Bryant, and if you can frustrate him enough to beat his team 4 times in a row, you are doing something pretty special. The Mavs pulled off spectacular comebacks in Game 3 against the Lakers, Games 4 and 5 against the Thunder, and then, most notably, in Games 2 and 4 against the Heat. The Mavs had 4th quarter leads in both Games 5 and 6 against the Heat, and I can guarantee you that every Mavs fan in existence was shaking in their boots, and would not feel safe until the final buzzer sounded. But the Mavs did something they had never done before; they never let up. Maybe it was the urgency felt by players who are now in the later parts of their career (Terry and Kidd), or players who realized they may never get another chance to be there (Marion and Chandler), or by one man who simply had everything to prove (Dirk), but this team would not be denied, and for the first time in their history, nobody doubted that they finally got what they deserved.


But what now? Kidd claims he has another few years left in him, all there is to worry about is his effectiveness. Keep in mind, this team accomplished all of this without Caron Butler, easily the second best player on the team until his injury at the end of December. This team is loaded with talent and any one talent can take over at any given time for them, if need be. Can Dallas win a second title? Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Nick Fedyk will love this, but I think next year is Oklahoma City's turn, unless of course Russell Westbrook goes insane and murders Kevin Durant, but this is unlikely.

And what of the Heat? "What's wrong with the Heat?" LeBron is what is wrong with the Heat. After being told all his life that he was God's gift to basketball, he has experienced the shock of losing what should have been a fixed title. LeBron's immaturity has hurt him and his team time and time again. The Miami Heat have the most talent of any team in basketball, but until LeBron learns his place and takes some time to grow up, they will continue to suffer failures like this. Erik Spoelstra is a great coach, and I admire his ability to deal with the situation he was put in. He handled it brilliantly. Everyone says "LeBron will have his day". Will he? Will he now end up the focus of the "Best Player to Never Win a Title" discussion? It's too soon to say, but if I have one word of advice for LeBron, it is this: Look at the man who just beat you. Look at what he has had to endure. Dirk was an incomplete player and molded himself into a complete one and had to go through torture every minute of the way. Dirk earned his title through hard work and determination, not by taking the easy way. So, LeBron, as you've seen, there is no way to win a title aside from pure determination. Until you learn this lesson, you will go through the same torture he went through. And you know what? I will relish every minute of it.