With both teams in uncharted waters can the Mavericks continue to throw LeBron James off his game and capture the Larry O’Brien trophy?
As we approach game six of the NBA Finals, both the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks are in unchartered waters.
The Mavericks have never been one game away from hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy and neither of Heat's two stars LeBron James nor Dwayne Wade, has seen their team win a series when their opponents get three wins before their respective teams.
When it's all over, one team is going to make history.
Game 5 was another terrific game that had a familiar pattern as the Mavericks have now beaten the Heat in three of the last four games following the same script.
It was just one more fourth quarter comeback win for the Mavs with the Heat and its stars sputtering down the stretch. James struggles in the final quarter have been well documented; only 11 total points in five fourth quarters on 4 of 16 from the floor.
Meanwhile, his counterpart Dirk Nowitzki, has scored 52 points in his final quarter appearances in the series and even with James and Wade poking fun at his effort in Game 4 when he played with a cough and a fever.
Nowitzki seems to be making the choice to say his peace while trying to stay focused judging by the tone of his remarks I. Nowitzki says its over and he will not use it as extra motivation. Hmm, I wonder if there will be any barbs at Wade who suffered an injured hip in Game 5?
For the record, through six games James has more fouls than free throw attempts and has looked passive and detached. Although some continue to do it, and love to draw parallels, I never thought it was fair to compare James to Michael Jordan.
With six championship rings, six finals MVP awards and having gone undefeated in his finals appearances, Jordan may not be in a class by himself but it sure doesn't take a long time to record attendance amongst that group.
Jordan's competitive spirit would never have allowed him to sit back after a substandard performance and produce one that was only marginally better than the initial game that was in question.
But even after calling game five the biggest game of his life, and producing a triple double, which is no small feat, it still looked like James was disconnected during the waning stages of the fourth quarter.
Let's not forget the Mavericks defence deserves some of the credit for James struggles as well. The Heat have been trying to exploit perceived matchup advantages and in essence taking some players, like James, out of the play. The Mavs are doing a good job of giving James different looks by changing the defenders that he sees on a regular basis.
Wade has been terrific over the course of the series and when he has his hands on the ball, scoring and creating, it means that James isn't. It may be an issue of role definition or simple styles that don't always complimenting one another.
Remember when James was being hailed as the closer for finally making buckets against Chicago and Boston? Some were whispering the question what's with Wade
The stars aligned in the fifth game of the conference final against the Bulls where both players played well in a five minute stretch to run down the Bulls and close the series. It's why Bosh is in a perfect role as a support player while one of James and Wade has the ball and is going to work.
With rumours of personal issues swirling around James and his performance not meeting expectations, he has the chance to make amends in the final two games of the series and all will be forgotten.
In this results oriented tussle that is the NBA finals where Heat President Pat Riley coined the phrase that says there are only two things "winning and misery" James and the Heat are certainly in unchartered waters.
But as the bottom line goes, nobody cares how rough the water is, they just want you to bring the ship in safely.
