Some funny analysis of the game by a
Miami paper.
Seems that Dirk got into their heads:
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Loss shouldn't trigger panic
DAN LE BATARD
dlebatard@herald.com
Perhaps it is time for an impatient South Florida to call for the resignation of Heat coach Stan Van Gundy, too.
He hasn't won a championship yet this season, for example.
And now, it would appear, his Heat team is not going to be the first team in American sports since the 1972 Dolphins to go an entire season undefeated.
Oh, well.
Is an 81-1 record OK by you?
Or should Dave Wannstedt be immediately brought in to fix this mess?
The Dallas Mavericks blew out the Heat by 20 on Thursday night because Dirk Nowitzki is to basketball what Tony Danza is to bad television. Nowitzki exposed Miami's issues at power forward (were you aware the Heat even needed one of those with Shaquille O'Wade?) by raining down jumpers from Biscayne Boulevard, Liberty City, Naples and then, just for fun, Beijing.
The only thing more prevalent than points for Nowitzki was the number of curses coming out of the mouths of the guys who allegedly were guarding him.
NOT OF THIS WORLD
Not that Udonis Haslem, Rasual Butler or Malik Allen should feel too bad. There aren't many humans on this planet or extraterrestrials on other ones that can match up with Nowitzki's rare combination of size and skills.
Nowitzki went through Miami's assortment of undersized power forwards like a buzz saw through butter, and things don't exactly get easier from here. Next up: Tim Duncan. This is why it is a very good thing Miami doesn't play in the Western Conference. You don't want undrafted and undersized overachiever Haslem losing confidence against too many Nowitzkis, Duncans and Kevin Garnetts. One Jermaine O'Neal in this conference is enough.
The Heat allowed 71 points in the first half alone Thursday night. The 2002-2003 Miami team that sent Pat Riley careening into retirement didn't score that many in 10 entire games.
Nowitzki had more at the half (25) than either O'Neal or Dwyane Wade had for the entire game. The highest Heat scorer on Riley's last Miami team didn't score as many as 25 in 69 of that season's 82 games.
Dallas scorched Miami, in other words. So Miami no longer is the NBA's only unbeaten team. But let's not make too much of this kind of loss against the first good team on the schedule. Dallas might not shoot the 60 percent it did in the first half again all season, not even with so many scorers on its bench that, every once in a while, a Jerry Stackhouse will accidentally fall out of coach Don Nelson's pocket.
''Nowitzki'' is a German word that, translated, means, ''Good Lord, doesn't this guy ever miss?'' He made it look as if Miami's power forwards asked for time off to promote their new album.
There are certain things in life males covet from other males. Mark Cuban's money, for example. Brad Pitt's looks. The President's power. Michael Douglas' wife. But very soon after that on the short list would be `Nowitzki's game.'
TRANSLATION LOST
There is this funny story in Yao Ming's new book about how a lot of NBA players have Chinese tattoos that don't mean what those players think they mean. Scowling Kenyon Martin, for example, has one that accidentally reads ``indecisive.''
And Nowitzki spent his evening making poor Butler, Haslem and Allen look like they were either indecisive or trying to read whatever the Chinese symbol for it is.
This would be the single most defenseless a Miami team has been for a half if not for the way the Dolphins back-pedaled as if on roller skates against the Jets a couple of weeks ago.
Miami's defense isn't this bad. But Dallas' offense might be this good. Cuban's excess of offense allows Nelson to send millionaire after millionaire into the game. You have a pretty good team when you beat O'Neal and Wade on the road without an injured Michael Finley and with Jason Terry, Alan Henderson and Stackhouse coming off your bench.
''Dirk was making every shot,'' Nelson said. ``It makes it kind of easy coaching a team that is making all their shots. The Miami Heat defense is very good.''
A frustrated O'Neal, Wade and Van Gundy all got technicals.
Their anger is good.
Every 81-1 team needs to feel bad once.
The Heat got its loss out of the way early
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