NBAmmkay: 2011 NBA Finals 'Online DVD'

nbammkay:

The NBA will offer one of those cutesie thirty-or-whatever-dollar Mavericks championship DVDs, but the price is always a bit steep, especially for the casual fan who doesn’t pledge allegiance to the champion, but enjoyed the drama and intensity of a great NBA Finals.

This is why I have made a…

2011 NBA Finals ‘Online DVD’

The NBA will offer one of those cutesie thirty-or-whatever-dollar Mavericks championship DVDs, but the price is always a bit steep, especially for the casual fan who doesn’t pledge allegiance to the champion, but enjoyed the drama and intensity of a great NBA Finals.

This is why I have made a sort of “online championship DVD,” compiling relevant YouTube clips and stats into a quality summary of the Mavs’ and Heat’s seasons and the Finals.  There are over 246 minutes, or about 4 hours, of great video content here.

Presenting the NBAmmkay 2011 NBA Finals “Online DVD”

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||MAIN MENU|| - The Finals

~~ NBA Mini Movies: The NBA produced a series of 6-7 minute YouTube videos for each game of the Finals that capture both the drama and the highlights of every night, which cumulate into a nice 40-minute feature when watched consecutively.

++++ Game 1 // Game 2 // Game 3 // Game 4 // Game 5 // Game 6

~~ Game summaries: Highlights from NBA.com (25 minutes)

++++ Game 1 // Game 2 // Game 3 // Game 4 // Game 5 // Game 6

~~ Dirk Nowitzki receiving the Finals MVP award (2 minutes)

~~ Box scores: Complete statistics from Basketball-Reference.com that cover the entire playoffs, stats leaders and much more.

++++ Complete playoff summary // Game 1 // Game 2 // Game 3 // Game 4 // Game 5 // Game 6

- 2006 NBA Finals: Heat burn the Mavs

~~ Miami Heat Championship: What seems to be the 2006 Championship DVD. (59 minutes)

++++ Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4

~~ Final minute of 2006 Finals: It is possible to watch all of Game 6 by going to the user’s channel and watching all 11 parts of the video. (9 minutes) // Watch final minute

- Bonus Features: The Mavericks

~~ NBA Stories: Dirk Nowitzki: a 25-minute special from 2008 that covers Dirk’s entire career, from his upbringing in Germany to his 50-point playoff game.

++++ Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3

~~ Mavericks 2011 Top Plays: Different Top 10 videos about the season the Mavs have had. (12 minutes)

++++ Top 10 of the season // Top 10 of the playoffs // Dirk Nowitzki Top 10 // Jason Kidd Top 10

- Bonus Features: The Heat

~~ The Decision: Somebody recorded this copy with a camera, but it’s the only complete version I could find. (37 minutes)

++++ Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Steve Carell Parody from The ESPYs

~~ Inside the HEAT: Dwyane Wade: A local TV special about Wade’s career. (23 minutes)

++++ Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4

~~ Heat 2011 Top Plays: Different Top 10 videos about the season the Heat have had. (14 minutes)

++++ Top 10 of the season // Top 10 of the playoffs //  Dwyane Wade Top 10 // LeBron James Top 10

**********************************************

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15 of the 22 “experts” went with Miami as the NBA’s elite.  God bless you Adande, Barry, Berrios, Caplan, McMahon, Sheridan and Stein.  My original prediction of Dallas in 7 clearly failed, but in a most satisfying way. // Like NBAmmkay on Facebook
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15 of the 22 “experts” went with Miami as the NBA’s elite.  God bless you Adande, Barry, Berrios, Caplan, McMahon, Sheridan and Stein.  My original prediction of Dallas in 7 clearly failed, but in a most satisfying way. // Like NBAmmkay on Facebook

Somebody knows something: The Larry O’Brien Trophy is on the premises (via AJ Adande on twitter). // Like NBAmmkay on Facebook
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Somebody knows something: The Larry O’Brien Trophy is on the premises (via AJ Adande on twitter). // Like NBAmmkay on Facebook

I have a funny feeling Dirk knew he would have a game-alteringly-bad fever of 100+ degrees before it hit him.  When he called out Jason Terry yesterday for not being clutch, he was setting tinder and kindling under him and flicking a match, in slow motion like a movie villain would as his plan unfolds. With Nowitzki putting on his No-win-ski mask for much of the first three quarters, shooting only 6 for 19 on the game, Terry had to assume more scoring responsibilities (17 points) as well as instigate some defensive action (3 steals).  When it came down the the final twelve minutes, Terry was 3-7 and as effective as I imagine Dirk was hoping for. The Burnin’ German (bad fever joke, sorry about that) was a wounded animal all game, or to use a more fun metaphor, Rocky Balboa in the fourth and greatest film in the franchise (don’t let anybody tell you otherwise about either of those labels).  Dirk/Rocky caught the black plague/got abused all game/fight, but when it mattered in the end, overcame his illness/physical inferiority and scored ten points in the fourth quarter/defeated Ivan Drago.  The only difference is that here, the giant foreigner with the fantastic haircut was the good guy. Despite getting rejected like Smalls at the sandlot by Wade, Tyson Chandler may have been the most important Maverick in this game.  He did drop 13 points, yes, but his 16 rebounds were the centerpiece of his stat line.  A lot of those rebounds were crucial tips that extended possessions, allowed for additional scoring opportunities and burned big seconds off the clock. As for the South Beach bums (not a play on their performance but on the phrase “beach bum”), LeBron James was virtually silent with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists.  Those numbers actually look pretty good, but it was noticeable watching the game that King James was not himself.  As NBAOffseason.com just-just put it, “Take it back, Scottie. RIGHT NOW.” Bosh had a big first half with 16 points, but scored half that the second half.  I forgot about his existence until I looked back over the game and remembered his first 24 minutes (and the ostrich face he makes when he screams).  It’s a given at this point in the Finals, but Wade was huge as well, scoring 32 points on 13-20 shooting and coming up with two huge blocks in the final minutes. Four non-Dirk Mavericks came up with at least 11 points to supplement the sickly Nowitzki, who knows he’ll probably have to play better if he expects to beat the Heat the next go around; 6 of 19 won’t cut the mustard.  There seems to be no stats available for Dirk’s performance in games after reaching a body temperature of 102 degrees, so I have no idea what the future of this series holds… except for the customary 10 or so fourth quarter points, Larry Bird comparisons, knee-in-your-face fadeaways and one hell of a ride. Like NBAmmkay on Facebook
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I have a funny feeling Dirk knew he would have a game-alteringly-bad fever of 100+ degrees before it hit him.  When he called out Jason Terry yesterday for not being clutch, he was setting tinder and kindling under him and flicking a match, in slow motion like a movie villain would as his plan unfolds.

With Nowitzki putting on his No-win-ski mask for much of the first three quarters, shooting only 6 for 19 on the game, Terry had to assume more scoring responsibilities (17 points) as well as instigate some defensive action (3 steals).  When it came down the the final twelve minutes, Terry was 3-7 and as effective as I imagine Dirk was hoping for.

The Burnin’ German (bad fever joke, sorry about that) was a wounded animal all game, or to use a more fun metaphor, Rocky Balboa in the fourth and greatest film in the franchise (don’t let anybody tell you otherwise about either of those labels).  Dirk/Rocky caught the black plague/got abused all game/fight, but when it mattered in the end, overcame his illness/physical inferiority and scored ten points in the fourth quarter/defeated Ivan Drago.  The only difference is that here, the giant foreigner with the fantastic haircut was the good guy.

Despite getting rejected like Smalls at the sandlot by Wade, Tyson Chandler may have been the most important Maverick in this game.  He did drop 13 points, yes, but his 16 rebounds were the centerpiece of his stat line.  A lot of those rebounds were crucial tips that extended possessions, allowed for additional scoring opportunities and burned big seconds off the clock.

As for the South Beach bums (not a play on their performance but on the phrase “beach bum”), LeBron James was virtually silent with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists.  Those numbers actually look pretty good, but it was noticeable watching the game that King James was not himself.  As NBAOffseason.com just-just put it, “Take it back, Scottie. RIGHT NOW.”

Bosh had a big first half with 16 points, but scored half that the second half.  I forgot about his existence until I looked back over the game and remembered his first 24 minutes (and the ostrich face he makes when he screams).  It’s a given at this point in the Finals, but Wade was huge as well, scoring 32 points on 13-20 shooting and coming up with two huge blocks in the final minutes.

Four non-Dirk Mavericks came up with at least 11 points to supplement the sickly Nowitzki, who knows he’ll probably have to play better if he expects to beat the Heat the next go around; 6 of 19 won’t cut the mustard.  There seems to be no stats available for Dirk’s performance in games after reaching a body temperature of 102 degrees, so I have no idea what the future of this series holds… except for the customary 10 or so fourth quarter points, Larry Bird comparisons, knee-in-your-face fadeaways and one hell of a ride.

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“They keep sticking him [LeBron] on Jet [Terry] in the fourth quarters and he’s been doing a good job. Jet hasn’t really been a crunch-time, clutch player for us the way we need him to.” -Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk recently called Terry out for not having the stones to come up big when the Mavs need him to late this series, but how much truth is behind that assertion?

Terry is shooting 2-12 from the field in the fourth quarter, which all you math majors know equals a smudge less than 25%. All of those made shots came in Dallas’ only win: Game 2, in the final period of which Terry went 2-5.

Point: trends suggest Jet’s gotta stroke it for the Mavs to have a chance tonight.

Game 4 at 9 on ABC. // Like NBAmmkay on Facebook

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Game 1: Heat 92 - Dallas 84

This is just a quick post from my iPod before bed, but I’ll share one thought: aside from poor shooting and being dominated on both ends the second half, the Mavs’ downfall was actually in their bench, whose praises I sung in my series preview. Miami’s bench outscored Dallas’ 27-17, and Terry had a weak night, going 0-3 in the second half for approximately 0 points.

My tone may suggest Dallas should feel disheartened, but let’s not forget that Miami won a game at home, exactly what they are supposed to do. Winning either of the first two games would almost be a steal for the Mavericks.

Game 2 is Thursday at 9ET on ABC.

The “Dallas not being able to keep up with the young guns because their old bones just can’t handle it” story line has been discussed and dissected to death and it has clearly been wrong thus far. If anything, the lengthy careers of Dallas’ ring-less core makes the team that much hungrier: the Mavs’ starting five have played for a combined 58 NBA seasons without a championship, and among active players, Jason Kidd has played the most playoffs games without a title. The fine folks over at ESPN and every other sports news outlet have been hearkening back to the ‘06 Finals, which also pitted the Mavericks against the Heat.  In my opinion, the 2006 Miami Heat have one of the worst rosters that ever won an NBA championship: The Blob Formerly Known as Antoine Walker was their fourth leading scorer!  Their third leading scorer: Jason Williams, and not the awesome Sacramento White Chocolate version either (sweet old Jason Williams mix). For Dirk, losing to that subpar Heat team after finishing the season with a 60-22 record must have felt like a slap in the face from the basketball gods, whether or not he’ll admit it.  The big angry German inside him wants to crush those who called him “No-win-ski” and smoke a championship cigar in front of a roaring fire and a LeBron-skin rug.  Oh, how sweet victory would be. I assume that members of the Miami Heat would also enjoy winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy.  LeBron wants to shut up the critics.  I’m sure LeBron browses tumblr often enough and sees photoshopped pictures of him whining enough to know that people don’t particularly care for him.  What better way to hush the angry masses than earning a ring that reads, “I am the best at what I do, as evidenced by this elegant piece of jewelry.  Now quiet down so I can wash the champagne out of my hair”? The only thing that feels better than winning your first title is winning your second, and Dwyane Wade knows this: Shaq probably told him or something, I don’t know.  More importantly, the whole team has banded together and feels a sense of urgency to help Erick Dampier finally win that ring he deserves. Mmkay, that was fun, let’s have a look at the positional match-ups in an attempt to quantify an advantage for either side: PG: Jason Kidd > Mike Bibby Jason Kidd is third all-time in regular season triple doubles (107) and second in playoffs triple-doubles (11).  Jason Kidd has taken his teams to the post-season in each of the past 14 seasons.  Jason Kidd is third all-time in made threes (interesting note: current teammate Peja Stojakovic is 4th.  Bottoms up!).  Jason Kidd is second all-time in career assists and third in career playoff assists.  Jason Kidd is averaging about 10 points and 8 assists in these playoffs, close to his career averages. Mike Bibby averages 3.6 points and 1.2 assists this postseason, and with that I conclude my unnecessarily-robust explanation about what we already know: advantage to the Mavs. SG: DeShawn Stevenson Jason Terry < Dwyane Wade Yeah yeah, Stevenson is the “starter,” but we all know what’s up.  It is very clear that Dwyane Wade is the superior player here, so I’m not even going to cite any numbers to prove myself. I would like to use this time to say something: I just realized that the Mavs got Terry (and Alan Henderson and a 1st-round pick) in a 2004 trade for Antoine Walker and Tony Delk.  Fast-forward to today: Terry is a key component of a potential championship team.  As for Antoine: Walker is a key component of the Idaho Stampede… yes, the NBA Development League team. Oh yes, by the way, Advantage to the Heat. SF: Shawn Marion < LeBron James According to the NBA.com StatsCube, not only does Shawn Marion’s presence fail to slow LeBron down, it makes him better.  In the 34 minutes that Marion and LeBron were on the court together this season (I’m assuming with Marion guarding LeBron for many of those minutes), LeBron’s scoring jumps to almost 35 points per 36 minutes, compared to his regular average of 24.8.  On the other hand, his field goal percentage also drops to 38%, compared to 51%. Extrapolate from those numbers whatever analysis you may, but it’s still obviously clear that this matchup presents an Advantage to the Heat. PF: Dirk Nowitzki > Chris Bosh Basically, we have this: …versus this: …advantage to the Mavs. C: Tyson Chandler > Joel Anthony Tyson Chandler has almost twice as much playoff experience as Anthony (47 games to 26).  Despite that, I’m gonna have to go with Joel Anthony here.  He may be giving up four inches, four points and four rebounds per game… couldn’t keep myself composed, of course Chandler is superior.  Both guys are probably the worst starters on their teams, but the disparity is not nearly as extreme.  The difference between Dirk and Chandler compared to that between LeBron and Anthony?  Sounds like a lot of… (image from fapitalism) Advantage to the Mavs BENCH: Mavericks > Heat Counting Stevenson as part of the bench, the Mavs can practically field a second starting lineup that is more than capable of holding most teams off: J.J. Barea at point guard, Stevenson at the 2, Peja at the 3, Corey Brewer at the 4 (given, they don’t use him that much) and Haywood at center. How much do the Heat rely on their bench?  When it mattered, in the final game of the Bulls series, Miami went three players deep, giving minutes to Haslem, Miller and Chalmers.  Four players received a DNP - Coach’s Decision. Advantage to the Mavs. The final tally we have reached puts Dallas ahead 4-2. Miami lost both games against the Mavericks this season, but as my Celtics learned the hard way, LeBron and company are a different beast in the playoffs. Regardless, I think the Mavs are capable of defending Miami, especially down low with Chandler’s ape arms hanging out near the rim, and Dallas also has a giant edge in long range shooting. I guess it comes down to which versions of Wade and LeBron (and even Bosh) show up: the clutch ones that destroyed the Bulls’ hopes with a 10-2 run in just over a minute last series, or the whiney pretty boys who do photoshoots for Maxim. The last time the Heat beat the Mavericks in any kind of game, Steve “The Crocodile Hunter” Irwin was still alive.  That game took place on June 20, 2006: the deciding game of the NBA Finals.  Goodness, that certainly makes things interesting, doesn’t it? With all this up in the air, I predict the Mavericks will be our NBA champs after a grueling seven-game series, half because of my love for Dirk/disdain for LeBron and half because I think Nowitzki has a few goodies left in his bag of tricks. The NBA Finals start on Tuesday night at 9ET on ABC. I am going to be away for a few days, so I’ll have a few posts queued up, but I’ll start writing again on Thursday or Friday.  Thanks for reading, and be sure to like NBAmmkay on Facebook.
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The “Dallas not being able to keep up with the young guns because their old bones just can’t handle it” story line has been discussed and dissected to death and it has clearly been wrong thus far.

If anything, the lengthy careers of Dallas’ ring-less core makes the team that much hungrier: the Mavs’ starting five have played for a combined 58 NBA seasons without a championship, and among active players, Jason Kidd has played the most playoffs games without a title.

The fine folks over at ESPN and every other sports news outlet have been hearkening back to the ‘06 Finals, which also pitted the Mavericks against the Heat.  In my opinion, the 2006 Miami Heat have one of the worst rosters that ever won an NBA championship: The Blob Formerly Known as Antoine Walker was their fourth leading scorer!  Their third leading scorer: Jason Williams, and not the awesome Sacramento White Chocolate version either (sweet old Jason Williams mix).

For Dirk, losing to that subpar Heat team after finishing the season with a 60-22 record must have felt like a slap in the face from the basketball gods, whether or not he’ll admit it.  The big angry German inside him wants to crush those who called him “No-win-ski” and smoke a championship cigar in front of a roaring fire and a LeBron-skin rug.  Oh, how sweet victory would be.

I assume that members of the Miami Heat would also enjoy winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy.  LeBron wants to shut up the critics.  I’m sure LeBron browses tumblr often enough and sees photoshopped pictures of him whining enough to know that people don’t particularly care for him.  What better way to hush the angry masses than earning a ring that reads, “I am the best at what I do, as evidenced by this elegant piece of jewelry.  Now quiet down so I can wash the champagne out of my hair”?

The only thing that feels better than winning your first title is winning your second, and Dwyane Wade knows this: Shaq probably told him or something, I don’t know.  More importantly, the whole team has banded together and feels a sense of urgency to help Erick Dampier finally win that ring he deserves.

Mmkay, that was fun, let’s have a look at the positional match-ups in an attempt to quantify an advantage for either side:

PG: Jason Kidd > Mike Bibby

Jason Kidd is third all-time in regular season triple doubles (107) and second in playoffs triple-doubles (11).  Jason Kidd has taken his teams to the post-season in each of the past 14 seasons.  Jason Kidd is third all-time in made threes (interesting note: current teammate Peja Stojakovic is 4th.  Bottoms up!).  Jason Kidd is second all-time in career assists and third in career playoff assists.  Jason Kidd is averaging about 10 points and 8 assists in these playoffs, close to his career averages.

Mike Bibby averages 3.6 points and 1.2 assists this postseason, and with that I conclude my unnecessarily-robust explanation about what we already know: advantage to the Mavs.

SG: DeShawn Stevenson Jason Terry < Dwyane Wade

Yeah yeah, Stevenson is the “starter,” but we all know what’s up.  It is very clear that Dwyane Wade is the superior player here, so I’m not even going to cite any numbers to prove myself.

I would like to use this time to say something: I just realized that the Mavs got Terry (and Alan Henderson and a 1st-round pick) in a 2004 trade for Antoine Walker and Tony Delk.  Fast-forward to today: Terry is a key component of a potential championship team.  As for Antoine:

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Walker is a key component of the Idaho Stampede… yes, the NBA Development League team.

Oh yes, by the way, Advantage to the Heat.

SF: Shawn Marion < LeBron James

According to the NBA.com StatsCube, not only does Shawn Marion’s presence fail to slow LeBron down, it makes him better.  In the 34 minutes that Marion and LeBron were on the court together this season (I’m assuming with Marion guarding LeBron for many of those minutes), LeBron’s scoring jumps to almost 35 points per 36 minutes, compared to his regular average of 24.8.  On the other hand, his field goal percentage also drops to 38%, compared to 51%.

Extrapolate from those numbers whatever analysis you may, but it’s still obviously clear that this matchup presents an Advantage to the Heat.

PF: Dirk Nowitzki > Chris Bosh

Basically, we have this:

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…versus this:

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…advantage to the Mavs.

C: Tyson Chandler > Joel Anthony

Tyson Chandler has almost twice as much playoff experience as Anthony (47 games to 26).  Despite that, I’m gonna have to go with Joel Anthony here.  He may be giving up four inches, four points and four rebounds per game… couldn’t keep myself composed, of course Chandler is superior.  Both guys are probably the worst starters on their teams, but the disparity is not nearly as extreme.  The difference between Dirk and Chandler compared to that between LeBron and Anthony?  Sounds like a lot of… image (image from fapitalism)

Advantage to the Mavs

BENCH: Mavericks > Heat

Counting Stevenson as part of the bench, the Mavs can practically field a second starting lineup that is more than capable of holding most teams off: J.J. Barea at point guard, Stevenson at the 2, Peja at the 3, Corey Brewer at the 4 (given, they don’t use him that much) and Haywood at center.

How much do the Heat rely on their bench?  When it mattered, in the final game of the Bulls series, Miami went three players deep, giving minutes to Haslem, Miller and Chalmers.  Four players received a DNP - Coach’s Decision.

Advantage to the Mavs.

The final tally we have reached puts Dallas ahead 4-2.

Miami lost both games against the Mavericks this season, but as my Celtics learned the hard way, LeBron and company are a different beast in the playoffs.

Regardless, I think the Mavs are capable of defending Miami, especially down low with Chandler’s ape arms hanging out near the rim, and Dallas also has a giant edge in long range shooting.

I guess it comes down to which versions of Wade and LeBron (and even Bosh) show up: the clutch ones that destroyed the Bulls’ hopes with a 10-2 run in just over a minute last series, or the whiney pretty boys who do photoshoots for Maxim.

The last time the Heat beat the Mavericks in any kind of game, Steve “The Crocodile Hunter” Irwin was still alive.  That game took place on June 20, 2006: the deciding game of the NBA Finals.  Goodness, that certainly makes things interesting, doesn’t it?

With all this up in the air, I predict the Mavericks will be our NBA champs after a grueling seven-game series, half because of my love for Dirk/disdain for LeBron and half because I think Nowitzki has a few goodies left in his bag of tricks.

The NBA Finals start on Tuesday night at 9ET on ABC.

I am going to be away for a few days, so I’ll have a few posts queued up, but I’ll start writing again on Thursday or Friday.  Thanks for reading, and be sure to like NBAmmkay on Facebook.

In honor of the fabulous season the Thunder have had, here are Durant’s top 10 plays from this past season (couldn’t find a team top 10 video, this’ll do).

Dallas won tonight’s game (again, from behind) 100-96 and wins the series 4-1, advancing to the NBA Finals against the winner of MIA/CHI.

GAME 5 BOX SCORE

Benches coming up big this game: Harden with 16, Barea with 11, Terry with 8. Second half coming up soon on ESPN
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Benches coming up big this game: Harden with 16, Barea with 11, Terry with 8.

Second half coming up soon on ESPN

Oklahoma City dominated the Mavs all game; on the boards, shooting from the field, blocked shots.  In fact, Dallas only got their first lead with 4:44 left in overtime.  So how did Dallas come away with a 3-1 series lead after all this? The big moments got lodged in the throats of Durant and Westbrook, and they choked on them.  To compare their performances to Dallas&#8217; top two scorers tonight (Dirk and Terry), OKC&#8217;s pair combined for 16 of 44 from the field, a mere 36%, while the Dallas duo shot 19 for 39, connecting on 48% of their shot attempts. Here&#8217;s the kicker: KD and Russ combined for 15 turnovers, while Jason Kidd, DeShawn Stevenson, Tyson Chandler, Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Marion, Jason Terry, Brendan Haywood, Peja Stojakovic and J.J. Barea (yes, every Dallas Maverick who played) had only 13. Dirk was amazing as he has been all postseason, dropping 40 points on 12-20 shooting and prompting this masculinity-crushing post from me. The Thunder had not lost back-to-back games all postseason until tonight.  Portions of the normally faithful Oklahoma crowd were seen leaving early, which may just foreshadow Oklahoma City&#8217;s exit from the playoffs.  As Mike Breen said on-air, this was truly &#8220;a crushing defeat for the young Thunder.&#8221; BOX SCORE Like NBAmmkay on Facebook
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Oklahoma City dominated the Mavs all game; on the boards, shooting from the field, blocked shots.  In fact, Dallas only got their first lead with 4:44 left in overtime.  So how did Dallas come away with a 3-1 series lead after all this?

The big moments got lodged in the throats of Durant and Westbrook, and they choked on them.  To compare their performances to Dallas’ top two scorers tonight (Dirk and Terry), OKC’s pair combined for 16 of 44 from the field, a mere 36%, while the Dallas duo shot 19 for 39, connecting on 48% of their shot attempts.

Here’s the kicker: KD and Russ combined for 15 turnovers, while Jason Kidd, DeShawn Stevenson, Tyson Chandler, Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Marion, Jason Terry, Brendan Haywood, Peja Stojakovic and J.J. Barea (yes, every Dallas Maverick who played) had only 13.

Dirk was amazing as he has been all postseason, dropping 40 points on 12-20 shooting and prompting this masculinity-crushing post from me.

The Thunder had not lost back-to-back games all postseason until tonight.  Portions of the normally faithful Oklahoma crowd were seen leaving early, which may just foreshadow Oklahoma City’s exit from the playoffs.  As Mike Breen said on-air, this was truly “a crushing defeat for the young Thunder.”

BOX SCORE

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Amen, nailed it. Game 3 tonight at 9ET on ESPN.
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Amen, nailed it.

Game 3 tonight at 9ET on ESPN.

At halftime, I made a crazy post about random nothingness, and one thing I mentioned was how the last time Dirk had a 48+ point playoff game, he scored about half as much the next game.  I thought I had uncovered a real Kirkgem until the fourth quarter rolled around, in which Dirk came up big (ending up with 29 total) and almost led Dallas to victory in a real hamster-cage-cleaner (some people bite nails, I deal with nerves differently). Cheers to Scott Brooks for playing his bench-plus-Durant lineup for most of the fourth quarter.  Ballsy move to bench Westbrook, who must have been fuming inside while also realizing that the arrangement was what was working at the time. Thanks to KD&#8217;s 24 and James Harden&#8217;s (who from now on will be known as Black Galifianakis) 23 off the bench, the series is tied 1-1.
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At halftime, I made a crazy post about random nothingness, and one thing I mentioned was how the last time Dirk had a 48+ point playoff game, he scored about half as much the next game.  I thought I had uncovered a real Kirkgem until the fourth quarter rolled around, in which Dirk came up big (ending up with 29 total) and almost led Dallas to victory in a real hamster-cage-cleaner (some people bite nails, I deal with nerves differently).

Cheers to Scott Brooks for playing his bench-plus-Durant lineup for most of the fourth quarter.  Ballsy move to bench Westbrook, who must have been fuming inside while also realizing that the arrangement was what was working at the time.

Thanks to KD’s 24 and James Harden’s (who from now on will be known as Black Galifianakis) 23 off the bench, the series is tied 1-1.

So Dirk had a solid night last game.  With one game, he resparked the Larry Bird comparisons and legitimized Rick Carlisle&#8217;s claims of his top 10 talent.  The thing after a game like that is, now what?  Where do you go from there? 9ET, ESPN. photo from punkwithtoms.  This is a quality picture with great caption potential, so go ahead and leave your best ones in the comments.
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So Dirk had a solid night last game.  With one game, he resparked the Larry Bird comparisons and legitimized Rick Carlisle’s claims of his top 10 talent.  The thing after a game like that is, now what?  Where do you go from there?

9ET, ESPN.

photo from punkwithtoms.  This is a quality picture with great caption potential, so go ahead and leave your best ones in the comments.

With the energy of the Dallas crowd and the this-is-the-Mavericks&#8217;-night vibe of the fourth quarter, there was no way they were losing this game, even with OKC being within ten points for most of the quarter. KD went for 40 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, but Dirk was that guy at the party who always has a better story than yours.  Dirk scored 48 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and got 4 assists.  Here&#8217;s the kicker: he got all those points on only 15 shots.  Dude went 24 of 24 from the foul line, breaking a playoff record for most free throws without a miss. As far as efficiency, technically speaking, Dirk was not the tops.  That would be JJ Barea, who scored 21 points in 16 minutes off the bench, which is about 1.3 points per minute. &#8230;I don&#8217;t have anything to say about Oklahoma City&#8230; As for my series prediction, boom, Dallas in 6. BOX SCORE
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With the energy of the Dallas crowd and the this-is-the-Mavericks’-night vibe of the fourth quarter, there was no way they were losing this game, even with OKC being within ten points for most of the quarter.

KD went for 40 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, but Dirk was that guy at the party who always has a better story than yours.  Dirk scored 48 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and got 4 assists.  Here’s the kicker: he got all those points on only 15 shots.  Dude went 24 of 24 from the foul line, breaking a playoff record for most free throws without a miss.

As far as efficiency, technically speaking, Dirk was not the tops.  That would be JJ Barea, who scored 21 points in 16 minutes off the bench, which is about 1.3 points per minute.

…I don’t have anything to say about Oklahoma City…

As for my series prediction, boom, Dallas in 6.

BOX SCORE