0-2, 2-2 to Victory?

Call it MI-4 starring a special agent named D.Wade and his team called the Heat. Mission impossible? Maybe. Doable? Sure. But will it happen?

I have to admit that after Games 1 and 2 and until around the last 5:30 mark of Game 3, I felt that Dallas had a good chance of sweeping the Miami Heat (and ruin my fearless forecast of a Miami championship). The Mavs had methodically defeated the Heat on their homecourt, and were only five minutes away from a commanding 3-0 lead when the Heat finally warmed up and declared, "Enough is enough!".

So badly beaten were the Heat in the two games in Dallas that they didn't look like a team that belonged to an NBA Finals. Fans had questioned if this was the same Miami team that took out the Detroit Pistons in six games as the Heat played like mere shadows of themselves.

How bad was it? Shaquille O'Neal's performance in Game 2 may have been the worst playoff game of his career as everything went right for the Mavs while the opposite was true for the Heat. With a 2-0 lead, it was evident that the Dallas combination of youth, quickness, deeper bench, stingy interior defense (against Shaq) and superb play of Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki befuddled a suddenly dazed Miami team that didn't know what hit them. Or so we all thought.

The pattern, however, was disrupted albeit temporarily, when Miami started out hot in Game 3. As they raced to an early comfy lead in the first half, we were saying that this was the Heat we were all expecting to see. But Dallas had other plans as they dominated the third quarter to take a commanding 13-point lead, took this into the pay-off period in what was trending to become an "easy" win that would've meant a virtually insurmountable 3-0 series lead.

And then something happened. Call it drama, suspense or whatever you want. Miami finally heated up. This was the turning point of all turning points for the Heat. Knowing that their backs were against the wall in front of their home crowd, the Heat suddenly found the inner strength that Coach Pat Riley was looking for since Game 1. How they did it, i don't know. They climbed from near defeat to take Game 3 and shifted to high gear with the momentum to dominate Game 4. If the Heat go on to win the series, then all they have to do is go back to the fourth quarter of Game 3 to search for their big winning heart.

And so we're back to square one with Game 5 to be played tomorrow (Philippine time). While Miami may have the slight edge and momentum, we shouldn't count out the Mavs just like that. The Heat have the edge because they made the adjustments that needed to be done, and this was anchored on playing better defense. While Terry and Nowitzki continued to get their points, they were also minimized at the right time. A big factor why the Heat were able to make the necessary changes must be due to the fact that their key players are hard-core veterans of the league who've been through the ups and downs of a pro's career. Maturity has dictated that if they don't change, adjust and be flexible , they won't come out champs.

The irony of it all is that while the two Dallas wins were similar in terms of how these were achieved, Miami defeated the Mavs in two distinct ways. When Riley decided to rely heavily on his starting five in Game 3 that his bench didn't contribute much on offense, many had thought that there was no way they could win against the nine or ten players who were shuffled wisely by Dallas Coach Avery Johnson (with Games 1 and 2 as clear examples). But the Heat grinded it out and found a way to win in a come-from-behind fashion. Game 4 was a different story as another facet of Miami's game was revealed. The Heat bench finally had a say in the offense, and more importantly in playing tough defense.

With the first four games as a gauge, Miami seems to have the upper hand in the series primarily due to the adjustments that they made to their game. On the other hand, Dallas doesn't seem to have done any tinkering to their own game. They should forget that Games 1 and 2 are things of the past and there's a Game 5 that must bring out something else from their war chest. The big question now is if the youth element in both the players and coaching experience is now turning into a weakness?

What started out as a yawner of a series after two games is now turning out to be one that's guaranteed to bring out the same kind of drama, suspense and thrill of those great battles of the past. I'm sure Dallas is capable of recovering and stealing Game 5, but are they willing to make their own adjustments to get the job done? For the Heat, it now becomes a chess match of anticipating whatever Dallas decides to put on their game plan while continuing to exploit whatever adjustments it made in Game 3 and 4.

The team that wins Game 5 is going to have a firm control of the series. Down 0-2, Miami bounced back. Dallas is also down 0-2. The battle for that "W" is surely going to be tough, long and winding. 0-2, 2-2, and 3-2 . Get it and you're a c inch for that fourth win.

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