NBA Finals 2011: How the Dallas Mavericks Can Come Back and Beat the Miami Heat
After three games in the 2011 NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks find themselves down two games to one. Although the games have been close, the Miami Heat have controlled the series.
The Heat dominated the one game the Mavericks won. It took a 20-2 run by the Mavericks to come back and win Game 2.
Miami should be ahead three games to none, with the series effectively over. But when Dwyane Wade posed in front of the Dallas bench after making a three-pointer with seven minutes to go in Game Two, it sparked a huge comeback for Dallas.
Wade is not always going to give the Mavericks that kind of motivation. So here are five things that need to change for the Mavericks if they are going to win three games out of the next four.
5: Rick Carlisle Needs to Make Adjustments
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Phil Jackson did not win 11 NBA championships only because he had Kobe and Jordan playing for him. His success was partly due to his ability to make adjustments throughout a series that helped his team win.
Erik Spoelstra, the coach of the Miami Heat, is doing this perfectly, making the correct adjustments against the Mavericks to make Dirk Nowitzki beat them by himself.
Late in Game 3, Dirk turned the ball over when he was trying to pass the ball to Shawn Marion. Why? Because the Heat had made the adjustments at the end of the game to double-team Dirk, forcing the ball out of his hands.
In the past, the Heat simply let Udonis Haslem guard Dirk one-on-one, and suddenly changing this confused the Mavericks enough to make them turn the ball over. When the Heat force Dirk to get rid of the ball, only positive things happen for them.
4: Create Matchup Problems for the Heat
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In the NBA Finals, Dirk Nowitzki is shooting 39 percent from the field when being guarded by Udonis Haslem. When Dirk is being guarded by anyone else on the Heat, he is shooting 50 percent.
Dallas needs to start running picks for Dirk to force the Heat to switch defenders on him. Simply requiring the Heat to put a different defender on Dirk would help tremendously.
If this works, then the Heat will have to start double-teaming Dirk, which will open up other players for Dirk to pass the ball to.
Right now, LeBron James is crushing Jason Terry, not allowing him to do anything. But if the Mavs can somehow get LeBron to leave Terry to help guard Dirk, then maybe Terry can go back to making threes like he did against Oklahoma City.
3: Help Dirk Nowitzki out
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Right now, Dirk is having to do it alone.
In the previous slide, we talked about how the Dallas Mavericks need to start running picks for Dirk to create matchup issues for the Heat.
If the rest of Dirk’s supporting cast would play better, the Mavericks would not have to worry about Dirk shooting below his average against Udonis Haslem.
But because LeBron, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh are tormenting Terry, J.J. Barea, and Tyson Chandler the way Michael Jordan tormented the opponents he was guarding, Dirk Nowitzki is left alone to win this thing.
Part of the reason LeBron went to the Heat is because you need help in order to win a NBA Championship. Dirk needs that help.
Having just one star player on your team only gives you a 7.1% chance of winning a championship, according to the book Scorecasting. Having two stars gives you a 25% chance.
The Heat have two stars; the Mavericks have one.
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2: Frustrate LeBron
4 of 5The three previous slides focused on offense. These last two will illustrate what the Mavericks need to do on the defensive end.
Dallas is doing a good job at stopping LeBron James, from scoring but that is not all he does.
LeBron is a facilitator. Everyone is talking about the game-winning shot Chris Bosh made at the end of Game 3, but nobody is talking about the incredible pass LeBron made to get him that shot.
The whole play was great, with Udonis Haslem making a tremendous screen to keep Dirk from rotating over to guard Bosh.
LeBron’s back was to Bosh, and though he was not able to look at Bosh directly, LeBron knew he was open only because he himself was getting double-teamed. Then he made the underhanded backwards-laser pass, perfectly placed in the Bosh's sweet spot, allowing him to comfortably shoot and score the game-winning basket.
It was incredible. But no one mentioned it, and no one is going to mention that there is no way Michael Jordan would ever make that pass.
1: Stop Dwyane Wade
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I put this at number one because, frankly, I do not know exactly how to go about doing this.
The Mavericks can double-team Dwyane Wade all they want to, but during that game winning play, it was Wade who started out being double-teamed first.
The Dallas defense was so worried about LeBron and Wade that Dirk Nowitzki was left to defend Udonis Haslem and Chris Bosh all by himself.
The Dallas Mavericks have no one that can guard Wade. Shawn Marion can keep up with LeBron to at least make him work for his shot, but when it comes to guarding Dwyane Wade, Rick Carlisle might as well put Mark Cuban on him.
Double-teaming him won’t help ether, because then you will leave open LeBron James, Chris Bosh, or even Mario Chalmers, who has hit several big threes for the Heat.
This is why I don’t understand critics of LeBron James getting on him for joining two other great players in Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The Heat just has to stop Dirk while the Mavericks have to stop an entire team.
The Mavericks could still win in the next two games to prolong this series, but winning three out of the next four looks to be too overwhelming for this particular team.
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