The Heat play at home tonight down 2-0 to the Mavs. In reality, if Dallas wins any of the three games in Miami, they’ll just need to win either Game 6 or Game 7 (both at home) to clinch the title. If Miami wants any chance of winning the series, they must win tonight. A loss would put them down 3-0 and their chances on life support.
Everyone wants to point to Shaq’s output – 22 points and 13 rebounds – in the first two games, and say that he’s to blame for Miami’s lackluster performance. The truth is, he’s 10-16 (63%) from the field and has passed pretty well out of the constant double-teams headed his way. His teammates just haven’t hit their shots. Taking out Shaq’s stats, the rest of the Heat have made a dismal 53 of 132 (40%) from the field and 12 of 37 (32%) from long range, compared to their season averages of 45% and 35%, respectively. Considering that the Mavs have shot 46% from the field and 38% from the line, the Heat aren’t getting it done on the defensive end either. However, Shaq should average more than 6.5 rpg and has yet to block a shot in the series, so he needs to do a better job defensively.
I expect the Heat to put forth maximum effort to try to get back into this series. If the Mavs get up by 10 or more, we might see a meltdown. The game is tonight at 9 PM (ET) on ABC.
