Butler has been clearly bothered by his injury, he was all buckets all series from this playoffs then suddenly became a hot trash from the last 2 games after his injury. He went 7/37 fg from game 4 and 5. Kyle Lowry was a hot trash too. With them being inconsistent, we really can't expect them to win against the Celtics who's been playing great with all their heart to reach the Finals. Celtics are on a mission this playoffs, If the Heat won't find a way to fix their system offensively, game 6 might be their last game for the playoffs.

I'm a fan of Heat, but I would agree that both Butler and Lowry performed very poorly (because of the injuries), and that's why they are now behind the series and they give Boston a lot of chance to steal this series and go to the finals. I'm conceding that with the way they show in their homecourt and lost this big, it might be over for them mentally.

As it's something new, they are doing that ever since so they already know it's not the main reason for injuries. One day travel is enough to rest, and of course, we fans would want to see action everyday so we will always support that.

No offense to Lowry, but he needs to step up. Without Herro, another offensive star should fill his shoe.

I was expecting Lowry to come up and take that responsibility, though I also see your point. He's no longer
on his prime and with the injury, it will bring tough challenges to him. Still have another game to try to push
these series to a do-or-die game, they just need to bring all the best they can.

I suspect that as well, he was not the same on the first 2 games of the series where his shooting was very accurate. Without Bulter good performance, there's a little chance that the Heat will beat the Celtics, so this series will not be going to game 7 as Celtics might end the series in 6.

Luka does not need to improve, it's the Dallas team that has to improve because only Luka is the most consistent in the team, without the consistency of his teammates, Luka will not be able to carry his team to beat the Warriors.  It's a must-win for them tomorrow, otherwise, they will be eliminated and their journey will be over, so let's see what he can do to extend the series.

The issue is noone will want to come to Dallas if they're never gonna get the ball. Luka has be more of a team leader and not think the game always rests on his shoulders. There's no doubt the guy is a good ball player, but share the load.

That's two days rest if from West to East or vice versa, right? I forgot.
Regarding the travels, I think they know the hardship of that, and right, it's part of the game. That's why the fans will really help out if they can boost their players who just came from a long journey with jet lag or motion sickness.

Anyway, just hours remaining, and the Warriors vs Mavericks will start. Do you guys think there is still something about the Mavs that will shock us?
I have heard Reggie Miller say they have to blow out the Warriors at a great length before they can win one more. Because that 2nd half had always been on the Warriors' side. A 10-20 point lead will be easy to get back for them.

Back in the day of 2004, Detroit Pistons built a team of players that were not seen as great players neither, Ben Wallace was undrafted as well, and many other players were drafted low too, and yet they achieved a championship.

It is not impossible, it is not like you need to have superstars in your team on each position, but it is quite difficult to do that. Like for example 2011 had Dirk, and nobody else played in the all-star game if I am not wrong. This type of situation is happening again to Mavs, and it is a very tough thing. I am not saying that they won't become good, they may, but it is going to be very tough to get that good.

When Tatum almost had a triple double and he got a support offensively from at least one of the players, and when the Heat shoots this bad, it was an inevitable Celtics win. And we have to note that Celtics also had a injured Marcus Smart for this game. There is something about this Celtics team. Even though Tatum might be considered a superstar, they are not feeling like that to me. They are a very wholesome team and we don't see this much of wholesome team usually. They are just one game away from going to the Finals, which is after this point and how they play, quite possible.