I normally don't write about sports events for the same reason I normally don't write concert reviews: both are of the moment and quickly filed away as either the greatest moment in recorded history or woulda/coulda/shoulda moments best forgotten.
I do love a good fight, though, and I do root for the underdog. Experience has taught me that overconfidence is ultimately humbling. I've also learned that the zeitgeist favors the combatant who's winning at the time.
Even in Dallas people are beginning to doubt that the Mavs can recover after three straight losses to the Heat. Nevermind that two of the Heat victories were by razor thin margins, and of those two one can best be described as a "technical" win. It doesn't matter that the Mavs won two games decisively - it only matters that they've lost three, barely.
I'm not going to bore you with stats and NBA history — there are more than enough pundits doing that already -- but I will tell you unequivically that the Mavs will win tonight for one simple reason: they hunger, they thirst a lot more than the Heat does at this point.
The Mavs' tirades after Sunday's games — kicking furniture, Cuban's impatience with a lame interviewer, et cetera — were not sore loser tantrums as they have been portrayed in the sports press. These tirades came from a team united, a team genuinely pissed off about being so close, yet so far from victory. And pissed off people, people who genuinely feel wronged, are very dangerous people.
Make no mistake about it: the Mavs have had time to cool off, and what you're going to see tonight is a focused team working as one entity who will win by at least a 10 point spread. Game 7 will be an event in which both teams thirst, but the Mavs will maintain their cool and take home the trophy.
Article comments
1 - Some guy
I'm neither a Maverics nor a Heat fan, I've just been casually following the playoffs and have grown to like Avery Johnson, the Mavs, and their style of play.
Those three games in Miami were just painful and heartbreaking to watch. A free throw here, a different call there, and the Mav's would be champs instead of being down three-two.
I tend to agree with Rays assessment. Dirk has to get his game on though, and I have a feeling he will. If Nowitzki and Howard play as well as they normally have during the playoffs, Mavs in 7.
2 - Ray Ellis
You're right on all counts, Some, except one. The Mavs may be down, but they are still champs.
3 - Ray Ellis
It's halftime, and I still say the Mavs by 10. Mark Cuban was fined for cursing?? What century are we in?
4 - Ray Ellis
All I can say is "Wow!" and congrats to the Heat. But the Mavs were troopers to the end. What a game!