MIAMI—Hundreds of fans lined up along Biscayne Boulevard just outside of the Miami Heat’s arena on Saturday afternoon, waiting to get a glimpse—perhaps even a photo—of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade leaving practice.
The scene included police officers and traffic jams, with people hanging out of their windows to snap photos or shoot video. Some cars just stopped mid-red light, letting out swimsuit-clad passengers to join the chaos.
This was nothing like the typical Mavericks practice, even the ones where Shark Tank star and team owner Mark Cuban makes a rare appearance.
As King James said, “It’s the Miami Heat. Everything we do gets a lot more attention.”
But inside AmericanAirlines Arena, the Heat had its full attention on the Mavericks.
The Heat’s first practice since closing out the Bulls on Thursday night in Chicago went an hour longer than scheduled. Wade sat out the main part of practice to rest but said he’s not injured. Heat president and former coach Pat Riley was, as usual, in coach Erik Spoelstra’s shadow.
The Heat’s primary focus heading into Game One of the National Basketball Association Finals on Tuesday is trying to figure out some way to do what no team has been able to accomplish this postseason: slow Dirk Nowitzki.
“He’s probably, arguably one of the most unique players in the league because of his size and skill,” Spoelstra said. “It starts with a defensive system and staying true to that, and you also have to have guys on your roster who are even physically capable of defending a player of that size on the perimeter. It’s a major challenge.”
Former Lincoln standout Chris Bosh, the overshadowed player among the Heat’s superstar trio, said he’ll have his hands full trying to contain the taller Nowitzki.
Bosh said Nowitzki is most likely going to get his 25 points, like he always does, but the Heat can’t allow him to go off for 40. Bosh said the Heat will continually rotate players Nowitzki’s way and try to stay between him and the basket. What’s the most frustrating part about defending Nowitzki for Bosh?
“The fact that he hits shots in your face,” Bosh said. “You have to stay disciplined, even if he hits five in a row. There is nothing else you can do. He’s 7 feet, he’s fading away, and he shoots over his head. The natural thing for a guy to do is on the sixth one, when he upfakes you, jump for the sky. Now he’s at the free-throw line, now he’s just totally gone. You just have to stay disciplined and not get frustrated.”
Spoelstra said another concern for the Heat is defending the Mavericks’ bench players, especially the pesky JJ Barea and sharpshooters Jason Terry and Peja Stojakovic.
Unlike the Heat, the Mavericks rely on their bench to score.
“Their bench is one of the more explosive offensive benches in the league. They bring a lot of firepower,” Spoelstra said. “Those guys could be starters on other teams and be productive as starters. They’ve done that all yearlong. Our bench, we feel very confident in it as well. We don’t judge it by necessarily how many points they score but the impact they have on us winning.”
James made light of the Heat’s eight-man rotation compared with the depth the Mavericks can throw at opponents in waves.
“Simple as that, they’re a good team. We’re good individuals and not a good team,” James quipped, drawing on the public’s view of the Heat.
Wade said he’s aware that the Mavericks are the sentimental favorite in the Finals. He said that’s not a surprise considering everyone outside of South Florida has been rooting against them since last summer’s free-agent frenzy that resulted in James and Bosh signing with Miami.
“We’re not going to be the favorites from that standpoint,” Wade said. “At the end of the day, that doesn’t matter. We’ve handled everything as gracious as we can. We’ve had times where we’ve said things to fuel the fire even more. Overall, I think we’ve done a good job of handling this beast that was created by us. We focus on the game of basketball and let our basketball do the talking, and now we’re in a great position.”
