That’s what I’m talking about!
It wasn’t easy. It seems it never is. From Marquis Daniels’ odd (and poor) decision to loft a 50-foot inbounds pass, to Tracy McGrady being allowed to rebound his own missed free throw and get a shot off, the Mavericks did things the hard way, but in the end ground out another close playoff victory.
Game 5 was a thrilling affair, and although their big German again struggled from the field, there is no debating his altogether worth was higher than it has been in any previous game. Nowitzki 13 rebounds and 4 steals helped turn the tide throughout the evening, and his follow up dunk with :20 left proved to be the winning points of the night
But he certainly was given plenty of assistance in winning this one. Jerry Stackhouse was cold-blooded with huge baskets at every turn. Jason Terry continued to nail clutch shots at clutch times. And, Josh Howard did it again at both ends of the court.
There still seems to be no remedy for McGrady and Yao other than hope they miss, but for the 3rd straight game, the Mavericks did enough good down the stretch to gain the victory.
From the Mavericks Statistical crew:
· With the win tonight, Dallas has won three in a row over Houston after dropping the first two games of the series. It marks the fifth time the Mavericks have won three straight games in the playoffs. Dallas has never won four in a row in the postseason.
· Game 1 was decided by 12 points. Games 2-5 have been decided by a total of 13 points.
By the way, I blew one on Saturday night with my assertion that the Mavericks were given a gift by the officials on the play where Howard tipped the ball off T-Mac. But, there is no question that with :57 left in Game 5, the Mavericks were given a huge gift on a blown call where Finley, with at least 1 foot, and more than likely 2 feet standing out of bounds knocked the ball out of Jon Barry’s hands. I was happy about the butchered call, but it was butchered nonetheless. The Rockets had the ball, and were down 97-94. Did it decide the game? We will never know.
Links:
Sefko from Mavs-Rockets …
Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please Soccer gods: Find a way for Liverpool to beat Chelsea Tuesday …I promise to never ask for anything else, until May 25th in the Champions League Final. Please, Please…
Van Gundy slapped for 100k …
While Van Gundy laughed off the penalty and Yao offered to pick up half the tab, the matter jumped to another, far more serious level. Commissioner David Stern called the fine "an intermediary step," adding that an investigation will continue once the Rockets finish their playoff run. He said further punishment is possible, even implying that Van Gundy could face a lifetime ban.
"If he's going to say things like that, he's not going to continue in this league," Stern said. "If the attitude reflected in those comments continues to be public, he's going to have a big problem with me as long as I'm commissioner."
Rangers 3, A’s 2. Kenny Rogers has been dominant lately. No doubt he is off to a fabulous start in 2005. The way he blew away Eric Chavez to get out of the 8th inning was amazing. Meanwhile, nothing is easy for this bullpen.
And now, some email:
Email #1
Jon Barry is such an insufferable spare that I want to throw a rock through my TV every time I see him. I wish his teammates would tell him to shut the hell up, quit talking to the officials, quit trying to rally the troops, and be the 8th man that he is.
Hopefully by this time next week he'll be prancing around a golf green somewhere doing his masturbatory gesture after he spares everyone to death with a three-putt.
Mavs in 6?
Matt
P1
P.S. - Stackhouse for president.
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Email #2
Ok – I’m on my way back from lunch a second ago and I’m listening to Dan Patrick because I CANNOT stand the Dale and Gribbs show.
And what do I hear Dan Patrick say but, “Well, you all know how I love Homer Calls…..” and proceeds to go on about the call of the Seattle announcers covering Ray Allen going off last night (btw the Seattle announcer worked in the “Boom goes the dynamite too).
Must be nice to know that Patrick is a fan and is listening in to BAD radio.
Rich
Well, it doesn’t hurt that Patrick’s boss is our former boss (the great, and I mean great Bruce Gilbert). Ideas get stolen in this business, but seldom this blatant and obvious.
What a game last night, I actually began to HATE Sura and the other Rocket spares. Van Gundy really blew it on managing Yao's fouls and I still don't see why they don't just dump it into him every time! Yao looked like a Dad with a bunch of 5 year old kids trying to guard him.
ReplyDeleteI'm still waiting on Dan Patrick to start a Gay/Not Gay segment, especially since management screwed his yuck monkey, Rob Dibble off the show.
Van Gundy and Mark Cuban are actually on the same page regarding the officials in the NBA. No other sport can be controlled to such a degree by calls from the refs. Sure baseball has umps with smaller strike zones that favor hitting and some football referees are quick with the pass interference call. However those don't compare to officials in basketball, some of whom appear to have a either a vendetta against some players or a need to protect a superstar.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to correct the situation is to publish stats for the officials compared to certain teams and certain players. If a clean player gets into foul trouble with a certain official or a winning team always loses when a certain guy calls the game, I'm sure the betting public would like to know these facts. When you get Norm Hitzges telling people how to bet based on the officials, then the league may pay attention to this problem.
I live in Houston so I don't get to watch a lot of Mavs games... But I have to tell you, I'm so impressed with Howard and Stackhouse in this series. They are just showing up and playing a real key role in this series. Plus, I'm very excited about the minutes Bradley is receiving!
ReplyDeleteGreat game last night. Here's what I want to happen. During game 6, I want the score to be 88-85 Dallas with about 3 minutes to go. Then Stackhouse and Dirk and Terry put up the next 11 points to go up 99-85 with a minute to go, and the last three points on a three pointer from Stackhouse. As soon as he hits it, he stands in front of Barry and does that stupid dance with the 3 finger salute...Woo hoo!
and then run over and punch him in the face
ReplyDeleteBob,
ReplyDeleteSoccernet has an article about Becks being the highest paid footballer in the world. You think the peeps at soccernet understand American Football with this quote: Beckham is sixth behind Woods, Schumacher, NFL's Archie Manning and NBA's Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan.
Wanna hate Barry even more? Listen to him whine about last night in the Houston Chronicle:
ReplyDeleteJon Barry sat at his locker looking disgusted after seeing a replay of the rebound he pulled down with 58.5 seconds left in the game..."It's too bad when two feet are out of bounds and (he) hits the ball," said Barry, who finished with seven points and five rebounds. "It's a shame. We just saw the replay, and his two feet were out of bounds. So what do you do? The whole bench saw it. He had two feet out of bounds."
A good line by Sura though:
ReplyDelete"You never can blame the refs for a game," guard Bob Sura said. "It costs too much money to do that."
'So what do you do? The whole bench saw it. He had two feet out of bounds."'
ReplyDeleteAnd Terry cleanly swiped the ball from Wesley from behind but got called for the foul anyway.
What do you do?
Well, you keep battling because bad calls are going to occur.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletePLEASE DEAR GOD help the Scousers overtake the dirty Chelski. I'm not a Liverpool supporter (obviously), but I can't harbor the thought of seeing the insufferable Joes Morinho bouncing around the Kop in his usual overrated arrogance.
ReplyDeleteCome on you Reds...just this once.
I don't know what that guy just said
ReplyDeleteYou'll never walk alone Stevie G!
ReplyDeleteLets go Reds!
Norm was trying to bait Nellie into the whole the league should apologize for releasing their response concerning blown calls to the public. I agree with Nellie that he thought that releasing this info was fine. All the teams have the same opportunity to send the league video and the league should release this info to the media. If Houston sends video concerning last night's blown calls with Finley out of bounds and Padgett's nontouch foul, then good for them. The refs need the feedback on these crappy calls and the public needs to know to add more pressure on them to be the best they can be. Also I agree with Nellie when he said "Norm, who cares!! Next subject!!"
ReplyDeleteSomething that drives me a little crazy is when people look at NBA shooting percentage numbers, is when they say, for instance, last night McGrady went for 7 for 22. Wow that's less than 33%. The dude still scored 25 points. Granted this is an off night for McGrady, but still he took 22 shots and scored 25 points. If you looked at it from a 2 points possible per attempt perspective, he was just over 56%. This includes 1 three pointer and 10 made free throws. This is what Stackhouse and Dirk have been doing this series. Missing more than 50% on field goals but they make it up on the line or with three pointers as far as efficiency is concerned. They're getting to the line, getting people in foul trouble. This is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteP1 Stu in "crazy" Fort Worth
I hope you all enjoyed the bitter beer face of Jose today. What a wonderful display from Liverpool.
ReplyDeleteAwe inspiring indeed.
Well done Reds.
Thank you Liverpool the demon (chelsea) is vanquished. Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI know, I know... I was the one not long ago that said that the Nowitzki playoff run of 2005 was just a dream.. that he did not feel comfortable on the court and ultimately was not a true star (compared to Jordan, Bird, Magic, and even Shaq) and needed a teammate to provide the killer superstar qualities that he lacked... we might not need to look any farther than one Jerry Stackhouse.... that guy is money.. enough said.. Bob, could he be that teammate to push Dirk to a deep run this year? we shall see real soon
ReplyDeleteI know.. I was the one not long ago that claimed that the "Nowitzki playoff run of 2005" was just a dream remember? Remember also that I said Dirk was not a true star that could put a team on his back and carry them to a title... He is obviously uncomfortable on the court and ultimately needs a partner to provide the tools needed to rise above everything and dominate... look no further than Stackhouse.. could he be the one to push Dirk to take the Mavs deep and on to great things? we shall see
ReplyDelete