Stopping Dirk Nowitzki will be a team job for the Miami Heat - NBA 2011 Finals Special - Part 2
Forward Chris Bosh could be the better defender against the Dallas Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki than one may think. He has the experience guarding the 32-year-old in the two games of the regular season. The Heat power
forward player is expected to start on the Big Dirk during first game of the best-of-seven National Basketball Association finals on Tuesday night.
The 27-year-old admitted that Nowitzki is almost impossible to guard and said, “He is one of the toughest [to guard] because he can use his body so well and shoot so well.” “He is just so crafty. People look at him and say, ‘Ah,
he’s not really that quick.’ He is used to that pace and he really wears guys down by really testing their determination on defense. You really have to be disciplined to stay down and contest every shot he shoots.”
The Heat forward Udonis Haslem fantastically guarded the German scoring machine in the 2005-06 NBA Finals, limiting him to average just 22.8 points per game and shooting just 39 percent shooting from the field. However, that was
five years ago and it is 2011 series, both the teams are 0-0 now. Additionally, Haslem missed both games of the regular season against Dallas. Haslem did not face the new Nowitzki this season, who is a very alacritous mover on the court and successfully finds
his way to the rim every time.
Standing 6 feet 8 inch, Haslem acknowledged that it would be a tough job to stop Nowitzki. Haslem stated, “He is so much more advanced than he was [in] ’06.” “I don’t think anything from ’06 comes to play in this series. If anything,
the ’06 series has made Dirk a better player. It is obvious now. “People tried some of the same things we used in that series and he’s torched them. His post game has come along a lot since then. You cannot really be as physical with him. He is taking on the
contact. A lot of those tactics we used in ’06, we can’t use them now.”
Miami can get some defensive help from centre Erick Dampier, who can better a defender against Dirk as he has already faced him from 2004 to 2010 in Dallas. Dampier said that Nowitzki is a complete player and we have to handle
him with a complete team effort.
In short, it would not be possible for Miami to guard the veteran All-Star with one or two players. They have to cover him as a whole team, limiting him to as low score as they can. Otherwise, they will be in deep trouble like
the regular season.
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