At long last, the Dallas Mavericks return to the comfy confines of American Airlines Center tonight, far from the gag-inducing claustrophobia of American Airlines Arena in Miami. The Mavericks are still on life support because of the casual thumping they put on the Heat in Big D in the first two games.
No team has ever blown that 2-0 lead with the title on the line, largely because only one NBA Finalist ever lost all three middle-of-the-series games on the road: the 2004 Lakers. That LA squad split at home with the Pistons, who finished them off in 5. So this is the first time an NBA team raced out to a 2-0 lead only to come home down 3-2 and facing elimination.
Despite its complete and total lack of personality as a city, Dallas features one of the rowdiest home crowds in the league, and I believe that just a few minutes of reacquaintance with that environment will spark the Mavericks and hopefully prevent the refs from calling quite as many touch fouls on the Mavs while letting the Heat get away with misdemeanor assault. At the very least, I expect there to actually _have been_ a foul if Dwyane Wade steps to the line to win the game at the stripe tonight. (Marc Stein sums up the Mavs’ perspective correctly: “(a) that Wade committed a backcourt violation before his final winding drive to the hoop, (b) that Wade “pushed off, like, three guys,” by Nowitzki’s count, on his way to the rim, and (c) that Nowitzki never fouled him.”)
If the refs hadn’t coddled Wade on a phantom call, something almost no player gets on a last shot attempt, we’d be talking about that sick, clutch jumper Dirk hit at the end of OT to turn his team’s fortunes. Hopefully, the Mavericks will use that snub as fuel, though they must be careful not to play with the out-of-control frustration Nowitzki demonstrated last year against Phoenix in their final overtime of the season.
We’ll know in the first five minutes of the first quarter if the Mavericks have awoken if:
-Nowitzki charges to the cup for his first few buckets instead of setting for long fadeaways
-Howard collects an offensive rebound or two
-They draw an offensive foul on Shaq
The Heat have to know deep down that this is their best shot to win it all. If the Mavs force game 7, everything will have tilted their way. Will that pressure, combined with the evaporation of their home support (the Heat are 12-1 in the playoffs at home, 4-6 on the road), be enough to cause a tremor in the obvious confidence of Miami?
I sure as hell hope so.