The Dallas Mavericks New Goal: Don’t Let There Be a Game Seven

The Dallas Mavericks New Goal: Don’t Let There Be a Game Seven

With great defense, incredible comebacks, and clutch shots late, the Dallas Mavericks have pushed the Miami Heat to the brink of elimination in the NBA and have Dallas close to capturing an elusive NBA Championship. It has been a shocking turn of events, but in a pivotal game five, the game LeBron James called the biggest of his life prior to tip, the Mavericks grabbed a stranglehold of the series. It was one of the best performances of the playoffs by the Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki was the best player on the court, Jason Terry was tossing up daggers, J.J. Barea was getting into the lane at will, Shawn Marion played tremendous defense, and Tyson Chandler was a beast in the paint. In their “game seven,” the final game of the season in Dallas, the Mavericks got contributions from everyone on the roster and saved their best for last.

Now it’s up to them to finish the job in South Beach Sunday night because I don’t see Miami losing a game seven in their house. Shawn Marion and JJ Barea joined Into the Night With Tony Bruno to talk about another late rally by the Mavericks, how tough it will be now that the series is shifting to Miami again, and whether or not Dallas is in the head of Miami, why they were so successful shooting the ball, how they are having so much success closing out games, and how important it is for the Mavericks to close out Miami in game six.

On having another fourth quarter rally:

(Marion) “At the same time though we were up to start the fourth quarter. We knew they were going to make a little run, we just had to stand in and make our own run to close it out.”

If he saw LeBron James and Dwyane Wade mocking Dirk Nowitzki prior to the game:

(Marion) “Not at all. Everybody, the media, just comes back and reports stuff like that. We don’t care about that.”

On how tough game six will be going back to Miami:

(Marion) “We know that it’s not going to be easy. We know we gotta go out there and do what we gotta do. We gotta come out there, be the aggressor, and take it to them. That’s what it’s about.”

Whether or not he thinks the Mavericks are in the heads of the Heat:

(Marion) “I don’t know if we’re in their head. No. We know what we’re capable of doing. We just go out there, stay persistent with what we want to do and what we accomplish, and go after it.”

On the shooting percentage from three point range:

(Barea) “I think we were due for some. I’m just glad and happy they went in tonight. When you play hard and you play with a lot of energy the basketball is going to go in at some point and it went in tonight.”

On the Mavericks ability to close out game:

(Barea) “We’re doing a great job closing out games. I think we have the players to do it. Jason Kidd with the ball, we’ve got Dirk, the best finisher I think in the game right now, Jason Terry is not scared to shoot it, and the important part is we’re getting stops. We’re getting stops in the last couple of minutes and that’s been big for us.”

On going back to Miami:

(Barea) “Oh we know it’s not going to be easy, but we have a great opportunity. We better take advantage. We’re gonna give it everything we got and we’ll see what happens.”

How important it is to avoid game seven:

(Barea) “Oh yeah we don’t want to go to game seven but we’re gonna give it all on Sunday and see what happens.”