That was a helluva game

The Daddy will not be denied title no. IV. Love that image of Nowitski abusing the excercise bike on the way out.

Looked to me like Avery was telling his team to call that timeout. Then it looked like he was arguing to the refs "We've got 2."

Craziness. I've caught NBA playoffs here and there. Everytime I turn it on it is seemingly the only boring moments of the playoffs.

Not this time. Fun game. I couldn't shut it off after botching my decision whether or not to watch the end of the U.S. Open earlier today.

Josh Howard. don't pile anymore ignomy on Atlanta than it already deserves. Josh Howard.

That was indeed a great game. It would've been better if Howard didn't go all Chris Webber on us. Wade's performance down the stretch was awfully impressive.

Okay SBG, you're the resident expert on KG stats -- what's KG's record in games where two of his teammates combine for about 60 points?

Also, this week is looking to sap all of my time away with various big games.

Game 7 of the NHL Finals Monday. I like hockey, but even if you don't, Game 7's generally make for good entertainment. (Edmonton's crowd in Game 6 was off the hook, btw.)

Then Tuesday, there's Game 6 of what is turning into a great NBA Finals to cap a great NBA playoff season.

Not much Wednesday that I can think of.

Thursday, you've got an elimination situation for the US World Cup team in the morning, then Liriano vs. Clemens at 7pm and then a potential NBA Finals Game 7 at 8pm. I was hoping the Liriano/Clemens duel would turn out to be on Wednesday, but no such luck.

I suspect that I'm not getting much work done this week.

Lost amidst all the controversy about the time-out, I have one question for Avery Johnson and his team: after Dirk makes the beautiful pass to put your team up by a bucket with 10 seconds to go, how do you let Dwyane Wade get a clear righthand side of the floor to drive one-on-one to send the game into OT in the first place?

I said before that I thought Dallas had the advantage unless Miami could sweep at home and Wade was prepared to play like Superman each night thru the rest of the series. I forgot to account for the refs, as well. When the league suspends Mashburn just for a hard foul, and then Miami gets 49 foul shots to Dallas' 25 in Game 5, I have to wonder....

Still, kudos to Wade for putting the team on his back and practically willing them to victory, yet again.

I believe KG is 0-0 in games where two of his teammates combine for 60 points.

The officiating was disappointing. I would expect that Dallas will get better treatment in the next game. I don't know if missing Jerry Stackhouse made all that much difference, but I didn't have a problem with that decision in light of other suspensions that have been handed out.

Boy, Wade shot just about every single time down the stretch.

Nice new look to your site, SBG! Much easier to read...

yes, I like the new look as well. Very nice.

Put it this way - you're one cute logo away from being the toast of the baseball blogosphere.

The reffing in the game last night maybe wasn't perfect, but I think there were a couple of other reasons for the large foul shot differential. For one, there was only one team employing the hack-a-Shaq strategy, and it wasn't the Heat. For another, the Heat were much more aggressive about driving to the basket than the Mavs were. Not that I would especially blame the Mavs when they were shooting so well from the floor, but it remains that Terry and Howard were knocking down mid-range jumpers rather than driving to the hoop looking to draw fouls.

At any rate, watching the game, I noticed that the Heat were getting more foul shots, but it never seemed like there were a lot of blown calls from my viewpoint.

Well, because Shaq couldn't hit his free throws, as usual, he only took 12 shots from the line. Wade was the great beneficiary of the refs' calls, sinking 21-25 from the line. I realize that he drives to the basket a lot, but that's still a brow-raising number. In his final drive, I thought the contact whistled was pretty slight, while Wade got away with a push-off to get open in the first place.

I think there's something to be said for the skill of "making it look good." Wade seems to be good at putting himself in situations where the ref will be inclined to call a foul against his defender. Even with good officials, guys who "make it look good" are going to get more calls go their way.

Wade did average 10.4 FTA/game which looks like tied for second-most in the NBA with Carmelo Anthony, another guard who likes to drive to the hoop a lot. Obviously, 25 FTA is more than 10.4, but when you force the issue, you increase the chances that some days you're going to get a lot more calls to go your way.

And again, I'm not saying the officiating was perfect, but watching over the course of the game, it didn't really seem to me like there was a consistent bias against the Mavs.