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PJP said:
Finals start tomorrow night sans the fraudulent Pistons!

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MIAMI -- Gary Payton picked the absolute perfect time to make his first bucket of the NBA Finals, and Dirk Nowitzki picked the worst time to turn into Shaq at the foul line.

Payton calmly nailed a 20-foot jumper with 9.3 seconds left to break a late tie, and Nowitzki missed a foul shot six seconds later that would have deadlocked the game again.

Those two shots, one made and one missed, have finally made the NBA Finals compelling, and a series that looked lost for the Heat midway through the fourth quarter is now something entirely different.

It's 2-1 Dallas, not 3-0, and the Heat cannot be counted out following a thrilling 98-96 victory Tuesday night in what was by far the best basketball anyone had seen in what seemed like a long, long time.

Just when it looked like everyone in this city needed to take all their white clothing and white seat covers and turn them into white flags, the Heat refused to surrender. Instead, they closed the game with a 22-7 run to salvage their season and turn this into a series.

"The basketball gods were good to us tonight, that's all you can say," Miami coach Pat Riley said.

"Now we've got a series," Nowitzki said. "Now we're in a dogfight for sure."

Payton hit the game's biggest shot, but Dwyane Wade was spectacular throughout the evening while scoring 42 points, and Shaquille O'Neal knocked down a pair of clutch free throws when the Heat were making their run.

So hold off on those parade plans, Dallas. This series took a heck of a turn as your Mavericks were collapsing down the stretch.

"We just relaxed. We knew what we needed to do, we had a 13-point lead and we needed to play defense, but we relaxed," Josh Howard said.

A few fans actually booed when the Mavs took an 83-71 lead after a 6-0 run in which Nowitzki scored twice and had an assist on the other bucket, but the Heat didn't give up on themselves.

A jumper and a drive by Wade, who scored 15 points in the fourth quarter while playing the final 11 minutes with five fouls, made it 91-88, and a pair of clutch free throws by O'Neal pulled Miami to 93-90 with just over 90 seconds left. A missed jumper by Jerry Stackhouse was followed by a corner jumper by Wade that made it a one-point game with 1:16 left, and Udonis Haslem stole Terry's telegraphed pass to Nowitzki and was fouled as he broke downcourt. He made both foul shots to put Miami ahead 94-93, and Terry missed an open 16-footer on the Mavs' next possession. Devin Harris eventually tied it on a driving layup with 33 seconds left, but Payton drilled his 20-footer on Miami's next possession.

"Well you see why I don't get hyper no more. It's not a hyper thing. I mean, we've still got a lot of work to do. It's just fortunate that I made a shot and we won this game," Payton said. "I'm not going to hooray and all that stuff right now. It's not the time. We saved a win, did not go down 3-0. Now we've still got a lot of work to do Thursday."

Nowitzki went to the line for his fateful miss with 3.4 seconds left, Wade went 1-of-2 from the line with 1.4 seconds left, and Dallas used its last timeout with one second remaining to set up a final shot. The Mavs tried a lob to Howard, but Wade deflected the pass to seal the win.

"Dwyane made a great play on the ball," Howard said. "I hit it, but he hit it, too."

Right from the get-go, it was clear the Heat were in a comfort zone on their home floor. They were the team pushing the tempo and making things lively, and O'Neal eclipsed his Game 2 point total of five before the first period was even halfway over. Nowitzki missed his first four shots before finally getting on the board with a technical foul shot after Wade was cited for hanging on the rim after a dunk. But the free throw line was where Nowitzki scored all three of his points in the quarter.

O'Neal had a couple foul-ups -- throwing a lead pass to referee Jack Nies on a fast break, then pushing Erick Dampier in the back as he was going up for an easy dunk -- but he seemed to have conquered his biggest weakness when he stepped to the foul line midway through the quarter and made a pair, drawing a genuine roar of approval from the crowd. Miami led 29-21 after one quarter, and Dallas' difficulties were typified by what happened on their final possession, failing to get a shot off before the clock expired as coach Avery Johnson frantically gestured from in front of the bench.

The second quarter was where things had turned bad for the Heat in the first two games of the series, but this time Miami had only one significant lull. It came as O'Neal was called for his second foul and Gary Payton was slapped with a technical for arguing. Nowitzki went to the line and made all three shots, Jason Terry followed with a 3-pointer and Nowitzki hit a jumper. That 8-0 run made it a one-point game, but Miami rallied over the final three minutes of the half with O'Neal resting on the bench to take a 52-43 halftime lead.

Significant slippage came for the Heat early in the third quarter as Dallas opened the second half with a 12-2 run to take a 55-54 lead before many of the fans were back in their seats. A pair of driving layups by Antoine Walker swung the momentum back Miami's way and forced Johnson to call timeout, and whatever he told his team seemed to instantly sink in.

Nowitzki and Howard both started hitting jumpers from all angles, and Howard reached his magic number -- 20 points (the Mavs entered the game 25-0 when he scores than many) -- on two free throws with 2:42 left in the quarter to put the Mavs ahead 72-66. Wade picked up his fourth foul seconds later but stayed in the game -- as sure of a sign as anything of how desperate the Heat were to win. But many of their problems from Games 1 and 2 started to resurface, including the unbelievable spectacle of O'Neal bouncing a free throw so hard off the back rim that it bounded to the top of the backboard and then fell behind it. O'Neal's two misses on that trip left the Heat trailing 77-68 after three quarters.

It was an uphill climb from there for the Heat, but they were up to the task.

"We never gave up," O'Neal said. "We just kept playing, showed a lot of heart, a lot of intensity."

So we have ourselves a series, finally. And that's the way it should be in the Finals.

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Glacier16 said:
Ha!

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Knutreturns said:
yes! dont die my heat! must here shack curse out the name of Kobe Bryant on live TV.

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MIAMI -- Shaquille O'Neal mocked his collision with Jerry Stackhouse as being less vicious than a love tap from his daughters. The NBA declared it worthy of a one-game suspension.

The Dallas Mavericks are calling it a joke.

Following the league's announcement Friday that Stackhouse must miss Game 5 of the finals for his hard foul on O'Neal in the third quarter of Game 4, the team's top three officials all lambasted the punishment.

"It makes no sense at all," owner Mark Cuban wrote in an e-mail. "There have been more 'accidental' elbows to Mavs players' heads this series than is statistically possible. (Wasn't it [Heat coach Pat] Riley who said that there is no such thing as an accidental elbow?) More stiff arms to faces of our double teams, all without response from the league."

Stackhouse was called for a flagrant foul when it happened. But after reviewing the play and discussing the details with both players, league vice president Stu Jackson opted to upgrade the punishment.

"The contact by Jerry Stackhouse was clearly excessive and warrants a suspension," Jackson said in a release.

The series is tied 2-2, with the Heat having won the last two games. Game 5 is Sunday night in Miami.

Before the league's decision, Dallas coach Avery Johnson said he didn't think the blow deserved a suspension, noting that O'Neal wasn't penalized for hitting Stackhouse hard enough in Game 1 that he opened a gash across the top of his nose that required three stitches to close.

Once the announcement was made, Johnson called it "ridiculous" -- among other terms.

"It's just a bunch of baloney," he said on his weekly radio show with Dallas' 103.3 ESPN. "For lack of a better word, it's sickening. Our fans should be upset, our players will be."

Donnie Nelson, the team's president of basketball operations, called it "a low blow, especially at this critical time."

"We're really surprised and appalled," he said. "The timing of it is the most unfortunate part. This is a bitter pill."

Miami was leading 68-51 in the third quarter of Game 4 when Jason Williams stole the ball from Dallas' Josh Howard and drove to the other end of the court. A few steps beyond the foul line, Williams dished to O'Neal for a likely crowd-thrilling dunk but Stackhouse swooped in from the side, taking him down with a head-high shove.

"It was a hard foul," Stackhouse said after the game. "When Shaq is going to the basket, we want to try to make him go to the free throw line and earn it."

O'Neal did, making both foul shots. Given the ball back, the Heat got two more points to stretch their lead to 20 for the first time. They went on to win 98-74, leaving O'Neal in a playful mood, especially when asked about the foul by Stackhouse.

"My daughters tackle me harder when I come home," O'Neal said. "I'm one of the last players of the old school, and you know, you just have to take a hard foul like that and keep on moving. It actually felt pretty good to get hit like that. Thank you, Jerry. Appreciate it."

The Heat may really appreciate Stackhouse's absence from Game 5.

Stackhouse is Dallas' top reserve. He's averaging 13.8 points this postseason and 13.0 in the finals. He had 16 in Game 2, including 10 straight over the final 79 seconds of the first half that propelled the Mavericks to a victory.

This marks the third time this postseason a Dallas player has been suspended.

Jason Terry was lost for Game 6 of the second round against San Antonio for punching Spurs guard Michael Finley below the belt and center DJ Mbenga just completed a five-game suspension for running into the stands to aid Johnson's wife during the conference finals. Mbenga will return for Game 5.

"And that's six more fouls," Johnson noted.

An irate Johnson also told radio listeners O'Neal was being protected by the league, saying: "It's been around forever -- certain players get royal treatment, certain players don't."

Cuban touched on the same topic.

"Shaq creates more dangerous contact camping in the lane for 5 seconds trying to set an NBA finals record for charges taken by a center than Stack did trying to prevent a layup," Cuban wrote.

Johnson opened his show with a Cuban-like rant against the way the league has handled cases like this, later saying there is "no rebuttal, no trial and jury, just a judge."

"I've been holding my tongue all year about the foolishness, just the foolishness that goes on there," said Johnson, who was voted the NBA coach of the year in his first full season.

"They're so inconsistent. I'm just embarrassed to have to deal with some of the things I have to deal with. ... We are in a position where we have no authority and we're always reminded of that -- we're just coaches." Asked whether he feared the Mavericks are being targeted because of how vocal Cuban is with barbs toward the league, Johnson said, "I would sure hope not."

"If there is some truth to that, I hope certain people can't even look themselves in the mirror because that's a disgrace," he said.

Losing Stackhouse will be damaging, though not devastating to the Mavericks, whose bench is among the league's deepest. Stackhouse, however, gives Dallas an intensity that Johnson feels has been missing for two games.

Johnson, ever mindful of sending his team the right message, dismissed the idea that the Mavericks were matching Miami's physical toughness.

"No, it's been one-sided," he said. "It's not with the team from Texas."

Of all Dallas' problems, Dwyane Wade is at the top of the list. In fact, Miami's 24-year-old shooting star might be Nos. 1 through 5.

Doing almost anything he's pleased with the ball in his hands, Wade has blistered the Mavericks for 78 points in the past two games, getting 36 in Game 4 on a sore left knee that will be closer to 100 percent by Sunday.

Riley has been impressed by the way Wade has adapted to the various defenses the Mavericks have thrown at him.

"He had two difficult games in Dallas," Riley said of Wade, a combined 17-of-44 in Games 1 and 2. "He was driving incessantly to the rim, getting a lot of layups and I thought he was going at 100 miles per hour or faster.

"He had to slow down, relax and see the game better and I think he's done that," he said. "I think he's just taken a good look at the game and not rushing things."

Johnson's in a hurry to figure out how to stop Wade from slashing, scoring, falling, getting up and doing it all again. Wade's averaging 32.3 points and at least a handful of jaw-dropping moments per game in the series.

"When we've tried to contain him one-on-one, he's gotten around us," Johnson said, his high-pitched voice rising. "When we've tried to quick trap him, he split the quick traps. When we've tried to slow trap him, he's spun out.

"So I'm just going to try to come up with another type of defense, or maybe at some point, somebody will get angry enough on our team and we'll guard him a little bit stronger and not let him split the trap.

"And we've zoned him, too," he said. "That didn't go well, either."

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PJP said:
nah the Mavs will definitely win the next game....then it will be whoever wants it more!

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Knutreturns said:
I predict that it will all be over on tuesday. Party in South Beach!!!

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Animalman said:
Actually, I should really be wishing it on the refs, for turning game's 5 and 6 into "Dwaye Wade hero worship night". 46 free throws in two games, for one player? Are you fucking serious?

The Mavs did not play as well as they should have, sure, but to have a free throw descrepancy as enormous as the one between the Mavs and Heat in this series is suspect, at best(especially given how they had a nearly identical free throw rate during the regular season and in the playoffs up until the Finals).

Also, I could care less about Alonzo Mourning and his post-highlight play seizure-celebrations. He doesn't deserve shit.

This is all Penwing's fault, for saying they'd lose in the first round.

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Hey man I rooted for you!

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PJP said:
Finals start tomorrow night sans the fraudulent Pistons!

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