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Mavs need to recover in Game 5

by David Pincus
2006-06-18

Going in to game 5 the Mavericks will be without their third leading scorer Jerry Stackhouse, who committed a flagrant foul on Shaq in the last game.

Dallas doesn't necessarily need Stackhouse, although his presence helps. In game 3 Stackhouse went 1-9 and the Mavs still had enough to basically win it (before blowing it of course).

Dirk has had plenty of time to rearrange whatever problem was hurting his game. Without Stackhouse, Dallas cannot afford to have their leading scorer play another bad game. Dirk reverted to the old Dirk last Thursday; he needs to drive to the bucket more if he wants to be successful.

It's time for Josh Howard to show up too. Coming into the Finals, Dallas was unbeaten when Howard scored 20+ points. Don't be surprised to see a starting lineup switch for Dallas. Going to Devin Harris didn't exactly work in Game 4. I understand that he's a better scorer than Griffin, but Dallas' mentality shouldn't be to gutter the offense.

What happened to their defense? Either stop Shaq, stop Wade, or stop everyone else. All three had big performances in Game 4. At the very least, they can't allow Miami's bench to contribute like it did. Dallas had gone 15 straight games leading in rebounding. After losing that category twice in a row, that needs to be worked on.

As for Miami, they just have to get another star performance from one of the NBA's best. If Wade plays great, then Shaq and the others don't have to chip in as much. A 35+ performance will raise every other Heat player's momentum.

Now usually my predictions are dead wrong, but I expect this to be a great game, if not the best in the series. That 3OT Suns/Celtics game in 1976 was a game 5, and the only good game from last year's Finals was a game 5. Miami won the first two at home to pull even; it's what they should've done anyway. Now it's Dallas' turn to step up. I anticipate Dallas to win in a tight one.