[alexamenos]

I re-watched the game last night and I was struck by how different of an experience it was. Watching in real time the game seemed absolutely surreal and completely chaotic. Rewatching...it kinda looked like a pretty normal basketball game. Living and dying with every miss or make tends to alter one's perception i suppose.

-- "King" James: Really not very good. His game's worst -24 for the game had a lot to do with the way he played. He was confused and useless and shitty against the zone in the first half when the mavs made their run. (The heat went on their run when Wade replaced him and started getting into the paint time and time again and collapsing the zone.) In the second half he too frequently looked like a guy who couldn't get the ball out of his hands quickly enough. About the only good things he did in the game were draw the charges on Chandler, grea production if you're a scrub role player, not so great if you're the King;

-- Dirk's one make in the first half was the exact same move from the exact same position on the floor as the NBA Championship Dagger shot he hit with 2:27 to play. That's kind of cool....kinda like the basketball gods said 'Dirk, we're going to put you through the ringer one last time in the first half, but we're going to give you a full-on dress rehearsal for the shot to seal the deal.'

-- Yeah, team win. Every player for the mavs contributed much positive stuff. Cardinal with his three and the dwayne charge, JJB for numerous reasons, Stevenson's string o' threes, Kidd for being Kidd, Mahinmi's dirk-esque one legged fade away, etc.... If Dirk goes 6-12 in the first half, this game was easily a 20 point blow out....and that's about how competitive the game was.