Miami Heat Collision: 10 Reasons Why the Hot Dallas Mavericks Will Get Burned
The Dallas Mavericks are about to collide again with the Miami Heat in a South Beach rematch that signifies a huge turning point for the villains of the NBA.
Since their last loss to Dirk Nowitzki and his Mavs, the Heat have run up an unbeaten streak of nine games and are the second hottest team behind the Boston Celtics (10 wins).
But before then, how many extra Tylenol nights have the Heat and their fans needed?
The Miami Heat are starting to put it together on both ends of the court, and their much-maligned bench just might have been fixed as they pilfer their opponents one by one.
And before that collision, the Heat will meet and greet the streaking eight games in a row New York Knicks and expose them for the pretenders that they are, because New York is simply not in the same league as Miami, so to speak.
Indeed, the Heat have beaten the likes of the Jazz and the Hornets and guess what? LeBron James is the best basketball player to play in the NBA since Michael Jordan—and with the kind of classlessness to boot that Jordan could only dream about.
The Mavs' 12-game losing streak came to an end against the Milwaukee Bucks, but they continue to be one of the league's top three teams that include the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs.
Two weeks ago I had predicted the next 18 games of the Miami Heat at a time when their wheels were falling off and fans were demanding firings and trades.
So far that forecast (that started with a loss to the Orlando Magic) is correct 11 out of 12 times with five games to go before a brutal collision with the L.A. Lakers on Christmas Day.
In fact, the Heat’s winning streak began one game before I had predicted when they beat the Washington Wizards and blemished that perfect forecast. If only I had known that John Wall wouldn't play and JaVale McGee played through a migraine.
The Heat are cruising and the word losing has found it’s way out of Miami Thrice’s vocabulary. The NBA is a star driven league and you need elite players to win, you also need a solid supporting cast of players who know and can fill their roles. The Miami Heat have that and then some, and in spades.
Consequentially, the winning experience brings both momentum and power to a team that is in a continual bonding process. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the enemy to ascertain Miami's incredible strengths because there are so many including the best transition game in the NBA.
All the disharmonious tendencies have been put to rest and the Miami Heat's conjunction function including both offensive and defensive play is a killer combination. And the trepidation they have put their beloved fans through has become a thing of the past.
The statistical disparity between Miami then and Miami now is light years apart, and Miami Thrice has simply not allowed the negative media to manifest them into an unsuccessful season.
A nine-game win streak which has exhibited solid Heat play that culminated with Monday’s convincing victory over the New Orleans Hornets, a playoff-caliber team with an impressive win streak of its own.
The Miami Heat's notoriety has made them the villains if the NBA as well as its most compelling mystery and the ostensible truth is that this team is legit.
The Heat are now first in the Southeast, second in the Eastern Conference and tied for sixth (with the Jazz) in the entire NBA. In the east, they trail only spoiled brat Kevin Garnett's Boston Celtics and in the West, the Lakers are mere percentage points away from being surpassed.
Here are 10 reasons why the streaking Dallas Mavericks will suffer from heatstroke when they visit South Beach next Monday.
The Miami Heat and Their Superstars Have Achieved Chemistry
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The Miami Heat are riding a nine-game winning streak and the most important intangible they have been able to achieve is a high level of overall team chemistry, a huge step in the right direction considering their previous ways of disconnection.
The Heat have finally shown a significant amount of improvement across the board. This means that both the Heat’s starters and the bench are in sync as reflected from monster stats on both ends of the court, offensive and defensive.
You have two superstars capable of magnanimous offensive production in Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. Yet if one of them is having an off night, the other can pick up the slack while Chris Bosh provides more balance with scoring and rebounding.
Systems matter and comfort levels can dictate performance. Sometimes talent blends with ease and sometimes it blends through tribulation and sometimes not at all. But the Heat have found their mix.
That was the case on Monday night against the New Orleans Hornets, as James was only 6-of-16 shooting but still managed 20 points. Wade picked up the slack scoring 32 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Bosh contributed 23 points and Miami Thrice combined for 23 rebounds.
“This is one of the most gratifying wins for us, because it’s a grind-out win,” Wade said regarding the win over the Hornets. “Earlier in the season, it would have gone the other way, but we’re a mentally tough team now.”
On any given night, Wade or James have the potential to put up a triple-double as they've both come so close during the streak.
The individual game is gone and the team game is in motion in it's full splendor showing synergy, cohesiveness and dominance galore.
The Heat are putting forth a good showing of their future potential, the kind that originally yielded the greatest of expectations.
And those same expectations are back.
Miami Thrice Exudes a Newly-Acquired Maturity
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The word immature was used in profusion to describe Miami Thrice from the time of "The Decision" right through to the Heat's early struggles in the season, and rightfully so.
There was too much talk of "parties" after games and "chilling" during practices. There were also media leaks to fire Coach Spo among a multitude of other silly things. The attitude was missing and so was the killer instinct to focus and finish of their opponents.
Indeed, Miami's stars have displayed the ill effects of insobriety and unbridled lunacy during the early parts of the season, or maybe it was just the selfish me first attitude. But things have changed.
Are the Miami Heat still in a state of disconnection? The answer would be an emphatic no because they have proclaimed their viability in spades.
Miami Thrice seems to have realized that they are not in charge and that they have to listen to their coach. They have finally been able to elicit a vital questionable thought process: Basketball is a team game, and following a plan is simply smarter than following their own personal agendas.
They are exhibiting some semblance of their former passionate and tenacious selves.
Yes, being hard means you’re a combination of being brilliant and resilient—and Miami is hard. But to deep-six the notion that they could not contend required a contenders effort from Miami Thrice—on a consistent basis.
Erik Spoelstra's contributions to Miami's win streak should not go unnoticed. He has wisely provided the motivation for his star players by allowing them offensive freedom based on defensive accomplishments.
"Our job is to defend and then we get rewarded with what we want to do on offense,'' James said
Wade has also bought into Spoelstra's offensive and defensive scheme: "[Coach] said, 'If y'all get stops, if y'all get rebounds, then y'all can do whatever y'all want,' so as players we enjoy that. When the ball goes through the basket, then we've got to do what he wants us to do.''
I hope y'all got all that.
Indeed, Miami's three stars have become more circumspect and are taking more pride in their game by putting forth a sustainable effort, game after game AND by utilizing a much more pragmatic, no-nonsense approach.
Miami’s Improved Offense Is Much Better Than Dallas' Solid Offense
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When Miami Thrice got together, there were few who did not expect them to light up their opponents scoreboard night in and night out. In fact, before their current winning streak they had shown signs of doing just that, most notably against the Orlando Magic.
During the current win streak, the Heat have outscored their opponents by an average margin of 16.5 points per game and of all people, Mark Cuban (owner of the Mavs) is impressed:
"They're pretty damn good,'' Cuban remarked just one day before Dallas' 12-game winning streak ended. "Just the way they play is different than anybody else. That's a big adjustment. They've got those guys that can finish. They get out like the old Suns, but they don't stop at the three-point line. They just try to dunk over you. That makes it tough.''
Indeed, Miami's tentative and nonchalant offensive play has been replaced with confident aggression.
Comparing Dallas and Miami’s individual high scorers with the NBA top rankings will find Nowitzki ranked fifth, James ranked eighth, Wade ranked 12th, Bosh ranked 35th.
No other scorer among these two teams is even in the top 50 scorers in the league, yet Dallas has only one player and Miami has three players in that category.
Offensive team statistics yield the following NBA rankings:
Total Points (Heat 5th, Mavs 20th)
Field Goal Percentage (tied for 3rd with .477)
Free Throw Percentage (Heat 14th, Mavs 10th)
As you can see, the Heat’s stats in this category are downright offensive and Dallas’ offensive stats pale by comparison.
Miami's Big Men Are Helping Chris Bosh's Game by Declaring War In The Paint
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Chris Bosh is a finesse player—he does not like the bump and grind game and has shown the tendency to avoid it at all costs and as a result, Miami was getting killed in the war of the paint. He even wears a bulletproof vest.
While Bosh is an integral part of Miami's potent offense, the team has not been able to perform well in the absence of big men in the paint.
Enter big men, Eric Dampier and Zydrunas Ilgauskas who may not be the most productive players in the league but their presence in the paint and their gritty approach to clearing a path for Chris Bosh opens up the power forward’s game to both scoring and rebounds.
In a sense, Bosh gets the glory for the dirty blue-collar work of his big men, but who cares, as long as Bosh can be efficient—and he is being efficient.
In the past five games including the Hornets, Dampier has had 26 rebounds and eight blocks in 20 minutes per game in the process of delivering some bruising picks on pick-and-rolls for Chris Bosh.
Erik Spoelstra is pleased with Dampier's early contributions and hinted that Dampier could start to receive additional playing time, saying, "He's fitting in. He picks things up quickly. He's giving us something we need. It's different from the other centers.''
Ilgauskas has been on a tear since recording a double-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds, an assist and a steal in last Wednesday's win over the Utah Jazz. In fact, he has 28 rebounds and six blocks in his last four games.
You get the sense that these big guys understand their success (and the Heat's) is predicated on their aggressiveness.
It looks as if Miami's center position is taking care of it self as the presence of Dampier has revamped the team, both offensively and defensively.
Miami’s Improved Defense Is Better Than Dallas’ Solid Defense
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The Miami Heat have created an awesome defensive mould using fire and brimstone, D-Wade and King James. It was not long ago when the Heat could not even buy a rebound, and as a result, lost many games, but now they are a defensive monster.
Even Hornets guard Chris Paul is impressed.
"I'd have to look at the tape to figure it out, " said Paul, who had 11 points and five assists against the Heat last night. "We just couldn't score. Their defense does a really good job of keeping you out of the paint. They play really good team defense."
The Heat’s defensive stats are now among the league's best. They rank first in opponents three-point percentage (31.3), first in opponents’ field-goal percentage (42.7), first in point differential (tied with Boston at plus-9.7) and second in points allowed (91.3).
If the current win streak has shown us anything other than the Heat’s offensive dominance, it’s their defensive dominance as well.
To put things into perspective, every Heat loss points out the glaring fact that the Heat have been out rebounded by their opponents. During the win streak, the Heat have out rebounded every single one of its opponents.
"Defend and rebound—that's who we are,'' Spoelstra said. "And when we try to do it the other way—get into a flow by scoring and pacing and sparring with them—that hasn't been a successful thing for us, but we got back to our identity.''
In fact, the Miami Heat are catching up to the defensively capable Lakers who couldn't care less about defense. The Lakers should start utilizing their defensive assets including Ron Artest and Mat Barnes and start following the forecast, or forever keep looking over their shoulder at the Miami Heat.
Indeed, in order for the enemy to circumvent Miami's defense, they may have to resort to praying to God. And it has been Miami's defense that has helped mitigate a very sorry early season situation.
Defensive team analysis between the Heat and Mavs yield the following NBA rankings:
Rebounds (Heat 2nd, Mavs 15th)
Blocked Shots (Heat 10th, Mavs 15th)
Steals (Heat 15th, Mavs 16th)
In addition, the Heat yielded one of the league's worst turnovers per game but that stat has improved dramatically to 12.6 turnovers per game compared with the Mavs 13.7 turnovers per game.
The Last 9 Games Show The True Picture Of Miami Heat's Potential
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The offensive and defensive stats we've just reviewed reflect the Miami Heat’s good position among NBA teams but it does not paint a true picture of the tremendous potential being exhibited by this team.
This is simply because those stats include all those 1-of-13 shooting Wade games, Bosh’s putrid rebounding efforts and James wondering aimlessly without an identity.
The Heat’s winning streak has allowed them to show their tremendous potential on both ends of the court by putting up monster numbers.
The struggles displayed a sorry show of disconnection, which, given the Heat’s newly found synergy, is unlikely to repeat itself for any meaningfully long periods of time.
These Miami Heat will not lose more than 10 more games for the rest of the year.
Miami’s New Motto: Revenge Is the Name of the Game
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The critics will say that the Heat beat only two very good teams during this winning streak, and they would be right. These two teams include the Utah Jazz and the struggling New Orleans Hornets.
But an unbiased person can easily see the offensive and defensive dominance in all these games. Utah is indeed playing very well, and the Hornets brought their “A” game, which managed to hold the Heat for all of three quarters.
Indeed, Miami's reprisal is underway.
And the results
Revenge against the Hornets for a 93-96 loss last month.
Revenge against the Jazz for a 114-116 loss last month.
Revenge against the Dallas Mavericks next Monday for a 95-106 loss last month?
Who Can Stop the Miami Heat’s Two Superstars?
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When Dwyane Wade is on his game there is no one in the NBA that can stop him, except for one player, and he is Wade’s teammate.
When LeBron James is on his game, only the second-coming of Michael Jordan can stop him, and we all know that’s not happening (Michael himself or an imposter).
In actuality, the Boston Celtics and the L.A. Lakers remain the Heat’s truest test. If they can conquer these two teams, they can conquer anybody and they will win the NBA championship this year.
The Miami Heat have gone from a team to be feared to a laughing stock and then back again to a team to be feared. Only this time, they have earned that ferocious reputation.
Their game has become more intuitive and they are surrounded by an impenetrable defense. Both LeBron and Wade are showing that they are capable at curling off screens and hitting that catch-and-shoot mid-range shot as well as driving into the paint—at will and just like the old days—but only now together on the Miami Heat.
Before you argue with me, remember, I am batting .917 (11 out of 12) in predicting Miami’s last 12 games and with eight games to go in Miami Heat: Forecasting Games To Christmas Showdown Vs. L.A. Lakers.
The Miami Heat Own Two of the Top 10 NBA Superstars
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Top 15 NBA Superstars From This Season
1. LeBron James
2. Pau Gasol
3. Chris Paul
4. Kevin Durant
5. Derron Williams
6. Dirk Nowitzki
7. Derrick Rose
8. Russell Westbrook
9. Dwyane Wade
10. Rajon Rondo
11. Dwight Howard
12. Monta Ellis
13. Lamar Odom
14. Kobe Bryant
15. Steve Nash
Head To Head vs. Dallas Mavericks: Miami Heat Win
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The Dallas vs. Miami matchup is an intriguing one considering it pits two of the hottest teams in the NBA against each other.
But who will win?
Tyson Chandler is having a career year and is one of the league’s most dominant centers. He will definitely challenge Miami’s big men and in the process help Dirk Nowitzki neutralize Chris Bosh. This means that Dirk will be able to play his game.
Jason Kidd is still an elite point guard and will have his way with Miami’s point guards.
In addition, Dallas has one of the best benches in the league, boasting the likes of Jason Terry and Shawn Marion, two guys who could start on most teams.
But it will be superstars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade that will be the difference for Miami. They are motivated with a renewed confidence and want revenge against this Dallas team.
It will be them who will help keep Kidd in check. It will be them who answer Dirk’s offensive game with two better offensive games of their own.
The Miami Heat will win by 10.
Starting Lineups
C | Tyson Chandler | Vs. | Chandler wins | |
PF | Dirk Nowitzki | Vs. | Chris Bosh | Dirk wins |
SF | Caron Butler | Vs. | LeBron James | James wins |
SG | DeShawn Stevenson | Vs. | Dwyane Wade | Wade wins |
PG | Jason Kidd | Vs. | Carlos Arroyo | Kidd Wins |
Reserve Lineups
C | Brendon Haywood | Vs. | Eric Dampier | Dampier wins |
PF | Vs. | Juwan Howard | Mahinmi wins | |
SF | Shawn Marion | Vs. | James Jones | Marion wins |
SG | Jason Terry | Vs. | Eddie House | Terry wins |
PG | Vs. | Mario Chalmers | Chalmers wins |
