Put Me in the Studio with Magic and Barry!

Last night I talked about what the Mavs must do to win, and I basically hit it right on the spot of what actually happened. I'll go through step by step what I said last night:

1. Tyson Chandler needs to own the boards while making noticeable but not huge contributions on offense.

This is the only must that is iffy. Chandler was definitely a presence in the paint even if his rebound stat line didn't show it. On offense he put up 13, which is a solid contribution for him.

2. Jason Terry, Jason Kidd, or Peja Stojakovic need to have a big shooting night, or all three need to do well.

Well I said only one of them had to have a big shooting night, but both Terry and Kidd shot extremely well from the trey zone as both shot 3-5.

3. Dirk needs to keep getting to the line for freebies (at least 8 ft attempts)
Again last night Dirk went 10-10 from the charity stripe. I believe this is essential because the line is his comfort zone and it helps him get in a groove.

4. J.J. Barea does not need to be dominant or tantalizing, but he needs to be effective at times.

Well we'll just say Barea was more than effective with his 17 points and 4-5 from three point range. Barea has been a pest the past two games and also dropped five dimes.

5. Lebron can score 20 points but needs to be limited to pull ups and cannot be effective around the rim.
 This was the biggest factor. Lebron settled for plenty of jumpers and I don't even know if he hit any of his shots that were outside of 10 feet. he was 8-19 shooting and 0-4 from the three point line. The most imporant stat is 1-2 from the free throw line. The Mavs obviously didn't let him bring it to the rack much because he barley got to the line.

I just absolutely crushed predicting this game. I'm expecting a call from Magic himself saying, "Jeff been reading the blog. Big Fan. Especially the Power Rankings, good job putting Cougar Bait where they belong. I see you're team is loaded at point but if you ever need an older guy to give you some minutes let me know. To get on track here, great job with the Mavericks evaluation of you ever wanna give this analyst gig a shot and be in the booth with me and Jon I can hook you up. I know a couple people in this business."

If anyone else tries to call me today get ready for my voice mail.