Sometimes the other guys just are better.
“I’ve been in a lot of playoff games,” Miami coach Pat Riley was saying late Sunday in Dallas after his Heat fell behind the Mavericks 2-0 in the NBA Finals.
“I’ve got beat by 40, by 30, by 25, won by 25 or 30. Doesn’t make any difference. The whole thing is about the next game and trying to leave this behind us. Maybe it will set a fire in us to do something a little different.”
Maybe win a game? Everyone can tell now, including the Heat players. Everyone has seen it: The fast kid shows up and you don’t even have to race him to know. When Michael Jordan walked on the court, there was this feeling of inevitability.
By the way, anyone seen Shaq?
These NBA Finals might not end in four games, but the inevitable seems obvious.
The Mavs have beaten the Heat 12 of the last 14 times they’ve played. No team that has won the first two games at home in the 2-3-2 Finals format has ever lost the series. Only two teams, the last the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers, have recovered from an 0-2 deficit to win the championship.
Shaquille O’Neal, coming off a career playoff-low five points in the Game 2 loss, never has beaten Erick Dampier’s Mavericks as a member of the Heat. And Dampier (six points, 13 rebounds) outplayed O’Neal in Game 2. Since Dampier came to the Mavs, Dallas is 6-0 against Shaq and the Heat with an average winning margin of 16.3 points per game.
But it’s more than history and statistics.
The Mavs had an answer for everything the Heat has done.
Miami brings in Gary Payton and Dallas counters with Devin Harris, who makes Payton look silly, blowing by him and Jason Williams for 11 points off the bench. Payton is averaging one point on 1-for-8 shooting and appears to have quit in the Finals, as he did with the Lakers in 2004.
Dallas’ Jerry Stackhouse broke the game open with 10 points in a 79-second burst in the second quarter, finishing with 19 off the bench. Stackhouse said he took advantage of Miami’s increased attention on Jason Terry, who burned the Heat with 32 points in Game 1. “Maybe they will be a little more conscious of both of us the next game,” Stackhouse said.
It’s pretty clear the Mavs are deeper and quicker. When Miami brings in Alonzo Mourning, Dallas goes with Keith Van Horn and Dirk Nowitzki inside, and they’re too quick for the Heat. It’s not like, other than Nowitzki, these are the ’86 Celtics or the ’96 Bulls. Most NBA teams have already had Stackhouse, Van Horn, Adrian Griffin or DeSagana Diop on their roster.
Dallas is more athletic, but Miami appears just happy to be here after last season’s late flop. It’s as if only one team is playing for the title.
“This game was about another team’s competitiveness and energy,” Riley said.
And a former otherworldly center.
O’Neal had joked the other day before Game 2 about his beginnings:
“I don’t know the name of the planet,” O’Neal said. “The files were destroyed. My mother originally told me I wasn’t born, that I was found on a train. I have a lot of heritage in Texas, but I consider myself a New Jerseyan. I was found on the Amtraks in Jersey City.”
More Top Picks Best Rotary Tools For Hobbyists
O’Neal was nowhere to be found after Game 2, having left in shame and embarrassment. The NBA announced a $10,000 fine for O’Neal and a $25,000 fine for the Heat for their lack of availability to the media.
What O’Neal deserved was a finger-wagging from his dad for running away when things went badly.
“He can’t be as dominant as he wants to be right now,” said Dwyane Wade, showing himself the true class of the team by taking the hit for O’Neal. “His other guys [are] not playing as well as we should. So they’re able to key on him and take away the other guys because we’re missing shots, not being efficient.”
Dallas is swarming O’Neal, showing him the most aggressive double-teaming he has seen in a years and fronting him on the post, which is said to be fatal. Miami has been able to lob to O’Neal when that occurs, but Dallas recovers and helps, seemingly playing in fast forward while Miami is on a slow treadmill.
Not that the Heat can do much with its AARP roster. Williams buries himself in so many screens you’d think he was slow dancing. Walker, left open by the Mavs’ double-teams, finished with 20 points, but most came in extended garbage time.
And now Udonis Haslem, Miami’s toughest guy, may be out or limited with a shoulder injury suffered early in Game 2. He says he’ll play, but he’s the primary defender on Nowitzki and the Heat needs him healthy.
“Now the series switches to Miami,” Walker said. “We have three games on our home floor. Tuesday becomes the biggest game of the season for us. This series is far from over.”
It’s all they have to hold onto now.
NBA Finals
DALLAS LEADS MIAMI, 2-0
All games at 8 p.m. on WLS-Ch. 7
Game 3: Tuesday at Miami
Game 4: Thursday at Miami
Game 5: Sunday at Miami-*
Game 6: June 20 at Dallas-*
Game 7: June 22 at Dallas-*
Game 1: Thursday, DALLAS 90-80
Game 2: Sunday, DALLAS 99-85
Home team in CAPS*–if necessary
———-