Miami Heat 80 Dallas Mavericks 90 (June 8, 2006)
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0 commentsThe Dallas Mavericks were able to draw first blood in the NBA Finals as they squeaked out a win against the Miami Heat 90-80. Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard had a rough night shooting the rock but Jason Terry stepped up for the Mavericks and led all scorers with 32 points while Dwyane Wade countered with 28 points.
Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal had great starts to the game as they were able to get into the lane and forced the Mavericks big men into foul trouble. Just three minutes into the second quarter DeSagana Diop and Erick Dampier both had two personal fouls and found themselves picking splinters out of theirs butts while stuck to the bench. The lack of a big man in the paint to alter Wade’s shots resulted in “Flash” going 6-8 from the field to start the game for 13 points in his first 15 minutes of playing time.
Dallas was able to hang in the game in the first half despite Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard both going an abysmal 2 for 8 from the field. Nowitzki tried to redeem himself when he nailed a huge shot as time expired in the first half to give the Mavs a 46-44 lead.
After a hot start to the game things seemed to fall apart for the Heat in the second half. Miami had started the game red hot going 17 for 28 from the field (60%) while Dallas was ice cold shooting an abysmal 9 for 28 (38%) on their way to a 40-31 advantage. In the second half Miami’s shooting cooled off as Dallas started to turn things up. Miami’s shooting slumped to 10 for 27 while Dallas improved to 15 for 24 which allowed Dallas to enjoy a 64-63 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter.
One reason for the Heat’s slump in the second half was the absence of Udonis Haslem. He picked up his fourth personal early in the third quarter and then picked up his fifth personal early in the fourth. With the Heat losing their top defender in the post Nowitzki and Howard shockingly were still unable to get a groove shooting the rock. The Mavericks star forwards combined to shoot an attrocious 7 for 28 from the field. Despite the shooting ineptitude of those two tonight they were able to contribute in other ways. Howard led all players with 12 boards while Nowitzki chipped in 9 boards and three steals.
Another reason for Miami’s sluggish play can be attributed to the fact that O’Neal was 6 for 7 from the field heading into the fourth quarter. How does your All-Star centre only get seven shot attempts through the first three quarters of the game? Meanwhile Antoine Walker had chucked up 16 shots and only connected on 6 of them. There’s obviously some shots that Walker could pass up in order to get Shaq the ball more. Plus, it’s not like O’Neal was ice cold shooting the rock as he had only missed one of his shots. Diop and Dampier were working hard against him but you gotta’ feed the big guy the rock if you want to win a Championship.
Dallas appeared to have a strangle hold on the game and had a chance to put the game out of reach but Jason Terry missed an easy lay-up without anyone guarding him. Miami then marched down the court and fed O’Neal on two straight possessions for easy dunks to pull back within six points. After both teams failed to score on their next couple of possessions until Walker scored to pull Miami to within four points with five minutes remaining in the game.
Jason Terry was the star of the game as he scored a game high 32 points. Terry started the game off by going 9 for 11 to start the game 20 of the Mavs first 44 points. Despite his hot hand shooting the rock Terry failed to attempt a shot in the third quarter but picked up in the fourth quarter where he left off and finished the game with 32 points on 13 for 18 shooting from the field and 4 for 7 from beyond the arc.
An intersting side note to Terry’s game high 32 points is that he was able to rip up the Heat despite not getting to sleep in the Heats shorts last night. Terry has a tradition of eating chicken the day of games, wearing knee high socks and a head band during games and the night before games he wears the shorts of the opposing team. According to ABC reports during the game Gary Payton had promised to hook Terry up with a pair of Heat shorts but failed to deliver yesterday as promised.
The NBA Finals started off with a great game tonight and I can’t wait to see what Pat Riley and Avery Johnson have in store for game two. It’s clear that Miami will need to incorporate O’Neal more into their offense and it’ll be interesting to see how Johnson manages to get Nowitzki and Howard some more easy looks.
Random Game Notes: Miami is 12-0 when leading at the half and are now 0-6 when trailing…Jerry Stackhouse had three stitches to his nose during halftime yet still returned to the court in the second half… Terrell Owens was spotted sitting courtside wearing a Heat jersey. T.O., your going to get off to a rough start with Dallas fans before you even suit up for a Cowboys game!…While the Big Aristotle was on fire from the field he was ice cold from the charity stripe. Heading into the fourth quarter he was 0 for 7 from the line and he finished the game 1 for 9 from the free throw line…
Date
June 8, 2006
