I'm calling it...

[dknights411]

...Miami will win it all convincingly. Dallas would have a heck of a time trying to contain Shaq and by the time they figure it out, it will already be too late. Plus, Miami is a more complete team when they are firing on all cylinders, so Wade, Walker, Mourning, heck even Williams will have a chance to shine. And if Dallas can't contain Shaq, then Phoenix will have even less of chance to. This is a Heat team that could have, and would have given the Spurs fits in a 7 game series, and with the absence of the Heat's only real competition, nothing can stop Miami for winning their first ever title.

The only thing that can stop the Heat are themselves, and I don't see that happening.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

Heat are focused. They were focused in this series. Under Pat Riley, they can go all the way.

[Bob Lanier]

Dallas in 5.

[Marklar MM]

Yes, but can Dallas stop Dirk? Probably. But who knows.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

Shaq >= Dirk as an Unstoppable force
Wade > >>> Stackhouse (actually an alternate 1st Option).

Walker, Williams, Payton =< Howard, Harris, Terry
Haslem, Posey, Zo, D. Anderson > Diop, Dampier, Van Horn

Pat Riley > Avery Johnson

and less annoying publicly too. But that doesn't mean anything.

[JHoLove]

Wade > >>> Stackhouse

No way Stackhouse is so much better than Wade. :rolleyes

[J.T.]

No way Stackhouse is so much better than Wade. :rolleyes

OAMF

[Trainwreck2100]

No way Stackhouse is so much better than Wade. :rolleyes


The alligator eats the big fish

[J.T.]

As indicated by the Mavs struggles against Tim Duncan, the Mavs will have similar if not worse problems with Shaq. Coach Riley would do good to review the Spurs series and see how well Duncan was able to exploit the Mavs interior players. I expect Shaq to dominate a few games. The problem with Shaq is his FT shooting. Tim drew a lot of fouls on the Mavs weak interior and had a decent series FT wise. Shaq will get a few splits but I'm not expecting much more. Even still, Miami does not rely on Shaq making FTs as part of their offense... Dallas on the other hand seems to thrive on Dirk getting at least half of his points at the line.

I think Dallas will have even bigger struggles with Wade. Wade is quick and a good defender. He will keep up with the Mavs break and they won't get much in transition against Wade. Some Mavs homers have suggested Josh Howard will contain Wade, but I extremely doubt he will be able to contain Wade.

Miami also has guys like Walker and Posey who can hit big shots. Both of them are decent 3G shooters. Payton can stroke it from 3G Land on occasion as well. I also think Haslem will be a decent one-on-one defender against Dirk. He can also rebound, so when he is on Dirk that will limit Dirk's rebounding ability some. Dirk will still average in the high 20s, or the 30s in each game.

And I definitely think Riley has the coaching edge here. Riley is a legend while AJ has certainly proven to be a good coach but has nothing to show for it other than a COTY trophy.

I think it will be a fun Finals to watch, but I see this going to Miami in 6.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

Riley made short work of Flip Saunders using his pieces. I was wondering if the Riley factor might upset the Pistons. I guess it did.

It's nice to see Riley make it to another Finals appearance with a guy like Shaq. Instead of with Ewing's New York team.

[DubMcDub]

I think Dallas will have even bigger struggles with Wade. Wade is quick and a good defender. He will keep up with the Mavs break and they won't get much in transition against Wade. Some Mavs homers have suggested Josh Howard will contain Wade, but I extremely doubt he will be able to contain Wade.

And I definitely think Riley has the coaching edge here. Riley is a legend while AJ has certainly proven to be a good coach but has nothing to show for it other than a COTY trophy.

Mavs fans aren't hypothesizing that we can slow Wade--they're stating that based on what happened during the regular season. Twice.

As for what you said about coaching...I think it's a bit absurd that you say Avery has "nothing to show for it other than a COTY trophy." He's had exactly 1 chance to win a championship thus far and it was at the end of a season in which he wasn't even the coach for most of it. So far he's 0/1. He may be 1/2 in a few weeks. It's kind of ridiculous to say that a coach only in his second year has "nothing to show".

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

But isn't it just that? it's kind of a true statement. He's in his 2nd year. So far he's unproven.

Wade may have been stopped in the regular season. But we all know what happened in the Regular Season means nothing in the Post-Season. All of that is erased and everything goes back to zero once the playoff's begin. Heat sucked in the regular season and could barely beat the Pistons handily. They only beat them once. Now they kicked their asses in 4 out of 6 games.

[DubMcDub]

But isn't it just that? it's kind of a true statement. He's in his 2nd year. So far he's unproven.

Wade may have been stopped in the regular season. But we all know what happened in the Regular Season means nothing in the Post-Season. All of that is erased and everything goes back to zero once the playoff's begin. Heat sucked in the regular season and could barely beat the Pistons handily. They only beat them once. Now they kicked their asses in 4 out of 6 games.

Wade will not be stopped. But the Mavs have a good chance in slowing him down in at least a couple of the games in a 7 game series. And that's really all we can ask for.

Unproven is the right word for Avery. When you put it that way, I agree completely. But the context before--"nothing to show for it"--implies something more along the lines of a coach who has generally be perceived as good but has never come up big. Of course Avery hasn't come up big yet, he's barely had a chance.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

yeah ok. That comment kinda downplays Avery's abilities. He's done a great job. He beat Pop fair and square.

[Shank]

But isn't it just that? it's kind of a true statement. He's in his 2nd year. So far he's unproven.

Ask the aforementioned Pat Riley about 1982. I believe he was also "unproven" back then.

[texlawman]

Unlike Detroit the Mavericks can actually shoot the basketball and force Miami to play more transition and perimeter defense. They do no excel at either. Shaq and Wade are great, but Miami has a footspeed problem. I also think that right now Dirk is the best player on the court despite Wade's legit skills.

[Pandaemonaeon]

As indicated by the Mavs struggles against Tim Duncan, the Mavs will have similar if not worse problems with Shaq.

ABC logic doesn't always work. Duncan abused Dallas's big men because Avery decided to cover him 1-on-1, fearing the capabilities of their shooters. Miami doesn't really have a scary perimeter threat, maybe Posey, but I'd definitely give Wade or Walker room eventhough they seem to be hitting it well in the previous series.

Of course, this is all commensurate with Shaq staying on the floor be it because of foul troubles or the fact that he couldn't keep up - as I'm sure as hell Avery will tell the guards to push the ball ad finitum ad nauseum.