It’s come down to this. In a couple of hours, Lebron James and the Heat will face off against Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks for the grand prize.
Now with this Finals matchup shaping up to be one of the most memorable in recent memory, we couldn’t just have one member of HoopSmack tackle the preview. Join Tay P, Tae, and Knowledge as they break down the 2010-2011 NBA Finals…
EDIT: Big China and CWill add their two cents…
Do you remember the Roy Jones Jr single “Y’all Must’ve Forgot”?….No?…Well good for you because that song was trash (belongs in the Hall of Shame with the K.O.B.E. debacle) but the song has a message that should be heeded when comparing Lebron James to Michael Jordan…
“All that celebration stuff,” Nowitzki said, in the locker room following the Dallas Mavericks’ Game 5 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, “this is not what we play for, bro.” He wanted it. He had to have another shot at it. He stepped into the 3 pointer at the top of the key like Robert Horry in Game 4 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals, and with that 3 pointer, Dallas pulled ahead 95-94 with 1:14 left in the game (a lead the Mavericks would never relinquish). Dirk Nowitzki had the play that defined this series, these playoffs, and his mission. Taking care of business. It was a dagger, straightforward and contested hopelessly by Nick Collison. The play played out like something out of a movie. Coming off a screen with Collison aimlessly trailing, Dirk lifted up a wide open 3 that clanged off the iron. Russell Westbrook‘s rebound drifted under him and spilled out into the hands of Jason Terry, who flipped the ball to Shawn Marion, who then found Dirk stepping into a shot that sucked the life out of Oklahoma City. But the game didn’t start out that way.
The Mavericks have officially punched their ticket to the NBA Finals and now we have to wait and see if the Heat will join them for a “rematch” to their 2006 showdown. We also talk about the hiring of Mike Brown as the Lakers head coach.
Join the HoopSmack gang and special guest and fan favorite Prophet in a thrilling episode of the HoopSmack Podcast!
Music Featured:
Elzhi – It Ain’t Hard to Tell
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Kobe Bryant now has his 6th head coach in his long NBA career. Welcome to the Los Angeles Lakers, Mike Brown.
Former coach of the Lebron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers, Brown and the Lakers have agreed in principle to a four-year, $18.25 million dollar deal, according to league sources. Brown will be the 22nd coach in Lakers history and Kobe’s 6th. The deal is a three year deal with a team option for a fourth year. Brown is guaranteed $2.5 million if the Lakers decide not to pick up the option.
Despite Lakers assistant Brian Shaw appearing to be the heir apparent after Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson retired, Brown catapulted his way up the rankings with a strong face-to-face interview Saturday with Lakers executive Jim Buss. Brown himself has been to the NBA Finals and the Eastern Conference Finals twice during his 5-year tenure with Cleveland. He was the all time winningest coach in Cavalier history with a record of 272-138. Much like his mentor Spurs head coach Gregg Poppovich, Brown’s teams were known for their defense but his offensive schemes left much to be desired. This simple fact alone makes this hiring an interesting one.
Its great that the Lakers are placing an emphasis on defense. Kudos to them (yes I just said Kudos). I question bringing in a coach when his offensive system overly depended on 1 player (Lebron) with little to no involvement from his teammates (the Cavs). Doesn’t that seem like a disaster for the Lakers? Do you really want an 80-yr old Kobe leading the offense for 82+ games? Can you imagine the end game scenario for the Lakers? Kobe dribbles the ball for 17 seconds at the top of the key in a ISO set…the other 4 Lakers players stand and watch…Kobe tries to drive to the basket but his legs betray him…he “elevates” for a 22-footer that misses everything…its a scary sight but we saw this happen with some frequency in the Lebron era in Cleveland. We’ll have to wait and see what Brown does but hopefully he will implement an offense that is more San Antonio and less Cleveland.
In case you were wondering, Kobe has no comment on the hiring and is “surprised” by the decision to bring Brown in…not exactly a ringing endorsement is it?…
Bulls 93 @ Heat 101 (OT)
“It’s not over.”
Technically you are right Derrick Rose. Its not over. After that soul crushing overtime loss though? I imagine 99.99999% of the country is coming to terms with the fact that this Miami Heat team is headed to the NBA Finals. The Chicago Bulls seem to be a shooting guard (a legitimate one, sorry Keith Bogans) away from being a championship contender…but everyone knew that except for the Executive of the Year Gar Forman who opted not to make a move at the trade deadline to get Rose some help on the perimeter. Let’s roll with Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Jannero Pargo, and…Bogans. And Rich Cho got fired by the Vulcan Group for bringing in Gerald Wallace???? Moving on…
As weird as it is to say this, Rose was the reason this Bulls team didn’t win this game. Loul Deng and Carlos Boozer did their job tonight. When Rose was double teamed, Deng and Boozer converted those situations into buckets. Both players finished with 20 points on 50% shooting from the field with Deng hitting a couple of 3 pointers in the 2nd quarter. Boozer grabbed 11 boards which is what you want him to do. Rose on the other hand looked like that rookie out of Memphis who couldn’t hit a jumper to save his life. Going 8 of 27 (which includes a horrendous 1 of 9 showing from three) is not the way to deliver your team to the Promise Land. Even more important than the poor shooting were the turnovers. Seven turnovers will sabotage any winning effort. Rose’s performance reminds me of something…
Derrick Rose (Game 4 – 2011 Eastern Conf. finals): 23 points, 30% shooting, 7 turnovers, 6 assists
Lebron James (Game 4 – 2010 Eastern Conf. semis): 22 points, 38% shooting, 7 turnovers, 8 assists
Stars deliver when its crunch time. Thats what drives the league. Lebron failed to deliver last year when his team needed him too. I believe he “quit” was the popular opinion. I’m not saying that Rose quit (i don’t think Lebron quit either but thats another argument for another time) but it sure looked like history repeated itself with Rose failing to deliver when his team needed him too. Good thing for him he’s young and the basketball blogosphere hasn’t turn on him yet (Russell Westbrook…you do not have that same luxury).
During the regular season, Rose was definition of a closer. He hit the floaters, the mid range shots, drew double teams and kicked out to a waiting Kyle Korver. It was a thing of beauty. In the playoffs though…the Bulls have stunk up the joint. For three straight fourth quarters (and an overtime period), the Bulls have failed to close out the game and that falls squarely on Rose. His youth is catching up to him in these clutch moments. He seems rushed. He’s not taking his time. If you look at a Dirk Nowitzki or Lebron James you can tell they are comfortable in these situations. They get to their comfort zones and execute as stars should. The inexperience is coming at the worst time for the Bulls and now they are looking at an early vacation along with Kevin Durant and his young Thunder squad.
Now I can’t just put the Bulls’ struggles squarely on their own shoulders. The Miami Heat are playing some fantastic defense and making the tough shots. It starts with Lebron who can guard anyone on the floor. James put the clamps on MVP Rose in the final 12 minutes of the game and made it look…easy. Even when Rose did get by Lebron, he was greeted by a wall of Heat defenders. Dwyane Wade played some of the best defense in the overtime period despite have a terrible game by his standards. Chris Bosh continues to impress building on his playoff success by hitting timely jump shots and getting to the foul line with some regularity. Udonis Haslem may be the MVP of this team they way he singlehandedly negated all of Chicago’s depth in the front line. Mike Miller decided to finally show up having a “impactful” game off the bench. I believe this was the vision that the “other” Executive of the Year Pat Riley had for this team.
I mentioned in my preview of this series that the bench of the Chicago Bulls would not have the impact that they had in the regular season. Judging by these last 3 games, I would say that that observation was a good one. Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau has lost faith in his bench. Thats the only way I can explain it. One of the most important factors in Chicago’s success this year as been their depth (especially in the front line). Their ability to pound away at their opposition was a key strength of this team. Look at the Atlanta series. The Bulls beat those guys into submission. Now for whatever reason, Thibodeau has abandoned his rotation these past games and the Bulls don’t look like that number one seed.
Game 1 – Win
80 bench minutesGame 2 – Loss
78 bench minutesGame 3 – Loss
72 bench minutesGame 4 – Loss
56 bench minutes*
* – this is with an overtime period
With each passing game the bench’s influence on the game becomes less and less. We also see that the starters become less effective and that was definitely true of Joakim Noah who was visibly gassed for most of the second half of Game 4. You have to roll with what got you here Coach. You can abandon the game plan due to fear or desperation *cough* Mike Brown *cough*.
With Game 5 in Chicago, I imagine the home crowd will energize this Bulls team and they will play with some fire and intensity reminiscent of Game 1. The only question left though is do the Bulls have enough to overcome the Heat? We’ll have to wait until Thursday to see. In the mean time, appreciate this lovely Game 4 dunk footage by the MVP…
Bulls 85 @ Heat 96
As much as folks bag on the man, Chris Bosh turned in his best playoff performance Sunday night.
Bosh was definitely more composed than usual for most of the night. Instead of letting one of the “Jurassic Park” type screams out he kept his cool and continued to handle business like his teammates expect him to. As each shot kept going in and the lead grew, you could tell he was bottling up that intensity and at some point it was going to come out. That moment came after a spin move off of Carlos Boozer and a thunderous two handed slam late in the fourth. With the neck stretched, the mouth elongated, and the jaw unhinged, it was time for the scream to come out. The Bostrich was in primal rage mode. Much like Game 1, Bosh put up big numbers (34 points) due to being neglected with the extra attention paid to Lebron James and Dwyane Wade. Unable to recover from the double teams of the Big 2, Bosh had the space and time to roam and score with lethal efficiency (hitting 13 of his last 15 attempts).
Even with Bosh’s huge performance, Lebron and Wade were no slouches either with Bron finishing with 22 points and 10 assists and Wade adding 17 points and nine rebounds. While the Bulls kept the duo to 12 of 30 from the field, Bron came up big during a 9-0 run in the closing moments to turn a 78-74 game into an 87-74 game. It killed the will of the Bulls and they never recovered. For someone who was labeled as a choker come closing time, Lebron has been playing some fantastic basketball in the “clutch” moments of these playoffs.
Omer Asik, Keith Bogans, Carlos Boozer, Ronnie Brewer, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson, Kyle Korver, Joakim Noah, Rasual Butler, Kurt Thomas, and C.J. Watson. The Bulls will need someone out of this group to step up and provide some consistent offense if the Bulls want to win a championship. If Lebron James couldn’t do it by himself, if Kobe Bryant couldn’t do it by himself, if Allen Iverson couldn’t do it by himself, and if Michael Jordan couldn’t do it by himself…chances are Derrick Rose can’t do it by himself.
As Chicago native Michael Wilbon pointed out, there was a lot of “angst” around the trade deadline because everyone knew that the Bulls needed some offense. The team decided against making a move to acquire a big time scorer and rolled into the playoffs with only one proven offensive threat. In their series against the Pacers (and the Hawks) the Bulls struggled to find their offense but they were able to shut down their opponents with their suffocating defense. Now that they are playing against the Miami Heat (who are equally capable on the defensive end), their offensive problems are under the microscope for everyone to see. Even Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen commented on the subject, “We’ll be able to beat good defenses, but against a team with great defense and scorers like Miami, we just won’t have enough firepower.” Unfortunately for the Bulls faithful thats exactly what is on display in Games 2 and 3 of this series.
After watching 96 minutes of the Bulls and Heat go at it, there is an undeniable truth going on…the Heat will in no way be punished for double teaming D-Rose. On paper Deng should be the one able to attack the defense and get his shot off but thats just not happening. Whats so frustrating about that is Deng had a stretch were he was that player but unfortunately he couldn’t sustain the effort. Boozer had maybe the stealthiest 26 points I’ve ever seen in a basketball game. None of his points mattered much in the big picture. You know those points that either end or start runs…well Boozer didn’t have either of those. Rose had his typical issues (struggled shooting, trouble finishing at the rim) having what some would call a “Westbrook” type of night. Whats concerning is that the MVP looked lost after getting double teamed and having his initial drives denied by the Miami defense. With Rose being the one (and only) option on offense, you can’t afford to have him confused for most of the game.
As I mentioned earlier the Bulls are making it easy for the Heat defense. The Heat know they can double Rose and get the ball out of his hands. Lebron and Bosh are more than happy to leave their assignments to contain Rose. The Bulls are in no condition to make them pay for such aggressiveness.
The Heat remain undefeated at home in the playoffs and with Game 4 in Miami on Tuesday, things don’t look great for the number one seed Bulls. They are in a must win situation (cliche) and if they can’t figure out how to generate some offense against this Miami defense, it will be an early vacation for the MVP and Coach of the Year.
Oklahoma City 112 @ Dallas 121
For only the third time in NBA playoff history, two players on opposing teams scored 40+ points in game 1 of a series. Dirk Nowitzki‘s 48 (on 12-15 shooting) points anchored the Mavericks to a high-powered 121-112 win over Kevin Durant (with his 40 points) and the Oklahoma City Thunder. A baseline drive past Serge Ibaka for a dunk, his patented turnaround one-legged fallaway over Thabo Sefolosha that kissed the glass ala Tim Duncan. Nick Collison got a few pump fakes and lean back jumpers for good measure. Kevin Durant got a few turns trying to play Hancock to the Nowitzki Express, before he got trampled on. Even James Harden and Russell Westbrook switched over for a possession or two. Not one man could contain the beast that is Dirk.
With a NBA playoff record (even besting the regular season mark held by NBA great Dominique Wilkins) 24-24 performance from the free throw line without a miss, by drawing 16 fouls (including each member of the Thunder starting 5), Dirk systematically annihilated OKC’s defense inside and out. Dirk started the game on fire scoring 21 in the first half which included Nowitzki’s schooling of Ibaka 50 seconds into the first quarter when he drilled a 17-foot jumper over him. The worst thing about that? The first half wasn’t even Dirk’s best performance of the game, he saved that for the second half. Immediately following halftime what does Dirk do? He gets to the foul line. In the third quarter alone Nowitzki made 13 free throws and scored 17 points. Dirk wasn’t just the catalyst through his scoring, the opportunities he created for his teammates is what sealed the deal for Dallas. Jason Kidd‘s only basket came off an assist from a pass out of a double team on Dirk. Jason Terry‘s clutch 3, that stretched the score from 110-116 to 110-119 with 28 seconds left in the game, sealed the win for the Mavericks. Speaking of bench players, Dallas’s bench continues to set the standard for what it means to have depth.
Dallas’s bench outscored the Thunder bench 53-22, led by the backcourt duo of Jason Terry and J.J. Barea. With 24 and 21 points, respectively, Terry’s proclamation that he wanted to outscore OKC’s entire bench seems to be playing itself out. JET’s efficiency (8 of 16 shooting) and consistent, game-altering 3 pointers (4-8 from 3 point land including the Dirk assisted shot in the fourth quarter) gave Dallas the point cushion it needed to overcome Durant’s low profile-but-dominate game, and kept Dallas in a comfortable league throughout the second half.
Yet, it may have been Barea’s 22 points in 16 minutes that gives the Thunder the most chills. The ridiculously effective Dirk-Barea pick-and-roll continually gave Barea beelines to the basket. It became such a fear by Thunder players that seldomly-used reserve Nate Robinson got caught peeking, anticipating a pick, and proceed to be turned inside-out on a sharp left-right crossover by J.J. (here at the 1:35 mark). Barea scored 12 straight points within a 3 minute and 35 second period, in the fourth quarter, to maintain Dallas’ double-digit lead. OKC certainly provided a helping hand in Dallas securing the Game 1 win.
Oklahoma City actually held separate seven point leads early in the second quarter, then, of course, proceeded to have separate scoring droughts of 3 and 4 minutes apiece in the same period. The Thunder missed 10 shots during that entire time period and were outscored by 14 by the time halftime came. By the time Dirk heated up and landed at the foul line an astonishing 13 times during the third quarter, OKC would trail by 15 (83-68). Oklahoma City would eventually climb back twice, in the fourth quarter to within five points (with just under four minutes left), and within six points (with just under a minute left), but that second quarter dug them a whole they just couldn’t crawl out of.
Kevin Durant was masterful in his performance offensively (40 points on 10 of 18 shooting from the field, 2-5 from 3, and 18 of 19 from free throw), but was included in the victims left in Dirk’s wake defensively (he picked up two fouls against Nowitzki within 5 seconds of each other during the third quarter alone). The problem is he never got any sustainable help from the rest of the Thunder. Russell Westbrook missed 6 shots within 8 feet during that debacle of a second quarter that put OKC behind by 15. Westbrook’s shot selection wasn’t necessarily questionable (even though he had taken more shots than Durant at one point late in the third quarter), but it was significantly off the mark (he missed 10 of his first 11 shots, ending up with 3 of 15 shooting from the field). He did score 20 points off of 14 of 18 shooting from free throw.
On the plus side you can say that barring that horrible second quarter, OKC outscored Dallas 91-86. They got to the free throw line 43 times to the Mavericks’ 36, and they still shot 47% from the field, so it’s not as if Dallas’ defense stifled OKC. Dirk may be great, but he more than likely won’t go to the line 24 times (and make all of them), and Westbrook is sure to have a bounce-back effort in Game 2 (11 of his 15 shot were in the paint). The Thunder looked like an experience, determined bunch during their heroic fourth quarter run to bring the score within 5 and again within 6. Zach Randolph demolished OKC inside in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals and they adjusted to corral him for the rest of the series. Problem is, the Nowitzki is a different animal altogether. As exciting as this game was, Dallas and Oklahoma City shouldn’t be too hung up on their performances, the rest of this series probably won’t look the same.
Dallas leads 1-0
Heat 82 @ Bulls 103
Well, if you listen to J.A. Adande, Derrick Rose is officially the best player in the league and not just MVP. If you log into Twitter you might believe that Dwyane Wade is washed up and the Hawks are better than the Heat. Based on last night’s game…I don’t know what to believe.
Rose’s outside shot
So it decided to show up? After two playoff rounds of horrendous shooting, Rose came out and scorched the earth?…not really. He still shot 10-of-22 from the field but it wasn’t the soul crushing numbers he was putting up in the first two rounds. Rose seems to have found his shooting touch and with Miami doing their best to deny him passage to the basket (only 1 of his 10 made shots was at the basket), he will need to continue to hit that outside shot.
The Art of the Box Out…or lack thereof
Considering that the Heat were trampling over everything in their path, they sure did get hit in the mouth pretty good. As Brian Windhorst put it, “They didn’t get just beaten by the Bulls, there were demoralized by them.” Nothing more demoralizing than having your initial defense put the clamps on your opponents only to have your opponents grab the offensive board and negate what you just did…especially when that happens about 19 times leading to 31 second chance points. Where have I seen that offensive board massacre happen before?…(see Game 7 of 2010 NBA Finals). Anytime you can create 15+ more opportunities at scoring a bucket, you are probably going to win the ball game.
The Great Disappearing Act of Lebron James and Dwyane Wade
This should be pretty self explanatory but the two headed monster went back to its cave dwelling for the night. The duo combined for 12-for-32 shooting and both had 4 turnovers. Instead of placing their imprint on the game, the game placed its imprint on them. Instead of attacking and working together like they did against Boston, they isolated themselves and rarely displayed any actions that could be described as aggressive. If you look at Wade’s shot chart for the 4th quarter it would be blank (Seriously go check it out. Its scary.). It’s unacceptable that one of the top 5 players in the ENTIRE league has zero shots in the fourth quarter of a conference finals game. Lebron wasn’t much better either only shooting 3 times in the final period. Luol Deng was able to take Lebron completely out of his game and when you are billed as the greatest player on the planet…you can’t let that happen. No offense to Luol Deng by the way.
Did Chris Bosh really score 30 points?
With the Big 2 subdued by the league’s number one defense and their own fears and doubts, Bosh tried to don the Superman cape and lead the Heat to a Game 1 victory. Unfortunately for him without a bench and Wade/Lebron turning in a stinker, it couldn’t stop the freight train that was the Bulls. It’s definitely a good sign that Bosh can turn it on against Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer. Hopefully the Avatar will continue to put up numbers and if his teammates can get it together, the Heat will be as scary as I thought they would be.
This is just Game 1
With this just being Game 1 i’m not too concerned with the blowout nature of this game. For 60% of this game, the Heat were actually keeping pace with the Bulls put a late run but the Bulls up and the Heat for the most part just gave up. The second chance points and timely threes from Rose and Keith Bogans caught up with the Heat and they just didn’t have anything left. Hopefully this loss will be a “wake-up call” and we will get some competitive games out of this series. I’m sure the Chicago faithful would love to keep things as they are though.
While we all wait for Game 2 on Wednesday night. Enjoy this Taj Gibson moment in the spotlight…
Grizzlies 90 @ Thunder 105
“That wasn’t me at all in Game 6. I was so upset with myself that I let my guys down by not playing my game. [It didn't] matter if I was shooting bad in Game 6, as long as I was aggressive, but I wasn’t aggressive at all. Coming into this game I told myself to stay aggressive.”
A truly great player learns from his past and turns that pain and anger into fuel to succeed in the future. Oklahoma City superstar Kevin Durant proved just that with his majestic performance in a close out situation. Durant seemed far more active off the ball and with the Thunder taking advantage of side picks (who knew Brooks could coach), Durant was able to torch the Grizzlies with 39 points. He led his team with sheer will and determination. There was no way he was going to let his team lose this one. Russell Westbrook had a game that was…not Russell Westbrook. At least not the crazy shot taking, teammate alienating Westbrook that the media seemed to blame for all of the Thunder’s problems. He got his teammates involved, made a huge impact on the offensive glass, and didn’t take too many shots for a “true” point guard. I could be mistaken but I believe this is the first triple double performance in this year’s playoffs.
Even Durant’s opponents were in awe of the 22-year old’s performance. “Durant is a special player, one of the best players in the NBA,” said Memphis star Zach Randolph, who Durant himself called the best PF in the league. “The kid is a gym rat, he works hard. He’s one of my favorite players. You’ve got to give him kudos and give him respect. ”You see what he does night in and night out and he’s just relentless.” Although Randolph got his 17 points and ten rebounds but it wasn’t exactly a showcase of effiecieny and his teammates didn’t fare much better. Oklahoma big man Nick Collison played exemplary defense against Z-Bo which explains his game leading plus-26 on the plus/minus scale.
The Thunder are now in the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks who have been resting for about 900 days after dispatching the Lakers in dramatic fashion. We’ll find out on Tuesday if Dallas can keep up their stellar play and if the Thunder are for real.
