Dallas Mavericks vs. Miami Heat – NBA Finals Game -3 Preview
Led by strong inside play and terrific defence, the Dallas Mavericks shut down the Miami Heat on their own home court and walked away with a 95-93 victory in game-2 at the American Airlines Arena. The victory knots the NBA best-of-seven
finals at 1-1.
The Mavs were just outstanding down the stretch from as they bounced back from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit that reshaped the series.
The Mavericks’ power forward Dirk Nowitzki said tying the series is not enough, as there is still a long way to go. The German seven-footer said, "We just can't let up," "We are not good enough to just relax. We need to play with
an edge especially in every game."
Although the Heat lost the previous game but their play until the last four minutes of the last quarter was impressive one that the Mavericks cannot ignore. If we go through the biggest lead of both teams in the previous two games
of the series, Miami was ahead by 12 points in the first game and 15 points in the second before Dallas came big down the stretch. While, on the other hand, the biggest edge of Dallas in both games did not exceed nine points. Additionally, the Heat successful
took advantage of the 20 turnovers by the Mavs in the second game and converted them into 31 useful points.
Dallas coach Rick Carlisle acknowledged it was their luck to win the game besides huge number of turnovers and said, "It is very unusual to win a game the way we did in Game 2." "That kind of template is not going to hold up in
this series long term. We know that."
The Mavericks cannot expect to repeat their performance in the last seven minutes of the previous game. That is something rarely happens. After all, the Mavs made 9 of its last 10 shots and limited Miami to shot 1-of-11, missing
nine straight shots.
However, Dallas can easily repeat few things in the next game. The main thing is the Mavs must play offensively as they have in the first three rounds of the NBA playoffs. In case if the Heat double-teaming Nowitzki, rest of the
players have to handle the situation and play as a team with frequent passes.
The second seeded Mavericks have the best chance of picking up where it left off, especially if Jason Terry got his shooting touch back.
The biggest edge the Mavericks could have is the home-court advantage. The performance of Dallas at home during the regular season was much better than on the road. The home crowd, on the other hand, is anxiously waiting for their
heroes to return home. Thousands of the basketball fans participated in the "Gear Up For the Finals" event held at Academy Sports and Outdoors in North Dallas. Many fans took part in the "Painted Fans Contest" in order to get an entry ticket.
With game-3 around the corner, the Mavericks may have to maintain their blistering offensive rate, or something like it, to beat the Heat.
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