Fall's finals, Swedish

Upper Secondary school's Final exams, Fall 2011 has officially begun. 

I gotta say that I'm not so happy about that.

Swedish hearing examination was this morning and writing exam is 23th September. 

That means, I need to stop blogging and try to concentrate studying for that even more. 

There is still lot of time to spring's yo-exams.

For me it's includes 5 subjects, but they're easier for me.

Swedish is only subject to worry, I even changed my Facebook to swedish language and also my Youtube.

  

Jag måste plugga svenska så mycket! 

Hejdå alla~! 

Vises efter testar. 

Dallas Mavericks, 2011 NBA Champions

When the season started, in October 2010, there were not many people outside of die-hard Dallas Mavericks fans who would have bet any money that Dirk & Company would be able to win the crown.

Especially against the big three of the Miami Heat (Dwayne Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh), the free agents who came together last summer with plans to win multiple titles.

For Nowitzki it must have been sweet revenge for their embarrassing defeat to the Heat in 2006, after jumping to a 2-0 start in that series.

This was a hard-fought set of games where every night the announcers continuously spoke about how Miami was the dominant team, even when the series was tied at 2-2. That talk subsided a bit when Dallas went up 3-2 on Thursday. It left at the final match-up in Game 6 with the Mavs dominating the second half and ending with a 105-95 close-out victory.

Even though eventual Finals MVP Dirk shot just 1 for 12 in the first half of game six the rest of the team took up the slack until he got his groove back. Key was Jason Terry who, coming off the bench, burned Miami seemingly whenever he touched the ball and topped all scorers with 27 points. Another was speedster JJ Barea who added 15.

Dirk, who pretty much sealed the game with 2:27 left, ended with 21. One great effort was a rainbow 3 he launched 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter.

For Dallas' aging three (thirty-somes Dirk, Terry and Jason Kidd) the glory of victory to garner for the franchise their first-ever trophy certainly was sweet, as can be seen in the below video.

Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks on a hard-fought, well-played and well-deserved championship series.

Over For Now.

Main Street One

The NBA Finals: Heat 1 - Mavericks 1

It seemed no one thought the Mavericks could beat the Heat in Game 2 at South Beach, down 15 with seven minutes and change remaining.

Certainly the crowd at American Airlines Arena knew it was over. As did, based on comments, the announcers.

In what had been a relatively close back-and-forth contest for most of the game, the Heat went on a rampage and took what seemed like an insurmountable and commanding 15 point lead in the 4th, assisted by three consecutive Mav turnovers, capped by a D-Wade 3-pointer.

After Wade dropped the corner downtown shot to make it 88-73, LeBron James trotted over and congratulated him.

Perhaps it was a little too much. Some of the Mavericks noticed and took it as a too-soon mini-celebration. Tyson Chandler said it was "upsetting." Jason Terry said it was "a turning point."

What many people seem to have forgetten is that Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs had been in situations like this three different times to three different contenders on their road to these 2011 NBA Finals.

Late in the games, they had been down 12 to the Portland Trailblazers and stormed back, down 16 to the defending Champion LA Lakers and won, as well as down 15 to the Oklahoma City Thunder only to turn up the heat (pardon the expression) to snatch that victory.

Their 22-5 run in the final 7:14 was capped by Dirk sliding around Chris Bosh for what would be the game-winning layup. No one knows why Bosh did not foul as Miami had a foul to give.

Regardless, it was a fantastic comeback by Dallas.

It was also payback. In the 2006 Finals Dallas had a 2-0 advantage over Miami and in Game 3 held a 13 point lead in the 4th only to lose that game and the next three.

The Mavs made a non-verbal statement with their Game 2 victory: Whatever else happens, this is a contest and may the best team win.

In what seems like agreement, LeBron, postgame, said, "It's a ballgame now."

Here are the highlights from Game 2 with fantastic plays by both teams.

It seems a certainty that James, Wade and Bosh will not allow anything like this to occur again in these Finals. It might also be that Dirk and Company will do everything in their power not to find themselves in that kind of position.

The series moves to Dallas on Sunday for the first of three games to be played at American Airlines Center, the airline hosting all of the 2011 Finals contests.

Over For Now.

Main Street One

NBA Finals - Dallas maligned in Game 1 loss to Miami

It's bad enough to lose the first game in the NBA Finals. Especially waiting five years to get back to this stage.

it is even worse to be maligned for losing when not deserved.

The Dallas Mavericks did, indeed, lose to the Miami Heat in game one of the NBA Finals. No doubt about it. Final score: Heat 92 Mavs 84.

Reading what some reporters and bloggers have written makes it seem as if Dallas could do nothing right - yet an 8 point loss is not a blow out by any means, especially when one is in the enemy camp, i.e., playing on your opponent's court. You know, the ole home court advantage thing.

As far as stats are concerned, Dallas shot 37% from the field, Miami hit 39%. Neither of those are very impressive.

From downtown the Heat were at 46% while Dallas shot 41%, a difference of 6 points in favor of the Heat. The Mavs held the edge at the free throw line hitting 78% to the Heat's 71% for a 6 point advantage. They effectively cancelled each other out.

Offensively, Miami took 80 shots to Dallas' 67. That was a huge help for the Heat. And Miami did dominate the boards, 46 to 36, which is what gave them, to a fairly large degree, the winning edge.

Yes, Miami won, mostly due to their better defense and the offensive board advantage they took.

To read the headlines, one would think Dallas did absolutely nothing right. Yes, LeBron and Wade made some big, key plays in the 4th quarter. And those two can be dominating, but they did not "dominate" this first game. And then consider that two of Miami's starters failed to score a single point.

Sweet slam by LeBron.

One article that appeared in Yahoo! Sports mentioned that it would be tough for Dallas and their one star to beat Miami and their three stars, meaning Dirk beating LeBron, D-Wade and Bosh. Apparently that reporter does not consider Jason Kidd a threat, despite the fact he is a 10-time All Star and is in 3rd place all-time for triple-doubles. Go figure.

True, everyone has, and is entitled to, their own opinion. This blogger's opinion is that Miami won, Dallas lost. Miami played better at the right times, especially down the stretch. Neither team played close to a perfect game.

Over For Now.

Main Street One