"'I don't know what happened,' Chris Bosh said. Erik Spoelstra does. Spoelstra called four timeouts over the final 7:14. In each, the coach exhorted his team to have patience with the offense, to trust each other, keep the ball moving and not settle for the three-point shot. They didn't, and the Mavs pounced on every miss, every mistake."
-Chris Mannix, Sports Illustrated
"The Heat had come so far, so fast, and now here was the moment when it all came unglued, when they went right back to their worst tendencies. Oblivious. Cocky. Just unnecessary. When they play hard they reach seemingly unattainable heights. When they think things will be easy, even for just a moment, they can crater out with unfathomable fury."
-Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports
"Of course, they over-celebrated. And, of course, it was premature as well. This is The Heat and this is what They and The Big Three and mostly LeBron do best, prematurely crowning themselves champions of nothing that actually matters."
-Jennifer Floyd Engel, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
"The irony is rich. LeBron and Wade's only crime was their location -- they were situated in front of the Mavericks bench, where Wade hit the shot, which means that entering the timeout every single Maverick saw the little woo-hoo! session. Other than that, it's not something anyone would give second thought to if not for the Mavericks' post-game comments."
-Tom Ziller, SBNation.com
"As much as James was credited for those amazing close-out performances against the Celtics and Bulls, he has plenty of blame to take in this one. One awful finishing performance doesn't entirely erase everything James has done up to this point in previous fourth quarters. But in this game, on the biggest of stages, it certainly creates a few cases of temporary amnesia."
-Israel Gutierrez, Miami Herald
"The Heat didn’t just lose momentum and home-court advantage behind a series of errors combined with Dallas' orchestration of defense and poise. They also wasted what might have been the one mega-performance Wade was going to deliver in this series. That's something that could haunt them in a week or so."
-Brian Windhorst, ESPN.com
"'The way we closed the game was so uncharacteristic for us,' Spoelstra said. It was reminiscent of much earlier in the season, earlier in the process. The ball stuck. Bodies didn't move. LeBron James was left to hoist three-pointers with the shot clock bearing down."
-Ethan J. Skolnick, Palm Beach Post
