Mavs-Heat – What are we witnessing?

Game 5 is in the books – Heat over Mavs 101 to 100 in OT. The Mavs dropped all three games in Miami, and return home to the AAC on Tuesday night, down 3-2 and facing their first elimination game (aside from Game 7 against the Spurs) of this year’s playoffs.

A few points from my less-than-expert brain:

1. Are we witnessing the emergence of Dwyane Wade as the NBA’s biggest star in a decade? The Mavs seem completely unable to stop him in crunch time. Maybe he’s the most talented, most clutch guy since that bald dude with the tongue.

2. If D-Wade isn’t MJ reincarnated, wouldn’t, I dunno, a double-team maybe worth a try? Don’t get me wrong, I love Devin Harris and think he’s doing as well as he can against Wade. But don’t you think Avery would want to take his chances leaving Posey or Haslem unguarded in an effort to slow down the guy who is single-handedly beating you?

3. How, how, how do you miss free throws in the clutch? Especially if your name is Dirk or Josh? Especially since you’ve been great at it all year, and dead solid perfect all game? Argh!

4. Did Adrian Griffin REALLY think he was going to draw a charge on Wade’s drive to the hoop at the end of regulation? Wouldn’t defending the guy straight up have been a better approach? Oh, wait – Wade drew some sort of mystery foul on Harris (or was it Dirk?) at the end of OT. So maybe Griffin had it right? Or the refs had it wrong? I’m so confused.

5. I would ask “Where’s Dirk?” except he had some HUGE plays down the stretch - a couple of big buckets on tough shots, and a SUPERB dish to Dampier under the hoop. Dirk showed up a crunch time, other than the missed free throw.

6. Howard and Terry were what they needed to be.

7. For the first time in the playoffs, Avery cracked. I was mystified as I watched the on-again, off-again Hack-a-Shaq, no help for Harris against Wade, Diop getting number 6 on a silly foul against Shaq, fouling Shaq before Miami was in the bonus, and a number of other questionable coaching moves. And that doesn’t even include the timeout-that-wasn’t. Howard may have been the guy who asked for time on the floor, but Avery was signaling frantically for one from the sideline. That one is on him.

It’s easy to fall into the “We got jobbed by the refs” mindset, but the truth is that sort of whining is for losers. If the Mavs play like they can, it wouldn’t matter if the refs were decked out in Heat golf shirts and coach’s shorts.

So, now it truly is do-or-die time. Twice. This thing is not over and not lost. It can be done. But everyone is going to have to show up. Avery is going to have to return to greatness.

I don’t believe the Mavs are going to beat the Russians (San Antonio), then lose to Finland (Miami). As Coach Brooks sorta said (this is a family blog, after all) that night in Lake Placid, clad in his plaid pants, “Boys, you lose this, and you’ll take it to your effing grave.”

“Your effing grave.”

Go Mavs.