NBA Finals Thread: Mavs are NBA Champions! :O

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
Okay, my predictions for the finals (since I've been so accurate with my picks so far in the NBA playoffs...lol uhh Portland, f**k YOU)

Heat will give Mavs the same problems OKC gave Dallas with their speed and athleticism but won't falter late in the 4th quarter and Heat actually plays man-defense. With Haslem, Bosh, and Lebron - Heat does have some decent options to throw at Dirk to slow him enough so he doesn't have 35-40pt games, but not sure if Mavs have anyone to stop Lebron or Wade. Even if Dirks goes off, Miami can shut down other guys.

In my opinion, Miami needs to play big in the back-court (Wade, Miller, and Lebron). This will make it tough for the Mavs to play Terry and J-Kidd together, or play Barea for extended minutes.

This is an intriguing match-up, because coaches will have a big say in this series. I think Spols has proven to be a very good coach, and Rick had already established himself as a good coach earlier in the decade. Should be a close one, with several close games - but Miami with HC will be too much. Miami takes it in 6.

That's probably the prediction that I'd go with too. After Miami beat Boston handily, I was pretty sure that they were going to beat the Bulls, because they were a similar team stylistically, although I thought it'd go an extra game.

In this series, I can't think of a single scenario where I'd feel confident about the prediction. You could tell me that Miami is going to kick the living crap outta Dallas, vice versa, or any scenario in between, and I couldn't say that it was outta the realm of possibility.

The unpredictability comes from the fact that Miami hasn't faced an offense that's similar stylistically to Dallas. OKC is kinda sorta similar to Miami in that they're extremely athletic, but they didn't play very good defense all that often during these playoffs, so I don't think that Dallas has faced anything like Miami's defense.

FWIW, I don't think this format is as detrimental to Dallas as you do. It's funny...road record is usually one of the stronger predictors of playoff success, and this year was no different. Both Miami & Dallas went 28-13 on the road this year...tied for best in the league. This has also carried over into the playoffs, with Dallas going 5-2 and Miami going 5-3. I think HCA and the 2-3-2 format means less in this series than it normally does.

Yeup, even though I picked Heat in 6 games - I don't feel comfortable with it. I just went with what made the most sense, but this series could go anyway - especially with the way Dirk and Lebron are playing. A less than 75% Wade changes things in favor of Dallas though.

I agree that both the finalists have great road record, but Miami is unbeaten at home so far, and you have very little chance as a lower seed if you don't split the first two. Of course, Miami in 06 won after losing the first two, but it was an exception.

As you know, it is very very tough to beat a team 3 straight games, so any team with 3 straight home games is pretty much guaranteed to lose 1 at home. Of course, Dallas can and should get the split, but since they are very likely to lose 1 at home, they will lose the advantage they worked so hard to gain in the 1st two games. I don't know if I'm making any sense, I just find this format to be very unfair to the lower seed.

Dallas and Miami aren't even that far away from each other. Why can't they keep it flexible? If Boston and LA are in the finals - fine - go with 2-3-2 to cut down the travel time for the players...but with Dallas and Miami playing...go with the old school scheduling of 2-2-1-1-1

i agree, i can only remember 2 teams winning the middle 3 homes games, detroit in 2004 and miami in 2006, there might be another team or two but i cant think of them

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
Okay, my predictions for the finals (since I've been so accurate with my picks so far in the NBA playoffs...lol uhh Portland, f**k YOU)

Heat will give Mavs the same problems OKC gave Dallas with their speed and athleticism but won't falter late in the 4th quarter and Heat actually plays man-defense. With Haslem, Bosh, and Lebron - Heat does have some decent options to throw at Dirk to slow him enough so he doesn't have 35-40pt games, but not sure if Mavs have anyone to stop Lebron or Wade. Even if Dirks goes off, Miami can shut down other guys.

In my opinion, Miami needs to play big in the back-court (Wade, Miller, and Lebron). This will make it tough for the Mavs to play Terry and J-Kidd together, or play Barea for extended minutes.

This is an intriguing match-up, because coaches will have a big say in this series. I think Spols has proven to be a very good coach, and Rick had already established himself as a good coach earlier in the decade. Should be a close one, with several close games - but Miami with HC will be too much. Miami takes it in 6.

That's probably the prediction that I'd go with too. After Miami beat Boston handily, I was pretty sure that they were going to beat the Bulls, because they were a similar team stylistically, although I thought it'd go an extra game.

In this series, I can't think of a single scenario where I'd feel confident about the prediction. You could tell me that Miami is going to kick the living crap outta Dallas, vice versa, or any scenario in between, and I couldn't say that it was outta the realm of possibility.

The unpredictability comes from the fact that Miami hasn't faced an offense that's similar stylistically to Dallas. OKC is kinda sorta similar to Miami in that they're extremely athletic, but they didn't play very good defense all that often during these playoffs, so I don't think that Dallas has faced anything like Miami's defense.

FWIW, I don't think this format is as detrimental to Dallas as you do. It's funny...road record is usually one of the stronger predictors of playoff success, and this year was no different. Both Miami & Dallas went 28-13 on the road this year...tied for best in the league. This has also carried over into the playoffs, with Dallas going 5-2 and Miami going 5-3. I think HCA and the 2-3-2 format means less in this series than it normally does.

Yeup, even though I picked Heat in 6 games - I don't feel comfortable with it. I just went with what made the most sense, but this series could go anyway - especially with the way Dirk and Lebron are playing. A less than 75% Wade changes things in favor of Dallas though.

I agree that both the finalists have great road record, but Miami is unbeaten at home so far, and you have very little chance as a lower seed if you don't split the first two. Of course, Miami in 06 won after losing the first two, but it was an exception.

As you know, it is very very tough to beat a team 3 straight games, so any team with 3 straight home games is pretty much guaranteed to lose 1 at home. Of course, Dallas can and should get the split, but since they are very likely to lose 1 at home, they will lose the advantage they worked so hard to gain in the 1st two games. I don't know if I'm making any sense, I just find this format to be very unfair to the lower seed.

Dallas and Miami aren't even that far away from each other. Why can't they keep it flexible? If Boston and LA are in the finals - fine - go with 2-3-2 to cut down the travel time for the players...but with Dallas and Miami playing...go with the old school scheduling of 2-2-1-1-1

Eff it! They should just go 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

NBA will probably stretch the series to a month.

Go Mavs Go. Please beat the Heat.

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
Okay, my predictions for the finals (since I've been so accurate with my picks so far in the NBA playoffs...lol uhh Portland, f**k YOU)

Heat will give Mavs the same problems OKC gave Dallas with their speed and athleticism but won't falter late in the 4th quarter and Heat actually plays man-defense. With Haslem, Bosh, and Lebron - Heat does have some decent options to throw at Dirk to slow him enough so he doesn't have 35-40pt games, but not sure if Mavs have anyone to stop Lebron or Wade. Even if Dirks goes off, Miami can shut down other guys.

In my opinion, Miami needs to play big in the back-court (Wade, Miller, and Lebron). This will make it tough for the Mavs to play Terry and J-Kidd together, or play Barea for extended minutes.

This is an intriguing match-up, because coaches will have a big say in this series. I think Spols has proven to be a very good coach, and Rick had already established himself as a good coach earlier in the decade. Should be a close one, with several close games - but Miami with HC will be too much. Miami takes it in 6.

That's probably the prediction that I'd go with too. After Miami beat Boston handily, I was pretty sure that they were going to beat the Bulls, because they were a similar team stylistically, although I thought it'd go an extra game.

In this series, I can't think of a single scenario where I'd feel confident about the prediction. You could tell me that Miami is going to kick the living crap outta Dallas, vice versa, or any scenario in between, and I couldn't say that it was outta the realm of possibility.

The unpredictability comes from the fact that Miami hasn't faced an offense that's similar stylistically to Dallas. OKC is kinda sorta similar to Miami in that they're extremely athletic, but they didn't play very good defense all that often during these playoffs, so I don't think that Dallas has faced anything like Miami's defense.

FWIW, I don't think this format is as detrimental to Dallas as you do. It's funny...road record is usually one of the stronger predictors of playoff success, and this year was no different. Both Miami & Dallas went 28-13 on the road this year...tied for best in the league. This has also carried over into the playoffs, with Dallas going 5-2 and Miami going 5-3. I think HCA and the 2-3-2 format means less in this series than it normally does.

Yeup, even though I picked Heat in 6 games - I don't feel comfortable with it. I just went with what made the most sense, but this series could go anyway - especially with the way Dirk and Lebron are playing. A less than 75% Wade changes things in favor of Dallas though.

I agree that both the finalists have great road record, but Miami is unbeaten at home so far, and you have very little chance as a lower seed if you don't split the first two. Of course, Miami in 06 won after losing the first two, but it was an exception.

As you know, it is very very tough to beat a team 3 straight games, so any team with 3 straight home games is pretty much guaranteed to lose 1 at home. Of course, Dallas can and should get the split, but since they are very likely to lose 1 at home, they will lose the advantage they worked so hard to gain in the 1st two games. I don't know if I'm making any sense, I just find this format to be very unfair to the lower seed.

Dallas and Miami aren't even that far away from each other. Why can't they keep it flexible? If Boston and LA are in the finals - fine - go with 2-3-2 to cut down the travel time for the players...but with Dallas and Miami playing...go with the old school scheduling of 2-2-1-1-1

Eff it! They should just go 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

NBA will probably stretch the series to a month.

14 days with a travel day in between every game. Shoot, they already take a 7-game series to 2 weeks.

Or they could go with this for every series: DAL-DAL-MIA-MIA-DAL-MIA-MIA

No team plays 3 straight and the drama of the series would be most likely near the end of the series. This way, it also allows for the team with the better record to have a higher chance of winning the series at home.

Originally posted by AmpLee:
Conversely, I think a huge mismatch for Dallas to exploit is Barea. No one can really guard him anyway, but certainly no one on Miami's roster. An instant offense guy like him might be huge in low scoring series. I think he needs to get big minutes off the bench.

It goes both ways though. A huge mismatch for Miami is whoever Barea is guarding, especially because Spoelstra can force him to have to guard Wade or James

Originally posted by andes14:

Originally posted by AmpLee:
Conversely, I think a huge mismatch for Dallas to exploit is Barea. No one can really guard him anyway, but certainly no one on Miami's roster. An instant offense guy like him might be huge in low scoring series. I think he needs to get big minutes off the bench.

It goes both ways though. A huge mismatch for Miami is whoever Barea is guarding, especially because Spoelstra can force him to have to guard Wade or James

Dallas can decide to only play him when Bibby or Chalmers is out there though.

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by andes14:

Originally posted by AmpLee:
Conversely, I think a huge mismatch for Dallas to exploit is Barea. No one can really guard him anyway, but certainly no one on Miami's roster. An instant offense guy like him might be huge in low scoring series. I think he needs to get big minutes off the bench.

It goes both ways though. A huge mismatch for Miami is whoever Barea is guarding, especially because Spoelstra can force him to have to guard Wade or James

Dallas can decide to only play him when Bibby or Chalmers is out there though.

Dallas will play zone. They just need to hope Lebron misses those threes he has been settling too much for lately.

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
Okay, my predictions for the finals (since I've been so accurate with my picks so far in the NBA playoffs...lol uhh Portland, f**k YOU)

Heat will give Mavs the same problems OKC gave Dallas with their speed and athleticism but won't falter late in the 4th quarter and Heat actually plays man-defense. With Haslem, Bosh, and Lebron - Heat does have some decent options to throw at Dirk to slow him enough so he doesn't have 35-40pt games, but not sure if Mavs have anyone to stop Lebron or Wade. Even if Dirks goes off, Miami can shut down other guys.

In my opinion, Miami needs to play big in the back-court (Wade, Miller, and Lebron). This will make it tough for the Mavs to play Terry and J-Kidd together, or play Barea for extended minutes.

This is an intriguing match-up, because coaches will have a big say in this series. I think Spols has proven to be a very good coach, and Rick had already established himself as a good coach earlier in the decade. Should be a close one, with several close games - but Miami with HC will be too much. Miami takes it in 6.

That's probably the prediction that I'd go with too. After Miami beat Boston handily, I was pretty sure that they were going to beat the Bulls, because they were a similar team stylistically, although I thought it'd go an extra game.

In this series, I can't think of a single scenario where I'd feel confident about the prediction. You could tell me that Miami is going to kick the living crap outta Dallas, vice versa, or any scenario in between, and I couldn't say that it was outta the realm of possibility.

The unpredictability comes from the fact that Miami hasn't faced an offense that's similar stylistically to Dallas. OKC is kinda sorta similar to Miami in that they're extremely athletic, but they didn't play very good defense all that often during these playoffs, so I don't think that Dallas has faced anything like Miami's defense.

FWIW, I don't think this format is as detrimental to Dallas as you do. It's funny...road record is usually one of the stronger predictors of playoff success, and this year was no different. Both Miami & Dallas went 28-13 on the road this year...tied for best in the league. This has also carried over into the playoffs, with Dallas going 5-2 and Miami going 5-3. I think HCA and the 2-3-2 format means less in this series than it normally does.

Yeup, even though I picked Heat in 6 games - I don't feel comfortable with it. I just went with what made the most sense, but this series could go anyway - especially with the way Dirk and Lebron are playing. A less than 75% Wade changes things in favor of Dallas though.

I agree that both the finalists have great road record, but Miami is unbeaten at home so far, and you have very little chance as a lower seed if you don't split the first two. Of course, Miami in 06 won after losing the first two, but it was an exception.

As you know, it is very very tough to beat a team 3 straight games, so any team with 3 straight home games is pretty much guaranteed to lose 1 at home. Of course, Dallas can and should get the split, but since they are very likely to lose 1 at home, they will lose the advantage they worked so hard to gain in the 1st two games. I don't know if I'm making any sense, I just find this format to be very unfair to the lower seed.

Dallas and Miami aren't even that far away from each other. Why can't they keep it flexible? If Boston and LA are in the finals - fine - go with 2-3-2 to cut down the travel time for the players...but with Dallas and Miami playing...go with the old school scheduling of 2-2-1-1-1

As for the format, I'm of the opinion it would be a better set-up (and more of an advantage to the team with HCA) to have it be a 1-2-2-2 format where the team with HCA actually begins the series on the road. The way it is now, the team with HCA has all the pressure on them in game 1. Win, and they were supposed to and it isn't tremendously significant in establishing your path to 4. Lose, and all of a sudden your game 2 feels like a game 7 (having your fans cheering game 2 to "celebrate" not losing BOTH home games isn't a phenomenal incentive), and the best you can do is wind up traveling on the road to game 3, knowing you still have lost HCA. With the 1-2-2-2, it already feels like a game 7 to the non-HCA team from the get-go. Then for THEM it's the win that doesn't mean a whole lot but a loss is an EXTREME blow to their chances. In other words, the pressure should be on the non-HCA team in game 1, not vice versa.

lol at those j-kidd pics.. i still remember when that fool was struggling in his SAT's..

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by andes14:

Originally posted by AmpLee:
Conversely, I think a huge mismatch for Dallas to exploit is Barea. No one can really guard him anyway, but certainly no one on Miami's roster. An instant offense guy like him might be huge in low scoring series. I think he needs to get big minutes off the bench.

It goes both ways though. A huge mismatch for Miami is whoever Barea is guarding, especially because Spoelstra can force him to have to guard Wade or James

Dallas can decide to only play him when Bibby or Chalmers is out there though.

And Spoelstra can counter by taking them out when Barea enters and going with a big backcourt.

Originally posted by andes14:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by andes14:

Originally posted by AmpLee:
Conversely, I think a huge mismatch for Dallas to exploit is Barea. No one can really guard him anyway, but certainly no one on Miami's roster. An instant offense guy like him might be huge in low scoring series. I think he needs to get big minutes off the bench.

It goes both ways though. A huge mismatch for Miami is whoever Barea is guarding, especially because Spoelstra can force him to have to guard Wade or James

Dallas can decide to only play him when Bibby or Chalmers is out there though.

And Spoelstra can counter by taking them out when Barea enters and going with a big backcourt.

Of who...Wade & Miller? Then Barea guards Miller, whose primary role in the offense is to shoot threes. It's not like he'd be taking Barea down into the post.

If JJ Barea is forcing Miami into using a lineup that they rarely use, that's a victory in and of itself.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by andes14:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by andes14:

Originally posted by AmpLee:
Conversely, I think a huge mismatch for Dallas to exploit is Barea. No one can really guard him anyway, but certainly no one on Miami's roster. An instant offense guy like him might be huge in low scoring series. I think he needs to get big minutes off the bench.

It goes both ways though. A huge mismatch for Miami is whoever Barea is guarding, especially because Spoelstra can force him to have to guard Wade or James

Dallas can decide to only play him when Bibby or Chalmers is out there though.

And Spoelstra can counter by taking them out when Barea enters and going with a big backcourt.

Of who...Wade & Miller? Then Barea guards Miller, whose primary role in the offense is to shoot threes. It's not like he'd be taking Barea down into the post.

If JJ Barea is forcing Miami into using a lineup that they rarely use, that's a victory in and of itself.

Barea coming in might make things a little easier for MIA because that's when Lebron or Wade can squeeze in a rest. Chalmers is adequate enough to guard Barea for a few.

Does anyone think Tyson Chandler doesn't allow MIA backcourt to crash the boards as they did in previous rounds? He's a different animal than Noah and Garnett.

Originally posted by Joecool:
Does anyone think Tyson Chandler doesn't allow MIA backcourt to crash the boards as they did in previous rounds? He's a different animal than Noah and Garnett.

Yes, to an extent. I'm assuming that you're gonna have Kidd guarding Wade (after Stevenson goes out) and Marion on LeBron, and those are four of the best rebounding perimeter guys in the game. Well...Kidd's gotten a little older and isn't grabbing the boards that he used to, but he's still a very good rebounder for a PG. Toss Mike Miller into the mix as well, as he's an excellent perimeter rebounder.

So along with Chandler, LeBron/Wade/Miller don't have the gigantic rebounding advantage that they do over most opposing perimeter players.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by Joecool:
Does anyone think Tyson Chandler doesn't allow MIA backcourt to crash the boards as they did in previous rounds? He's a different animal than Noah and Garnett.

Yes, to an extent. I'm assuming that you're gonna have Kidd guarding Wade (after Stevenson goes out) and Marion on LeBron, and those are four of the best rebounding perimeter guys in the game. Well...Kidd's gotten a little older and isn't grabbing the boards that he used to, but he's still a very good rebounder for a PG. Toss Mike Miller into the mix as well, as he's an excellent perimeter rebounder.

So along with Chandler, LeBron/Wade/Miller don't have the gigantic rebounding advantage that they do over most opposing perimeter players.

Man, this game can't start soon enough. The matchup and how they will turn out are exciting as nearly every player is well experienced and smart at the game. You don't really have a "Rondo can't shoot" or some major weakness of a team.