Hello readers, I'm C.T. Schwink, the new sports editor here at College Magazine. A couple times a week, I'll be bringing you the biggest sporting news of the day for you to naw on. Let me know what you think in the comments or find me on Twitter, @SchwinkCT.
In today's episode, game 3 of the NBA Finals where Dwayne Wade and Udonis Haslem remind Dallas this is not the first time they've tangled with hardware on the line.
Dallas fans are waking up in a cold sweat this morning. The nightmare of Dwayne Wade has come to haunt them again.
The 2006 finals MVP is in ripe form through the first three games of the NBA finals. He is doing his damndest to silence America’s love affair with Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks and also to extinguish the flames of hatred toward the Heat.
With 29 points and 11 points from DWade said, put that in your pipe and smoke it America.
Of course, last night he didn’t do it all by himself.
The Maverick’s did their best game 2 impression, minus a game winning shot from Dirk. Dirk had 15 points in the fourth while the rest of his team could only muster up 7. Clutch shot after clutch shot, Dirk willed his team back into the game, though, one will is not as big as three.
The Heat are up 2-1 in the series right now because of defense. With Dirk as Dallas’s only reliable scorer so far this series, he had to work hard for every basket. Miami threw double teams at Dirk all night, confusing the hell out him.
During the ESPN Radio broadcast, Ric Bucher reported coaches having to show Dirk just where these double teams were coming from. Dirk got the hang of the Miami defense in the fourth, unfortunately none of his teammates did.
Chris Bosh exercised the demons of game 2 with a clutch jumper in the right corner to put the Heat up 88-86 for good. Bosh took a beating for letting Dirk blow by him to get the game-winning, buzzer-beating lay-up in their previous match.
With the Mav’s doing their best to try and cap a game 2-like comeback, Dirk once again had a chance to win the game before the final buzzer. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra did not make the same mistake of putting Bosh on Dirk. Instead he put another ghost of Dallas’ past on Dirk for the final shot, Udonis Haslem, the only other remaining Heat player from the 2006 championship team.
Dirk shot one of his patented fadeaways with the game on the line. A shot we saw him make several times during the evening. Instead of dropping the ball seamlessly down the rabbit hole, it hit the back of the rim and popped into the air.
The Heat defense forced Dirk into taking the inbound pass from higher in the backcourt that I suspect coach Rick Carlisle would have liked, thus forcing him to shoot from father out.
Haslem’s nightmarish defense was within a hair’s length the entire time.
There has never been any question this Dwayne Wade’s team, but what of our ultimate villain LeBron James?
LeBron played his role for the night expertly, giving the ball to his teammates (Quietly handing out 9 dimes) and locking down on the defensive end. Anyone who saw the game would know that, right?
Apparently not.
CBS Sports Gregg Doyel decided this was another case of LeBron not being clutch. LeBron told him to hit the road.
The Heat look like the better team but need to learn how put a stake in the Maverick’s collective heart and stop giving up big leads. Until that happens wipe that cold sweat off your brow Dallas, we still have a series on our hands.
