Tag: Jason Terry

Ex-Boston Celtic Jason Terry candidate for open Arizona assistant job

Former Boston Celtics shooting guard Jason Terry is reportedly a candidate for the vacant assistant coaching gig at Arizona.

Former Boston Celtics shooting guard Jason Terry might be making a return to his collegiate alma mater, reports Jeff Goodman’s Stadium.

Terry, who attended Arizona between 1995 and 1999 and winning an NCAA championship there in his sophomore season, is a leading candidate for the Wildcats’ vacant assistant coach slot.

He would be replacing former assistant coach Justin Gainey, who departed to accept the head coaching job recently open at Marquette.

The former Celtic has no coaching experience to speak of at the collegiate or professional level, but does coach for the Lady Drive Nation, an AAU club in the greater Dallas area, reports the Arizona Desert Swarm’s Ryan Kelapire.

Terry came to Boston in free agency in the summer of 2012, and played for the team for just one season, being traded to the Brooklyn Nets along with teammates Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

He averaged 10.1 points, 2 rebounds and 2.5 assists while with the team.

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Former Nets guard could join Arizona’s coaching staff

A recent report indicates Jason Terry is interested in getting into the coaching game at the college level.

Jason Terry’s time with the Brooklyn Nets was brief, to say the least. He logged 35 games in a Nets uniform after he was sent to Brooklyn by the Boston Celtics, along with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in the summer of 2013.

Then, while dealing with a knee injury, Terry was traded to the Sacramento Kings for Reggie Evans and Marcus Thornton in the middle of the 2013-14 season.

Terry didn’t play in one game for the Kings, then went on to play for the Houston Rockets for two seasons, followed by two years in Milwaukee. He then retired after 2017-18.

Terry isn’t coming out of retirement to play at the age of 42, but he is trying to get back in the game. According to Jeff Goodman of Stadium, Terry “has emerged as the leading candidate to join Sean Miller’s staff as an assistant” at Arizona.

Terry played at Arizona for four years, helping the Wildcats win the NCAA National Championship in 1997.

RELATED: Ranking the top five small forwards in Nets history

RELATED: Ranking the top five shooting guards in Nets history

LeBron James Finals Re-Watch Diary: Game 6, 2011 NBA Finals

LeBron James falls to 0-2 in his NBA Finals career as Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks close out the Heat in the 2011 Finals.

During the NBA’s indefinite hiatus, I will be rewatching every game of LeBron’s NBA Finals career. Every Finals game from the last 20 years is available to NBA League Pass subscribers on the NBA app or through apps like YouTube TV. We will be going chronologically through LeBron’s Finals career. 

Previous Games

Game 1, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals game.

Game 2, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron bounces back but falls down 0-2.

Game 3, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron gets the last shot but it doesn’t go.

Game 4, 2007 NBA Finals: Staying home.

Game 1, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals victory.

Game 2, 2011 NBA Finals: Heat blow 15-point 4th quarter lead.

Game 3, 2011 NBA Finals: Bosh game-winner helps put Heat up 2-1.

Game 4, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron has 8 points in Finals loss.

Game 5, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron bounces back, but Mavs shoot the lights out.

Erik Spoelstra has gone to the hot hand, finally in desperation, starting Mario Chalmers, who has been the best point guard on the Heat all series. Chalmers would end the series shooting 40 percent from the 3-point line and was the lone Heat player to hit double-digit 3-pointers in the series, with a series-best 14 3-pointers. LeBron kicks off the game with a 3-pointer, looking like he’s more comfortable at home after having a mostly anonymous Game 4 and a couple of poor decisions at the end of Game 5 in Dallas. LeBron then works as the screener and Chalmers creates a look for him that has been rare in this series: a move towards the rim. Ultimately the rhythm started going for James early as he hit his first four shots, with back-to-back mid-range pull-ups, pacing the Heat with his scoring in a way that was absent since the Heat left Miami earlier in the series. 14-10 Heat, with nine points from LeBron, but the Mavs have been here many times in this series, as well as this dramatic postseason, and come out winners.

Dirk picks up an early 2nd foul while defending Chris Bosh and rather than leave him in, Rick Carlisle makes the conservative move to save Nowitzki from a disastrous 3rd foul with just over 5 minutes left in the 1st quarter. The Heat go up 22-17, but the Mavs have proven to be more than just Nowitzki throughout the entire postseason. On cue, Jason Terry hits a pull-up. Then Shawn Marion, one of the pioneers of the Pace and Space revolution with the Phoenix Suns, finds Terry for another 3-pointer and just like that the Heat lead is only 2 despite while Dirk is watching from the bench. It didn’t appear this way at the time, but the Mavs really had a group of avengers that had been passed over or beaten in the past era by the San Antonio Spurs or the Los Angeles Lakers, of the 2006 Heat, or in the case of DeShawn Stevenson, the Cavaliers. Finally, the whole lot of them, from Marion, to Kidd, to Terry, to Stojakovic, to Chandler, to Dirk they had a collective hunger that couldn’t be matched by the Heat’s spotlight. Heck, Corey Brewer is on the team and has barely played in this series.

After LeBron put the team on his back to start the game and after Dirk picked up two early fouls midway through the 1st quarter, the Heat got sonned in the back half of the quarter like a bunch of college kids visiting their local rec center back home over break. After Ian Mahinmi out-works Bosh for an offensive rebound, the sense of urgency for the Mavs is fueling activity while the Heat’s desperation is leading to paralysis. Stevenson again from 3! We don’t talk enough about the All-Time villain performance from Stevenson in this series. Top-3 LeBron villain All-Time. Then he does it again! 3 3-pointers in a row. That Stevenson is the one throwing major daggers at the heart of the Heat is a poetic circle LeBron himself can especially appreciate.

The Heat, because this is basketball and because it’s the Finals, make a 7-0 run but history and the constant 3-point barrage from the Mavs in these last two games seem like a wave the Heat won’t be able to escape. Miami’s defense has been better, but only when the Mavs are overpassing. Now it’s a 9-0 run and Dirk has missed seven of his first six shots, then Haslem makes it a 40-39 game. And now here’s Eddie House to rue the day, exactly 3 minutes ago, that I ever spoke ill on him. The Heat lead 42-40, but we have scuffle! Stevenson and Haslem start jawing, but then Mario Chalmers makes his most boneheaded play of the series as he runs up on Stevenson to shove him and Stevenson gives him a double forearm shove. Both teams spilled onto the court.

Meanwhile, LeBron remains on the bench. Despite the long break without game time going by, the Heat are opting to rest him until a few possessions after play resumes. Then Chalmers feeds Haslem, making it a 16-1 run, with both teams making their best runs in this game with their stars on the bench. James returns to the game with 4:33 left in the game and the Heat up 44-43 after Marion missed a pair of free-throws. Obviously, the path to a championship will not be without another kind of comeback. A LeBron lay-up makes the Heat lead 47-43 but the Heat’s big momentum play was answered by another 3-pointer, which has been the story of the series. Dirk is 1 for 9, but the collective 3-point shooting is the rising tide that is raising all Mavericks boats. Another Terry 3-pointer restores order in the flow of the series, giving the Mavs a 49-47 lead. Dirk is missing everything, now 1 for 12 to start but the Mavs have Terry. He scored the last 10 Mavericks points in the 2nd quarter to help them hold a 53-51 lead into halftime.

A 3-point play by Wade on a backdoor cut gives the heat a little life, but Wade leaves another point on the table, the 13th missed free-throw of the game for Miami. The Heat have over 30 free-throw attempts but they still trail by four, mostly due to the 3-point line. Again, the Mavericks just had too many 3s to answer the big plays by the Heat. And there is JJ Barea with a pull-up 3 on House to push the lead back to 84-77.  Terry then makes another 3-pointer to make it an 87-77 lead. Then a Barea floater gives the Mavs their biggest lead of the game at 89-77 with 8 minutes left. Dirk is having an inefficient elimination game, but it doesn’t matter and he keeps shooting because that’s why the Mavs are here. He makes a huge one keep Dallas up by 9 on a Terry assist. Terry ended with a game-high 27 in a spot as he continued to back-up his trash talk. 

A couple of minutes later as the two teams remain in the same distance, Dirk hits another big 3-pointer to push the lead to 10. And Mark Jackson says an ominous note that the basketball lives and legacies of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade will never be the same if Dallas doesn’t close this out. While history is still being sorted on that front, the statement is an accurate reflection of the stage the Heat. But off the pedestal, they come. Dirk gets a lay-up with 30 seconds left to put the Mavs up by 11 and the celebration starts.

With LeBron having had a terrible game in Game 4, he will be the scapegoat and the Mavs will be one of the most celebrated champions in recent memory because their entire team finally got over the hump and Dirk’s years of work in Dallas, from losing to an 8-seed in 2007 to losing Steve Nash, are finally validated. Now LeBron will have to wait through an NBA lockout and a compressed season to finally get his. But we will pick that story up once we get to the Finals, in 2012 as LeBron and the Heat look for redemption in the 2012 Finals.

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LeBron James Finals Re-Watch Diary: Game 5, 2011 NBA Finals

LeBron James and the Miami Heat try to bounce back from a brutal Game 4 loss but the Mavs turn the series in their favor.

During the NBA’s indefinite hiatus, I will be rewatching every game of LeBron’s NBA Finals career. Every Finals game from the last 20 years is available to NBA League Pass subscribers on the NBA app or through apps like YouTube TV. We will be going chronologically through LeBron’s Finals career. 

Previous Games

Game 1, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals game.

Game 2, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron bounces back but falls down 0-2.

Game 3, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron gets the last shot but it doesn’t go.

Game 4, 2007 NBA Finals: Staying home.

Game 1, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals victory.

Game 2, 2011 NBA Finals: Heat blow 15-point 4th quarter lead.

Game 3, 2011 NBA Finals: Bosh game-winner helps put Heat up 2-1.

Game 4, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron has 8 points in Finals loss

LeBron James just played what will be regarded as the worst NBA Finals game of his career. He had just eight points in Game 4 and was more of a defender and ball mover than he was a superstar player. The Mavericks crowd smells blood now. And the Mavericks may too. Dirk Nowitzki is feeling much better after being ill in Game 4. Playing under such circumstances has a different tone in times of coronavirus but this type of effort is the type of stuff that legends have been made of.

Whatever you may think about what got Michael Jordan sick before Game 5 of the 1997 Finals, The Flu Game became an iconic moment and one that is referenced anytime a player is sick. Game 4 did that for Dirk. The myth of the ill superstar in a time of need is a well-worn NBA story, but one that the Miami Heat didn’t much enjoy entertaining, as they saw the narrative coalescing around the other team’s best player. After this game, Dwyane Wade, who had been the star of the series, would make that clear for everyone to know.

A large part of LeBron’s low point totals was the Mavs committing to double-teams on LeBron basically anytime he got a post-up or a pick-and-roll. The Heat are still playing Joel Anthony and Bosh too much together, especially in a series where they’re getting outshot from the 3-point line fly such a wide margin, which doesn’t help. Then LeBron does himself no favors by airmailing a left-handed floater, something that truthfully has never been a big part of his game. I’m going to save the armchair psychology for someone else but just by judging the basketball, LeBron James just doesn’t look like his best self.

“I understand what is at stake,” James said heading into Game 5, which they show on the broadcast. “This is a big game, probably the biggest game of my life. I’m approaching it that way. Not probably, it is.”

And then to provide a snapshot of the moment, showing just how closely dissected James and the Heat were, Van Gundy and Mark Jackson get into a real argument about whether LeBron’s quote is actually true. This is the type of environment that followed the Heat everywhere. LeBron breaks that up with a thunderous slam dunk as he ran a streak pattern but the Mavs continue to pummel the Heat with efficiency. DeShawn Stevenson, who is LeBron’s noted enemy since 2008, just got his knee drained but Stevenson also had another quote to sum up the thoughts of the moment that LeBron “checked out,” in Game 4. Was it an exaggeration? Sure. But that did not matter, because the Mavs were strategic in their words off the court as they were with their execution on it. Between Stevenson and Jason Terry talking trash about the Heat or Dirk calling out Terry in the press, the Mavs have gotten an incredible return on their quotes in this series.

Dallas leads 15-8 now as Dirk is looking good, now with the momentum on his team’s side and the myth of a flu game in the NBA Finals to boot. We are on the precipice of Dirk’s legend becoming crystalized forever. LeBron comes through with a monster block to shake the Heat out of it and his defense in this series has been incredible. But the Heat’s scrambling defense, predicated on traps, is getting picked apart by the smart passing of the Mavs and the spacing. This time the devastation comes in the form of Brian Cardinal.

But the Heat get their own old man contribution as Juwan Howard hits a couple of midrange shots to keep pace with the Mavs, which sets up a Mario Chalmers buzzer-beater from half court, putting Miami up 31-30 after the first quarter.

The Heat are up 47-44 in large part due to Chalmers, who is subbed out mid-quarter in favor of Eddie House, who has not played at all in the Finals to this point. Right now it feels like the Heat have a little momentum, even as Wade plays hurt. This is also probably part of the reason he got so upset with the romanticism of Dirk’s illness, but that’s what happens when you win. House clanks a 3-pointer created by LeBron shortly after coming in, though the entire Heat bench was standing up trying to will it in. Then House has an airball, 2008 Celtics, this is not. Wow and then he just commits an offensive foul. House then gets benched. Tough scene and it’s really not his fault. He wasn’t ready for this. This is on Spoelstra, who got a little too desperate in his search for a veteran spark. But let this be a lesson to everyone: you don’t become one of the most respected coaches in the NBA overnight and not without some mistakes.

Mike Miller starts the 3rd quarter in Wade’s place while Wade continues to get treatment on his bum hip that took him out for a chunk of the 1st half. With LeBron the main threat, the Mavs are even more aggressive in double-teaming him when he catches the ball in the post. But the Mavs make the wrong help, helping off of Miller and LeBron makes them pay. Now we cut to Doris Burke who is in front of a closed-door Miami Heat locker room. Then James gets a match-up on Dirk and he takes a more natural shot, with his lunging fadeaway in the paint. But while LeBron is turning things up a bit, Nowitzki is continuing to drain rainbow shots and the Mavs have started 7 for 11 from the 3-point line.

LeBron does look to be a little freer with Wade out of the game and the Heat having more shooters on the court. But the problem for Miami is coming on the other end as JJ Barea is breaking Mike Bibby down off the dribble to get his 7th and 8th points of the third quarter. And now the dramatic shot of Wade walking out of the Heat locker room onto the floor in Dallas while the Heat are down 75-71 with 4:33 left. But as the series was decided, Jason Kidd now hits a 3-pointer to give the Mavs a 78-71 lead. Then Kidd finds a wide-open Chandler under the rim and the lead is now 80-71. It’s pretty nice having a two-time MVP on your team be your fourth or fifth best player. Meanwhile, Jason Terry continues to be a thorn in the side of the Heat as he is 6 for 9 from the field. Nicely done.

The Mavs lead 84-79 heading into the 4th quarter for the first time this series, in a pivotal Game 5. Juwan Howard then comes down extremely hard on what would definitely be a flagrant foul today but was just a common foul in 2011 on Stevenson. And Barea is continuing to slice the Mavs up as he and Terry have led helped create a more balanced attack with dribble penetration in the games that Dallas has won in this series. The Heat get a little closer but then Barea comes up with another back-breaker from 3 to make it 93-88. Heat steal with a LeBron assist to Wade makes it a 93-90 game.

The Mavs finally settle down and get the ball to Dirk, who draws a foul. LeBron then gets another assist to Haslem, his 8th of the game. Then a steal by Wade against Marion and then LeBron dimes up Wade again. 95-94 Heat and LeBron now has a triple-double. Game 4 was bad, but the 2nd half of Game 5 may have been the best half LeBron has played since Game 1. Then a Haslem dunk gives them a 96-95 lead. Can they pull it off? Dirk’s free-throw line fadeaway against Haslem rims off, then Wade with a 3 to go up 99-95.

Then Bosh splits free-throws to make it 100-97. And guess what happens next? What has happened seemingly all series, the Mavs erase their mistakes with the 3-point shot. Then LeBron takes midrange shot with no momentum, misses and Dirk gets a dunk on the other end. Just like that, it’s 102-100, then LeBron bowls Tyson Chandler over. What had been a good half of basketball from LeBron, in a game where he ends with a triple-double, is being undone in a handful of poor decisions towards the end of the game. The Mavs then blew the game open.

Then another Kidd 3-pointer makes it 105-100 with 1:26 left. Then Jason Terry hit a ridiculous, Dame Lillard type 3-pointer over LeBron to make it 108-100 with 30 seconds left. Now I think you have more of an idea why LeBron ended Jason Terry the way he did less than two years later. And the Heat have lost two games in a row for the first time in all of the 2011 playoffs.

It looked like Miami was taking control, but the 3-pointer and Dirk brought the Mavs back again, this time, with the lead for the first time in the series. Now LeBron and the Heat will go home with their season on the line in the next game. And things would only get weirder after Dwyane Wade’s postgame jokes about Dirk Nowitzki’s illness brought the villainy of the 2011 Heat to its peak moment.

LeBron James Finals Re-Watch Diary: Game 4, 2011 NBA Finals

LeBron James and Miami Heat lose their 2-1 series lead in Game 4 of the 2011 NBA Finals to the Dallas Mavericks.

During the NBA’s indefinite hiatus, I will be rewatching every game of LeBron’s NBA Finals career. Every Finals game from the last 20 years is available to NBA League Pass subscribers on the NBA app or through apps like YouTube TV. We will be going chronologically through LeBron’s Finals career. 

Previous Games

Game 1, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals game.

Game 2, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron bounces back but falls down 0-2.

Game 3, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron gets the last shot but it doesn’t go.

Game 4, 2007 NBA Finals: Staying home.

Game 1, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals victory.

Game 2, 2011 NBA Finals: Heat blow 15-point 4th quarter lead

Game 3, 2011 NBA Finals: Bosh game-winner helps put Heat up 2-1

The Miami Heat earned themselves a few days of reprieve from the season-long story that they can’t finish games. Chris Bosh’s clutch jumper made sure of that in Game 3 and now the Heat face an incredible opportunity to go up 3-1 in the best-of-seven series to take control. But the Mavs were only a shot away from going to overtime in Game 3.

Rick Carlisle elects to make a change from the outset of Game 4, inserting reserve guard JJ Barea into the starting line-up in place of DeShawn Stevenson. The move gives the Mavs another penetrator off the pick and roll, making it harder for the Heat defense to put them on their heels. But Dirk hits a fadeaway to start the game. Then Jason Kidd gets a block on Chris Bosh, leading to another Dirk fader. Then another Dirk jumper, this time off the assist from Barea, and it’s 6-0 Mavs. Dirk looks incredible and the Heat’s half-court offense looks like a Big 10 squad.

Apparently, the Heat have been bothered by a few things the Mavs have said, starting with the fact the Mavs believe the Heat aren’t the best defense they’ve seen, according to Jason Terry.

Then JET backs up his talk with a 3-pointer to push the Mavs ahead 17-14. In addition to Terry’s comments, he too was called out by his teammate Dirk Nowitzki, saying that they expect more from Terry in the 4th quarter. It’s rare these days for teammates to go on the record like Dirk did, but perhaps that’s what Terry needed, which he in turn verbally unleashed onto LeBron. Then Terry picks off LeBron’s pass after the 3-pointer. Terry is answering the bell and it looks like he may have found a way into the LeBron’s mind.

In the trash talk index, Noted LeBron Nemesis DeShawn Stevenson has also accused Dwyane Wade and LeBron of being actors who sell calls with flopping. Back in 2011, James Harden would not have been welcomed. So we have a two-pronged attack from the Mavericks of trying to publicly get into LeBron’s head, which at this time, we don’t know doesn’t work. This is only Game 8 of LeBron’s Finals career. He’s not quite the steely Finals veteran we know today.

LeBron, if he is reading this, would likely reject this on its face. But the visceral experience of watching this LeBron and even the LeBron of Game 4 in 2007 is drastically different. The Spurs did not play media mind games, because they did not need to. But the Mavs are again, in the spirit of the modern vanguard of the NBA, attacking James in a way that modern teams would use often in the future, even if it would lead to their downfall (see: 2016 Klay Thompson and Moe Speights).

Then LeBron’s noted enemy Stevenson hits his 3rd 3-pointer of the 2nd quarter alone. Get the ATM in the kitchen! It’s Stevenson time! Meanwhile, Dirk can’t miss. Whatever happened to him in the first three quarters of Game 2 has completely washed away. Then LeBron finds a cutting Wade for an easy bucket as the Heat lifer continues to be the scoring punch in the Heat offense. Also, the announcers started talking about the possible NBA lockout, which would cost us games the following season. Mike Breen says that Mark Cuban told him he wants to keep Tyson Chandler. Narrator: they did not keep him.

One of the great curiousities of watching this game, knowing the ending and knowing the reputation of it as a bad LeBron Game is watching James space the court. It’s great for Bosh and Wade, but maybe not the best thing for the Heat. He’s hanging out well beyond the 3-point line like a Houston Rockets role player in 2020. Seriously, he’s playing the same position that Jason Kidd is for the Mavericks. It looks more Robert Covington than LeBron James. Ball-mover, occasional shooter and driver. I hope that if you read this, you stop asking what would happen if LeBron committed to playing off the ball. This is it. Super-charged Robert Covington. The constant LeBron conflict of the necessary versus the natural is rearing its head, perhaps it may be one of the greatest conflicts of LeBron’s career.

Dwayne Wade isn’t making it any easier for LeBron to think this is the right way to go. LeBron makes a pass to Wade and LeBron then hits a free-throw line pull-up, but it’s a rare bucket for him on the night. Still, the Heat hold a 69-65 lead.

Mike Miller joins the series to make it 72-65 Heat for the first shot of the 4th quarter. Then Dirk gets stripped, LeBron gets in the half-court and the Mavs get a foul to slow the fast break. Then Haslem hits a midrange jumper to make it 74-65 and the Mavs find themselves in need of another comeback.

Then Jason Terry continues to back up his trash talk, driving to the rack for a bucket. Then James does a jump pass before he knows where to go with it and picks up a turnover. Then a Terry bucket it makes it 74-69 as Terry continues to answer the call laid out by Nowitzki. It may not have been as explicit as Larry Bird calling the 1984 Celtics a bunch of sissies, but it may have been just as effective. Meanwhile, Dirk has backed up all of the talk he’s had all series. He knows this is his series. He even told Nike Europe, according to my sources, to get an ad ready because he knew it was going to happen. Another 4th quarter has arrived and Dirk makes a layup to make it 76-73 with eight minutes left. But another thrilling Wade sequence of a block and lay-up makes it a 5-point lead for the Heat once again.

Dirk hit crucial free-throws to make it 82-78. Bosh answers with free-throws on the other end to make it 82-80. Stevenson misses two chances at open 3-pointers and Wade gets fouled by Kidd at the rim with 30 seconds left and the Heat down 2. Wade makes the first, but the second one hits every inch of the rim before going out of the cylinder and the Mavs getting the rebound up 81-80.

For the next Mavs possession, Nowitzki holds the ball until he’s ready to make his move, which Van Gundy thinks it’s too early, Dirk puts the Mavs up 83-80 with 14.4 seconds left. The Heat didn’t make a shot for the last seven minutes until a Wade drive for a dunk to make it 84-83 Mavs. However, that was as close as they would get for the rest of the night.

LeBron just finished with 8 points, his lowest total ever in a Finals game. And after a reprieve from all the talk about not showing up in the clutch, that will only continue to get louder as the Mavericks look to take a 3-2 series lead in Game 5.

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LeBron James Finals Re-Watch Diary: Game 3, 2011 NBA Finals

LeBron James and the Miami Heat take a 2-1 lead thanks to a huge game from Dwyane Wade and a clutch shot by Chris Bosh.

During the NBA’s indefinite hiatus, I will be rewatching every game of LeBron’s NBA Finals career. Every Finals game from the last 20 years is available to NBA League Pass subscribers on the NBA app or through apps like YouTube TV. We will be going chronologically through LeBron’s Finals career. 

Previous Games

Game 1, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals game.

Game 2, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron bounces back but falls down 0-2.

Game 3, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron gets the last shot but it doesn’t go.

Game 4, 2007 NBA Finals: Staying home.

Game 1, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals victory.

Game 2, 2011 NBA Finals: Heat blow 15-point 4th quarter lead

As we pick up from Game 2, the Miami Heat are dealing with their latest collapse in a season where late-game collapses have become a widely-discussed Achilles heel. With LeBron and Wade bricking jumpers in the 4th quarter, that narrative only grew louder as questions remained about whether the two stars, who combined for highlight plays all season long and dominant stretches of basketball, could get it done when the game is on the line in the final moments.

Whatever LeBron or the Heat said after the game to the contrary did little to quiet the perception. And it’s with this that the Heat went into Dallas for Game 3, where the Mavericks have momentum and now, home-court advantage.

Bibby picks up where he left off in Game 2, hitting a 3-pointer on an assist from LeBron to start the scoring. Early on in the game, the Mavs take a 9-7 lead and Jason Kidd starts denying the ball to Mike Bibby. And here is where I instantly see a difference between the LeBron of 2011 and the LeBron of even 2018, let alone 2020. LeBron brings the ball up and waits for things to develop that depend on everyone else, whereas the LeBron of today has much more confidence in moving everyone on the court like a chess piece. 

Chris Bosh just got hit in the face but he’s already back on the court as the Mavs lead 14-9. Bosh is home in this series, playing in his hometown of Dallas, so there’s nothing that’s going to keep him from playing as he dishes an assist to Wade, who is coming off a 36-point night in Game 2. Wade would again be the top Heat performer, finishing Game 3 with a team-high 29 points. LeBron gets his first bucket, a two-handed dunk, midway through the 1st quarter and the Heat have it at 14-13.

The Heat go to Wade in the post, as they continue to count o this Finals experience to lead the offense. A hard double-team comes and when it does, Wade kicks to LeBron, who destroyed the close-out. LeBron created a lot whenever the Mavs sent a double-team. He finished with 17 points, which was on the low side of what he was expected to do, but he had nine assists.

The Mavs had to be wary about giving LeBron any type of crease in their wall that he can exploit. Then James has another one of his incredible dunks, posterizing Ian Mahinmi. The Heat run continues as Mario Chalmers hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cap a 14-4 run.

The Mavs have Roddy Beaubois on the bench. Shout out to Roddy Buckets! .Meanwhile, the Heat are up 12 on the road in a big spot. A big reason is the Heat are destroying the Mavs in the paint. But the Mavs stick with it as they have all playoffs, with Dirk Nowitzki getting a steal that leads to an And-1 of his own. However, Wade recovers from the turnover to get loose in transition as Heat scores back-to-back buckets. Wade is doing almost everything. He just outworked Dirk for the offensive rebound and then skies to contest a Jason Terry 3 on the other end. This is Flash. No matter where the action is, Wade shows up.

With Wade going off, the Mavs go to a zone and it doesn’t matter as Wade hits a jumper to get to 15 points. Then Wade blocks a Jason Terry jumper and ends it with a dunk. This is his night. On the other hand, LeBron is playing the No. 2 role very well but not quite playing at the level of a No. 1. The Heat lead in double-digits multiple times thanks to both Wade and James, but Wade is the motor in this one, leading Miami to a 47-42 lead at halftime.

The Heat jump out to a 6-0 run to push their lead to 11 as the 2nd half begins. But the Mavericks turn up the physicality on defense and slow down the Heat’s transition game to tie it at 57 with 4 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. Jason Terry hits a jumper to give the Mavs their first lead since the first quarter at 59-58, but LeBron answers that with a 3-pointer of his own to make it 61-59.

A Haslem lay-up helped give the Heat a 67-64 lead going into the 4th quarter. Then after LeBron starts the 4th quarter wit a steal and dunk, someone spills their drink curtsied in Dallas. That’s now three out of three games in the 2011 Finals with a stoppage related to spilled cocktails. Never doubt the ability of courtside crowd in Dallas and Miami to throw back a few mixed drinks. To my knowledge, no other NBA Finals had such a ratio. The stoppage also gets us a hilarious shot of LeBron sitting underneath the basketball stanchion.

A Dirk 3-pointer ties the game at 70, which gets the Dallas crowd in it. But LeBron sets up the Dallas-native Bosh for a slam to quiet them down immediately. But the Chaos Index of this game is getting higher. The Mavs are bringing it harder on the defensive end and the Heat’s energy, led by Wade, remains manic. But Dirk ties the game at 84 on a back-cut as the stand-and-watch offense for the Heat stops working when the turnovers stop coming. As was the case in Games 1 and 2, if the Mavs can take care of the ball, they can win. Also, Dirk has scored 10 straight. But there’s Wade again, back where he won his first NBA Championship almost five years before. Dirk comes back with a game-tying jumper to make it 86-86. Shawn Marion stifles LeBron a few plays later, but the Mavs fail to take advantage on the other end. Then LeBron is able to find an open Bosh for a midrange jumper after the Mavs force the ball out of Wade’s hands to make it 88-86. Then LeBron gets a chance to ice the game with a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer on a scramble but it doesn’t go.

That gives the Mavs 4.4 seconds left to try and tie or win the game. Dirk gets a look at a fadeaway jumper but it doesn’t go and the Heat escaped with a 2-1 series win thanks to a huge game from Wade and a clutch shot from Bosh on the assist from LeBron. The Big 3 wins and gets to live for a while without their late-game struggles being talked about. But the Mavs were only one shot away and have plenty of reason to believe they didn’t play their best in Game 3. Meanwhile, how will LeBron and the Heat respond to being up in the series after failing to extend their series lead in Game 2? 

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1999 NBA re-draft: The way it should have been

There were no superstars in this draft, but we can’t really complain about depth.

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There were no superstars in this draft, but we can’t really complain about depth.

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Jason Terry is trending because LeBron James dunked on him… in 2013

No idea why he decided to jump.

Every young athlete growing up wants to be immortalized for something. You want to grow old, become rich and famous and have your name trending on Twitter for some iconic highlight. You want people to remember the thing that you did forever.

Jason Terry probably thought that’s what was going on this morning when he saw he was trending on Twitter. Turns out that wasn’t it at all. Instead, Jason Terry was being dunked on on the internet for being dunked on a whole seven years ago by LeBron James.

You know which dunk I’m talking about. Terry is on the Celtics playing monkey in the middle with a bunch of Heat players before being absolutely eviscerated by James under the rim.

This dunk is just unnecessarily vicious. The stare down at the end brings it all home.

You see it coming the entire way. It’s like watching a horror movie when you know the killer is right behind that door but the main character opens the door anyway.

It’s like, bruh, don’t jump. Why’d you jump? You didn’t have to live that way, JET. You really didn’t.

Hopefully, Terry didn’t log on to Twitter today. The internet is giving him a hard time.

The worst part about it is that there are so many other reasons we should remember that game for. The Heat came back from down 17 points to win the game and break the Rockets 22-game winning streak record on their way to 27 wins in a row.

LeBron James also gave us the signature celebration that we know him best for in that game for the first time ever. People don’t remember this.

But NOPE. None of that matters. Why? Because Jason Terry chose to jump instead of getting out of the way.

Let this be a lesson to you, kids. Playing hard is good but sometimes playing hard gets you put on a poster and made fun of on the internet seven years later.

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Blast to the past: The day LeBron dunked all over Jusuf Nurkic

LeBron James has thrown down posterizing dunks against opponents for 17 seasons.

LeBron James is the king (pun intended) of pulling off posterizing dunks.

Remember when he dunked on Kevin Garnett in Game 4 of the 2008 Eastern Conference semifinals?  Or that time when he dunked on former Miami Heat guard Damon Jones? No one can forget when he ruthlessly posterized Jason Terry during a March regular season game in 2013.

Another one of James’ best dunks happened two years ago. It was during James’ last regular season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they were playing the Portland Trail Blazers on March 15, 2018.

James drove down the lane against Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic, and he slammed one of his most ruthless dunks ever.

Even in season 17, James has added to his collection of poster or near-poster dunks. During a recent game against the New Orleans Pelicans, James blew past former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Josh Hart for a jam.

With the NBA’s season currently suspended, Nurkic’s return to the floor was put on hold. Nurkic was slated to return Sunday against the Houston Rockets, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Nurkic has been out with a left leg injury since March 2019.

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Jason Terry reveals daughter was to play Kobe’s before crash

Former Boston Celtic Jason Terry revealed his daughter was to play against Gianna Bryant on the morning she and her father passed in a horrible accident.

Former Boston Celtic Jason Terry revealed his own daughter was scheduled to play a basketball game against Kobe Bryant’s daughter Gianna the day the two perished in a helicopter accident.

Terry, who was part of the deal that would send he, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets in 2013, explained in an interview on Fox Sports Southwest how he and his daughter had been invited to participate in the friendly organized by Bryant six weeks ago.

The tournament, dubbed “the Mamba Cup”, was already underway when he arrived with his daughter, having just heard the news.

“We were to play them Sunday … at noon,” the Arizona product related.

“The news broke at about 11 a.m.,” said Terry. “I was on my way to the gym with my team … The games were still going on. I received a message from my wife who was in the gym already taking her seat as we prepared to go and play against Kobe and his daughter’s team. Just the feeling walking in that gym, I was totally numb.”

“I ran up to the first official I could see and I told them ‘look, there’s no more basketball. We cannot play another game today, Kobe has passed away,” he added.

Bryant was one of Terry’s fiercest opponents as a player, but the two had forged strong ties off the court in the ensuing years. The pair had daughters both involved in playing the sport they loved, and helped create that bond after the duo had moved on from being players themselves.

“[Gianna] was a walking image [of Kobe Bryant],” said Terry. “I watched her shoot one of her last 3-point shots, it was right in front of me and it was the same body mannerisms.”

“She had it, she embodied it and she was the same competitor … It was funny. Before I came to work today, my youngest is in the driveway shooting baskets. My second-youngest now tells me she’s gonna now play basketball. And that’s because of GiGi.”

“They don’t know Kobe. They know GiGi,” he added.

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