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Steve Kerr

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Question (from Richard Winn of Fort Worth, Texas)
"And because of Wade's excellence, Miami is back in the series." Add this: "… because of Dallas' stupidity for allowing Wade to stay in the game with five fouls." Please get this message to Avery Johnson. This is getting to be a bad habit. The Mavericks had five fouls on four or five players on Phoenix in Game 7 and only drew fouls on two of them. Why doesn't Dallas take the ball to the basket and foul these guys out? Why don't the Mavs take charges on guys in foul trouble?

Answer
I understand your point, but fouling a guy out is a lot easier said than done. Wade knew he had five fouls, and he was going to do everything possible to avoid his sixth. So he shied away from contact on defense and was careful not to get out of control offensively. It's easy to say that Dallas should have attacked him, but sometimes going after one player and trying to draw a foul can take a team out of its offensive rhythm. On top of that, whether they'll admit it or not, officials are not going to give a superstar a cheap foul when he already has five. That sixth one has to be a good foul, and Wade played it smart and stayed out of harm's way.

In my mind, the Mavericks lost the game not because they didn't attack Wade but because they stopped attacking, period. With a 13-point lead and 6½ minutes to go, Dallas tried to slow down and run the clock, and it was way too early to do so. The Mavs lost their flow and broke down offensively, and when a couple of calls went against them – and when Wade went nuts – they were vulnerable. Give Miami credit – the Heat came back and made every play they had to make. But Dallas left the door open for them by neglecting to play its game.

Normally in the playoffs, the team that lost the previous game has to make adjustments. For Game 4 of the NBA Finals, though, I'm not so sure that the Dallas Mavericks need to change a whole lot strategically. After all, for 41½ minutes in Game 3, they played exactly how they wanted to play against the Miami Heat.

The Mavericks pushed the ball in transition, they made life miserable for Shaquille O'Neal by sending waves of bodies and double-teamers at him and they forced a ton of Miami turnovers. Even with Dwyane Wade going nuts – he already had 30 points midway through the fourth quarter – Dallas had a 13-point lead and control of the game.

So if I'm Avery Johnson, I'm reminding my players of two things: First, they played extremely well, and second, they can't expect to do so for only 3½ quarters and still win. Winning a playoff game on the road is very, very difficult. A team has to earn it by playing the whole 48 minutes, making plays down the stretch, getting to the free-throw line and making stops on defense. The Mavericks didn't complete the deal in Game 3, and they paid for it.

Johnson will surely find plenty of faults in his team's play – he is very demanding, after all – and he'll make some minor changes. He'd like Dirk Nowitzki to attack the rim early, rather than settle for long jumpers as he did Tuesday when he started 0-for-6. He wants his team to concentrate on the glass, where it was outrebounded 49-34, and he'd like to keep Wade out of the paint, obviously, although that's easier said than done. Miami scored 52 points in the paint in Game 3, most of them off Wade's penetration. Dallas must do a better job of forcing him to shoot jump shots.

But in reality, the Mavericks had their game plan in place, and it worked well for most of the night. Johnson needs to make sure his team executes it again – this time for the entire game – and doesn't suffer any residual effects from a heartbreaking loss. For a team that has won so many big road games in the playoffs already, it shouldn't be too difficult. The Mavs will be ready.

Miami, on the other hand, has to win Game 4 to really make this series interesting. Despite the Game 3 victory, there are some pressing issues. Can the Heat get any production from their bench? Can they get Shaq going for an entire game against a tough, deep Dallas defense? Can they take care of the ball after 20 turnovers in Game 3? Those are questions Pat Riley and his staff are pondering as they prepare for Thursday, and there are no simple answers.

Shaq started Game 3 quickly, moving well without the ball and aggressively taking it to the rim once he got it. He has to do that for the entire game against a swarming, quick defense. O'Neal was responsible for seven of the Mavericks' 20 turnovers, so he'll have to make quick decisions on the block, either going right to the rim or passing out of the double team. And it's critical for Miami to continue pushing the ball up the floor in order to give its offense more time to work.

As for the bench, it's possible James Posey could play more. Antoine Walker is having a terrible time trying to find someone to guard, and Josh Howard is too quick for him. Posey can give Howard more trouble, and he hit a big fourth-quarter three-pointer during the Heat's comeback, so perhaps his confidence has grown. Ditto for Gary Payton, whose 21-foot jumper with 9.4 seconds to play was the winning hoop. It was only Payton's second basket of the series, but maybe one that will spur him into more production on Thursday.

Generally by Game 4 of a series, the two teams know each other so well that there aren't many adjustments to make. Each club knows exactly what the other one is doing, and it simply becomes a matter of which team outworks and outshoots the other. That will be the case in Game 4. It's a huge game – they all are – but the Heat have clawed their way back into the series. Now they can make things very nerve-wracking for Dallas and its fans.