Tomorrow's Game 5 will tip the series advantage one way or another. Right now Miami has all the momentum and Wade is dominating the series the last two games. Without Jerry Stackhouse the Mavs lose some consistency, but they also gain a sense of urgency. Throughout this year's playoffs we've seen teams rally around one of their players being suspended. It seems to fire up everyone and get them 100% focused on winning the game. I think Dallas comes out on top tomorrow despite getting blown out in Game 4. They have played well when they needed to win, and they've been winning on the road througout the post season. Winning 3 straight times against an opponent in the playoffs is extremely rare. Dallas should have the adjustments to counter Miami's recent success. I expect Avery to resort to a speed lineup with Stackhouse out, to try and neutralize Miami's size. A lineup with Terry, Harris, Howard, Dirk, Van Horn would be a matchup nightmare for the Heat. However, Dallas has to attack them rim and not settle for perimeter looks Miami will give them. They need to put pressure on Haslem and Shaq and take high percentage shots. This allows Dallas to set their defense and force Miami to run their offense later than they would like.
I think Dallas might be in trouble. Dirk has not had a good series, and as long as Posey and Haslem keep up the good D on Dirk, I don't see how they win game 5, especially without Stackhouse.....Dallas has a chance, but if I were a betting man, I'd put my money on the Heat at home.....the Mavs haven't had an answer for D Wade. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">A lineup with Terry, Harris, Howard, Dirk, Van Horn would be a matchup nightmare for the Heat. </div> Van Horn = worthless.......especially come playoff time....he's not going to do anything for you defensively and his offense has been suspect in the Finals....Dallas would be better off with Dampier or Diop, because they've played Shaq fairly well.
that's ridiculous... josh howard called timeout with another free throw coming for Wade as the score was tied. what the hell was he thinking?
Im confused. Was he asking Avery if they needed to call a timeout, and signaled one in the process (causing the official to see it and call it right away)? Or did he just request one randomly? Or did the coaching staff tell him to call it after the second one but Howard didn't hear them. I propose do-overs. If the clock is stopped, and an ignorant player calls a time-out, the coaching staff can simply tell the officials, HEY WE WANT IT AFTER THE SECOND SHOT! WE WANT A FUGING CHANCE TO WIN THE GAME...QUIT BEING SO FUGING INGNORANT! Well now we have to hear Mark Cuban, Dirk, and all Mavs fans bitch about how they got screwed out of a title....HOW DOES IT FEEL? Karma is a biotch. Oh yea. Josh Howard is a fugging dumbass. That is all.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Flava23:</div><div class="quote_post">well the refs made a terrible call sending wade to the FT line</div> Please, the call was wrong (it should have been on Harris not Dirk), but he was clearly fouled. Wade is frigging ridiculous, I think he's the best player in the game right now (right there with Kobe), and Shaq agrees with me. He's the most clutch player in the game right now too. I just hope the Mavs don't use that time-out thing as an excuse as to why they lost.
Terrible call at the end especially since it was made by the official furthest away from the play. This was the best game of the series by far and I just hated to see it end on a foul call. It was another amazing performance by DWade, and the superstars were making the plays down the stretch. All the great clutch shots get overlooked now because of lame ass officiating once again.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Flava23:</div><div class="quote_post">Actually the call was on point. </div> BOOYA! And on that note...Josh Howard is still a fukn dumass.
It's a great picture, but we usually don't see ticky tack calls late in games, especially when they decide the outcome. Nowitzki was getting hit all game long by Haslem, but didn't get any calls. Where's the consistency? Wade had as many FTAs as the entire Maverick team. That's absurd.
I thought the foul was the right call. Annoying that the last play of the game ends with a foul, sure, but the referees can't change how they call games based on game situation. They just need to be consistent. And those kind of fouls were being called consistently throughout the game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">I thought the foul was the right call. Annoying that the last play of the game ends with a foul, sure, but the referees can't change how they call games based on game situation. They just need to be consistent. And those kind of fouls were being called consistently throughout the game.</div> Yes, but only for Miami. I just don't like watching games being decided by those types of calls. It should be decided by the players, not the whistle. This is the NBA Finals, the best officials are supposed to be out on the court. The call was made by the official furthest from the play, to me there's something very wrong with that. If the official closest to the play didn't feel it was enough contact to warrant a foul call, then you have to let the play go. If you watch the replay of this game, just watch all the contact Udonis Haslem is getting away with guarding Nowitzki.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Yes, but only for Miami. I just don't like watching games being decided by those types of calls. It should be decided by the players, not the whistle. This is the NBA Finals, the best officials are supposed to be out on the court. The call was made by the official furthest from the play, to me there's something very wrong with that. If the official closest to the play didn't feel it was enough contact to warrant a foul call, then you have to let the play go. If you watch the replay of this game, just watch all the contact Udonis Haslem is getting away with guarding Nowitzki.</div> As a neutral fan in this series I'll just say I'm happy that Cuban got raped by the refs. The guy is constantly complaining, even when officiating is blatantly biased toward the Mavericks. Every time they lose its the officials or the other team's coaches or players playing dirty. I'd love to see the refs rape him all the way to losing the championship, unfortunately it'll probably never stop him from bitching constantly though. IMO the officiating wasn't all that bad, sure it wasn't good but I've seen alot worse in the NBA this past season and unfortunately the crappy officiating has forced me to lower my standards of what I think acceptable officiating is. Sure, Wade shot more FTs than the Mavs did but its nothing I haven't seen Kobe Bryant do at least once this season, I'm sure LeBron and Gilbert Arenas have also done it a few times but I don't see them as much.
I think they shouldn't have called that, I mean it's the dying seconds of the game, that was just a bail out for dwayne wade, the ball wouldnt have gone in, secondly he was selfish with the ball, he didn't pass out or anything like dirk would have, i mean if a guy is running back and forth and the entire defence collapses on him, that shouldnt be a foul bailout, you have 4 other players there. Wade did win but on a bailout, they weren't as nice to Dallas who could hardly get any fouls and for playing with more strategy. Dwayne Wade is amazing that's for sure, but it was a bailout, the referees decided the game, after Dirk made such an amazing shot right before Wade's foul, they didn't give Dirk credit for that one either, they let the clock run out. Seriously, hardly anyone ever gets a bailout like that, it also rarely happens for Kobe as well. Let the tru heroes score without depending on fouls to get the points.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Run BJM:</div><div class="quote_post">As a neutral fan in this series I'll just say I'm happy that Cuban got raped by the refs. The guy is constantly complaining, even when officiating is blatantly biased toward the Mavericks. Every time they lose its the officials or the other team's coaches or players playing dirty. I'd love to see the refs rape him all the way to losing the championship, unfortunately it'll probably never stop him from bitching constantly though. IMO the officiating wasn't all that bad, sure it wasn't good but I've seen alot worse in the NBA this past season and unfortunately the crappy officiating has forced me to lower my standards of what I think acceptable officiating is. Sure, Wade shot more FTs than the Mavs did but its nothing I haven't seen Kobe Bryant do at least once this season, I'm sure LeBron and Gilbert Arenas have also done it a few times but I don't see them as much.</div> Well this game just gives Mark Cuban more to complain about. This is what I hate to see as a fan of the NBA. A great game gets tarnished because of the officials and controversy at the end of the game. The guy I feel bad for is Avery Johnson. He looked disgusted in the post game press conference and dejected on how his team has been on the short end of every call in the series.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Yes, but only for Miami. I just don't like watching games being decided by those types of calls. It should be decided by the players, not the whistle. This is the NBA Finals, the best officials are supposed to be out on the court. The call was made by the official furthest from the play, to me there's something very wrong with that. If the official closest to the play didn't feel it was enough contact to warrant a foul call, then you have to let the play go. If you watch the replay of this game, just watch all the contact Udonis Haslem is getting away with guarding Nowitzki.</div> LOL ARE YOU SERIOUS??? Any slight nudge by U and a foul was called, Jesus he was out of the game in like the first 30 seconds for nudges.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting intrepid1983:</div><div class="quote_post">I think they shouldn't have called that, I mean it's the dying seconds of the game, that was just a bail out for dwayne wade, the ball wouldnt have gone in, secondly he was selfish with the ball, he didn't pass out or anything like dirk would have, i mean if a guy is running back and forth and the entire defence collapses on him, that shouldnt be a foul bailout, you have 4 other players there. Wade did win but on a bailout, they weren't as nice to Dallas who could hardly get any fouls and for playing with more strategy. Dwayne Wade is amazing that's for sure, but it was a bailout, the referees decided the game, after Dirk made such an amazing shot right before Wade's foul, they didn't give Dirk credit for that one either, they let the clock run out. Seriously, hardly anyone ever gets a bailout like that, it also rarely happens for Kobe as well. Let the tru heroes score without depending on fouls to get the points.</div> LOL sorry it didn't have your fairy tale ending but he clearly was grabbed on the arm and it affected the game ending shot.
Why is it such a travesty that the game ended on a foul call? Would you rather a team lose because they weren't able to get a proper shot off because someone fouled him? Harris grabbed his arm, affecting Wade's chances of his shot going in. Nothing more to argue. If the refs turned a blind eye to every call the last couple of seconds of a game then teams would take advantage of that knowing they can get away with it. Sure Wade got a lot of calls but he was attacking the net the whole game. Notwizki has stopped going to the basket. Furthermore, Dallas does not have any decent offensive low post players. Their most effective players (Terry, Howard) did not go to the basket very much tonight. They were a perimeter team tonight, so they're not going to get many calls.
Also, Howard got a rather bogus call with less than 1 mins left in OT, which he missed both. So, it's not like Heat always got a break. I also would like to see the game decided by last jumper, but if Howard didn't make that time out call, the game would have decided by the last jumper...
