PG: D-Whistle Rises.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

Maybe its just me, but did anyone else notice Dirk wards off on every single drive? I mean a lot of guys do this a little bit, but its pretty much the only way Dirk can get by his man because he doesn't have a great handle. He puts his head down, dribbles with the right, and flails his left arm at the defender to get by.

I noticed that too, it also helps him get those foul calls since there always seems to be contact with his flailing arm as the defender is shifting.

Am I the only one that saw Lebron travel on that dunk though? Lol, I must've played it back 50 times trying to count his steps. I arrived at the conclusion that there were at least 3 steps

That was tough, the steps all came really quick, and the whistle too, its tough to say.

It was shocking though, one of those "wtf" moments, he just exploded.

I was a little disappointed with how little he attacked in game 1 actually, I hope he ratchets up the aggressiveness. There were a couple times that he had good looks at the rim and made passes to UD or Bosh that led to nothing.

Quick comment on Wade, he's not 100% physically. His legs aren't there, he isn't jumping like he normally does. But that means he has to trust his jumper more than ever, take it in rhythm and with confidence, not force the drive and get blocked like he was in the 1st half. Remember the 07-08 season, he still managed to shoot 47% on the year because he played a very cerebral game, we need that out of him now.

[Chosen01]

Wade kinda got shafted last night, he got hit on the arm at least twice and he actually did get hit on the head when he drove baseline.Still hes playing to draw the foul instead of trying to actually score,I like that he shot the mid range shot in rhythm, hopefully he does more of that if the refs won't give him the calls hes accustomed to.

[Kerosene]

Your observation on Lebron's passiveness was on point, he definitely has to look to attack more in instances where it's easier to just score the basket, rather than pass.

Wade still looks a bit shaken up, it looks like they're withholding any news of ailments/injuries from us until after the Finals series. I hope its nothing serious, you can see the fire in his eyes, so I really doubt that mental lapses are the culprit.

[SweetTouch]

twice lebron had an easy dunk or lay up and he was too unselfish and passed to Bosh or UD

[DWadeno3]

Maybe its just me, but did anyone else notice Dirk wards off on every single drive? I mean a lot of guys do this a little bit, but its pretty much the only way Dirk can get by his man because he doesn't have a great handle. He puts his head down, dribbles with the right, and flails his left arm at the defender to get by.

I noticed that too, it also helps him get those foul calls since there always seems to be contact with his flailing arm as the defender is shifting.

Am I the only one that saw Lebron travel on that dunk though? Lol, I must've played it back 50 times trying to count his steps. I arrived at the conclusion that there were at least 3 steps

That was tough, the steps all came really quick, and the whistle too, its tough to say.

It was shocking though, one of those "wtf" moments, he just exploded.

I was a little disappointed with how little he attacked in game 1 actually, I hope he ratchets up the aggressiveness. There were a couple times that he had good looks at the rim and made passes to UD or Bosh that led to nothing.

Quick comment on Wade, he's not 100% physically. His legs aren't there, he isn't jumping like he normally does. But that means he has to trust his jumper more than ever, take it in rhythm and with confidence, not force the drive and get blocked like he was in the 1st half. Remember the 07-08 season, he still managed to shoot 47% on the year because he played a very cerebral game, we need that out of him now.

Wade looked much better than he did against Chicago though, especially down the stretch. He grabbed a lot of key rebounds and jumped very high to get those. The problem with him finishing around the basket was that a) they could do what they wanted to to stop him and b) I believe he's trying to avoid contact with his hurt shoulder so he's not attacking as aggressively as he usually does.

[Miamis3rdRing]

I thought Wade was great in the 2nd half, especially the 4th quarter and I've been one of his bigger critics on here in recent weeks. I loved that he finally started taking the jumper instead of doing that stupid pumpfake s***.

His legs may not be 100%, but Kidd and Stevenson cannot stay in front of him. Early on he missed 1-2 looks near the rim (Got blocked), but those weren't easy shots. He was surrounded by 2-3 guys and pinned under the rim.

I felt his decision making was awful at times during the Bulls series, but he played smart this game. Didn't try to force any passes, dribbling was under control, and took shots that he feels comfortable with instead of those awkward baseline shots he took against Chicago.

On a ref-related note, that 2nd foul of LeBron was a JOKE. Not only did LeBron not foul Terry on that dunk, Terry used his off hand to push him. Should've been an offensive foul. That easily could have taken LBJ out of the game for quit some time, but Spo was wise to leave him in.

[zogster]

Couple of thoughts:

I was surprised when Dallas changed their defense and put Marion on LeBron and Stevenson on Wade. LeBron doesn't care who guards him out of those two, neither is going to really effect his shot. But Wade was extremely tentative when Marion was guarding him and never looked to shoot the ball, and the offense was pretty awful (16 points in the first quarter). It seems like Wade was quite a bit more aggressive when someone other than Marion was guarding him.

Bibby played for way too long to start the game. 0/3 in the first quarter from three is part of the reason we had only 16 points in the quarter. Rio probably would have knocked down two of those (they were wide open), and he wouldn't have gotten abused on defense (Dallas was reigning in threes with Bibby out there) at the same time. I really think the score could have been like 22-14 if Rio played the entire first instead of Bibby.

With Dirk's hand injured, we really need to test it. Force him to go to his left if he's going to dribble. Make him finish on the left side of the rim when he goes to the basket.

LeBron, as well as he played, should have probably had 28-30 points on only a couple more shot attempts. As has already been pointed out, he basically gave up two layups to pass the ball out to Bosh/Haslem. One of those was a miss and the other one was stolen, and turned into a fastbreak and two points for Dallas. I'm sure he'll watch the tape and realize he should have just scored the easy two himself. It's nice that he's obviously very unselfish, but whatever is the easiest shot for the team should be taken, regardless if it gets another player involved in the play or not.

[KDS91]

3 more wins, boys. 3 more wins until RealGM implodes

Lebron's shooting improvement is remarkable. Those 4 treys were so beast.

[DWadeno3]

Couple of thoughts:

I was surprised when Dallas changed their defense and put Marion on LeBron and Stevenson on Wade. LeBron doesn't care who guards him out of those two, neither is going to really effect his shot. But Wade was extremely tentative when Marion was guarding him and never looked to shoot the ball, and the offense was pretty awful (16 points in the first quarter). It seems like Wade was quite a bit more aggressive when someone other than Marion was guarding him.

Bibby played for way too long to start the game. 0/3 in the first quarter from three is part of the reason we had only 16 points in the quarter. Rio probably would have knocked down two of those (they were wide open), and he wouldn't have gotten abused on defense (Dallas was reigning in threes with Bibby out there) at the same time. I really think the score could have been like 22-14 if Rio played the entire first instead of Bibby.

With Dirk's hand injured, we really need to test it. Force him to go to his left if he's going to dribble. Make him finish on the left side of the rim when he goes to the basket.

LeBron, as well as he played, should have probably had 28-30 points on only a couple more shot attempts. As has already been pointed out, he basically gave up two layups to pass the ball out to Bosh/Haslem. One of those was a miss and the other one was stolen, and turned into a fastbreak and two points for Dallas. I'm sure he'll watch the tape and realize he should have just scored the easy two himself. It's nice that he's obviously very unselfish, but whatever is the easiest shot for the team should be taken, regardless if it gets another player involved in the play or not.

Wade was pretty tentative in the first half in general. He stopped a fastbreak when he had Barea and Stojakovic in front of him. I don't believe putting Marion on him is that wise though. While the Matrix is still pretty athletic, Stevenson is much quicker on his feet and can stop a Wade drive by himself better than Marion. I never understood the switch there, maybe it was part of Stevenson's personal crusade against LeBron and he wanted to guard him so badly.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed in our aggressiveness in attacking the hoop. Hoping your three ball will fall is only one way of scoring against a zone. Wade and James still need to attack and cut and use the gaps a zone offers. When either one attacks from one side, the zone will shift towards them. By having the other player cut to the hole, you pretty much force them to chose who'll beat them.

Also, we had multiple defensive breakdowns, especially in the first half, which resulted in open shots the Mavericks only partially capitalized on. Our rotations need to be as crisp as they were in the series before, especially against a hot shooting team like Dallas. I don't know if it was part of our pack the paint mentality or whether it was just a miscommunication, but there's no reason to have three our four guys in the paint while leaving one of their shooters open. There's no player on their team who can truly put the ball on the floor and attack us the way Rose for example can. I'm looking for adjustments here as well.

I agree with you about Bibby. I'd rather give House some spot minutes and hope he has one of those nights instead of counting on Bibby breaking out of his slump.

[TheAnkh]

Maybe its just me, but did anyone else notice Dirk wards off on every single drive? I mean a lot of guys do this a little bit, but its pretty much the only way Dirk can get by his man because he doesn't have a great handle. He puts his head down, dribbles with the right, and flails his left arm at the defender to get by.

I noticed that last night too. But I also noticed a long time ago that LeBron does the same thing on every single drive in an even more powerful way, so as long as they don't call it on our guy then I'm fine

To those saying Wade isn't right, I agree, but he is still getting fouled pretty clearly on some of his drives and not getting the call. Its been like that for the majority of the playoffs so there actually might be some truth to the refs being weary of calling fouls for Wade after 2006 (even though there was nothing wrong with the way that series was officiated overall). I notice that LeBron more often than not still gets his same super star calls on his drives, so its not just matter of them letting contact go on drives. I wonder if its something the coaching staff will bring to the refs attention. That said, Wade trusting his jump shot will be the best thing to happen to this team in the finals so in some ways the no calls might force him to shoot the jumpers he kept passing up in the Bulls series.

[Heej]

Maybe its just me, but did anyone else notice Dirk wards off on every single drive? I mean a lot of guys do this a little bit, but its pretty much the only way Dirk can get by his man because he doesn't have a great handle. He puts his head down, dribbles with the right, and flails his left arm at the defender to get by.

I noticed that last night too. But I also noticed a long time ago that LeBron does the same thing on every single drive in an even more powerful way, so as long as they don't call it on our guy then I'm fine

To those saying Wade isn't right, I agree, but he is still getting fouled pretty clearly on some of his drives and not getting the call. Its been like that for the majority of the playoffs so there actually might be some truth to the refs being weary of calling fouls for Wade after 2006 (even though there was nothing wrong with the way that series was officiated overall). I notice that LeBron more often than not still gets his same super star calls on his drives, so its not just matter of them letting contact go on drives. I wonder if its something the coaching staff will bring to the refs attention. That said, Wade trusting his jump shot will be the best thing to happen to this team in the finals so in some ways the no calls might force him to shoot the jumpers he kept passing up in the Bulls series.

I agree about Wade. Out of all of the Big 3 he's been the one that's been shafted the most on superstar calls this season. Lebron and Bosh get about 90% of the calls they used to, Wade's probably down to about 80%. Especially from his younger years when he was the league's golden boy.

[zogster]

I think Wade trying to sell fouls and contact all the time is one reason why he doesn't get as many calls as he should when there is some legitimate contact. For instance the move he does where he drives directly to the hole from the wing and when he gets cut off at about 12 feet from the hoop he jumps backwards on his shot as soon as he has a little bit of contact.

It's hard to officiate a guy that tries to sell everything. When you don't sell much you'll get more calls because the refs don't have to wonder if the contact is actually significant enough for a foul or if you're just trying to get two FT's.

Look back in '06 before Wade tried to pumpfake and jump into the defender all the time on his jumper as one example. He still usually gets that call, but he was more aggressive and didn't throw in so many fakes all the time, just went strong to the hole and challenged the defense.

[Flash4thewin]

Wade did get robbed more than a few times by the refs. Its clear something is not right with Wade but he still made up for his uneven play in the 4th. Lebron is Lebron. I understand he wanted to give UD and Bosh easy looks but sometime the best move i just to dunk it. Its actually scary how few free throws Wade and Lebron took

[DWadeno3]

I think Wade trying to sell fouls and contact all the time is one reason why he doesn't get as many calls as he should when there is some legitimate contact. For instance the move he does where he drives directly to the hole from the wing and when he gets cut off at about 12 feet from the hoop he jumps backwards on his shot as soon as he has a little bit of contact.

It's hard to officiate a guy that tries to sell everything. When you don't sell much you'll get more calls because the refs don't have to wonder if the contact is actually significant enough for a foul or if you're just trying to get two FT's.

Look back in '06 before Wade tried to pumpfake and jump into the defender all the time on his jumper as one example. He still usually gets that call, but he was more aggressive and didn't throw in so many fakes all the time, just went strong to the hole and challenged the defense.

In this series, I believe he's simply a little more timid on his drives because of his sore shoulder. Overall, I basically agree with you though. Nonetheless, he clearly got fouled multiple times last night and didn't receive a whistle. This isn't about superstar calls anymore, this is about normal, regular officiating. When a guy gets hit on the arm or shoulder or gets pushed, it's a foul.

Even LeBron hasn't gotten all these calls he got in Cleveland. There have been games where he attacked the rim hard and his headband even fell off and he still didn't get the call. Maybe it's because with all three of them being together they're trying to find a balance, but again, a foul is a foul.

[Chosen01]

I think Wade trying to sell fouls and contact all the time is one reason why he doesn't get as many calls as he should when there is some legitimate contact. For instance the move he does where he drives directly to the hole from the wing and when he gets cut off at about 12 feet from the hoop he jumps backwards on his shot as soon as he has a little bit of contact.

It's hard to officiate a guy that tries to sell everything. When you don't sell much you'll get more calls because the refs don't have to wonder if the contact is actually significant enough for a foul or if you're just trying to get two FT's.

Look back in '06 before Wade tried to pumpfake and jump into the defender all the time on his jumper as one example. He still usually gets that call, but he was more aggressive and didn't throw in so many fakes all the time, just went strong to the hole and challenged the defense.

If Wade doesn't sell the call then they probably wont call the foul.Wade is 6'4 220 so hes able to drive through contact ,so when hes hit on the arm he has to sell it or it'll seem like wasn't hit,LeBron and Dwight are the same way.

Wade is too good of a finisher to NOT finish without a blatant contact being drawn in his drives, he was fouled at least 3 times that he drove to the rim.

[Moggs24]

I respectfully disagree with you Sir and will ignore the "dreamworld"snide comment. I understand that you dont like the HEAT and you probably wish it were true, but in your heart you know Dirk would be the third best player on the HEAT just as he was the third best player in the game last night. Against OKC that gets it done, against a team with two players in the top 5 and a third player in the top 10 that wont cut it.

Two players in the top 5 is correct but Chris Bosh is not and never will be a top 10 player in this league. Chris Bosh is the most overrated player in the game and he proved that in Toronto the Heat could trade him for a bag of beans and they still would be right where they are at. Juwan Howard=Chris Bosh!

I just saw this on the Dallas forum from one of the moderators. I mean why can people not be objective. If you want to argue Bosh isn't a top 10 player that's fine, but come on.

[doudoub]

free