Miami Heat - Dallas Mavs Square Off In NBA Finals
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Not since the Milwaukee Bucks with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Oscar Robertson went up against the old Baltimore Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) featuring Earl "The Pearl" Monroe and Wes Unseld, have two franchises visited the NBA Final Round for the first time.
For 2004-05, the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks will square off for the NBA championship.
Dallas riding Dirk Nowitzki, proved they can win on the road in finishing off the Phoenix Suns for the Western Conference crown.
Miami finally caught and ended the Detroit Pistons three year Eastern Conference reign in six games, by pounding them in Miami, 95-78. Shaq came up big for the Miami Heat with 28 points and 14 rebounds, and even made his free throws.
The Miami Heat were hampered, or so it seemed before tip-off, by the fact that their young superstar guard Dwayne Wade spend seven hours in the hospital with a flu bug, taking IV injections the day of the game. Wade would play, and contribute, ill, a clutch 14 points and a career high 10 assists (most to Shaq) in the game. Jason Williams also came up big for the Miami Heat, contributing 21 points, as they ended Detroit finally in six. Last year, they were within one minute of the NBA finals in the seventh game against Detroit's Pitsons, and lost at home, with Dwayne Wade and Shaq both ailing.
One would think it was football season. Florida (Miami) against Texas (Dallas) for the NBA title.
Colorful Dallas owner Mark Cuban, who likes to visit Miami, ferries the Dallas Mavs around in his private Boeing 757 airplane. An aircraft that in commercial service, carries 255 passengers. Edge - aircraft - Dallas.
Miami's billionaire cruise ship line owner Micky Aronson berths his private yacht in the channel adjacent to downtown Miami's American Airlines Arena. That yacht berthed there, and the aerial shots generated during the MTV Music Video Awards Show two years ago, so impressed tv watchers, that they flowded the MTV lines with e-mails, and Miami got the MTV Awards show back again last year. That show, a tourism plum, had never previously been held outside of Los Angeles or New York.
Also, that yacht is probably one that Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Hueizinga will get to use for one of the top NFL owners at the 2007 Super Bowl and again at the 2010 Super Bowl, both being held in Miami. One of the top selling points of the Magic City to the NFL (who are not reluctant to come here), was that each of the 32 owners would have the use of a private yacht for their stay during the Super Bowl. Edge - Miami on the boating side.
As for the series? Dallas won both games against Miami during the regular season, including an early season thrashing they stung on the Heat in Miami. NBA legendary coach Pat Riley is the first coach to take three separate teams to the NBA finals (New York, Los Angeles and now Miami). Shaq is working on his 4th championship ring, and is four wins away from honoring his promise to the Miami Heat fans to bring them the NBA Championship.
This should be one heck of a series. The starting delay to Thursday should benefit the Miami Heat, as star guard Dwayne Wade, nickname "The Flash" recovers from the flu bug. First two games are in Dallas. Both clubs are hungry, and in the NBA playoffs you can throw out the regular season records.
Your season is compressed to four games total, you win them before losing three. It is nerve wracking for inexperienced teams in the NBA playoffs. One only has to witnesss how the up and coming Cleveland Cavaliers had the talented and resilient Detroit Pistons on the ropes in the Eastern semi-finals, then tried to depend on LeBron James in a one on five effort to knock off one of the best five man rotations in league history and failed.
Miami brought a bigger stick to the Eastern Conference finals then Detroit could handle, and Shaq always ups his game for the playoffs.
It's the NBA championship with two stellar teams - the Dallas Mavericks, who hold the home court advantage, vs. the Miami Heat, who put out the league's best team, Detroit. Normal odds should favor Dallas - I think Shaq and Wade are too much of a combination for any team to handle right now, and Miami steals the Mavs serve taking a game there to start - and wins the series in six. The Miami Heat are hot.......
Source
- Normal AP articles
- Miami Herald newspaper
- and own comments
Date
Mon 06/05/06, 12:13 am EST
