MAVS MONEYBALL: The Mavs went 20-6 with Dirk scoring 20 or less and 7-2 when he shot 35% or below. Both are actually higher winning percentages than their overall one. We've referred to the depth of the team more than once and this stat additionally confirms this fact. The improved defense is of course a key here as well. They don't necessarily need a big offensive game night in and night out to win. This surely doesn't mean that the Mavericks don't need him on the court. We all know that the team went 2-7 in the games Dirk missed and he is in the Top 5 of every Plus/Minus-Metric. But they are more capable of compensating an off-night from him, even in the playoffs. Just to show that this shouldn't be taken for granted: The Oklahoma City Thunder are 3-5 when Kevin Durant scores 20 or less and 5-5 when he shoots 35% or below.
ESPN DALLAS: After four more steals in Game 3, Kidd has 28 steals this postseason, by far more the most of any player. Twenty of the 28 have come against the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder. Kidd is flirting with a career-high steals average (not including first-round exits) at 2.2 a game. He is on pace to surpass the 34 he had in 2002 playoffs and 36 in 2003, the seasons Kidd led the New Jersey Nets to consecutive NBA Finals. "Until you line up face-to-face against him, which I did for four years in Atlanta, and you realize this guy’s competitive spirit and what drives him to be great, then you would never know," Jason Terry said. "You can’t watch a game, you can’t read about it in the newspaper, you’ve got to line up in front of him. Once you do, then you understand. For him, I know what’s driving him and that’s that championship trophy." Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen, credited for his defense against the San Antonio Spurs and the Thunder in the second round, had 25 steals in 13 games, three fewer than Kidd in the same number of games. Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade is next with 21 steals in 12 games.
DAILY THUNDER: It’s something that’s become painfully obvious through the first three games of this series: Kendrick Perkins doesn’t match up well with the Mavericks and more specifically, Tyson Chandler. He can’t run the floor with him. He can’t jump and challenge him above the rim. Perk’s greatest contribution of solo coverage on a post scoring threat isn’t as valuable against a guy like Chandler. Against Nene? Perk was as important as any player on the roster. Same thing could be said against Marc Gasol. Now though, he’s become more of a liability. The Thunder have a problem scoring at the start of every first and third quarter............................The Thunder are a much better team in the future with Kendrick Perkins at they’re starting center. Just now right now, in this series. Against the Mavs, Perk simply doesn’t have a place. Dallas doesn’t give Chandler the ball in the post. Basically, Perk’s greatest asset is just tangling himself up with Chandler as much as possible to either goad him into a technical or keep him off the offensive glass. That’s pretty much it.
PENINSULA IS MIGHTIER: The Bulls kept it close early in the 4th quarter, briefly getting within 2 points and then for a while staying within 4. That was until the halfway point of the quarter when Miami went on a 9-0 run that put the game out of reach. Chris Bosh was on fire all night, finishing the game by making 13 of his last 15 shots. He finished the game with 34 points on 13-of-18 shooting and 8-of-10 from the foul line. This was more of a team win then Game 2, when the Heat got the huge boost from Udonis Haslem off the bench. Last night we saw everybody chipping in and Miami keeping the tempo up from start to finish, never allowing the Bulls any extended runs or an opportunity to feel as though they were taking control of the game. After not losing consecutive games since early February, Chicago is going to have to dig very deep and get a big road win in Game 4 to get back in the series.
HOT HOT HOOPS: LeBron was a force on both ends of the floor proving why he's the most dominant player in the league. While he scored a seemingly tame 22 points on 6-13 shooting for the game, it's when he has scored that has mattered so much this postseason. Tonight was just another example of how quickly LeBron and Wade can turn it on to break their opponents' backs and grind out victories for their team in crunch time. Truth be told however, this Heat team is clearly a more formidable opponent than anyone figured they would be at the start of the postseason and are hitting their stride at the perfect time.
ESPN CHICAGO: The Bulls are going to kick themselves again. They slowed down James and Wade (at least to a certain extent), but they did not do a good job on Bosh, and it killed them. They couldn't slow him down all night and it was even more magnified given how much Joakim Noah struggled to contribute on both ends of the floor. The larger issue for the Bulls is that the team's offense doesn't look good. Aside from Rose and Boozer, and to a lesser extent, Luol Deng who had 14, the Bulls struggled. The Miami defense is good, but it still doesn't seem as if the Bulls have enough consistent playmakers and that's becoming a bigger issue as each game passes.
EYE ON BASKETBALL: Following Game 1, the post-game talk centered around how well Luol Deng and Chicago's team defense were able to contain LeBron James. In Game 3, especially during the second half, the same points apply for how Miami handled Derrick Rose. Clearly, he was frustrated and forced off of his game. The Heat committed lots of bodies to the cause, doubling Rose, stepping into his driving lanes and remaining very active in the passing lanes as well. In handling the double teams, Rose said: "I've been trying to beat it with the pass, I have to be more aggressive." Yes and no. While LeBron James helped seal the win by picking off a Rose crosscourt pass and taking it to the house over Kyle Korver, Rose also committed multiple turnovers by driving too hard into traffic, either losing control of the ball or getting hit with a player control foul. It's a bit of a paradox, but he needs to be both more aggressive and less aggressive simultaneously (if that's possible).
ESPN: Bulls center Joakim Noah apologized for allegedly using a gay slur toward a fan during Chicago's 96-85 loss to the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals. Noah was angry after picking up his second foul with 6:26 left in the first quarter. After sitting down on the bench he turned to his right and shouted toward a fan. "I apologize," Noah said. "The fan said something to me that I thought was disrespectful, and I got caught up in the moment, and I said some things that I shouldn't have said. I was frustrated and I don't mean no disrespect to anybody. I just got caught up." Noah said he expects to be fined for the comment. NBA spokesman Tim Frank declined to comment on the incident.
BALL DON'T LIE: Derrick Rose says that performance enhancing drugs are a huge problem in the NBA, in a snippet that made the pages of ESPN the Magazine a few weeks ago, and the reaction to his comment seems to have hit a fever pitch. And while we don't question Rose's knowledge of the inner-workings of this league, and what he's seen versus what we've observed and learned from afar, this does appear to be much ado about nothing. I'm hardly the NBA's favorite scribe these days, but it should be pointed out that this league has had strict testing for both drugs and supplements for decades, with ever-evolving guidelines, and that those who have been caught in the crosshairs with these sorts of things have been quickly sent to the sidelines. The league tests, and the few who use get caught. In one of those quickie Q and A's ESPN Mag likes to run every-however-often-they-publish, Rose was asked to rate the NBA's problem with PEDs on a scale from one to ten. He classified it as a "seven," and then dropped this:
"It's huge and I think we need a level playing field, where nobody has that advantage over the next person."
YAHOO! SPORTS: With a strong, late push in the search process, Kevin McHale has emerged as the frontrunner for the Houston Rockets coaching vacancy, multiple league sources told Yahoo! Sports on Saturday. No final decision has officially been reached, nor are contract negotiations underway, but McHale has clearly separated himself from Dallas Mavericks assistant Dwane Casey and Boston Celtics assistant Lawrence Frank, sources said. McHale made a strong final impression in conversations with Houston officials on Thursday in Chicago, and could receive a formal offer in the next week.
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