Match-up Breakdowns
PG - Jason Kidd vs. Mike Bibby: Kidd wins this match-up with flying colors. Kidd has more playoff experience, touches the ball way more than Bibby, shoots better, and passes better. Although I do have to say Bibby has played up to par in these playoffs and should keep it up in this series.
SG - DeShawn Stevenson vs. Dwayne Wade: This is obvious also, but with recent bad play by Wade, not nearly as obvious as it should be. Stevenson starts because this team has so many people that can score the basketball that they don't need him to score really at all. Stevenson is here for defense and defense alone. It will be a tough task to guard Wade, but he played his worst basketball of the year against the Bulls, so Stevenson better pray it carries over to this series.
SF - Shawn Marion vs. LeBron James: Marion is another player that Dallas relies on for consistent defense. He usually guards the other teams best player, and that will be the case again. Marion has no real chance to stop LeBron, but would like to slow him down a bit. LeBron is going to own this match-up on the score card, but if Marion can get in his head and annoy him a bit, then his team might win the series.
PF - Dirk Nowitski vs. Chris Bosh: This match-up is going to decide the series in my opinion. Miami is going to need not only huge defense from Bosh, they are going to need his 20-25 point a game from last series to carry over. D Wade and LeBron can score whenever they want, but so can Dirk and the rest of his team. The three headed monster will have to be at full capacity to be able to hang with the whole Dallas team dropping big points. I feel Dirk will make Bosh wine like a little girl, foul out a couple times this series, and completely own his life.
C - Tyson Chandler vs. Joel Anthony: Clearly the least interesting match-up in the starting lineup. Both are in to get rebounds and help disrupt people in the lane. Tyson is going to have to come up big on helping his teammates with LeBron and Bosh coming in the lane, and I'm sure Anthony will be on Dirk quite a bit himself. Both need to stay out of foul trouble and rebound their asses off.
Bench - Another main reason the Dallas Mavericks will be the NBA Champs. Nobody on the Heat bench can hang with Jason Terry or JJ Barea. They are playing huge for Dallas and will keep it up without skipping a beat. They are also throwing out Brendan Haywood (a starting center for most other teams) and Peja Stojakovic, although old, still lethal from behind the line. As for the Heat bench, they only use Mike Miller (hasn't been shooting all that well lately from behind the ark, even when he does not as good as Jason Terry), Udonis Haslem who is going to get ran over by Dirk whenever he steps on the floor, and Mario Chalmers who is going to get circles ran around him by JJ Barea.
As much as I have hated on Queen James and the Heat, I still think it goes 7 games. Dallas in 7 based on Dirk being able to get his shot anywhere and against anyone, the bench points, and overall team experience and depth.
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