^ You thought wrong, boo.

Anyway, the Mavs did a great job tonight. Everyone brought their A game (except for Marion missing easy lay-ups but that's expected ) JJ Barea shocked me. He usually misses wide open shots but today he was hitting 3's.

Jason Terry... Easily the player of the game.

728huey said:

SCNDLS said:

Anyway, ya'll already KNOW where SCNDLS will be this evening. Go Mavs!

Hey, I just saw some hot looking black babe at courtside while watching Dirk Nowitzki take a free throw. You don't suppose it was SCNDLS?

Nah, that wasn't me. I was on the 19th row, great seats but definitely not courtside.

Trynna decide if I'm going back to Miami. Shit I just got home an hour ago and I'm worn out from celebrating.

[Edited 6/10/11 3:30am]

Layzie said:

Damn, son. What the fuck is LeBron's problem?

He's a total non factor in the stretch.

With D Wade hurt, I thought that he would definitely step it up.

Can't believe he's getting punked by Jason fucking Terry.

@ the Mavs being one win away from the 'chip. You're a damn lie is you say that you expected the series to be like this. I really thought that the Mavs would've been lucky to win one game.

Uh, check the first page. A lot of folks were giving it to the Mavs in 6. I actually expected wins by wider margins but I'll take a win anyway we can get it. And remember this woulda been a wrap in 5 if the refs had called that backcourt violation so the Heat is LUCKY to still be playing. On to the next one!

trueiopian said:

^ You thought wrong, boo.

Anyway, the Mavs did a great job tonight. Everyone brought their A game (except for Marion missing easy lay-ups but that's expected ) JJ Barea shocked me. He usually misses wide open shots but today he was hitting 3's.

Jason Terry... Easily the player of the game.

Actually, he always hits 3 and avg I think 15 pts a game except in this series. They were ALL missing wide open shots until last night.

BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS.---- LeChoke demands trade to Mavs for game 6 so that he can win his first Championship..

SCNDLS said:

BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS.---- LeChoke demands trade to Mavs for game 6 so that he can win his first Championship..

SCNDLS said:

trueiopian said:

^ You thought wrong, boo.

Anyway, the Mavs did a great job tonight. Everyone brought their A game (except for Marion missing easy lay-ups but that's expected ) JJ Barea shocked me. He usually misses wide open shots but today he was hitting 3's.

Jason Terry... Easily the player of the game.

Actually, he always hits 3 and avg I think 15 pts a game except in this series. They were ALL missing wide open shots until last night.

No, he doesn't.

trueiopian said:

SCNDLS said:

Actually, he always hits 3 and avg I think 15 pts a game except in this series. They were ALL missing wide open shots until last night.

No, he doesn't.

Okay, not always but regularly. He's done so all season. In the regular season he averages 35% in 3-pt shooting (almost the same as Jason Terry) and 10 ppg. So it's not odd to see him hit a lot of 3s if you've been watching him all season.

[Edited 6/10/11 5:36am]

DAV123 said:

Lebron had a triple-double, but he's not impacting these games in the 4th quarter like he should.

I saw something on another site about 'personal problems' and Rashard Lewis being involved, but I didn't pay much attention to it.

[Edited 6/10/11 6:21am]

uPtoWnNY said:

DAV123 said:

Lebron had a triple-double, but he's not impacting these games in the 4th quarter like he should.

I saw something on another site about 'personal problems' and Rashard Lewis being involved, but I didn't pay much attention to it.

[Edited 6/10/11 6:21am]

Stephen A Smith is such a high school girl.

Rashard has already denied the rumors. Why can't LBJ just be having a bad game/series? It ain't the first time it's happened.

http://blacksportsonline....nt-page-1/

[Edited 6/10/11 8:00am]

Lebron James, 'this is the most important game of my life'. No fool it's a best of 7 series. Why and the fuck would you set yourself up in having to clean up your own shit if you lost? Which they did.... James needs to shut-up reach down and touch himself to see if he still has a "unit" and play. My goodness.

==============================================================

[Edited 6/10/11 10:04am]

God don't like ugly After the Mavs win on Sunday Jason Terry should impersonate DWade rolling around on the floor with a bum hip in Game 5

Video: Sweet ‘Sick Dirk’ impressions, Dwyane and LeBron

Very strong character work here, Dwyane Wade(notes) and LeBron James(notes). Your hilarious pre-Game 5 send-up of an ailing Dirk Nowitzki(notes) definitely shows that you've spent some time getting the mannerisms and mindset of a sick 7-foot German down pat. Check out Bill Hader and Taran Killam over here.

I especially like how the Miami Heat stars let their team apparel handle the "very hot with a 102-degree fever" aspect of their impersonations. As was discussed earlier this year on an episode of the comedy podcast Jordan, Jesse, Go!, when you've got a perfect comedy outfit — like Martin Lawrence's Big Momma suit, for example, or T-shirts and hats with the word "Heat" and a picture of fire on them — a smart performer doesn't gild the lily by trying to add actual jokes. Just let the suit do the work, trust that your audience is sophisticated enough to make the connection, and the let the brain-smiles roll. It's basically the Rebus puzzle of laughing.

It's also good that Wade and James got some yukles (yuks + chuckles) in before Game 5, since there wasn't a whole lot for them to lau... afterward. You've got to take your opportunities where you find them. In the words of the poet, "Work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt and laugh like you're making fun of a sick person who's dinging you up for 27-and-9 a night."

[Edited 6/10/11 9:58am]

Sometime God doesn't look after babies or fools.

I didn't have an opinion or cared really who won the championship after the Bulls exit, but I hope the Mav's beat the Heat's azz. Wade? He should ashamed of himself . . .

Lebron and his bullshit excuses. The Heat deserve to lose. I hope the Mavs don't get overconfident in Game 6 and come out swinging!

Nowitzki leads Mavs to brink of title

DALLAS – In the aftermath of their loss to the Miami Heat in the 2006 NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks couldn’t stop making excuses. The Heat hadn’t so much won the title, Dallas decided, as it had been given to them, courtesy of poor officiating or the Mavs fumbling away the critical third game.

Eventually the whining so annoyed Dwyane Wade(notes), the MVP of that series, that he went right back at Dallas, right back at Dirk Nowitzki’s(notes) version of events, and blasted it all.

“Dirk says they gave us the championship last year, but he’s the reason they lost,” Wade told Miami reporters in 2007. It’s “because he wasn’t the leader that he’s supposed to be in the closing moments.

With his supporting cast now contributing in the clutch, Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs sit one win away from their first NBA title.
(NBAE/Getty Images)

“At the end of the day, you’re remembered for what you did at the end.”

Nowitzki has said nothing during this series about those words, about that charge against him half a decade ago.

Whatever his failure then has been corrected. Dallas has taken control of these Finals, taken mighty Miami and its all-star crew to the brink, taken the veneer of inevitability and invincibility right off LeBron James(notes) and Co. because Nowitzki has turned into a leader for the ages.

Dallas beat Miami 112-103 here Thursday and the Mavericks are now up 3-2 heading into Sunday’s Game 6 back in Florida. And it wasn’t just Nowitzki’s game-high 29 points that made it so.

It was how he’s helped build up a supporting crew of castoffs and role players, how he’s demanded excellence from starters and subs alike, how he’s found the perfect balance of knowing when to take command of a game and when to defer to a better option.

The Heat are a collection of talent still searching for their roles, still seeking consistency and accountability and urgency. It’s LeBron trying to sunshine another loss with “we played good enough to win.” Dallas has turned into this machine that keeps coming and coming and coming, undeterred by talent, unwilling to compromise.

“Persistence is our game,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said.

When six straight points gave the Heat a 96-95 lead with just 5:16 remaining, when America Airlines Center had gone from deafening to doubting, when it all seemed to be slipping away, there was the 7-foot German in the huddle during a timeout, pleading for exactly that persistence.

“Just stick with it,” he shouted. “Just stick with it.”

This was the series on the line. The Mavs had hit a million shots and were losing anyway. They were in the process of holding LeBron to another quiet fourth quarter (just two points) and were about to blow it still. So after Nowitzki was done talking – and after Wade had increased Miami’s lead with a 3-pointer – Nowitzki demanded the ball, got to the lane, got fouled and, of course, knocked down his free throws.

“Kind of settle everyone down,” he said. “I thought it was big of us not to shoot a bad jumper and they go down in transition again.”

He then stepped back and let his guys rise up. It was Jason Terry(notes), who Nowitzki had called out earlier in this series, draining two back-breaking 3-pointers. It was Shawn Marion(notes), previously benched in crunch time, producing a key steal. It was blue-collar Tyson Chandler(notes) delivering a huge block. It was Jason Kidd(notes) burying a 24-footer.

Jason Terry's late 3-pointer all but ended any chance of a Miami Heat comeback Thursday.
(NBAE/Getty Images)

After his free throws, Nowitzki would never need to score again. Dallas would deliver a 17-4 knockout run, and the most clutch performer in these playoffs – hero of big shot after big shot – didn’t need to do all the scoring.

Nowitzki has the Mavericks exactly where he wants them – believing so fully in themselves that they’ve found a way to close out games that all of Miami’s heavy hitters can’t.

And yes, it’s his team. It’s unequivocally his Mavericks. There isn’t a debate here; no star-by-committee system. He’s taken a hold of this group the way he grabs the news conference microphone. Owner Mark Cuban has stopped talking to the media, seemingly lifting a mountain of pressure off his troops. Carlisle is comfortable deflecting praise onto the players and spends half his time crediting Dirk effusively.

After the game, Terry talked about one of his late, contested threes, and acknowledged he was so confident he probably would’ve taken it even if the shot clock wasn’t running down.

“Dirk don’t want to hear that,” Terry said.Not Carlisle, the coach. Dirk, the leader.

This has been an impossibly tight series, every game coming down to the final minute, if not the final shot. Across the way the Heat are still fumbling with how to finish, wondering who should take the shot, who should step up on defense. They stand around and look at each other. Some won’t shoot. Some shoot too much. Some won’t defend. Some chase themselves out of position.

Until these Finals, the Heat were able to overwhelm opponents in the final minutes. They just swallowed up the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls. Now they’ve met an opponent with even more will, with an even greater killer instinct.

It was supposed to be the Heat that could count on a committee at the end. It was supposed to be this purposefully assembled triumvirate that would cause the defensive chaos. Would Wade take the final shot? Would LeBron? Would they drop down to Chris Bosh(notes)? Was there any way to cover them all?

Instead it was Miami coach Erik Spoelstra who looked out of ideas, looked resigned to the fact that Dallas just won’t stop coming for the crown.

“It is not easy against this team,” he said.

When everyone thought it would be Nowitzki who would try to win it, he flipped the script and here came Terry, Marion and Kidd. Here, earlier in the game, came J.J. Berea, this 5-foot-9 blur seemingly out of a pick-up game at the Y, torturing the Heat with 17 gut-punch points.

“Nowitzki requires at least the attention of 1½ and often two guys,” Spoelstra said. “…A lot of actions involve Nowitzki.”

It all comes through Dirk now, here in this tightest of Finals, here in this endless parade of pressurized moments. Torn tendon. High fever. Double teams. Nothing is stopping him. Nothing is keeping him from doing exactly what Dwyane Wade roasted him about five years ago.

“At the end of the day,” Wade said back then, “you’re remembered for what you did at the end.”

It’s 3-2 Dallas now. It’s one game from everything for these Mavericks. It’s one win from answering that long-ago criticism for Dirk Nowitzki.

[Edited 6/10/11 11:34am]

SCNDLS said:

uPtoWnNY said:

Lebron had a triple-double, but he's not impacting these games in the 4th quarter like he should.

I saw something on another site about 'personal problems' and Rashard Lewis being involved, but I didn't pay much attention to it.

[Edited 6/10/11 6:21am]

Stephen A Smith is such a high school girl.

Rashard has already denied the rumors. Why can't LBJ just be having a bad game/series? It ain't the first time it's happened.

http://blacksportsonline....nt-page-1/

[Edited 6/10/11 8:00am]

Yeah they're always trying to excuse what's wrong with players by describing their personal lives. They did that with L.A. earlier.

SCNDLS said:

God don't like ugly After the Mavs win on Sunday Jason Terry should impersonate DWade rolling around on the floor with a bum hip in Game 5

Video: Sweet ‘Sick Dirk’ impressions, Dwyane and LeBron

Very strong character work here, Dwyane Wade(notes) and LeBron James(notes). Your hilarious pre-Game 5 send-up of an ailing Dirk Nowitzki(notes) definitely shows that you've spent some time getting the mannerisms and mindset of a sick 7-foot German down pat. Check out Bill Hader and Taran Killam over here.

I especially like how the Miami Heat stars let their team apparel handle the "very hot with a 102-degree fever" aspect of their impersonations. As was discussed earlier this year on an episode of the comedy podcast Jordan, Jesse, Go!, when you've got a perfect comedy outfit — like Martin Lawrence's Big Momma suit, for example, or T-shirts and hats with the word "Heat" and a picture of fire on them — a smart performer doesn't gild the lily by trying to add actual jokes. Just let the suit do the work, trust that your audience is sophisticated enough to make the connection, and the let the brain-smiles roll. It's basically the Rebus puzzle of laughing.

It's also good that Wade and James got some yukles (yuks + chuckles) in before Game 5, since there wasn't a whole lot for them to lau... afterward. You've got to take your opportunities where you find them. In the words of the poet, "Work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt and laugh like you're making fun of a sick person who's dinging you up for 27-and-9 a night."

[Edited 6/10/11 9:58am]

These idiots... They got their karma though.

Timmy84 said:

SCNDLS said:

God don't like ugly After the Mavs win on Sunday Jason Terry should impersonate DWade rolling around on the floor with a bum hip in Game 5

Video: Sweet ‘Sick Dirk’ impressions, Dwyane and LeBron

Very strong character work here, Dwyane Wade(notes) and LeBron James(notes). Your hilarious pre-Game 5 send-up of an ailing Dirk Nowitzki(notes) definitely shows that you've spent some time getting the mannerisms and mindset of a sick 7-foot German down pat. Check out Bill Hader and Taran Killam over here.

I especially like how the Miami Heat stars let their team apparel handle the "very hot with a 102-degree fever" aspect of their impersonations. As was discussed earlier this year on an episode of the comedy podcast Jordan, Jesse, Go!, when you've got a perfect comedy outfit — like Martin Lawrence's Big Momma suit, for example, or T-shirts and hats with the word "Heat" and a picture of fire on them — a smart performer doesn't gild the lily by trying to add actual jokes. Just let the suit do the work, trust that your audience is sophisticated enough to make the connection, and the let the brain-smiles roll. It's basically the Rebus puzzle of laughing.

It's also good that Wade and James got some yukles (yuks + chuckles) in before Game 5, since there wasn't a whole lot for them to lau... afterward. You've got to take your opportunities where you find them. In the words of the poet, "Work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt and laugh like you're making fun of a sick person who's dinging you up for 27-and-9 a night."

[Edited 6/10/11 9:58am]

These idiots... They got their karma though.

Just shows how immature they are. You really want film out their of your stars making fun of a future HOF capable of lighting ya'll up??? Really???

SCNDLS said:

Timmy84 said:

These idiots... They got their karma though.

Just shows how immature they are. You really want film out their of your stars making fun of a future HOF capable of lighting ya'll up??? Really???

IKR?! And thing is they don't even SEEM to wanna change their MO about their team, it's more about "what I wanna do to help win the championship", not "we". When will they get THAT through their skull? If they lose Sunday, they have no one to blame but themselves.

Timmy84 said:

SCNDLS said:

Stephen A Smith is such a high school girl.

Rashard has already denied the rumors. Why can't LBJ just be having a bad game/series? It ain't the first time it's happened.

http://blacksportsonline....nt-page-1/

[Edited 6/10/11 8:00am]

Yeah they're always trying to excuse what's wrong with players by describing their personal lives. They did that with L.A. earlier.

When u get on the field of play.............none of that personal stuff matters.

Graycap23 said:

Timmy84 said:

Yeah they're always trying to excuse what's wrong with players by describing their personal lives. They did that with L.A. earlier.

When u get on the field of play.............none of that personal stuff matters.

Yeah and right now they need to TIGHTEN UP.

Graycap23 said:

Timmy84 said:

Yeah they're always trying to excuse what's wrong with players by describing their personal lives. They did that with L.A. earlier.

When u get on the field of play.............none of that personal stuff matters.

No, it doesn't.

What are these "personal excuses" anyways?

Wade: The ex-wife from hell.... still.

James: I'm upset... my momma was arrested a couple of weeks ago in Miami.

Bosch: I recenlty got marriad, the honeymoon has taken all the strength out of my legs.

Wha?

TD3 said:

Graycap23 said:

When u get on the field of play.............none of that personal stuff matters.

No, it doesn't.

What are these "personal excuses" anyways?

Wade: The ex-wife from hell.... still.

James: I'm upset... my momma was arrested a couple of weeks ago in Miami.

Bosch: I recenlty got marriad, the honeymoon has taken all the strength out of my legs.

Wha?

And Dirk's sick but he's still playing his game! Makes them look like pussies. Stop making the rest of your team look bad guys!

Didn't I tell y'all LeBron can't hang!!

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Didn't I tell y'all LeBron can't hang!!

I knew he was gonna have trouble anyway.

Timmy84 said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Didn't I tell y'all LeBron can't hang!!

I knew he was gonna have trouble anyway.

Scottie Pippen probably want that interview back, lol.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Timmy84 said:

I knew he was gonna have trouble anyway.

Scottie Pippen probably want that interview back, lol.

RIGHT!

SCNDLS said:

Timmy84 said:

These idiots... They got their karma though.

Just shows how immature they are. You really want film out their of your stars making fun of a future HOF capable of lighting ya'll up??? Really???

Dirk had some "sick" for'em last night.

I'm still amazed at how two level-headed men can act like such petulant, front-running teens when they get together. But you know, the big German kid is pushing their crew around at what was supposed to be their victory party.

SCNDLS said:

Nowitzki leads Mavs to brink of title

DALLAS – In the aftermath of their loss to the Miami Heat in the 2006 NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks couldn’t stop making excuses. The Heat hadn’t so much won the title, Dallas decided, as it had been given to them, courtesy of poor officiating or the Mavs fumbling away the critical third game.

Eventually the whining so annoyed Dwyane Wade(notes), the MVP of that series, that he went right back at Dallas, right back at Dirk Nowitzki’s(notes) version of events, and blasted it all.

“Dirk says they gave us the championship last year, but he’s the reason they lost,” Wade told Miami reporters in 2007. It’s “because he wasn’t the leader that he’s supposed to be in the closing moments.

With his supporting cast now contributing in the clutch, Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs sit one win away from their first NBA title.
(NBAE/Getty Images)

“At the end of the day, you’re remembered for what you did at the end.”

Nowitzki has said nothing during this series about those words, about that charge against him half a decade ago.

Whatever his failure then has been corrected. Dallas has taken control of these Finals, taken mighty Miami and its all-star crew to the brink, taken the veneer of inevitability and invincibility right off LeBron James(notes) and Co. because Nowitzki has turned into a leader for the ages.

Dallas beat Miami 112-103 here Thursday and the Mavericks are now up 3-2 heading into Sunday’s Game 6 back in Florida. And it wasn’t just Nowitzki’s game-high 29 points that made it so.

It was how he’s helped build up a supporting crew of castoffs and role players, how he’s demanded excellence from starters and subs alike, how he’s found the perfect balance of knowing when to take command of a game and when to defer to a better option.

The Heat are a collection of talent still searching for their roles, still seeking consistency and accountability and urgency. It’s LeBron trying to sunshine another loss with “we played good enough to win.” Dallas has turned into this machine that keeps coming and coming and coming, undeterred by talent, unwilling to compromise.

“Persistence is our game,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said.

When six straight points gave the Heat a 96-95 lead with just 5:16 remaining, when America Airlines Center had gone from deafening to doubting, when it all seemed to be slipping away, there was the 7-foot German in the huddle during a timeout, pleading for exactly that persistence.

“Just stick with it,” he shouted. “Just stick with it.”

This was the series on the line. The Mavs had hit a million shots and were losing anyway. They were in the process of holding LeBron to another quiet fourth quarter (just two points) and were about to blow it still. So after Nowitzki was done talking – and after Wade had increased Miami’s lead with a 3-pointer – Nowitzki demanded the ball, got to the lane, got fouled and, of course, knocked down his free throws.

“Kind of settle everyone down,” he said. “I thought it was big of us not to shoot a bad jumper and they go down in transition again.”

He then stepped back and let his guys rise up. It was Jason Terry(notes), who Nowitzki had called out earlier in this series, draining two back-breaking 3-pointers. It was Shawn Marion(notes), previously benched in crunch time, producing a key steal. It was blue-collar Tyson Chandler(notes) delivering a huge block. It was Jason Kidd(notes) burying a 24-footer.

Jason Terry's late 3-pointer all but ended any chance of a Miami Heat comeback Thursday.
(NBAE/Getty Images)

After his free throws, Nowitzki would never need to score again. Dallas would deliver a 17-4 knockout run, and the most clutch performer in these playoffs – hero of big shot after big shot – didn’t need to do all the scoring.

Nowitzki has the Mavericks exactly where he wants them – believing so fully in themselves that they’ve found a way to close out games that all of Miami’s heavy hitters can’t.

And yes, it’s his team. It’s unequivocally his Mavericks. There isn’t a debate here; no star-by-committee system. He’s taken a hold of this group the way he grabs the news conference microphone. Owner Mark Cuban has stopped talking to the media, seemingly lifting a mountain of pressure off his troops. Carlisle is comfortable deflecting praise onto the players and spends half his time crediting Dirk effusively.

After the game, Terry talked about one of his late, contested threes, and acknowledged he was so confident he probably would’ve taken it even if the shot clock wasn’t running down.

“Dirk don’t want to hear that,” Terry said.Not Carlisle, the coach. Dirk, the leader.

This has been an impossibly tight series, every game coming down to the final minute, if not the final shot. Across the way the Heat are still fumbling with how to finish, wondering who should take the shot, who should step up on defense. They stand around and look at each other. Some won’t shoot. Some shoot too much. Some won’t defend. Some chase themselves out of position.

Until these Finals, the Heat were able to overwhelm opponents in the final minutes. They just swallowed up the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls. Now they’ve met an opponent with even more will, with an even greater killer instinct.

It was supposed to be the Heat that could count on a committee at the end. It was supposed to be this purposefully assembled triumvirate that would cause the defensive chaos. Would Wade take the final shot? Would LeBron? Would they drop down to Chris Bosh(notes)? Was there any way to cover them all?

Instead it was Miami coach Erik Spoelstra who looked out of ideas, looked resigned to the fact that Dallas just won’t stop coming for the crown.

“It is not easy against this team,” he said.

When everyone thought it would be Nowitzki who would try to win it, he flipped the script and here came Terry, Marion and Kidd. Here, earlier in the game, came J.J. Berea, this 5-foot-9 blur seemingly out of a pick-up game at the Y, torturing the Heat with 17 gut-punch points.

“Nowitzki requires at least the attention of 1½ and often two guys,” Spoelstra said. “…A lot of actions involve Nowitzki.”

It all comes through Dirk now, here in this tightest of Finals, here in this endless parade of pressurized moments. Torn tendon. High fever. Double teams. Nothing is stopping him. Nothing is keeping him from doing exactly what Dwyane Wade roasted him about five years ago.

“At the end of the day,” Wade said back then, “you’re remembered for what you did at the end.”

It’s 3-2 Dallas now. It’s one game from everything for these Mavericks. It’s one win from answering that long-ago criticism for Dirk Nowitzki.

[Edited 6/10/11 11:34am]

Sorry to put a damper on all you Mavs fans (I want the Mavs to win this as much as you do ), but if they are going to win the NBA title, they have to close it out on Sunday; otherwise it's very unlikely they will win it all. Since going to a 2-3-2 format, no team who was up 3 games to 2 and lost game 6 on the road has ever won an NBA title. In fact, the Celtics led 3-2 going into LA last season and got spanked by the Lakers in game 6. They played a spirited game 7 but still came up short as the Lakers won their fifth and final NBA title with Phil Jackson as coach.