Chapter 22: The Battle of Miami

In fact, the 2006 Heat, it is actually an exaggeration to say that it is "in full swing", look at the team's lineup, ** is 31-year-old Jason Williams, white chocolate when he was young, the pursuit of a flowing style of play and gorgeous passing, but in the Heat, he washed all the lead, honestly organized the defense, can be regarded as a qualified but not All-Star level of the organization guard, the second position is the strong point of the Heat, third-year freshman Dwayne Wade, he is the first round of the No. 5 rookie in 2003, playing tough, Strong impact, can be regarded as one of the strongest guards in the 03 session, but the shortcomings are also obvious, the three-point ability is almost zero, the second position is shorter, only 193 cm, the passing ability is average, and there are many mistakes, however, Rao is Wade has obvious technical shortcomings, he can still score 27.4 points in the regular season, and his offensive ability to impact the basket can be seen!

The third position is an old friend of the Mavericks, Antoine Walker, who was 31 years old at the time, although Walker is not too old, but Walker's state has declined rapidly, and he has basically lost his athleticism, and nearly 50% of his shots on the offensive end are outside the three-point line, averaging 12.2 points per game in the regular season, and it is also the last season of Walker's career to average a double-double per game, in fact, two seasons after this season, Walker retired.

The fourth position is the 2002 undrafted Udonis Haslem, 203 cm tall, average physical fitness but strong body, strong ability to impact rebounds, defensive ability is middle to high but not up to the top, no blocking ability, almost no ability to play on the offensive end, the small mid-range shot that is ecstatic is quite accurate, the fifth position has to be highlighted, super center Shaquille O'Neal, O'Neal was an inexplicable existence on the inside when he was young, but O'Neal was 34 years old at that time, The average of 20+ points per game per game in the regular season proves that O'Neal is still at the tail of his peak, but he is old, and physical fitness is the biggest problem, O'Neal has only played 59 games due to injury this season, and his average of only 30.6 minutes per game is a career low.

After the starters are finished, let's take a look at the bench, 29-year-old Wanjin oil forward James Posey, a 3D player positioned as a defensive plus three-pointer, 38-year-old guard Gary Payton, 36 years old, a tough center who has undergone kidney replacement surgery, and 33-year-old character guard Shanton Anderson, who is in the final year of his career, these are basically the entire rotation lineup of the Heat playoffs, you can see that this Heat team is almost completely dependent on Wade, and the other players are older, and they have gone all the way to the Finals. Physical fitness is also a big test for the Heat's old men.

In the first game, because the Heat got as much as a day's rest after killing the Pistons 4:2 in the Eastern Conference Finals, and only started playing the Finals five days later, therefore, in the first game of the Finals, the Heat took out the momentum of seeing death as home, Heat coach Pa Riley almost used a suicidal seven-man rotation, and the eighth man Mourning only played 5 minutes in the whole game, and the Heat took a 7-point lead in the first quarter, but as the game progressed, the Heat's players' physical fitness was greatly tested, and after the game, Still lost to the Mavericks, 80:90 defeat, Wade scored 28 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals on 11-of-25 shooting, O'Neal scored 17 points, 7 rebounds, including 1 of 9 free throws, and was cut very unpleasantly, Williams scored 12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, these three players are almost normal players for the whole team, but they are just normal, not very good, and Antoine Walker, 19 shots, in exchange for 17 points, extremely inefficient.

On the other hand, the Mavericks, as many as 9 people played more than 10 minutes, Terry played the best, shooting 13 of 18 and shooting 32 points, in the first game of the finals, Terry's light completely overshadowed Wade, although the Mavericks won the game, but also left a timed **, that is, Nowitzki was completely blocked by Haslem, Haslem is a very tough defensive interior player, and his actions are big, but he just doesn't blow the whistle, no wonder, in a game of this level in the finals, The referee emphasized more on physical confrontation, and as a result, Nowitzki was extremely uncomfortable, and he couldn't score in the interior position, hitting only 4 of 14 shots in the game, and got 16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

The second game can be said to be a copy of the first game, although the Heat enabled the eight-man rotation and greatly increased Mourning's playing time, but there was still no change, Wade scored 23 points on 6-of-19 shooting, O'Neal was dragged to death by the Mavericks who were extremely fast-paced offensively, and scored 5 points and 6 rebounds in 2 of 5 games, and was upset by the little general's in-time shark hacking tactics, 7 free throws in the game, and only one was scored, while the Mavericks were a triotheus combination, Nowitzki scored 26 points in 8 of 16, 16 rebounds, Terry scored 16 points and 9 assists on 6-of-15 shooting, Howard, Stackhouse, Devin Harris all scored double-doubles, Dampier grabbed 13 rebounds, the disparity between the players caused the gap made the entire fourth quarter into garbage time, and finally the Mavericks won the Heat 99-85 without blood, leading 2-0.

It seems that the Mavericks' championship is stable.

There are also those that look more stable.

In the third game, in the third quarter, the Mavericks relied on the 21 points scored by Nowitzki and Howard to enter the fourth quarter with a score of 77:68, the Mavericks led by 9 points, and at the end of the third quarter, Diop high-fived the team members to celebrate, but in Wade's view, that is, it felt that the championship had been stabilized, and Pat Riley, who was standing next to Wade, clearly heard Wade spit out a sentence inexplicably,

"Fuck it, I won't admit it!"

In the next fourth quarter, almost all the ball was on Wade, what a bullshit tactic, give me the ball this is a tactic! Wade is asking for the ball almost every round, White Chocolate has played the ball for so many years, and has never seen such a situation, generally speaking, at the critical moment, it is the team's old battle to solve the problem, but not every ball is required, White Chocolate looked at Pat Riley standing next to him, Riley said no, as a default, so the next incredible thing happened!

Wade almost took all the ball in the last quarter of the Heat, and almost didn't pass the ball, didn't shoot, rushed inside when he got the ball, either put it in, or make a foul to win a free throw, what bullshit tactics, your tactics, just stand by and watch me play!

The Heat's suicidal offense disrupted the Mavericks' defensive deployment, I don't know if it was a set or real, everyone else was standing far away, even Shaq was far away from the basket, the Mavericks were double or even three-person to Wade, but Wade always had various ways to send the ball to the basket, and in the last 9 seconds of the game, Harris forced to score under the basket to equalize the score, and the Heat paused.

At this time, Payton was worthy of being a player who had seen big storms, and he calmly said to White Chocolate,

"A moment of frontcourt ball, I'll serve, if that kid (referring to Wade) is wrapped up and doesn't have a chance, you pass the ball to me," Gary Payton said, Wade was guarded by the Heat and had no chance to catch the ball, Payton appeared vacant and hit the right rib line, getting his only two points in the game, and in the last 3 seconds, Nowitzki forced Haslem and caused a foul, but Nowitzki, who has always been steady in free throws, dropped the chain, missed the second free throw, Wade won the rebound, Nowitzki was forced to foul Wade, Wade hit both free throws, the Mavericks trailed by 2 points, and in the last 0.3 seconds, the Mavericks held the ball, Ben Nowitzki sent the ball in the frontcourt, and wanted to make a connection with Howard, but the ball flying in mid-air was jumped high by Wade and slapped down, and the Mavericks fell short and lost by two points.

Wade made 14 of his 26 shots to finish with 42 points and 13 rebounds, including 18 free throws, O'Neal scored 16 points, Antoine Walker and White Chocolate both scored 12 points, and Nowitzki missed a crucial free throw despite scoring 30 points.

The difference between the free throws of the two teams in this game is not very large, 26 times for the Mavericks and 34 times for the Heat, and considering Wade's style of play, the difference between 8 free throws is not too big.

In the fourth game, the Mavericks suddenly couldn't play, trailing the Heat 67:78 in the third quarter, and finally in the fourth quarter, the Mavericks only scored 7 points in a single quarter! In the end, he lost to the Heat 74-98, Wade scored 36 points on 13-of-23 shooting, and Terry scored 17 points on 8-of-18 shooting, which was already a team-high, and Nowitzki played the worst game of his career, only 2 of 14 shots were made, and the basket was like adding a lid, no matter how he threw it. What is the reason for losing this game?

The key battle of Tianwang Mountain, in the first three quarters, Wade felt cold, 5 of 17 but scored 21 points with 16 free throws, the sound of the whistle came and went, for various reasons, Wade kept standing on the free throw line and hit free throws, Wade always got the whistle as long as he broke through, Josh Howard, Adrian Griffin suffered one after another, and in the first three quarters, the Mavericks only made a total of 9 free throws, while the Heat has made 36 free throws, of course, That also included the Mavericks' shark-slashing tactics against O'Neal in the second half of the second quarter, but O'Neal only made eight free throws and threw only one in the first three quarters.

Relying on a huge number of free throws, the Heat struggled to chase the score to 70:71, and came to the fourth quarter, at this time, the disparity between the two sides also attracted the attention of the broadcast, whenever the Heat has a player free throws, the score bar will always play palpitating free throws of the two teams, every free throw, *** is infinitely replayed, which is also a great spectacle.

In the fourth quarter, the Heat put out a three-two joint defense, Wade made a mid-range jumper, Harris broke through and caused O'Neal to foul, two free throws, O'Neal hit Diop in the restricted area to score two points, Mourning defended for three seconds and gave the Mavericks 1 point, Terry made a walking error, Wade hit Nowitzki with his back and threw a three-point shot, and Terry hit a three-point shot at the top of the arc! With eight and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Mavericks led the Heat by three points, 77-74. O'Neal singled Diop, Nowitzki came up to the bag to force O'Neal to make a mistake, turned around and turned to Haslem and hit the board, the Mavericks led the Heat by 5 points, and then the weird whistle sounded again, Wade's strong attack caused Harris to foul, two free throws, Josh Howard missed three points, turned around and Wade made a jumper and shot a false shot, deceived Howard, shot a foul, this is a no problem to make a free throw, Wade hit two free throws again, and the Mavericks' lead is only 1 point!

Terry's strong attack caused Payton's foul, both free throws, at this time, the Mavericks began to cut the shark tactics again, Terry scored free throws, suddenly deliberately fouled O'Neal, O'Neal made one of two free throws, Terry broke through the small toss and made a good shot, turned around, the Mavericks suddenly stopped cutting the shark, the double package Wade, Payton got the opportunity to open the space, and the hand knife fell three points, the Mavericks finally saved a 4-point advantage, and instantly returned to 1 point.

The Mavericks responded with the unrelenting Terry, forcing Payton to throw on the right side, the basketball grazed the rebound and fell into the basket, and at the same time caused Payton's foul, Terry hit a free throw steadily, two plus one hit, the difference returned to 4 points, these 4 points have not been warmed up, turned around, Wade held the ball, Howard and Harris doubled Wade, Wade turned along the bottom line The moment the referee whistle blew and whistled Howard for a foul, the ball was suspected of a body hair whistle, Howard protested, but the protest was invalid, in the interval between Wade's free throws, *** The two sides made free throws again, the Heat made all 15 free throws, while the Heat made 42 free throws, shooting 27 of them, not only that, but also played the number of fouls of the Mavericks players alone, and there were 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Diop and Daniel, the two main rotation players on the inside, were both 5 fouls, Howard 4 times, and even the inside cannon fodder, DJ Mbenga, played a total of 8 minutes in this game and also had 4 fouls.

Wade hit both free throws, Terry missed three points, the Mavericks began to cut the shark again, Diop immediately fouled O'Neal, Diop's tragic six fouls graduated, Dampier on, O'Neal missed the first free throw, and the second free throw was still missed, but at this time, the referee's whistle blew and awarded a Nowitzki advance line, slow-motion replay, Nowitzki did enter the line in advance, but the problem was that the whistle came too late, and there was a full second after Nowitzki entered the line in advance, and O'Neal threw the ball out, And after the ball was sure that it did not enter the basket, the referee blew the whistle for Nowitzki to enter the line in advance, and let O'Neal make another penalty, this time the penalty is also up for debate, but O'Neal still did not fight, and the third free throw did not score.

With two and a half minutes left in the game, Josh Howard forced a foul on James Posey, Howard hit both free throws, and the Mavericks once again held a four-point advantage! In the break between free throws, Riley replaced O'Neal with Anthony Walker.

Turning around, Wade singled Devin Harris at the top of the arc, threw after continuous dribbling, not only scored the ball, but also caused Harris to foul, but this ball is also debatable, Harris did not get started, but just used his lower body to jam Wade's defensive position, Wade hit a free throw and hit two plus one, the Mavericks' 4-point advantage, in an instant, it became 1 point again.

Terry faced Payton and Haslem's double package and threw a three-point shot, Wade held the ball and singled, the fans chanted "MVP", Wade singled Harris in the top of the arc on the right side, and after the right side was shaky, he turned back and sent the ball to the basket, and the Mavericks suddenly fell behind by 1 point at 88:89! There is 1 minute and 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter! Nowitzki held the ball and singled, causing Anthony Walker's foul, but in the last minute of the last game, Nowitzki's bizarre two free throws were staged again, and Nowitzki's second shot was still off the basket, and the two teams played 89:89!

Turning around, Wade singled Harris for the second time, made a mid-range pull-up jump shot, and scored again! The whole stadium suddenly roared with a tsunami! The MVP resounded in the sky! At the critical moment, it was still Nowitzki, holding the ball at the top of the arc and singled Haslem, dribbling and turning around and jumping to shoot directly! The two teams are tied again! There are only 49 seconds left in the game!

Wade singled Harris for the third time with the ball, at the top of the arc, Wade shook a shot, Harris was fooled, but at that moment, Harris flew out sideways, did not touch Wade, Wade himself lost his rhythm, after shooting, he also fell to the ground, and the basketball knocked on the front of the basket Dampier to protect the rebound! With only 23.7 seconds left, the Mavericks have the ball in their hands, and the dawn of victory has bloomed to the Mavericks!

After the pause, the Mavericks played a 1-3-1 combination, Terry held the ball at the top of the arc, Nowitzki cut in from the right midline, and took a step inside the free throw line to attract the attention of the three, Nowitzki shook the ball lightly, Dampier under the basket was empty, and he dunked directly! The Mavericks lead by 2 points with only 10.1 seconds left!

The Heat came back from a pause, the tactics were simple and rude, that is, Wade held the ball and singled, but standing in front of Wade was the defensive titan Adrian Griffin, Wade broke through on the right side, Griffin stuck all the way to the main position, in the basket Wade suddenly stopped, jumped in the air and half turned around and threw the ball, Griffin mixed garlic at his feet, fell out of bounds, and the basketball hit the board into the basket! With 2.8 seconds left, the two teams are tied again!

At this time, the voice of the MVP of the American Airlines Arena was about to blow up the roof!

The Mavericks' home stadium is called the American Airlines Center, and the Heat's home stadium is called the American Airlines Arena, although it looks similar, but it is actually two arenas, and in addition, the Sun's arena is called the American Airlines Center...... American Airlines has money and can't do it......

The Heat's final shot went to Terry, who missed the shot against three men, and the game went into overtime.

In overtime, it was still Wade who operated the Heat's offense, singled Harris made a shot in a quick stop, Nowitzki caused Haslem to grab a rebound foul, Haslem graduated with six fouls, Terry forced a foul on Posey, hit both free throws, and the score was equalized, this ball Terry didn't want to score, he was completely looking for a foul, O'Neal scored two points under the basket, Harris shot at the free throw line and the two sides fought to 97 tied again, at this time it was Terry who saved the Mavericks, and after breaking through the bag with the ball, he gave the ball to Daniel under the basket, O'Neal couldn't defend and could only pull it down, Dampier made one of two free throws, and the Mavericks led by one point!

In the last 29.8 seconds of the game, Payton ate Harris alone, and broke through the left baseline to score a layup to score 1 point behind the Mavericks! At this time, Nowitzki finally stepped up to save the Mavericks, singled Posey with the ball, and under the help of O'Neal, turned back and sent the ball into the basket! The Mavericks lead by 1 point with only 9.1 seconds left!

At the last moment of the game, it was still the free throw that decided the ownership of this king mountain, Wade broke through with the ball, passed through the two-man package of Harris and Howard, and finally caused Nowitzki's foul on the inside! I watched the free throws almost frame by frame, and there was still a problem with the blowing penalty, if it was a blowing foul, it should be Harris who had a push on Wade's waist with his left hand before Wade jumped, and the action was not very big, the kind that could be blown or not, Nowitzki's action scale was within the range allowed by the rules, and there was no problem with the position, on Wade's offensive line, Nowitzki took the initiative to get out of the way, if he had to blow a foul, it should be a Harris foul, not Nowitzki, if there was a problem with this penalty, But then the most bizarre thing in NBA history was born.

There are 1.9 seconds left in the game Wade got two free throw opportunities, the general head coach, as long as the brain is fine, will call a timeout after two free throws, because there will be a chance to get a frontcourt ball, a high probability of shooting the killer ball, but if the first free throw and the second free throw call a timeout, then even if Wade scores, the Mavericks can only get a backcourt ball, it is obvious that the Mavericks coach Johnson's brain has no problem, but the referee, but after Wade hit the first free throw, weirdly gave the Mavericks a timeout, and the Mavericks were blinded up and down!

Afterwards, the referee who sentenced the timeout (no one said, interested Baidu) only remembered that someone called a timeout, but he couldn't remember who called the timeout, and then the pot was pressed on Josh Howard, who was closest to the referee, but Howard has also played in the NBA for almost three years, and throughout his career, Howard has never admitted that he called that timeout. What's even more incredible is that the media, which had good things after the incident, rummaged through the replays from all angles at the time, and not only did not find that Howard called a timeout, but also did not find that anyone on the court called this timeout.

After learning that he was suspended, Johnson was furious, this inexplicable timeout, directly disrupted the Mavericks' tactical deployment, after Wade made the second free throw, the Mavericks had no choice but to make free throws from the backcourt, Josh Howard passed the ball to Harris, Harris threw the ball out of the position before the halfway, and the result was obvious, the Mavericks lost the battle of Tianwang Mountain 100:101, and the weird timeout at the last moment became a mystery in the NBA.

In the whole game, Terry was the best player on the team, scoring 35 points on 13-of-23 shooting, Josh Howard scored 25 points and 10 rebounds, Nowitzki scored 20 points on 8-of-19 shooting, and in the Heat, Wade is undoubtedly the key to victory for the Miamins, scoring 43 points on 11-of-28 shooting and 25-of-25 free throws, O'Neal scored 18 points and 12 rebounds, 2-of-12 free throws, Payton scored 10 points, and all other players scored double-doubles. Wade's free throws and shots alone, 21 of 25 free throws, are exactly equal to the number of free throws and shots of the Mavericks team, while the Heat team is 32 of 49 free throws, Mavericks players have 38 fouls, and the Heat is 26, you must know that the Mavericks average 22 fouls per game in the regular season.

Regardless, Maverick lost the battle of Tianwang Mountain.