2011 NBA Finals: Dallas Mavericks v. Miami Heat

[SteelersFreak]

Quote: Originally Posted by lilbiggio

I'm not saying you don't matchup well but really this has been the question all postseason long. Who's guarding LeBron? Who's going to guard Wade? Who's guarding Bosh? Bosh will be a non factor this series to me because of Chandler's defensive presence, but Dallas is going to lose one of the other two matchups. I also think J.J. is going to be a non factor this series. I'm predicting the Miami Heat's offense will force the hand of Dallas, and some of the guys that have been pulling the Mavs through the earlier rounds are going to have to sit on the bench because they will become liabilities out on the court.

Marion, Kidd, Stevenson, and Terry are all solid defenders. Obviously LeBron and Wade aren't going to get shut down, but all the Mavs have to do is slow them down enough to let the Mavs offense do their work.

I think JJ is absolutely going to have an impact in this series. They're going to match him up with Bibby and JJ will have his way with him. JJ works off pick and rolls regardless and he's already proven he can get his shots off around shot blockers like Ibaka, he shouldn't have a problem against Miami.

[SuperBowlNachos]

Semi off topic, but who started this "unguardable" phrase? I'm not sure I had ever heard Dirk referred to as unguardable before the playoffs started. Now everyone says it.

Anyways, I wonder what the referees mindset will be for this series. Hopefully they let them play and it won't be a repeat of any previous events.

[Marino]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheMatrix31

Dallas has two world-class individual defenders in Marion and Kidd. DeShawn is also pretty good, and Chandler down low is solid. I'm not worried about them defensively. Even Dirk's defensive deficiencies are overblown.

Miami has two world class defenders in Wade and LeBron, so it should be fun. I don't think Miami can stop Dirk, but maybe let him go off and shut down the 3 point shooters.

[KSUowls]

Speaking of refs. Can we get the crew that did the Lakers-Nuggets (I think it was the Nuggets) crew from a couple years ago. It was a very physical series and the refs stayed out of it. The result was a lot of fun to watch. I would love something similar.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Quote: Originally Posted by lilbiggio

I'm not saying you don't matchup well but really this has been the question all postseason long. Who's guarding LeBron? Who's going to guard Wade? Who's guarding Bosh? Bosh will be a non factor this series to me because of Chandler's defensive presence, but Dallas is going to lose one of the other two matchups. I also think J.J. is going to be a non factor this series. I'm predicting the Miami Heat's offense will force the hand of Dallas, and some of the guys that have been pulling the Mavs through the earlier rounds are going to have to sit on the bench because they will become liabilities out on the court.

The thing about this is that nobody is really guarding any of them. They play more of a zone defense, so at different points you might see Kidd on LeBron and Marion on Wade, but at other points you'll see it reversed, or Stevenson on Wade, Brewer on either of them, etc.

Bibby and Mike Miller will be chasing JJ Barea all series, and Bibby can't really take advantage of Barea's lack of size on the other end. Neither can Chalmers. Miller may be able to, but again, it's different because they play more of a zone. It's going to be a very interesting series for sure. I don't expect anything. I could see the Heat sweeping. I could see Dallas sweeping. I could see it going 7 games. It's really pretty impossible to pick one way or another for this series because nobody moves the ball as well as Dallas on offense, and it will take some time for Miami to adjust to pretty much not having to defend against any plays to all of a sudden having to run around everywhere trying to help and get back for 48 full minutes. But at the same time, it won't be as easy for Dallas to keep LeBron out of the paint as it was to keep Durant out, and even he got into the middle pretty regularly.

[videobastard]

Should be a great series. If a healthy wade shows up for the finals i think the heat will be able to gut it out.

[Checmate101]

D-Steezy vs Bron Bron..AGAIN!!

[cubsfan203]

I think Barea is going to have at least a couple big games in this series.

Looking back at the two games these two played during the regular season, it seems like Dirk had sub-par games both times and the Mavericks still won.

I think the deciding factor is going to be the bench. The Mavs have a bench that can come in and put up a lot of points. Do the Heat have that? If Dirk has a bad game, Dallas can still win. Can Miami win if one or more of their big 3 have off games?