[Stardust]

Who wins and Why?

[WideRight05]

I am going with Miami. Dallas made a big, big mistake trading away Tyson Chandler. His defense and rebounding caused problems for so many teams. He a huge impact against the Heat, who did not have a true center last year and do not have one at this point of the year. The gain of Lamar Odom is nice to have, he will provide a nice player who can play both the small and power forward positions. However, it won't replace the interior defense that Chandler provided. IMO that will hurt Dallas this year.

[MVP2]

Heat-103
Mavs-92

[MVP2]

Final

Heat 105-94.


^^

Man, I was close.

[WideRight05]

Final

Heat 105-94.


^^

Man, I was close.

That you were. :biggrin:

The Heat look a couple of steps ahead of where they were this time last year. They really tried to push the tempo with Wade and James running the floor. Haslem had a great game off the bench, and that rookie (Cole?) looks like he has some potential as a point guard. He made a couple of good plays today. Battier is a huge acquisition and IMO is the most focused player in basketball when he's on the court. Defensively, he will be huge for the Heat.

The Mavs had a few good flashes during the game, but you can tell they are still trying to adjust to the new acquisitions of Carter and Odom and their playing styles. Miami controlled this game, leading by as much as 35. I think Dallas tried to force a lot of shots in the paint instead of making the extra pass and letting the game come to them. It's only the first game, so I definitely expect some improvement from the Mavs. I had mentioned in my prediction about how valuable Chandler was to this team. He was not there, and you could tell by the way they were outrebounded by the Heat, and also by the way the Heat were able to attack the interior defense.