Basketball: 2005-06 NBA Playoffs

Dallas, realize that most of us on this board don't really see the 34 year old Shaqfu as an old man...

A 52-43 lead at the half looks good for the Heat.

14-8 run out the blocks in the second half, and the Mavericks are saying that they want to make a game of it...

Just as I promised, the Heat won their Home Opener in the NBA Finals. The Heat played the first half solid, having a 9 point lead going into the Half. Then Dallas got hot. The Mavs outscored Miami 34-16 in the 3rd quarter to take a 9 point lead heading into the 4th quarter. At one point in the 4th quarter, the Mavs were up 13, and were looking to go up 3-0 in the series. That's when Wade took over. Scoring 13 points in the last 7 minutes, he led his team to a 98-96 victory.

After Gary Payton hit his only shot of the game to put the Heat up by two, Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki was fouled and sent to the line. Shooting 90% in the playoffs, and being 9-10 in the game, he hit the first, but missed the second, forcing the Mavs to foul Wade. Wade hit the first, and missed the second leading to a Mavs rebound and timeout with 1 second remaining. Dirk passed the ball in, missing a wide-open man in the corner to throw an ally-oop to Howard, which was deflected by Wade, thus resulting in a Heat win.

I only watched the last minute of the game, but sounds like it was pretty exciting. Wouldn't that have been awesome though? The ally-oop pass to Howard was PERFECT, and had he finished the dunk to tie the game, it would have been simply amazing... but unfortunately, Wade had to ruin all that. Wade had 42 points and a career high 13 rebounds in the win.

I expect this win to give some confidence to the Heat, resulting in yet another win at home, and their last of the Finals.

What were the Mavericks thinking when they ran that play with one second left? Why was Dirk inbounding the ball? He should have been the one taking the shot. That was a stupid call on the part of Avery Johnson.

Can you say "Sports Conspiracy?"


Sounds like it was exciting, didn't get to see it, but at least I'm online all the time now, I could follow it here.

WHen is the next game?? I have'nt really checked the schedule. I think Miami is gonna win this series (they'd better win :loudhorn: )

Originally posted by Spidy
WHen is the next game?? I have'nt really checked the schedule. I think Miami is gonna win this series (they'd better win :loudhorn: )

The game is at 9 PM this evening. I'm thinking that Miami will win this one also, but of course I'm hoping otherwise...

The playoffs continue tonight in Miami with the Mavs up 2-1. As I've said before. Both teams will play strong at home, so I expect a Heat win tonight. it will also be their last. Dallas should finish the series with a win on Sunday in Miami, and a then a win at home. Shaq will have to have a big game for a win tonight, as Wade will have his usual good game, but can't do it himself. Dirk will prob have over 30, as he won't want the Heat evening the series.

The Heat is putting a mean hurtin' on the Mavs tonight. Miami has been in control for the entire game, and this time they were able to withstand a little comeback by Dallas early in the fourth quarter. After game three, I was convinced the Mavs were going to step it up and take this game. Now it's 2-2. Although I was impressed with Miami's win, I still think Dallas will take the next two to close out the series. Final was 98-74 on that game.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!! GO MIAMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :party-smiley-018:

Solid win for Miami last night, but it should be thier last. Of course, they can make a liar out of all of us, and pull out the win at home on Sunday. Actually, that wouldn't be all that surprising, then Dallas wins both at home to take the championship. Should change my prediction now?

I didn't see the game the oter night, but I did see the "highlights" of this crash last night. I would have ever thought that Stackhouse coul have taken Shaq out like that!

Jerry Stackhouse of the Dallas Mavericks was suspended for one game by the NBA on Friday for a hard foul he committed on Miami Heat's Shaquille O'Neal on Thursday night.

Stackhouse will miss the pivotal Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night, with the best-of-seven series tied 2-2 after Miami crushed Dallas 98-74 in Game 4 on Thursday.

Stackhouse was called for a flagrant foul on the play, which happened under the basket in the third quarter of the game as O'Neal attempted a dunk.

O'Neal went down hard after Stackhouse shoved into him just as he was about to dunk.

Both players downplayed the incident after the game, but NBA vice-president Stu Jackson said in a release on Friday that the foul deserved a stiffer punishment.

source

Yahoo! Sports Story Link

NYG---

Your posts about these NBA playoffs have enabled me to feel like I understand just a little bit about what's going on... and THAT has enabled me to watch with enough enjoyment to make it worthwhile.

Obviously there have been tons of games this year that were tremendously entertaining. Had it not been for you, I probably would not even have seen them. Thanks a ton, man.

BHN

That suspension of Stackhouse could help turn the series in Miami's favor. If they win Game 5--as I now expect them to do--I think they will close out the series in Game 6. However, IF there is a Game 7, I see Dallas taking that at home.

Stackhouse's foul was just another in a long list of hard, flagrant fouls in this playoff year. Artest's elbow to Manu Ginobili's face, Chris Kaman getting his nuts twisted, and several others I can picture but not remember. Yeah, there has been some rough play this year.


I give big time credit to Dwyane Wade for holding Shaq down after that foul. Shaq clearly wanted to go after Stackhouse, but Wade held him down and got him to cool off. Shaq already had one technical foul that night, so he would have been ejected if he had just gotten in Stackhouse's face. The ejection of Shaq could have given Dallas the inspiration they needed to mount a comeback.

I think the Heat will win the championship. Dwayne Wade is just to good

Tonight's game, especially in the light of Stack's suspension, will go to the Heat. The Heat are playing great at home. The series, however, will still go to the Mavs, it will just take the full seven games.

I saw a stat that something like 17 of 24 teams that have won game 5 of a 2-2 finals have gone on to win.

That game was a travesty of officiating. I haven't seen such superstar-coddling since the days of Michael Jordan. You know, the refs start calling every touch foul and even some that are phantom calls. Eventually, it gets to the point where the defenders are afraid to even breathe on him, and he can take whatever shot he wishes. Last night's game was an example. Dwyane Wade went to the line as many times as the entire Mavericks team! Miami had 24 more FT attempts than Dallas. The Mavs defenders didn't want to get near him because they though they would get called for a foul.

This series should already be over. Dallas blew Game 3 when they had it in hand, and they would have won last night's game if it hadn't been for the 1990's retro officials that thought they were reffing a Bulls game from the era of MJ.

[Edited on 6/21/06 by BirdstheBest]

Well, for myself, as someone who's strictly a casual fan and admittedly doesn't know squat about the more sophisticated aspects of this game....

(1) A huge THANK YOU to Giants Fan for his many informative posts about this year's playoffs, which made the whole thing watchable for me, after missing 100% of the regular season games. Even though Lebron James wasn't around for the last two rounds, these were tremendous playoffs, from start to finish, and I had a great time watching them (albeit at the expense of my already-piled-up work).

You're still a teenager, GiantsFan, so you're probably not used to deriving great satisfaction from such things, but please know you brought this middle-aged soul a great deal of pleasure with all your informative posts about these teams and this year's playoffs. I am deeply in your debt.

(2) I've never been much of an Alonzo Mourning or Gary Payton fan, though I've naturally admired their defensive prowess. But as they started looking like they were going to beat Detroit, I started thinking, "Gee, those guys might get one more shot at a ring." And when the Heat SOMEHOW got off the canvass to win Game 3, after they looked dead and buried to all the world, I thought they might pull it out after all. When the Heat were up 5 tonight, with seconds remaining, the camera zoomed on Mourning's ecstatic face. Then it got cut to 3, then Wade (of all people missed those foul shots, then Dallas somehow was allowed to take that wide-open 3-pointer. And then it missed.

Whether you feel good for Payton or not, it's awfully hard not to feel good for Mourning. Five years ago, would you have dreamed you'd ever see a man with one kidney play as physically as he did tonight?

(3) With all of this said, I do feel badly for Dallas. And that sure ain't because I'm a fan of the city. But as much as I think Steve Nash gets overtouted and over-awarded because he's white (I mean, how many think he was better than LeBron James this year?), I think Nowitski is EVERY BIT as good as people say. Wow, what a player!!!

And it's not like he was alone. That's one very talented team and, whatever one thinks of their owner (I confess I like him), it's hard not to like their coach. It's hard not to think of all the relatively young guys in sports history who took it for granted they'd be back to the championship series but never were (Ty Cobb lost 3 straight World Series at ages 20-22, then never once returned; Ted Williams went only to the 1946 Series, at age 27, and lost).

I hope Dallas returns. And wins. Can you see Nowitski, with that natural smile of his, holding the MVP trophy?

BHN

This year's NBA playoffs are now over, and we have a new NBA champion: the Miami Heat. Shaquille O'Neal now has four rings, but more importantly, Alonzo Mourning now has one. There were three great games in this series, but one of them was tainted by come bad calls. Game 5 will be brought up for a long time to come. That phantom call when Dwyane Wade drove to the basket at the end was horrible, and it looked like he had a backcourt violation as well. Then the refs botched the time out call between free throws.

I understand that the NBA gives its star players preferential treatment: Bird got it, Jordan got it, Karl Malone got it. However, I just wish the calls at least involved contact. That Game 5 call on Wade--no one even touched him! I guess it's like they all say, that the fans pay to see the superstars, so the refs aren't going to spoil things.

That series should have been over in five games. The Mavs blew a big lead late in Game 3, and if that phantom foul hadn't been called in Game 5, they would have won that one too. This will go down as one of the biggest chokes in NBA history.

Next year? Phoenix over Detroit in six games.

There is certainly no disputing the fact Dallas blew Game 3. Every member of that team who does NOT go on to win a ring in his career will think about that game until he draws his last breath.

I was WATCHING Game 5, but recording a CD at the same time, and therefore had the volume off (unlike tonight) in the fourth quarter. I did not hear the commentary and thus was unaware what had (or should I say, had not?) transpired on that play, other than what I saw. And I acknowledge it was not apparent to me what the alleged violation was.

That's really too bad, if you're right. Have you seen lots of replays? Is it pretty certain this was a phantom foul? Is this what Cuban got fined $1/4 mil over?

As I said, I'm real glad to see 'Zo get a ring. I mean, has ANYONE ever put more on the line to get one? And the way he played tonight.... But you sure don't want to see a Game 5 decided THAT way. I'm not up on NBA history anything like I am on MLB history, but I know that in the World Series, if it's tied at two games apiece, and you win Game 5, you're a huge favorite to win the Series.

One of the most important home runs of all time that nobody ever hears about: 1930 World Series, tied at 2 games apiece, score tied a zero, top of the ninth: Jimmie Foxx hits a titanic home run out of St. Louis's Sportsman's Park, which was a gift for LH hitters, but no gift at all for RH hitters (which Foxx was). One had to earn one's HR's, and one had to really clobber the ball to get it out of the stadium. If big Number Three had hit that one in a park comparably tough for LH hitters (say, Fenway, although that was tougher on lefties), you know everyone would know all about it. Anyway, they won it all in Game 6, with Grove just watching in case #7 came.

I'm sorry if the wrong team won Game 5 of this one. I guess Wade picked the wrong game to miss the two crucial free throws, huh?

BHN