NBA Playoffs

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Obviously other factors contributed to the result, but in basketball, more than any other sport, the final stages of the game are of extreme importance. What you do when the game is hanging in the balance decides your fate in the NBA playoffs more often than not. The Mavs did just about everything right late in games and the Heat did just about everything wrong. The other angles are nice, but the fourth quarter performance decided this series. The Mavs owned it.

I think its safe to say Lebron played more minutes than anyone else in that series. In the process, he spent a good deal of time covering Jason Terry while Dirk got to cover Mike Miller or Udonis Haslem or whatever stiff the Heat threw out there.

Dirk got to play in a real offense that actually ran sets and got him shots in spots where he was comfortable (which he nailed!). Lebron had to improvise while being chased by three guys that wouldn't just "show" most of the time while playing in an offense devoid of any sets.

Lebron is still trying to figure out his role in conjunction with Wade and his other teammates. Dirk is the undisputed Alpha on his team and despite some of the new additions, they all know they have to play off of dirk.

Dirk is playing on a team with a coach that played for an NBA dynasty and has earned is stripes as a professional while coaching some pretty decent playoff teams. Lebron is on a team with a coach that never played pro ball and got his break because of his daddy.

Dirk delivered this year (unlike other years) and I was ecstatic to see the heat lose. I really do not like them and i think they set a poor example. At the same time, is it not fair to say that Dirk was set up a little better to succeed than Lebron was here?