Mavericks Bench Needs To Heat Up

Added on Jun 07, 2011 by Scott in

NBA

Reading between the lines of Dirk Nowitzki’s statements regarding Jason Terry’s fourth-quarter scoring woes and it’s easy to identify the Mavericks biggest weakness in the first three games of the NBA Finals. A deep bench that dominated in the regular season and during the early rounds of the playoffs has suddenly gone cold. Terry may be receiving the brunt of the criticism, but he’s not the only Dallas reserve deserving of blame.

Terry has yet to convert a shot in the final quarter of the Mavericks two losses. Sharpshooting Peja Stojakovic has played only 26 minutes thus far and is 1-5 from the field. J.J. Barea has scored 13 total points, one less than he did in the Game 5 victory over Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals. Brendan Haywood missed part of Game 2 and all of Game 3 with an injured hip flexor.

Some of these struggles can be attributed to Miami’s stifling defense. LeBron James has successfully used his size and strength advantage to shut down Terry in critical stretches. However, Terry’s confidence doesn’t appear to have been shaken by his play or Nowitzki’s words.

“It’s a call to arms. One man’s not going to win it,” Terry said. “Obviously, the big-wig [Nowitzki] is going to need to get some help, and I’m going to tell you this — that we will be there in Game 4.”

It better be there for tonight’s Game 4 because a 3-1 deficit will be nearly impossible to overcome. Dallas is a perimeter team. They can’t fall back on dumping the ball inside to low post playmakers. If they fail to knock down three-pointers, they won’t win the series.

Offensive troubles are only part of the problem. Dallas has allowed the Heat to hit 28 three-pointers. Limiting Dwyane Wade, James and Mario Chalmers has to be a priority. Wade and James are givens, but Chalmers has picked up the slack with James Jones and Mike Miller ailing by netting 8-19 shots from beyond the arc.

Game 4 tips tonight at 9pm in Dallas. The Mavericks are 3-point favorites.

Source: ESPN.com