DALLAS — The passes were on target, the shots were falling and the defense made things tough on the other guys. The Dallas Mavericks played their best stretch of the NBA Finals at the end of Game 2, pulling off a rally that reshaped the title series.
Now they have to keep it going.
The Mavericks go into Game 3 tonight feeling good about themselves because of the way the last game ended and because they will be back home. They also know that to win their first championship, they have to play more like they did down the stretch of the last game — and less like they did in the 7 1/2 quarters that preceded it.
“We just can’t let up,” Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki said Saturday. “We’re not good enough to just relax.”
Although the best-of-seven series is tied 1-1, the Heat has been the better team for longer stretches. Take it quarter by quarter. Dallas has won only two of the eight: 17-16 in an ugly first period of the series opener and 24-18 in the Mavs’ glorious finish to Game 2.
Check out the biggest leads for each team. Miami was up by 12 points in the opener and by 15 before its collapse in Game 2. The Mavericks’ widest advantage in either game was nine.
Then there are the bad habits Dallas has gotten into in each game. In the opener, it was watching the Heat grab 16 of its misses, leading to it taking 13 more shots than the Mavs. Dallas cleaned that up in Game 2, only to spring another leak with 20 turnovers; Miami turned them into 31 points.
“It’s very unusual to win a game the way we did in Game 2,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “That kind of template is not going to hold up in this series long term. We know that.”
The Mavericks also can’t expect to duplicate their performance over the last 7:14 of Game 2.
That would be tough to do on a video game. After all, Dallas made nine of its last 10 shots while forcing Miami to miss nine in a row and 10 of 11.
But the Mavs can do some of the things they did right in that stretch. The main thing is playing more of their “flow” offense, which is basically freelancing, except that veteran Jason Kidd is orchestrating it all.
When Dallas was in its set offense, Miami did a good job of covering everyone, no matter how often the Mavericks passed the ball. And there were many times when they just kept passing because nobody felt open enough to shoot.
When Dallas is “flowing,” there’s less predictability because even the Mavericks don’t know what they are going to do. Kidd looks at the matchups and figures out the best way to attack. If the Heat is playing double-team defense on Nowitzki, he will throw it elsewhere. Whoever gets it will have an open shot or pass it again so someone else does. Once the Mavs got going, room opened up.
Of all aspects of the Game 2 finish, this is the one Dallas has the best chance of picking up where it left off, especially if Jason Terry found his stroke. He was 4-of-16 for the series before making all three shots he took during the winning rally.
“We understand how to play off one another,” Kidd said. “What happened in those seven minutes, we started to play like we did when we were playing the Lakers, and also Oklahoma City, where we weren’t calling plays and we were just playing.”
Neither team has yet to play a full game it can be proud of. Game 3 is a great place to start considering the history of series tied at 1-1 since the NBA went to 2-3-2 format; all 11 winners have been crowned the champions.
Heat vs. Mavericks
Best-of-seven series is tied 1-1 All games on KMGH-7
Tuesday: Miami 94, Dallas 82
Thursday: Dallas 95, Miami 93
Today: At Dallas, 6 p.m.
Tuesday: At Dallas, 7 p.m.
Thursday: At Dallas, 7 p.m.
June 12: At Miami, 6 p.m.*
June 14: At Miami, 7 p.m.*
* – if necessary
