What Game 2 Has Taught Us

Alright, it has been over 12 hours since we saw the collapse of Miami and the comeback of Dallas in Game 2.And for those who thought there was going to be a sweep, how do you like them apples now? I told you there was NOT going to be a sweep. However, we collectively had learned some new things from Game 2 that we did learn from Game 1.

First of all, let's recap what we learned from Game 1 and see how it applied to Game 2:

1. MIAMI'S HALF-COURT OFFENSE IS KINDA TRAGIC
Miami's half-court offense is not kind of tragic. It is tragic. Sometimes, it's downright vile to watch. In the frst of Game 2, they were hitting the most outrageous jump shots with the shot clock expiring without consequence. But the last 7 minutes of the fourth quarter, all of those mind-blogging shots were bricks and wasted possessions. And not to beat a dead dog, Dallas stepped up their defensive intensity which helped their case. For Miami to win at least one of the next 3 games in Dallas, they must use their athleticism to their advantage and continue to push the ball to get easy buckets. Because as we saw in Game 2, half-court offense execution is NOT their forte.
2. DALLAS MUST TAKE CARE OF THE BALL
Dallas turn the ball over 18 times and Miami had 15 steals. From the sounds of this, Miami should have won, right? Wrong. In the last 7 minutes, Dallas committed one turnover and Miami were not able to get points of it. In 3 in a half quarters on this game, it seems as if Dallas was passing the ball to Miami for their own personal highlight reel. Miami had 9 dunks in Game 2 off of Dallas's carelessness with the ball. If Dallas wants to win this series, they cannot bank on late game heroics all the time. Just because you did before does not mean that it should become a habit.
3. THE BENCH ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PLAYERS ON THE COURT
In Game 1, the Miami bench outscored the Dallas bench 27 to 17 and won. Dallas bench outscored Miami 21 to 11 and Dallas won. I do believe that this will be a trend for the rest of the series.

Okay, now that we have recapped how we learned in Game 1 applied to Game 2, let's discuss what Game 2 has taught us:

1. MIAMI STILL HAS NOT FULLY LEARNED OUT TO CLOSE A GAME OUT.
With 7 miuntes to go in the game, Miami had a 15 point lead and Dallas had to call timeout. After that timeout was called, Dallas only had one more timeout left and even Magic Johnson said that this game is over. But it wasn't, because Miami reverted back to poor habits that had them losing against winning teams when it was decided by less than 5 points. Sure, Miami has veteran players, but together, they are young in term of being a team. If anything, Miami should know that what you do to get a lead is how you keep a lead. And they lost because they were acting as if the game was over when there were 7 minutes left and Dallas has came back on teams in these 2010-11 playoffs. Besides, they ought to be ashamed of themselves for letting dirk hit the game winning shot when they had a foul to give. Now that lack of focus was quite tragic.
2. THE ONLY PERSON THAT CAN STOP DIRK IS DIRK
For about 3 and a half quarters, Shawn Marion was Dallas' offensive stopgap until Dirk decided he wanted to be Dirk. He scored the last 9 points for Dallas to win the game. In previous years, when the game was on the line, Dirk would disappear on both sides of the floor. But not last night, Dirk led the team not only in points but in rebounds as well. He showed up when it matter shooting left handed floaters(yes left handed) and knocking down one go ahead 3 point shot when until Jason Terry left Mario Chalmers wide open. Dirk showed up and there wasn't nobody who could stop him but himself.
3. MIAMI IS WADE'S TEAM
I said Miami is Wade's team. I repeat, MIAMI IS WADE'S TEAM. Out of their Big 3, who has a ring? Dwyane Wade. Who was on Miami before Chris Bosh and LeBron James? Dwyane Wade. Who was a NBA Finals MVP out of that Big 3? Dwyane Tyrone Wade. And Miami is his team. Chris Bosh and LeBron left their teams to join Dwyane on HIS team. He is the one who has gone to the NBA Finals and got a ring. Dwyane was the one in Game 2 making all the right decisions by leading his team in assists and points. He had 36 points by the middle of the fourth quarter and did not touch the ballthe rest the quarter except for the shot clock ending jump shots. Miami is not going to win the series if Dwyane Tyrone Wade is the second option, seriously.

Well, I gotta go for now...