If you are a Dallas Mavericks fan, I don't know if there's a more hated and frightening athlete than Dwyane Wade. After owning the Mavs completely during the 2006 finals, Wade is again putting on a show in these finals. Wade and LeBron have been sharing the leadership role and the limelight throughout the season for the Miami Heat. But it became more and more LeBron's team as the season progressed and he was impressive during the earlier round of the playoffs. Now, it's almost like Dwayne Wade telling him "step aside son. These are the finals and I got this". I don't know if it's because it's the finals, a stage more comfortable for Wade than to LeBron or is it because it's the Dallas Mavericks, but Wade is dominating right now. Mavs fan would kill him if they could. He won game 2 pretty much on his own. Nowitzki did all he could, but Wade has got much more help around him and the talent once again showed. On some days, Heat just have too much talent on offense and that's all they need. Can you imagine double teaming Wade only to see the ball goto LeBron James? As if that's not enough to give a defense nightmares, LeBron can then swing the ball to Bosh if he gets closed out. Bosh is a terrific offensive talent himself and he is option number 3 on this team. This scenario played out exactly like this towards the end of game 2 and Bosh nailed an important bucket. Nowitzki kept the Mavs rolling all by himself, but fell one makable jump-shot short.
The series is at 2-1 in favor of the Heat and I would be stating the obvious if I mention that the momentum is on their side now. They won home court back and they now know that the series will go back to Miami. So they won't get eliminated on the road and Dallas has to win 1, if not 2 at Miami. One is hard, but doable. 2 is almost impossible considering that it also mens they will have to win game 7 on the road. The win in game 2 no doubt makes Miami the favorites now, but these 2 teams are so close! This has really been a great and competitive finals and it will continue to stay that way. Both game 2 and 3 were decided by 2 points and it's hard to say which team is better and by how much. Miami is clearly the more talented team, but they have enough weaknesses too. So Dallas clearly has a shot and they have to focus on winning games 4 and 5 at home. The games in Miami will be difficult but then again, who said winning a NBA championship is easy? Nowitzki better stay ready to continue his brilliant run. He needs help and Jason Terry better give it to him starting tomorrow. This series will be difficult for Dallas without a solid contribution from Terry. Kidd, Barea, Marion and Chandler can help too, but it's been Terry sharing the load at the offensive end for several years now, he can't disappear now. Dirk needs him and if his threes start falling, this will be a different series altogether. Miami is shooting the long ball better than Dallas right now and that's not a winning blueprint for Dallas. They need to shoot the 3-ball better and it starts with Terry. Otherwise, the only interesting discussion coming out of these finals would be who is better and more important for the Heat - Wade or LeBron? Many pundits are leaning towards Wade these days.
In other sports news not related to the NBA finals, Shaq retired. He will be missed. I was not a big fan of his game nor his teams, especially the Lakers, but I was a big fan of his quotes. The best might have been "“Our offense is like the Pythagorean Theorem. There is no answer.” He was truly funny. He had a unique personality and sense of humor. He was dominant on the court and charming off it. He really had a shot at winning more than 4 rings, but 4 is his final tally. Hard to call him an under-achiever, but he was to some extent given his enormous physical tools. I am sure he will be on TV soon. I wonder if he unseats Barkley as the most edgy and funny personality on sports TV. It may be real fun to see them both in the same studio booth. In MLB, I was surprised by the vitriolic reaction of San Francisco's GM Brian Sabean to Scott Cousins plowing into Buster Posey at the plate and ending his season. I know the Giants need Buster and Sabean is just sticking up for his guy, but for him to say he wouldn't mind if Scott Cousins never played another game again was too hateful and classless. First of all, Cousins did nothing wrong. May be the MLB needs to do more to protect the catchers and eliminate those collisions, but thats unfortunately part of the game today and has been going on for 100 years! Cousins didn't do anything that hundreds and thousands of baseball players before him didn't do. There are some idiots in rec-league softball who try to level the catcher! So chill out Sabes, I always thought he had an "holier than thou" attitude and he took that to a whole another level with this stupid interview. I am glad he is getting reprimanded and is forced to apologize for his idiocy.
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