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NBA Finals Blog: Mavericks and Heat, Game 3

What blog provides their thoughts on 3 games of the NBA Finals, all on the same evening?  Why, this one, of course!  Game 3 was in Miami, so I wasn’t there in person — but I was at the American Airlines Center, once again working as a Hoop Troop member for the watching party.  A few thoughts from the game and the watching party…

• It’s kind of weird to be watching a game on a Jumbotron with 12,000 Mavericks fans — but it’s kind of fun.  It’s hard to catch the commentary, but I think at this point we can all predict what Hubie Brown and Mike Breen are going to say before they say it — so it’s all good.
• From the second I stepped out on the court before the game, I could tell it was going to be a different sort of night.  Before games, we often go out on the court with what we call “the backpack” — one of the guys puts on a backpack with a basketball hoop on it, and we toss a small ball into the crowd which the crowd then tries to toss into the hoop.  It’s a rather mundane activity, if you ask me, but it helps kids pass the time.  Normally at games, a few people will make some noise wanting the ball — smatterings of yells from here and there.  When we bring out the tshirt sling before games, we get more of a response, but still not the all-out noise we hear during games.  But during the watch party, the crowd was going absolutely bonkers over this little game of miniature basketball.  Entire sections were screaming, begging for the ball.  It was quite the surprise, honestly — it’s supposed to be more of a time-pass crowd-interaction-activity for kids than an all out crowd-pumping up activity.  But I enjoyed the change.
• The in-game tshirt sling during one of the commercials was way intense — people were going nuts for tshirts.  And later in the game, I had to deliver a few ballcaps to some guys that participated in one of our skits — and when I entered the crowd I nearly got mauled by people trying to get the hats.  It was pretty hardcore.
• As we all know, it was a close game.  The floor director at the watching party started out the game pretty laid back, relaxed, doing a lot of stuff from the comfort of a seat.  But as the game got more tense, he took his usual spot on the stairs near the tunnel, barking out instructions and treating it more and more like a real game (I personally got yelled at when I messed something up).  The crowd was intense and really into it — when we brought out the flags, they were as loud as any regular-season crowd (not quite as loud as a playoff crowd, but the building wasn’t full, either).
• I thoroughly enjoyed the different crowd atmosphere — it was almost all younger people (14-30 range) that can’t normally pony up the thousands of dollars to get good seats at the NBA Finals.  They were there to party, and party they did.  They were loud, enthusiastic, and loved the Mavs.  It was great to see.
• And not only did they love the Mavs, they loved the Hoop Troop — a section of guys started a Hoop Troop chant.  They probably just wanted tshirts, but I dug it anyway!
• On another note, I once again had to play the role of heartbreaker.  I brought a couple of girls down from the stands for a skit, where they met my fellow Hoop Troop member Charlie.  After the skit, one pointed out that Charlie was “really cute.”  She looked really disappointed when I pointed out that he was getting married in about a week.  (Good luck, Charlie!)
• The big downside of the evening was the game itself — it ended in disappointment.  The Mavericks blew a 12-point 4th quarter lead and fell to the Heat, bringing the series to 2-1.  On the one hand, I was looking forward to a sweep, but this is probably mroe realistic.  The Heat won by 2 points after Shaq and Udonis Haslem hit their free throws (a rarity), Gary Payton hit a clutch jumper with the shot clock running out (a rarity at this stage of his career), and Dirk missing a big free throw (yet another true rarity).  Dwayne Wade went nuts and scored 40+ points, and Shaq looked the best he did in the series.  The stars aligned right for the Heat.  But despite all that, the Mavericks still nearly pulled out the game.  Had they not had several dud offensive posessions in a row where they waited too far into the shot clock to start their offense, forcing them into bad shots, they probably would have been able to pull out the win.  But that having been said, it’s not a given that the Mavericks will win game 4 — they need to get their focus back and really take it to the Heat.  The Mavericks have put together several good quarters, against the Heat, but have yet to be really stellar for an extended stretch.  They need to really bring out their best games and close the series out.
• I think I’ve said this before, but the Heat PA announcer is really, really annoying.  I’m glad he was usually drowned out by the din of the American Airlines Center watching party.
• Of course, many would argue that the Mavericks were bound to lose after the city-wide jinx that was inadvertently applied.  After the Mavericks went up 2-0, the stories across the papers and the news was information about the parade being planned.  Come on, people!  Everyone knows talking about the parade before the championship is won is a jinx.  Of course, I participated in the parade talk… my bad.

Wed June 14th, 2006 10:54 pm

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