Dallas-Thunder Series Taking on Bulls-Heat Overtones

COMMENTARY | The Dallas Mavericks lost Game Two of their best-of-seven-series to the Oklahoma City Thunder 106-100. Dallas came out of the chute hot. It looked like the Mavericks were going to blow the Thunder out of the American Airlines Center. Instead, the Thunder won. The Mavericks' loss mirrored the Chicago Bulls' loss to the Miami Heat.

Tim MacMahon has posted an article at the ESPN.com website titled "Mavericks receive jolt of reality."

When the game opened up, the Mavericks were passing to the basket for dunks unopposed. Or, they were driving to the bucket unopposed. It was obvious Oklahoma City was confused. After a break, the Thunder players came out with determination on their faces and literally took the game from Dallas.

It's surprising because Dallas beat the Los Angeles Lakers four games in a row and all the Thunder did was beat the Memphis Grizzlies. Certainly the Grizzlies-Thunder series was considered to be the "weak sister," yet many thought Oklahoma City had the edge over Dallas since it is a younger and more star-studded team.

This series has followed the Chicago Bulls-Miami Heat series in a way that is just a little spooky.

Chicago blew Miami out of the United Center. While not blowing Oklahoma City out, ultimately Dallas controlled the game. In both cases, the winner of Game 1 started Game 2 strong yet lost.

Dirk Nowitski only scored 29 points. I realize this is a career night for some guys, but Nowitski scored nearly 20 fewer points than he did in Game 1, where he nearly scored 29 on free throws (24 in a row). Bulls superstar Derrick Rose also was corralled in Game 2 of his series, scoring an abysmal (once again a career night for some) 19 points.

Whatever the teams want to say about winning and losing is fine. However, the key in this game was that Nowitski was double-teamed. The key in the Bulls loss to the Heat was that Rose was smothered. Simply no one could pick up the pace for either team.

That makes this case: Neither Dallas nor Chicago will win all the marbles. I'm not saying it isn't possible. However, the fact remains that while Miami and Oklahoma City have great stars, both teams were beaten in Game 1 and handily. When the Heat and Thunder made minor defensive adjustments, the results were reversed.

I hate to say this, but I think Dallas has a better chance than the Bulls of adjusting.

References:

ESPN.com Website, "Dallas Mavericks Statistics"

ESPN.com Website, "Mavericks receive jolt of reality"