NBA Christmas Day Thoughts: Miami Heat at Dallas Mavericks

Columns, Top Story

Heat 105 – Mavericks 94

 

Was anyone surprised by this result?  The Mavericks were getting their rings and the Heat were seething – it was just a question of motivation.  Lebron and Wade dominated on both ends of the court, simply eating up the Mavs at will.  We knew they’d do that, so the other players become more interesting.  Rookie Norris Cole looked legitimately impressive and should be starting by year’s end, especially with Mario Chalmers unimpressive, but the real note is Chris Bosh disappeared again on national television.  Since the Heat won so big, no one will complain, but it bears watching.

 

No one on the Mavs but Jason Terry showed up for this game.  Dirk Nowitzki was suddenly bothered by the Heat’s length to a poor shooting night, as was just about every other member of this squad.  Dirk, Marion and Odom should have had the length and athleticism to bother the Heat’s big 2, but just didn’t seem tow ant to be bothered.  Fair enough, but what that means is we can take almost nothing away from this game for the Mavs except that perhaps the championship hangover, just happy to have won it, feeling will make this team less than expected.

 

  • Lamar Odom was way too out of control.  His ejection was no surprise, and when he was in, he wasn’t helping the Mavericks.  He’s a better player than that, and hopefully will settle down when the spotlight of national TV died down.

 

  • Jason Terry has always fed on his confidence.  With that soaring after the title, James Harden or no James Harden, Terry is the favorite for 6th man of the year.

 

  • Roddy Beaubois is going to need to show a lot more to take JJ Barea’s minutes.  He can be a star, but for now he really needs to be instant offense and mismatches.  One would expect more of him, especially in garbage time.

 

  • Dirk should probably pass out of triple teams, and shouldn’t the Mavs have a had a huge advantage both that way and on defense by simply using Dirk, Marion and Odom together?  It’s not like Joel Anthony needs to be accounted for offensively.

 

  • Udonis Haslem, not Shane Battier who got a whole 4-minutes, and not Mike Miller, hurt again, will be the key to the Heat’s season.  Anthony plays well with the starters defensively, but Haslem does that and adds another element offensively.  He’s more aggressive than Bosh most of the time.

 

  • I know everyone’s in a rush to crown the Heat as champions after this drubbing, but the Mavs didn’t close out on 3’s and barely tried to get back on breaks.  This game doesn’t tell us as much as most seem to think

 

Glazer is a former senior editor at Pulse Wrestling and editor and reviewer at The Comics Nexus.