This was to be the super man’s time, when Shaquille O’Neal, who has a Superman tattoo, would take over this metroplex and the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
“I’ve got 350 pounds on my mind,” Mavs coach Avery Johnson offered before the game.
But it was the Mavericks who were too heavy to handle. Their speed and aggressiveness was the kryptonite for O’Neal and the slow-motion Heat as Dallas put on a dominating performance to take Game 2 99-85 and a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Game 3 is in Miami on Tuesday.
Dirk Nowitzki had 26 points, 16 rebounds for Dallas. Jerry Stackhouse added 19 points.
In the history of the NBA Finals, just two teams–the 1969 Boston Celtics and 1977 Portland Trail Blazers–have come back from an 0-2 deficit to win the title.
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It became so embarrassing for the Heat and O’Neal, who scored only 5 points on 2-for-5 shooting, that Dallas fans offered a mocking chant for O’Neal to go to the free-throw line with the Mavs ahead 74-49 late in the third quarter.
There had been some quiet rejoicing in the network TV trucks about the Spurs and Pistons and their grinding defensive games being gone from the Finals.
But they seemed back again after another slow, uneven start. The Mavericks were ahead 19-17 after one quarter.
“We have to be more aggressive,” Heat coach Pat Riley had been counseling.
His players didn’t seem to listen.
The Heat did get into the foul penalty less than four minutes into the first and shot 14 free throws in the quarter, though making just eight. There was much made of O’Neal missing eight of nine free throws in Game 1, though it was worse as there were two lane violations and he really was 1-for-11. O’Neal missed all three of his first-quarter free throws with a fourth miss on another lane violation.
The Heat was just 4-for-14 shooting, missing four layups while the Mavs, after spurting ahead 11-5, finished the quarter 7-for-21 shooting with six turnovers.
“We’re in the Finals,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to give the defense some credit.”
O’Neal came out active, as promised, rolling in for a reverse and foul to open the game. But after Mavs started to double-team O’Neal, he ended the first quarter with just two shots and flailed around for the rest of the game.
The double team was, in effect, a challenge to the Heat: We don’t believe the likes of Antoine Walker, Jason Williams, Gary Payton and James Posey can beat us. The Mavs have been diplomatic about praising the Heat’s so-called supporting cast, but it hasn’t deserved much praise.
While Johnson again rotated into his bench quickly, Heat coach Pat Riley stayed with his short rotation and continued to get little production. When Riley goes with Alonzo Mourning, the Mavs go with a small lineup with Keith Van Horn. So the Heat went into a zone to protect Mourning, and Mourning and Van Horn staged a little shootout to open the second quarter with Mourning scoring inside and Van Horn a pair of jumpers, one a three-pointer. It didn’t suggest what was to come as Miami moved ahead 28-25 on a three by Posey.
The Mavs simply took the game away from Miami with their quickness on defense and offense, retrieving misses, moving the ball quickly side to side on the perimeter and the Heat’s age and suspect shooting showing.
“What I was impressed with from the beginning of the season was our perimeter defense, with Josh [Howard], Jason Terry, Devin Harris, Stackhouse, Marquis Daniels,” Johnson said.
“With the rules the way they are, you have to cover ground. These guys are like cornerbacks covering a wideout. They’re long and they take up space.”
It was how the Bulls made the Heat sweat in the first round and how the Mavs looked like they were making the Heat melt, dominating Miami on the boards 25-14 in the half.
It was a barrage from midway through the second quarter, the Mavs striking quickly and deadly from the perimeter as Terry hit a jumper, Nowitzki with a pick-and-roll opening on the baseline, Howard going up after a block, Terry with a terrific shot fake and pass to Nowitzki for a jumper. Meanwhile with the Mavs dropping down on O’Neal, Walker continued to clank open threes.After Walker bounced still another off the rim, Stackhouse swished a three, the first of three he’d convert in the last 79 seconds of the half, one a four-point play after a frustrated Dwyane Wade fell into Stackhouse. (Wade would later draw a technical in what seemed his endless barking at the officials.) Fittingly, Stackhouse lobbed in a long prayer with 2.5 seconds left and the shot clock expiring to send the Mavs into halftime with a 50-34 lead and 82-58 after three.
“Stackhouse is a guy who comes off the bench who they run tons of plays for,” Walker said. “We don’t run a ton of plays for Gary, for Pose, for Alonzo. So obviously they’re going to outscore us from the bench.”
The Mavs then poured it on from all over. Nowitzki was quicker, burying lax Heat defenders in screens and popping open for jumpers. He even continued the embarrassment for Miami with a steal from Wade midway through the third.
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