Haha....man the Mavs fucked that half up. Heat would be killing right now if they were so damn careless with the ball.

6/20/2006 10:21:28 PM

I have a bad feeling and it is...















Miami will win tonight

6/20/2006 10:40:00 PM

I wouldn't go that far.

Dallas should pull this out. We'll see if Wade can win this one again for Miami.

6/20/2006 10:45:34 PM

close

very close

6/20/2006 10:46:57 PM

Dallas is fuckin up.

6/20/2006 10:50:59 PM

Dallas has one good run to go

6/20/2006 10:55:57 PM

just horrible

6/20/2006 10:58:02 PM

lets go Miami Wades

6/20/2006 10:59:42 PM

Haha. Gary Payton is a dumbass. And Alonzo Mourning is just a ridiculous defender.

6/20/2006 11:25:17 PM

Payton misses the pass becuase he's too busy bitching to the ref.

crap like that is why so many hate the NBA.

6/20/2006 11:25:55 PM

someone ought to make an animated gif of mourning spazzing out on the floor like that

6/20/2006 11:26:08 PM

Mourning is keeping them in the game on the defensive end.. he's always been one of my favorite players ever since he played with the Hornets with LJ

6/20/2006 11:30:52 PM

Josh Powell is in street clothes tonight................ I guess those 4 minutes in game 4 were more than his body could handle.

6/20/2006 11:43:51 PM

thank god the season will be over soon

6/20/2006 11:44:11 PM

christ, the Mavs are getting killed on the boards. Heat getting way too many 2nd chances

6/20/2006 11:50:41 PM

Miami blows this and Dallas wins game 7 easy.

The Heat will win though unless the Mavs start fouling the hell outta Shaq.

6/20/2006 11:50:53 PM

that was a bullshit call

6/20/2006 11:53:11 PM

GAME.....SET.....MATCH

Go Heat.

6/20/2006 11:55:01 PM

alot of shit can happen in 18 seconds.. but i dont see it happening

6/20/2006 11:56:04 PM

nowitzness


ps- the mavs are stupid

6/20/2006 11:56:49 PM

Quote :

"crap like that is why so many hate the NBA Payton."

6/20/2006 11:57:34 PM

This shit is more crooked than Italian soccer.

WADE PUSHES OFF and they call the foul on Dirk.

I'm turning in my NBA card.

6/21/2006 12:00:01 AM

i think i just saw the first time in sports history that a ref tried to help out a team at the end of a game

6/21/2006 12:01:02 AM

Dirk > Terry. horrible play

6/21/2006 12:02:53 AM

Quote :

"WADE PUSHES OFF and they call the foul on Dirk."

I'll give you Mav cock gobblers that....twas a bad call. But Wade was about to go around Dirk and score anyways.

Mavs fucking sucked tonight. Couldn't hit an open three to save their lives, kept turning the ball over, gave up a lot of rebounds, etc.]

Choke job from hell by the Mavs.

6/21/2006 12:03:26 AM

Quote :

"We need a leader. You know who l think the black leader should be? Who l think the black leader should be? Who? Pat Riley. Coach Pat Riley. No man has led more black men to the promised land...than Coach Pat Riley. He may not get us to the mountaintop, but he'll get us to the playoffs. And that's all we want."

[Edited on June 21, 2006 at 12:04 AM. Reason : [/Chris Rock] ]

6/21/2006 12:03:31 AM

GAY

this shit IS as crooked at italian soccer

[Edited on June 21, 2006 at 12:04 AM. Reason : .]

6/21/2006 12:03:45 AM

i wonder if Stan Van Gundy was cheering for the Heat of the Mavs

6/21/2006 12:04:45 AM

BUT SHAQ, YOU AINT DID SHIT.

6/21/2006 12:05:16 AM

that came and went like a fart in the wind

6/21/2006 12:05:19 AM

Didn't watch much of the game tonight b/c I was out. I did see about half of 4th qtr.

Mavs cut it to one and Wade pushes Novitski. Wade goes to line. That about sums up the series.

I DESPISE DWAYNE "WELFARE" WADE. What a joke of a series. I may never watch NBA again. Wade had about 20 FT's again. Like I say, I watched very little of the game, so I won't comment on much of it, but to see that play. Piece of shit wade hits Dirk in the stomach and goes to the line. I wish the absolute worst for everyone associated with that team.

David Stern can go to hell. Mark Cuban is the best owner in sports. Told Stern to go fuck himself and said the league is fixed. He's absolutely right. The league has made a star out of "Welfare" and I just can't watch anymore. I hope I wake up tomorrow and hear that he got in a car wreck. Yeah, thats how I feel about cheats and Wade is about the biggest cheat I've seen since..........Shaq. Go figure.

6/21/2006 12:11:42 AM

Quote :

"I'll give you Mav cock gobblers that"

-you

Quote :

"I dislike the Mavs. ... when it comes down to the Finals I like to see good games. I want the players to win games, not the referees. Miami has already benefitted twice now won the O'Brien trophy from the latter."

-me


if you're gonna rebuff my opinions, at least get the facts straight

6/21/2006 12:11:45 AM

Apologize....but it still goes for the rest of 'em.

^^And Dwayen "welfare" Wade??? Where do you come up with this shit?? And seriously...how can you dislike Wade??

6/21/2006 12:19:23 AM

I dislike Wade b/c he gets calls every single game. Is it his fault? No. But, sorry, I can't help it. His career is a joke.
He is not nearly as great as everyone thinks b/c his short career so far is heavily inflated by the calls he gets and the no-calls that he doesn't have to deal with.

Wade and Shaq are why I can no longer watch the NBA. The league is a joke and I pray that people realize it, but I know they won't.

I used to watch it a lot. The past couple seasons I haven't watched any reg season but did watch playoffs.

I really think I'm done with it. Stern and NBA must have felt is was good for the league to have Wade and Heat win the title. I just can't watch the shit anymore. Wade is a joke.

6/21/2006 12:28:04 AM

Quote :

"Stern and NBA must have felt is was good for the league to have Wade and Heat win the title. I just can't watch the shit anymore. Wade is a joke. "

6/21/2006 12:34:20 AM

Yeah, they lost the game when Wade pushed Dirk and Dirk was called for the fall. Miami was up 1 or tied and instead of two free throws for Dirk, they went to Wade.

That's a good sum up of the series.

6/21/2006 12:45:32 AM

Here's a sum up of the series....

Mavs shot 37% for the game!!! And they've shot pretty poor most games they lost. The Heat played the toughest defense Dallas has faced during the playoffs and Dallas missed too many open shots (especially this game).

oh yeah....and Jason Terry just shot 7-25.

[Edited on June 21, 2006 at 12:52 AM. Reason : .]

6/21/2006 12:51:55 AM

Watching Dwyane Wade play basketball is like fighting a boss on Mega Man.

Sure they have sweet little attacks but the most damage is done when they corner you then jump directly into you.

6/21/2006 1:27:41 AM

the fact that this thread only went to 5 pages and the Canes Playoff thread went to 90 seems to imply that the NBA sucks

[Edited on June 21, 2006 at 1:36 AM. Reason : .]

6/21/2006 1:36:08 AM

^ that, or we just had a rooting interest in the Stanley Cup

Quote :

"This shit is more crooked than Italian soccer."

Here's a good article written yesterday (before Game 6) about the series and refereeing and Dallas' strategy (team) versus Miami's strategy (Wade).

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060620

Quote :

"Speaking of the refs, Game 5 of the Finals took its rightful place alongside Game 7 of the Seattle-Phoenix series in 1993, Game 6 of the Kings-Lakers series in 2002, Game 5 of the Knicks-Celtics series in 1973 and some of the other famous entries in the Pantheon of One-Sided Officiated Games. We're running some e-mails in a sidebar (look to the right), but you know it's bad when the owner of the losing team runs out onto the floor to stare down the commissioner after the game -- the last time that happened at a sporting event, Vince McMahon was involved. (FYI: In today's Miami Herald, Greg Cote writes that Cuban was screaming profanely at referee Joe DeRosa right after the game, "then turned to Stern and other NBA officials who were seated at the scorer's table and was overheard to shout venomously in the jubilant din, '[Bleep] you! [Bleep] you! Your league is rigged!'" Remember when I wrote that, on a scale of 1-to-10 about being excited for the moment when Stern handed Cuban the trophy, I was a 35? Now I'm a 72. Although Cuban did deny saying this on his blog.) I tackled this in a Cowbell blog last year, but it's worth rehashing again: The NBA doesn't fix games. That's impossible. And stupid. It could never happen. (Well, except for the Hubert Davis game -- that was fixed. Just kidding. Kind of.) A few months ago, I looked David Stern in the eye and asked him about the ongoing officiating problems, and he seemed agonized enough about it that I actually believed him. Unless he was pulling a DeNiro-level acting performance on me. Which I doubt. But there are three major problems here. First, Dwyane Wade shot as many free throws (25) as the entire Dallas team in Game 5. I just don't see how there's any way this can happen in a fairly-called game. It's theoretically impossible. Second, everyone knew the officiating would be a problem heading into this series because of Cuban's past problems with the league. In my Finals preview, I wrote that "No team depends on the refs quite like the Heat. When the refs are calling all the bumps on Shaq and protecting Wade on every drive, they're unstoppable. When they're calling everything fairly, they're eminently beatable. If they're not getting any calls, they're just about hopeless. I could see the refs swinging two games in Miami's favor during this series, possibly three. In fact, I'm already depressed about it and the series hasn't even started yet." Well, we had our two games -- Game 3 (the last five minutes were just obscene) and Game 5 (again, a top-five debacle). And the series isn't over yet. Third, here's a theory on referees that I described in a blog last spring: "I don't think the NBA fixes games, but they have one trick that they use for situations like this -- when they want a home team to win the game, they invariably assign the worst referees possible to that game for two reasons: Bad referees have a tendency to get swayed by the home crowd, and bad referees never have the stones to make a tough call on the road. In a related story, I went to 35 Clippers games this year and kept a list of the referees in my pocket which I also used to follow the referees for any televised games. And yes, the referees in the NBA -- as a whole -- have never been worse. But there were six referees that stuck out as being especially terrible." Then I went on to list the worst six referees. Here was No. 2 on the list: "2. Bennett Salvatore -- Always one of the worst, he took it to another level this season. If you see him on the court at the start of the game, get ready for about six technicals, two near-brawls and both coaches having to be restrained by their assistants at various times." Why is this relevant? Not only did Salvatore officiate Game 4 of the Suns-Lakers series (the one where Kobe tied it at the end of regulation and won it at the end of OT on two shaky non-calls on Nash, both by Salvatore), not only did Salvatore officiate Sunday night's Game 5 (in which Miami had a 40-12 free-throw advantage at one point), but Salvatore called the foul on Wade's final drive in overtime (remember, the call where ABC couldn't find a replay to show that anyone touched him?) even though he was standing at midcourt a full 35-40 feet from the play, and even though two other refs were closer to the play. Not only was that NOT his call, he butchered it. Considering I brought this up LAST spring, do you find any of this a little strange? Why aren't the best referees calling these games? Why do the worst ones always seem to get assigned to games in which it would be better for the league if the home team won? Why am I the only one who notices this stuff or seems to care? Why do I find myself watching these games and concentrating more on the one-sided officiating than some of Wade's spectacular plays? As my buddy House e-mailed on Monday morning: "I don't think I can take much more of NBA refs insisting on controlling the outcomes of the most significant games. The NBA is a disgrace and should be completely embarrassed. I hate this game." And that's coming from one of the last 19 NBA diehards -- I can only imagine what the casual fans thought after watching such a one-sided travesty. Look, we all love Dwyane Wade. He's fantastic. But there's absolutely no scenario in which a 2-guard should be attempting as many free throws as everyone on the other team. It's absolutely unfathomable. And here's what really kills me: If there's a Game 7, you KNOW they'll come up with the best possible officials for that particular game. So why wouldn't every Finals game work like that? We have seven possible games spread over 17 days ... they couldn't pick the best three or four refs and have them work every game, like how MLB picks the best seven umps to comprise the World Series crew? Why wouldn't that work? Is there a single reason you can come up with? Arrrrrrrrgh. "

[Edited on June 21, 2006 at 7:21 AM. Reason : .]

6/21/2006 7:13:13 AM

Quote :

"the fact that this thread only went to 5 pages and the Canes Playoff thread went to 90 seems to imply that the NBA sucks"

ahhhhhhhh.....douchebaggery at its finest.

remember, asshat...that this was the NBA finals thread. There was also and NBA playoffs thread as well. You are comparing that to the entire NHL playoffs thread where the winning team plays in our fucking backyard.

Worst Argument Ever?




Despite some of your interpretations about this NBA Finals, lets not forget that collectively this was one of the best NBA Playoffs ever!

Most games decided by three points or less in NBA history. While many will always hate the NBA, this years playoffs definitely helped develop and cultivate a new generation NBA fanbase.

CONGRATS HEAT!

I PICKED YOU ALL ALONG.




[Edited on June 21, 2006 at 9:30 AM. Reason : holla]

6/21/2006 9:26:24 AM

Oh yeah...in my best rally interpretation...

Quote :

"I've got the Heat in this one. "

6/21/2006 9:44:34 AM

Quote :

"No real Charlottean will ever pull for the Miami Heat"

6/21/2006 10:30:13 AM

^ theyll use the excuse that theyre pulling for 'Zo, hahaha

in the same way I'd never ever ever ever ever pull for the Spurs

and never pull for duke

I do hate how people pick oneof the top teams in the playoffs and then are like 'oh man i told you they were gonna win' like it was some sort of longshot goal

Anyways, last nights game had my heart bout to jump outta my chest, but this series shoulda never came back to Dallas considering the 2 games we blew (3 and 5)

the only

ONLY time the Heat beat us in Dallas was in the game it mattered most...sucks how that works

[Edited on June 21, 2006 at 11:20 AM. Reason : .]

6/21/2006 11:19:07 AM

Quote :

"remember, asshat...that this was the NBA finals thread. There was also and NBA playoffs thread as well. You are comparing that to the entire NHL playoffs thread where the winning team plays in our fucking backyard."

before insulting people, you should make sure you're right first.

the 90 page thread is just for the nhl finals, asshat.

6/21/2006 11:27:32 AM

^It doesn't matter if he messed it up. If the Penguins and Oilers had been in the NHL finals, the thread probably would have been smaller than the NBA finals thread. So his point still stands.

^^Probably the biggest Mavs fan on this thread sees it realistically. As questionable as the refs in the series could have been, he still sees it like it is:

Quote :

"but this series shoulda never came back to Dallas considering the 2 games we blew (3 and 5) "

Although the Heat played two very good games (4 and 6), and played very well in parts of other games, Dallas still should have won this series. But Dallas blew it...not the refs, but the Mavs. They missed crucial free throws, they made defensive lapses and turned the ball over late in games, and they couldn't put the Heat away when they had the chance (end of game 3, beginning of game 6).

You have to give Dwyane Wade credit for just being amazing throughout the series. Then you have to give it up to Haslem for stepping up big, 'Zo for stepping it up big in game 6, Payton for not fucking up too much and hitting some big shots, Posey for hitting some big shots, Walker stepping it up (especially in game 6), etc. The Heat stepped it up when they had to...but Dallas still should have won this series.

Please let it rest with the refs, you sound like a bunch of State fans....wait....

[Edited on June 21, 2006 at 11:29 AM. Reason : ^]

[Edited on June 21, 2006 at 11:31 AM. Reason : .]

6/21/2006 11:29:22 AM

dont get me wrong, i hated the refs, and that game-deciding call in game 5 was absolute bullshit. whether or not the foul took place, it shouldnt have been called because thats taking the game out the players hands (btw there was no fucking foul, haha)

but we shouldnt have put ourselves into the position to let the refs fucking do that

6/21/2006 11:32:19 AM

Great Article from the Dallas Morning Star

Quote :

"Finals loss not inside job 01:16 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 Mavs turn to jumpers, abandon attacking style that got them by Spurs You can't blame this loss on the officials. You can no longer pontificate that the championship was determined in May, when the Mavericks beat San Antonio. Miami is the best team. It may not have looked that way going into the series. It sure didn't look that way two games into the Finals. But there's no question now. The best season in Mavericks history ended not with a thunderous rush, but a thud. A team that hasn't lost four consecutive games in nearly three years did so to end this series. A team that attacked the basket all season, that has used its superior perimeter speed to torment opponents, reverted to its jump shooting past at the worst possible time. Is this assessment too harsh? Probably. It does neglect the tremendous strides in temperament and defensive style the Mavericks made in their first full season under Avery Johnson. This team advanced further than any objective observer envisioned. But the bar was set higher. Johnson hasn't shied away from his championship goal since taking over. When asked late Tuesday night how he intended to build on this going into next season, Johnson said he hadn't planned on making that speech after Game 6. A great season? "You know, for us, I would say a great season is actually winning it," Johnson said. "Whatever the step below that is, that's what we've done. "When we took over, we talked about aiming high and winning a championship. We didn't talk about getting here. But this was a tremendous learning experience for our players and coaches." When the Mavericks have a chance to reflect over the next few days and months, this is what will hit them: They played their best ball against the Spurs. The erosion in the Mavericks' performance since a second-round victory over the defending world champions was noticeable. The perimeter speed that put the Spurs on their heels diminished as the playoffs progressed. That was understandable against Phoenix. The Mavericks didn't want – and couldn't afford – to run with the Suns all series. They had to pick their spots. The problem was once they stopped, it was hard to get started again. The Mavericks scored 100 points just once in the Finals – and it took overtime in Game 5 to do it. The team opened Tuesday night with a 30-point first quarter and appeared to be back in gear. It wasn't. It took the Mavericks another 22 minutes to score their next 30 points. Miami slowly, inexorably, got the game back at its pace. "I thought we really sped the game up at the beginning," Dirk Nowitzki said. "That's what got us the lead, pushing it in transition. We had good looks in transition. "Once they can set their defense, they're really, really good. They have great shot blockers in there. They forced us to shoot jumpers." The proof: The Mavericks had 19 fast-break points in the first half and six in the second. A team that finished with 44 points in the paint had only 16 after the break. The Mavericks stopped attacking the basket and took an inexplicable 22 3-point shots, the most they attempted in these playoffs. They hit five. "For some reason or another, we started falling in love with the jump shot," Johnson said. Call it inexperience. "They have a great young coach and a great future," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "But I really believe it's our time." And you know what that means. The world is spared the sight of owner Mark Cuban in a Speedo accepting the trophy. Maybe next year. "

6/21/2006 11:35:38 AM

still not a bad run for Lil Avery's first full coaching season

6/21/2006 12:54:03 PM

god the NBA sucks. every year it's the same story. Only sport where after winning the title, all conversation stops immediately becuase the sport is so lame.

6/21/2006 12:57:55 PM