Pro Basketball.....
Official coverup? Conspiracy theories no excuse for Dallas
gcote@MiamiHerald.com
There could not be a more perfect locale than Dallas for these NBA Finals to resume tonight. Just a few miles from the basketball arena is the infamous grassy knoll, national Mecca of conspiracy theorists. We presume that when the Mavericks' owner, coach and players talk these days about looking at film, it might not be game film but rather Abraham Zapruder's grainy home movie.
The question now: Is commissioner David Stern acting alone in manipulating to steal Dallas' championship trophy and give it to the Miami Heat? If so, then what of the blurred, shadowy figures on the knoll who appear to be wearing vertically striped shirts?
A delicious, volatile cauldron presents itself for Game 6 tonight in the wake of Sunday's home Heat victory in overtime and the Mavericks' belief the referees helped fashion Miami's 3-2 series lead. Desperation and paranoia is a cocktail more dangerous than Molotov's, and Dallas owner Mark Cuban warring with the officials is something like a match mad at a stick of dynamite.
It is unlikely Miami has been a part of playoff combustion like this since the bad old Knicks-rivalry years, when suspensions rocked a series and your snapshot was New York coach Jeff Van Gundy poodled onto Alonzo Mourning's pistoning leg in an on-court melee.
Here, the Mavs say they'll play with ''anger'' as the hostility of all North Texas funnels into one arena. Not sure in what role Dwyane Wade might find Shaquille O'Neal more useful tonight: Center. Or bodyguard.
''We Wuz Robbed!'' has long been the handiest excuse of teams that cannot find a decent reason for their collapse that doesn't involve the ignominy of a mirror. The convenience of alleging bad calls, or even willfully biased officiating (you'll recall the Seattle Seahawks conducted a remarkable seminar in early February), also is the blame-dodge of choice among teams that cannot bear to properly credit the opponent.
And so there it was for all to see past midnight Sunday in Miami's downtown bayfront arena: the sourest, saddest, sorriest display by a losing team that you'd ever wish to witness.
Not the loss itself; that was rather valiant. The reaction to it.
There was Cuban, whose billions can buy just about anything but a mortal slump by D-Wade, careening onto the court in a blue Jerry Stackhouse jersey after the final buzzer, screaming profanely at referee Joe DeRosa.
Cuban then turned to Stern and other NBA officials who were seated at the scorer's table and was overheard to shout venomously in the jubilant din, ``[Bleep] you! [Bleep] you! Your league is rigged!''
MAVS COME UNHINGED
That was just after The Incredible Shrinking Dirk Nowitzki -- who began the series as a 7-foot superstar but has seen the series turn him into his own bobblehead doll -- punted the basketball up into the 300-level seats after the buzzer and marauded off the court, slamming a water cooler and kicking a stationary bicycle in the hallway en route to the visitors' dressing room.
A bit after that is when coach Avery Johnson conducted a news conference that, if it were any stranger, might have seen him restrained and fitted with a straitjacket by men in White Hot coats.
A reporter asked what he thought of the foul call that turned into Wade's game-winning free throws with 1.9 seconds left in overtime.
''You tell me. What was your impression?'' Johnson replied.
The question was essentially repeated four more times; so was the coach's increasingly testy reply.
''No I want you to give everybody an honest answer,'' Johnson demanded, finally. ``We have people from Israel and Minnesota, Chicago, all over Dallas Germany.''
Johnson's performance seemed applicable to the phrase ''cracking under pressure'' to a degree that left you worried the coach was going to suddenly split in two, like a coconut that met a machete. This was the perfect spokesman for a team that seemed to be coming apart before our eyes.
Dallas' once-commanding 2-0 lead in this series seems as long ago now as NBA short-shorts. Three straight home victories by Miami have put control of the championship trophy in Heat hands entering tonight; the only question is how the seismic shift happened.
Wade's 121 points in the past three games is a pretty strong opening argument.
You start with Miami's young Flash asserting himself as the Finals MVP-in-waiting and doing it with a dominance that conjures images of Michael Jordan. And you contrast that with Nowitzki too often playing like David Hasselhoff sings, in the biggest collapse associated with Germany since the Berlin Wall.
Yet Dallas would cite the officiating, as if that was why the Mavs blew a 13-point, mid-fourth-quarter lead in crucial Game 3 -- a collapse that left the entire Dallas team writhing on the court in need a of a group Heimlich maneuver.
CUBAN'S SOUR GRAPES
Again Sunday night, responsibility for the loss was not accepted by the Mavericks. Class was not in session. So, in the wake of the 101-100 defeat, they blamed the refs.
Said that Wade, with the ball and 9.1 seconds left, committed a backcourt violation that was not called.
''That's a backcourt violation, at least to most high-schoolers,'' Cuban groused.
Then they said Wade committed a foul on Jason Terry en route to the basket that wasn't called.
''He pushed him. I guess that's not a foul,'' Cuban groused.
''Pushed off, like, three guys,'' Nowitzki claimed.
Then they said Wade was not fouled at all on the final drive that froze the clock at 1.9 and set up his winning free throws. Half right on that. Nowitzki was called but was not the fouler. However, replays clearly show Devin Harris grabbed Wade's inside right elbow, an obvious foul on anybody's court.
Finally, Dallas claimed it wanted to use its last timeout after Wade's second free throw but that the referee mistakenly awarded it after the first one -- even though the mistake clearly appeared to be on the part of timeout-signaler Josh Howard.
Speaking of whom, evidently Howard escapes blame for his two missed free throws with 54 seconds left. Evidently Nowitzki does, too, for another of his late missed foul shots. Maybe a ref hissed, ``Miss it!''
A LACK OF GRACE
Yes, let the Mavericks not accept blame for their third straight Finals loss or entertain the absurd idea Miami might be a worthy opponent.
No.
Let's instead put a telescope on the grassy knoll and imagine Stern there -- is he grinning? -- exacting some sort of vendetta against Cuban over the fact he is the most outspoken critic of NBA officiating. A conspiracy! Yes. That's it. Stern's Revenge!
''It's just ridiculous,'' Cuban summarized before climbing onto his team's bus.
He meant the officiating late in Sunday's game.
He might better have meant his team's response to the loss in the absence of any sort of grace.
Official coverup? Conspiracy theories no excuse for Dallas
gcote@MiamiHerald.com
There could not be a more perfect locale than Dallas for these NBA Finals to resume tonight. Just a few miles from the basketball arena is the infamous grassy knoll, national Mecca of conspiracy theorists. We presume that when the Mavericks' owner, coach and players talk these days about looking at film, it might not be game film but rather Abraham Zapruder's grainy home movie.
The question now: Is commissioner David Stern acting alone in manipulating to steal Dallas' championship trophy and give it to the Miami Heat? If so, then what of the blurred, shadowy figures on the knoll who appear to be wearing vertically striped shirts?
A delicious, volatile cauldron presents itself for Game 6 tonight in the wake of Sunday's home Heat victory in overtime and the Mavericks' belief the referees helped fashion Miami's 3-2 series lead. Desperation and paranoia is a cocktail more dangerous than Molotov's, and Dallas owner Mark Cuban warring with the officials is something like a match mad at a stick of dynamite.
It is unlikely Miami has been a part of playoff combustion like this since the bad old Knicks-rivalry years, when suspensions rocked a series and your snapshot was New York coach Jeff Van Gundy poodled onto Alonzo Mourning's pistoning leg in an on-court melee.
Here, the Mavs say they'll play with ''anger'' as the hostility of all North Texas funnels into one arena. Not sure in what role Dwyane Wade might find Shaquille O'Neal more useful tonight: Center. Or bodyguard.
''We Wuz Robbed!'' has long been the handiest excuse of teams that cannot find a decent reason for their collapse that doesn't involve the ignominy of a mirror. The convenience of alleging bad calls, or even willfully biased officiating (you'll recall the Seattle Seahawks conducted a remarkable seminar in early February), also is the blame-dodge of choice among teams that cannot bear to properly credit the opponent.
And so there it was for all to see past midnight Sunday in Miami's downtown bayfront arena: the sourest, saddest, sorriest display by a losing team that you'd ever wish to witness.
Not the loss itself; that was rather valiant. The reaction to it.
There was Cuban, whose billions can buy just about anything but a mortal slump by D-Wade, careening onto the court in a blue Jerry Stackhouse jersey after the final buzzer, screaming profanely at referee Joe DeRosa.
Cuban then turned to Stern and other NBA officials who were seated at the scorer's table and was overheard to shout venomously in the jubilant din, ``[Bleep] you! [Bleep] you! Your league is rigged!''
MAVS COME UNHINGED
That was just after The Incredible Shrinking Dirk Nowitzki -- who began the series as a 7-foot superstar but has seen the series turn him into his own bobblehead doll -- punted the basketball up into the 300-level seats after the buzzer and marauded off the court, slamming a water cooler and kicking a stationary bicycle in the hallway en route to the visitors' dressing room.
A bit after that is when coach Avery Johnson conducted a news conference that, if it were any stranger, might have seen him restrained and fitted with a straitjacket by men in White Hot coats.
A reporter asked what he thought of the foul call that turned into Wade's game-winning free throws with 1.9 seconds left in overtime.
''You tell me. What was your impression?'' Johnson replied.
The question was essentially repeated four more times; so was the coach's increasingly testy reply.
''No I want you to give everybody an honest answer,'' Johnson demanded, finally. ``We have people from Israel and Minnesota, Chicago, all over Dallas Germany.''
Johnson's performance seemed applicable to the phrase ''cracking under pressure'' to a degree that left you worried the coach was going to suddenly split in two, like a coconut that met a machete. This was the perfect spokesman for a team that seemed to be coming apart before our eyes.
Dallas' once-commanding 2-0 lead in this series seems as long ago now as NBA short-shorts. Three straight home victories by Miami have put control of the championship trophy in Heat hands entering tonight; the only question is how the seismic shift happened.
Wade's 121 points in the past three games is a pretty strong opening argument.
You start with Miami's young Flash asserting himself as the Finals MVP-in-waiting and doing it with a dominance that conjures images of Michael Jordan. And you contrast that with Nowitzki too often playing like David Hasselhoff sings, in the biggest collapse associated with Germany since the Berlin Wall.
Yet Dallas would cite the officiating, as if that was why the Mavs blew a 13-point, mid-fourth-quarter lead in crucial Game 3 -- a collapse that left the entire Dallas team writhing on the court in need a of a group Heimlich maneuver.
CUBAN'S SOUR GRAPES
Again Sunday night, responsibility for the loss was not accepted by the Mavericks. Class was not in session. So, in the wake of the 101-100 defeat, they blamed the refs.
Said that Wade, with the ball and 9.1 seconds left, committed a backcourt violation that was not called.
''That's a backcourt violation, at least to most high-schoolers,'' Cuban groused.
Then they said Wade committed a foul on Jason Terry en route to the basket that wasn't called.
''He pushed him. I guess that's not a foul,'' Cuban groused.
''Pushed off, like, three guys,'' Nowitzki claimed.
Then they said Wade was not fouled at all on the final drive that froze the clock at 1.9 and set up his winning free throws. Half right on that. Nowitzki was called but was not the fouler. However, replays clearly show Devin Harris grabbed Wade's inside right elbow, an obvious foul on anybody's court.
Finally, Dallas claimed it wanted to use its last timeout after Wade's second free throw but that the referee mistakenly awarded it after the first one -- even though the mistake clearly appeared to be on the part of timeout-signaler Josh Howard.
Speaking of whom, evidently Howard escapes blame for his two missed free throws with 54 seconds left. Evidently Nowitzki does, too, for another of his late missed foul shots. Maybe a ref hissed, ``Miss it!''
A LACK OF GRACE
Yes, let the Mavericks not accept blame for their third straight Finals loss or entertain the absurd idea Miami might be a worthy opponent.
No.
Let's instead put a telescope on the grassy knoll and imagine Stern there -- is he grinning? -- exacting some sort of vendetta against Cuban over the fact he is the most outspoken critic of NBA officiating. A conspiracy! Yes. That's it. Stern's Revenge!
''It's just ridiculous,'' Cuban summarized before climbing onto his team's bus.
He meant the officiating late in Sunday's game.
He might better have meant his team's response to the loss in the absence of any sort of grace.
