Relax Heat Fans

by Brett Edwards

D. Wade and the Heat rallied from 13 down with 6:30 to play to take Game 3 of the Finals. It was a nice comeback for the Heat, as they led by double digits in the first half before getting blown out in he 3rd quarter 34-16. For Heat fans, it's nice to know that you won't be getting swept out of the Finals, but the Heat are still extremely overmatched in this series. Consider all that had to go right for Miami to get the Game 3 W:

• Wade had to score a career high 42 points on 14-26 shooting.

• Gary Payton made his only shot of the game, a 20-footer with the shot clock expiring and 9 seconds left in the game. This was a very difficult shot, as GP had to pump fake his defender, then take one dribble before shooting. He hasn't made a shot like that in about 3 years. This gave the Heat the lead and was effectively the game-winner.

• Shaq made 2 (dare I say clutch?) free throws with 1:47 left that cut the dallas lead to 3. This is no small feat, considering he was 2-16 (that's 12.5%, people) from the line entering this game.
• Dirk missed a free throw with 3 seconds left that would have tied the game. This too was no small feat, as Dirk had shot 94% from the line the first two games of the series, and was 10-11 from the line in this game before missing the one that would have tied the game.

That's a lot of things going Miami's way, and all that resulted in just a 2-point home win in a game that they had to have. I still expect this series to be over by Saturday. As Riley again mentioned, "The basketball gods were with us tonight." I think that's an understatement.

Comments

[basketbawful]

Remember the words of basketbawful: The Heat will win a tough Game 3 (check), the Mavs will win a tough Game 4 (tonight), the Heat win Game 5 by double digits, and the Mavs finish them off in Game 6. Those words will be carved on my tombstone. I just like my pizza that way.

[ceiling fan of death]

I hope they dont carve that on your tombstone with a permanant chizzle. That was a fasle prediciton in the sense that the blow out came early. Hopefully the Mavs can get thier act together and win a close game 5. Then we will see what happens from there.

[Chris Tagawa]

The series starts tomorrow. Each team has a blow-out and each team let one slip away. Although some might dipute the Heat should have won game one. I would expect nothing short than an all out battle in game five. I do have a playoff theory about missing players (suspension or otherwise). All except for the tanks that are the Spurs, everytime a player has been suspended during the 2006 playoffs, that team has stepped up and won. It is well documented that I am pulling for the Heat in the series, but I thought the theory was worth mentioning.

[JenM]

I don't know about this game, think it will come down to which team lets nerves get to them. If the Mavs - and I mean Dirk - get nervous and Heat shows more confidence they could have a chance to go up 3-2. If the Mavs come out strong and Dirk puts his weak performance in past games behind him the Mavs go up 3. At this point though I give a small advantage to Wade since now its up to Dirk to prove himself.

[Supra Shoes]

Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright.

[supra shoes]

I'd actually love to review these boxes on my shopping/lifestyle blog. i wonder if they'd send me a sample box to talk about?