Hundreds of media members gathered court-side at the American Airlines Arena in Miami on the off-day between Game 1 and 2 to see both the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavs practice and give media interviews.
Heat fans will want to know how Dwyane Wade and Mike Miller responded after getting banged up, um, earlier in the day. Mavs fans will want to know how Dirk Nowitzki looked after tearing a tendon in his left hand. Given the fact that so much energy was spent in the emotional opening game of the series with Game 2 of the NBA Finals right around the corner tomorrow night, it was understandable if the players weren't going full strength.
While Miller hardly used his hurt arm much in practice, Wade was occupying himself shooting standstill three-pointers along with Erick Dampier and James Jones. Dirk was barely running in the warmup drills, easily the last player to finish as he shuffled his feet while joking around with Jason Kidd. With so many media around both teams, the open practices didn't reveal much in the way of strategy and players kept lose during the half hour allotted to the media to view each team practicing. Mavs coach Rick Carlisle teased to photographers eager to snap Dirk's hand as he stretched on the floor that 12th-man Brian Cardinal, laying next to Dirk, was holding his own personal press conference at the team hotel later on in the day.
Click below and check out the interviews with Chris Bosh, Udonis Haslem, Tyson Chandler, JJ Barrea, Shawn Marion and Peja Stojakovic in HD. Don't miss the practice footage with Dirk looking quite comfortable shooting midrange jumpers near the end of the video.
Filed under: