Coach Rick Carlisle tweaks his roster as
Dallas Mavericks ties the series 2-2: NBA News
Coach Rick Carlisle pushed J.J Barea in the starting line-up in place of DeShawn and used Stevenson as a reserve in game-4. Eventually Carlisle hit the jackpot with this line-up as the Dallas Mavericks bounced back in style to
defeat the mighty Miami Heat and tied the National Basketball Association Finals 2-2.
The Mavs made a remarkable comeback in the fourth quarter and outplayed the Heat. Dallas pulled back successfully for the second time in four games to clinch a crucial win.
The Mavs were fortunate that their star player Dirk Nowitzki has played exceptionally well throughout the playoffs. However, in spite of Nowitzki’s staggering performances in the first three games Dallas seemed to be struggling
in front of the Heat, especially when it comes to limiting Miami’s trio LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.
The trio has tallied more than 50 percent points of the Heat in the first three games. Dallas' defensive unit restricted the Heat’s trio to some extent. However, the Heat were able to burst through them and the root cause of this
problem was Dallas small forward Peja Stojakovic.
In four games Peja had logged in for 26:02 minutes in total and so far he had made just two points in the series. Besides his unhelpful offensive play the defender also failed to stiff the Heat’s trio as he allowed James and Wade
to reach basket more often when he is on court that always provide momentum to Miami.
Moreover, Stojakovic had made just two steals and clutched three rebounds in four games that depict his unenthusiastic game play. At this stage of the contention even some small mistakes hurt a lot and here Peja is allowing too
much.
One solution which was proposed to sort this problem that was to replace Peja with shooting guard Corey Brewer, who is a far better defender than Stojakovic.
The 6 ft. 9 Brewer is a high-quality athlete and in addition to this he also got a fine jump shot from the long-range. Dallas have a bunch of good shooters they don’t require another (Peja) against the Heat. By giving Peja’s minutes
to Brewer will certainly lift the Mavs’ defence, as Corey can be helpful in restricting the Heat’s trio.
Limiting the Bigs of the Heat will surely impact the result of the upcoming games, as James and Wade can devastate any side on their given day.
However, Carlisle had other plans, he was not just looking to defend, but also wanted to lift the offensive play of his starting line-up. For this very reason Carlisle brought Barea from the reserves to starting line-up and made
Brian Cardinal the main back up of Nowitzki as a replacement for Peja.
Barea tallied eight points during his 22 minutes stay on court along with four assists and he was 100 percent from the free throw line. Stevenson on the other hand made 11 points and touched the double-digit score for the first
time after February 2, 2011. Cardinal also had quality minutes on the court and provided Nowitzki the much required rest.
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