Did you feel like everywhere you turned since Game Four’s conclusion was met with an arm-chair sports’ psychologist offering their diagnosis for what exactly it was that’s wrong with Miami Heat’s LeBron James? Well, prepare yourself for more of that today.
Like a ton more.
I imagine James’ marketing firm will be sending out a press release highlighting the fact that in the biggest game of his life – a “now or never” moment – James posted a triple double. They won’t mention, however, that he didn’t register an assist or rebound in the final six minutes of the game while turning it over twice during that stretch though I’m guessing. Nor do I think the fact that he went one for four from the field overall in that final period, making it four straight games in a row with two points or less for James in the 4th, will garner much of a mention either.
What everyone has to admit though, including LRMR, is that Dirk’s crew took Game Five by way of an offensive explosion coupled with timely defensive stops. They’ve left themselves in a position to close these “Heatles” out on Sunday, for what will be as highly anticipated a Game Six as I can recall.
The details on the latest in an absolutely thrilling NBA Finals series are as follows:
Game Five: Miami Heat vs. Dallas Mavericks, American Airline Center
- Final Score: Mavericks 112 – Heat 103
- Dwayne Wade got dinged up early, went to the locker, and ended up staying there as the second half began. Which wasn’t exactly the scenario the Heat had in mind when they talked about ways to get LeBron James more touches heading into game number five. Wade finished with 23 points and 8 assists in 34 minutes, but he was noticeably pressing down the stretch as he tried to answer a late Mavericks rally while battling through some pain. Dallas proved too tough though, and going 13 of 19 from three point land was a big reason why. Jason Terry stepped up and offered the kill-shot in that department with 30 seconds to go as he connected on his 21st points of the game over an outstretched arm of LeBron James. He followed that with his JET airplane celebration thing too, which for the first time ever appeared both cool and warranted to me. Jason Eugene Terry did his damage in 30 minutes on 8 of 12 shooting, and he has now outscored LeBron16 – 2 in the last two 4th quarters combined.
- Mavericks – Nowitzki: 29 points (9-18 FG, 10-10 FT), 6 rebounds
- Heat – Chris Bosh: 19 points, 10 rebounds
- Key Stats: Bosh, Wade, and LeBron each had four turnovers and no individual Maverick had more than three. The Heat finished with 16 TO’s as a team as compared to only 11 on the Dallas side. That’s five possessions, 10 points, and Miami lost by nine. J.J. Barea started over DeShawn Stevenson and responded well in that role. Barea went for 17 points and 5 assists, his best game in the series.
- “I don’t talk about injury,” Wade said afterward. “The first half I had to leave the game, I came back and I finished. I don’t have no excuses. I’ll be fine Sunday.”
- “This is a shot-making team,” Spoelstra said. “We were aware of that before we came into this series.”
- “It’s just like being out on the playground in Seattle,” Terry said. “Rise up and knock it down.”
- ”We didn’t want to go to Miami and give them basically two shots to close us out. So we kept plugging there in the fourth. So definitely a big win for us,” Nowitzki said. ”And now we have to go down there and basically approach Sunday’s game as Game 7.”
- Game 6 is this Sunday night at 8PM ET in Miami on ABC
