Big Game in Big D

What a game. What a championship round. It's been a very entertaining see-saw of a series in the NBA finals so far, capped off by a brilliant showing in a pivotal Game 5 contest in Dallas. The Mavericks won a thriller 112-103 to take a crucial 3-2 advantage in the series. If you were to tell me last week that the Mavs would be a win away from taking home the title, I would have called you crazy. Looks like I was the crazy one.


You can't really blame me, though. Miami looked to be in complete control of this series on Sunday after beating Dallas on the road to take a 2-1 advantage. They simply dominated in the Big D and appeared to be the huge favorites to win the Larry O'Brian Trophy. The "Big 3" were clicking and Dallas looked overmatched (outside of a consistently great Dirk Nowitzki.)  Two games later and the momentum has completely shifted. Dallas is now in the driver's seat following tonight's tightly contested victory. So how'd they do it?

Well, the Mavs have absolutely put the D in Dallas. They have utterly bewildered Lebron James. After holding him to 0 points in the 4th quarter in game 4 (and only 8 points total, a playoff low for Lebron), they nearly shut him out again in the 4th to the tune of just 2 points. In addition to the stifling defense (typically the Heat's signature trademark), Dirk has gotten plenty of help from his friends. The 3 J's: Jason Terry, Jason Kidd, and JJ Berea all came up clutch. They combined for 10 triples, including a pair of daggers from behind the arc with less than 2 minutes to go from Kidd and Terry. Of course, let's not forget about Nowitzki. He was his usual amazing self and is clearly in line for the MVP if the Mavs somehow pull this thing off. Dirk chipped in a cool 29 points and went 10-10 from the FT stripe. To quote auto salesman Billy Fucillo, this win was Huggggggge for Dallas. For the first time Miami is sweating and for the first time in this post-season, they've lost two games in a row.

I picked the Heat to win in 7 games and I still believe this series will go to a seventh game. I'm really starting to believe that the Mavericks have a great shot though. This has been an incredibly close and fun series to watch and I'm looking forward to more of the same come Sunday when this thing heads back to Miami for game 6.

by Andy Adamson