Did that just happen?
Down 15 with 7:13 to play after a Dwyane Wade three pointer in front of their bench, the Mavericks came roaring back with a 22-5 closing run to win 95-93 in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. The series shockingly heads back to Dallas tied 1-1.
I am not going to lie. I stopped paying full attention after the Wade three. I was very annoyed with the long pose by Wade in front of the Dallas bench and the fact that none of the Mavericks seemed bothered by it. I was even more annoyed by Shaun Fagan sending me taunting texts while he was probably wearing his LeBron jersey and nothing else. I turned my attention to Long Island Iced Z and left the game on with the sound turned off.
But wait a minute...
Jason Kidd has a wide open look at 3, and now all of a sudden it's 90-84?!?!?!?!
Needless to say but I was paying full attention from that point forward. At least I didn't go to bed and miss the ending like LeBron's "48 Special" in 2007.
Here are some quick thoughts while I keep checking to make sure it really did happen...
- Dirk had pretty much shed the "soft" and "choker" labels with his performance in the Western Conference playoffs but tonight sealed the deal. After Wade's three Dirk had 9 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists on the game-ending run. His 9 points were Dallas' final 9 points of the game and he capped it off with the game-winning layup with his banged up left hand. Dirk now appears to be German for clutch.
- Celtics play by play man Sean Grande put this Dallas comeback in perspective for Celtics fans. In the Celtics 2008 Game 4 comeback against the Lakers Boston had already come all the way back from their 24 point deficit by the beginning of the fourth quarter. Dallas did not begin their run until 6:18 remained in the game.
- Miami's offense was inexcusable down the stretch, but Jason Kidd did a tremendous job hounding Wade and denying him the ball. The Heat settled for a number of bad shots, but Kidd played a big role in that.
- Jason Terry went from goat to a man redeemed to goat again to a man saved. He only had 8 points before the run. He had 8 more in the comeback effort to help offset what had been a forgettable 7+ quarters for him before that. He then inexplicably allowed Mario Chalmers to get wide open for a game-tying 3. Fortunately Dirk saved him with the game-winning layup. Terry gave new meaning to the term up and down performance.
- Finally Dallas heads home tied and Dirk hasn't had a really good shooting night in the series. He is 17-40 (42.5%) for the series. Meanwhile LeBron and Wade have combined to shoot 55.7%. With the next 3 games at Dallas one would have to expect Dirk's numbers to improve and James and Wade's to slide a bit.
If Dallas' bench, who has been strong throughout the playoffs, can get going with Dirk, Miami may end up looking at Game 2 much like the Mavericks look at Game 3 from the 2006 series: a giant missed opportunity that ultimately cost them the title.
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