Surprising strategies, star turns among Finals lessons

	Shaquille O'Neal may be the Heat's unofficial spokesman, but Dwyane Wade has proved to be the centerpiece of their attack. Bob Rosato/SI

Perhaps this is a snap judgment, but the Miami Heat strikes me as a one-year wonder. They deserve max credit for never giving up in this series -- let's remember the only stat that really matters from this series, which is that Miami was six minutes from going down 3-0 -- but you don't look at this team and say, "Hey, they'll be around for years." Yes, they have Dwyane Wade, but they got so many contributions from so many players (Alonzo Mourning, Gary Payton, Jason Williams, Antoine Walker) who may not be able to do it again, that I wouldn't necessarily pencil them in as favorites for 2006-07.

There is no question that as much as the Heat won this series, the Mavs blew it. Had Dallas been able to hold that lead in Game 3 in Miami, my guess is that the Mavericks would've coasted to a decisive fourth victory instead of becoming only the third team in NBA history to win the first two games and lose the series.

For this final five-pack of the season, let's take a look at the lasting impact of these Finals:

1. Zone defense

So there are the two NBA finalists, coached by hard-boiled guys like Pat Riley and Avery Johnson, playing zone late in the game. Unbelievable. Good teams always shred zones, the thinking goes, yet both coaches used that defense to exploit shaky outside shooting. Other coaches who are afraid to use zone even during the regular season no doubt took notice.

2. You can have some outside shooters ... just not everybody

Check this stat from Game 6: Miami's Walker and Williams combined to make only one-of-13 three-point shots and the Heat was 2 of 18 collectively. That sounds like a prescription for disaster. Yet Miami prevailed partly because so many Dallas players depended so much on the outside shot, which often goes awry in pressure situations, and, further, keeps you from getting to the free throw line. That was particularly the case for guard Jason Terry, who made only seven of 25 shots, the vast majority from outside, and only two of 11 treys, while not shooting one free throw. Sometime backcourt mate Jerry Stackhouse didn't make it to the line, either. In the last two games of the series, the Heat shot 86 free throws, the Mavs 48. That is hard to overcome.