NBA Finals 2011: Dallas Mavericks vs. Miami Heat Post-Game 5 Reaction
The Dallas Mavericks keep surprising NBA fans all over the country and the world with their success in the postseason. Game 5 of the NBA finals was just another episode of the surprising run the Dallas Mavericks are on.
The series, up to last night’s game, had been defensive minded with both teams shooting a low percentage and averaging less than 90 points per game. Game 5 was totally different.
Some of the same things that made each team successful in the first four games continued to happen while other things were totally new.
Here are a few things that highlighted Game 5’s victory of the Dallas Mavericks over the Miami Heat.
Dwayne Wade’s Injury
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Dwayne Wade hurt himself on a collision with backup power forward Brian Cardinal in the first quarter of action in Game 5. The collision was a hard one, although the foul call could have gone either way.
After limping off the court and spending a few minutes in the locker room, Wade returned to the game and was able to stay effective.
As the game went on, it was evident Wade had lost a step. He literally became guardable, something the Mavericks have not seen in a while.
Dwayne Wade’s injury severely affected the game, mostly because LeBron James failed to take center stage while he was absent.
Bench Heros
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The Mavericks bench was sensational all night. The Miami bench was solid as well.
For Dallas, it was all about Jason Eugene Terry. When the lights came on and the stage lit up, Terry was ready to take the spotlight.
Just days after he called out LeBron James for his defense and how it would not bother him for seven games, he backed it up by scoring 21 crucial points. His two three-pointers in the fourth quarter were both daggers that ultimately buried the Heat alive.
Although not much more scoring came from Dallas' bench, DeShawn Stevenson and Brian Cardinal provided the hard-nosed defense and hustle the Mavericks needed for long stretches.
For the Heat, Mike Miller and Mario Chalmers combined for 24 points and seven three-pointers while Udonis Haslem scored repeatedly in the fourth quarter to keep Miami alive.
Both benches came through big, but Dallas was able to do it more consistently in crunch time.
Three-Ball
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The Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat had both been struggling mightily from beyond the arc in this series. Game 5 was a total exception to the story.
The Dallas Mavericks connected on 13 out of 19 attempts from three-point land, resembling much of what they were able to do in their total beatdown of the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference semifinals.
The Maimi Heat were also very efficient themselves, connecting on eight out of 20 attempts, seven of those coming from their bench players.
It is not a shocking reality that Dallas is the better three-point shooting team, and it showed that in Game 5. Jason Terry vowed that they will soon find their stroke and hit their open shots, and they did.
Miami will not win this series trying to outplay Dallas from the perimeter, and Game 5 was a clear example of that.
Too Much Dirk Nowitzki
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Dirk Nowitzki was on fire in Game 4, literally. By the time Game 4 started, Dirk was suffering from a 101-degree fever. In Game 5, he was still on fire, but this time shooting the basketball.
Nowitzki hit jumper after jumper for three quarters, and once Miami thought he would continue to try to hit from the perimeter, he took the ball inside and scored just as easily.
Dirk’s dunk with just over two minutes to play in the fourth mounted a furious Mavericks run that stunned the Heat and buried it deep. After that sequence, Dirk followed with free throw after free throw to finish the game. He finished with 29 points on 50 percent field goals and another perfect night at the charity stripe.
Miami has still not found an answer to slow down Nowitzki. The only thing that slowed him down was an unfortunate illness, and it still was not enough to stop the “fourth quarter Dirk”. If this continues, Dirk will soon hold his first NBA championship and Finals MVP trophies.
