Through seven quarters in this series, I was thinking a Heat championship was definite and all I could do was hope for Fake Rapture #2 to come along before Miami was handed the trophy. But then, just as I had thought about turning off the TV during Game 2.... Dirk came through!
And now we're here, in Dallas for Game 3, with one team about to take control of this series. Here goes the running diary:
9:32 p.m. I'm joined by a grilled chicken sandwich, a can of Pepsi and a half-eaten bag of barbecue Lay's potato chips. 47-42 Miami halftime lead.
9:34 p.m. Joel Anthony starts the second half with a block of Nowitzki, and then on the other end, outruns five Mavericks for an easy layup. And yes, I'm just as surprised as you are that the preceding sentence actually happened.
9:36 p.m. Following a Shawn Marion one-handed floater from the baseline (an awkward shot, even by his standards), Bosh converts a layup to put Miami up 53-42 and Dallas calls timeout. You're at home, you closed the half on an 11-2 run, the series is tied at one, and the Mavs come out flat. Makes perfect sense.
9:38 p.m. Wade has shown amazing energy in this game- hustling for loose balls/crashing the offensive boards/playing on the attack, and his steal leads to the 373rd Miami dunk of this Finals. 8-0 Heat run to open the second half. 55-42.
9:42 p.m. Question you definitely won't hear at work tomorrow: "So, what did you guys think of the WNBA opening weekend?"
9:45 p.m. Great defensive possession by Dallas (LeBron stripped in the lane, Bosh airball) leads to a Kidd 3-pointer to cut the Miami lead to seven at 55-48. I watched Kidd during his prime in New Jersey, and if you told me he would have improved his jump shooting this much throughout his career, I would have never believed you.
9:46 p.m. So how does Jason Segel understand that Jordan is better than LeBron, but Scottie Pippen doesn't? (Shaking my head).
9:50 p.m. Dirk for three makes it 55-51, but Wade answers right back with a layup. 57-51 Heat with six minutes left in the third. If I'm a Miami fan, I'm still confused as to why it was LeBron launching threes and controlling the ball at the end of Game 2 rather than Wade. It's obvious Dallas has no answer for Wade. At all. (Wait, why am I saying this? I want Dallas to win. Um..... More LeBron threes in the clutch!)
9:53 p.m. Chandler with two blocks on Anthony. Can't emphasize enough how much I love Chandler with Dallas. Tough, high-impact player; nice trade by the Mavs. Nowitzki then hits a patented Nowitzki jumper, LeBron comes up short, and Marion on the fast break ties it at 57 apiece. Dallas on a 15-4 run.
9:57 p.m. Somehow, Peja Stojakovic gets rotated onto Wade at the top of the key. Jeff Van Gundy approrpiately lets out an, "Oh my." In an upset not seen since the United States took down the Soviets in the Olympics, Stojakovic forces Wade to kick it out to Haslem (who misses).
9:59 p.m. Two straight consecutive threes by the Heat (Lebron and Chalmers) put Miami in front 64-59 with less than two minutes remaining in the third. "A dagger three," says Mark Jackson. Yes, that's exactly what it was, a dagger three with 14 minutes left to be played in the game.
10:02 p.m. Ian Mahinmi fouls Juwan Howard as I wonder to myself why I just wrote those two names in a running diary about the NBA Finals. Howard makes one of two, 65-62 Miami.
10:04 p.m. Barea beautifully splits the Miami double team and kicks it to Marion in the corner for what would be a game-tying three. Off the mark. 67-64 Miami as we head to the fourth, and I'm feeling another "This is why I love sports" finish. A buddy of mine texted me asking who Mahinmi was, leading me to jokingly respond, "Wait a second, you call yourself an NBA fan and you haven't heard of Ian Mahinmi? He's one of the most relevant players in the NBA!"
10:09 p.m. Long delay with a drink spilled on the floor. One quick thing from Game 2. It was pretty obvious LeBron wanted his "Finals Moment." Leading by two with 1:30 left, he took two 26-foot 3-pointers, dominated the ball down the stretch and decided he'd rather launch from beyond the arc for that signature dagger instead of taking the ball to the hole/giving it to Wade, who had been slicing through the Dallas defense all night. Also, did Wade's 3-pointer in front of the Dallas bench from Game 2 shift the enitre landscape of this series?
10:11 p.m. The delay also allows us to consider which is better: the introduction to the NBA Finals, or the Stanley Cup commercial.
10:13 p.m. Barea with five points to open the quarter, and Nowitzki drills a three to help Dallas keep pace with Miami early in the fourth. Miami is called for a loose ball foul as we head to commercial with 8:48 remaining, 74-72 Heat.
10:16 p.m. LeBron James called for a travel, which means I'm fully expecting a UFO sighting in the next 30 minutes. (I'm only half-kidding).
10:21 p.m. A Chalmers three-pointer follows a Haslem jumper to make it 79-72 Miami. I like Chalmers; he hits big shots and isn't afraid to take them on a team with James, Wade and Bosh.
10:26 p.m. With 6:30 remaining, Chandler comes in with a big-time follow dunk to make it 79-74. If ever there was a time for the Mavs to make a run, it's now.
10:28 p.m. Wade and Nowitzki trade baskets, and then LeBron gets called for a double dribble after being called for traveling earlier in the quarter. I'm now convinced the world will end tomorrow.
10:32 p.m. Nowitzki layup and two free throws (26 points, eight rebounds) pulls Dallas to within three at 81-78 with under five minutes remaining. If Dallas is going to win this game, they're going to need someone other than Dirk to step up. I'm looking at you, Jason Terry. Either him or Marion, those are the only options the Mavs have.
10:35 p.m. Wade pulls up and drills a three to extend the Heat lead to six. Except for five minutes in the fourth quarter of Game 2, this has been Dwyane Wade's series.
10:39 p.m. Anytime you're up six on the road in the NBA Finals, I fully support commiitting two loose ball fouls and sending the other team's best free throw shooter to the line twice. Stupid fouls that shouldn't be committed, especially at a time when Dallas has been missing shots left and right. 84-82 Miami with 3:03 to go after four Dirk free throws.
10:41 p.m. A beautiful backdoor by Nowitzki ties it up. Wade comes back with a jumper to put the Heat up two, and then Nowitzki answers with a wing shot of his own. Tied at 86, under two minutes to play.
10:42 p.m. This is great.
10:43 p.m. Dallas doubles Wade, then doubles LeBron, who kicks to an open Bosh who drills the corner jumper for an 88-86 Miami lead. If you're Dirk, you somehow have to fight around that Haslem screen and contest that shot. How can Bosh get that good of a look, with under a minute remaining, in a tie game in the Finals?
10:45 p.m. Dirk gets caught in the air and turns it over. Worst possible possession. Miami has a chance to ice the game and settles for a long two-point jumper from LeBron. He misses. Mavs call timeout, 88-86 with four seconds left.
10: 47 p.m. This is why I love the Finals. Everyone knows this ball is going to Dirk. Everyone. If he wants his first ring, he needs to hit this shot or try to do something that hasn't been done in 26 years. Haslem's assigned to him and we've seen this shot thousands of times; a shot Dirk has become famous for and a shot only he can hit. It's his shot. Nine out of 10 times it goes down. And it's...... too strong. Off the back of the rim as Miami wins 88-86 to take a 2-1 series lead.
A few things from this game:
1) If you're a Mavs fan, you have to be feeling like you've just been repeatedly punched in the gut. If it wasn't for the fourth quarter in Game 2, Dallas would be down 3-0 and we'd be days away from the only basketball coming from the WNBA. This game was there for the Mavs; they outrebounded Miami, and attempted 12 more free throws than the Heat (no chance of this happening in Miami). It was there and they didn't get it done.
2) Someone on the Mavs has to step up. Stojakovic's stroke has gone missing since the Lakers series (rendering him useless), and the Miami defenders are in Terry's head with him complaining after every jumper.
3) With that said, you can't say enough about Miami in this game, and in this series. Wade has put together a masterpiece through three games in this series, and the Mavs have no one to stop him. And they know it. It's eerie how much his control on this series has been similar to Games 3-6 of the '06 Finals.
4) That Dirk shot to end the game tonight reminded me of Ewing's miss in Game 7 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Ewing was the Knicks, and Dirk is the Mavs. The Knicks had a three-year window for the title: '93 (loss to Chicago in ECF), '94 (loss to Houston in Finals) and '95. When Ewing missed the game-tying shot against Indiana in Game 7 in '95, everyone knew the window of opportunity slammed shut for that team. It's only Game 3, but with that Dirk miss, I get the same feeling with this Mavs squad.
10:58 p.m. Again, I'm reminded by the broadcast that no team has won the title after losing Game 3 with the series tied 1-1. I hope I'm wrong, but it's looking like LeBron, Wade and Bosh will get their first ring together. I'm off to go find a bridge to jump from.
