Looks like this Marlins team is legit, huh?

They lost two games to the Yankees – by a total of 2 run. A pitching duel broke out in game 2 of the series between Dontrelle and Moose. It keeps getting better though for the Marlins, despite losing that game they were able to see Willis stake his claim as ace of this staff. Reassuring to the Marlins faithful, but more importantly, that will be a nice lesson to keep in D’s back pocket.

Then game 3 rolled around – and being shown around the country on ESPN. All the Marlins did was drop their prospect, Anibal Sanchez (acquire from the Red Sox as part of the Beckett/Lowell deal), in front of the Yankee crowd to make his debut. And he responded by helping shut out the Yankees through 6 2/3 innings – the first time the Yanks have been shut out all season and the first time since September of last season.

Even the offense seemed to bust it open tallying 5 runs for Sanchez to help secure this win.

The bullpen is not just coming together anymore, but asserting itself and becoming more entrenched in their roles. Messenger, Kensing and Borowski locking it down tight.

The elements are in the mix – timely hitting, lack of fear, total confidence, great execution – in order to give the Marlins a spot in the wild card chase. Once again.

We’ll stay tuned to see what happens as the learning curve for this team seems to be much shorter than we previously may have thought.

I have been doing a lot of defending Shaq lately: from my girlfriend, my friends, my mailman, even some of the guys down at the bar. Ridiculous. Everyone has to bitch about something – his free throw shooting, he’s old, he’s got no outside shot…even my own father said he was the ‘biggest con-man in the NBA’ for fooling everyone into getting paid $20 million a year.

I can almost here Dr. Evil say that sum of money.

In fact, I used to say the same things – when Shaq didn’t play on my team, of course. From the time he was first drafted to the Magic (at which time I was a fan of the Heat and didn’t like my cross state rival getting noveau-riche because of one player) to the Lakers, where I scoffed at Phil Jackson’s claims that Shaq didn’t get enough foul calls.

Then Shaq limps on over to the Heat, and instantly all my ignorance was lifted. For I certainly was blind.

I am not going to go off and describe how Shaq’s effect on the game is so important that he is the real MVP in the NBA every season. I could fortify this with stats, notably the success of players like Penny, Kobe and Wade, that could show how Shaq has elevated the stakes for not only himself, but for his teammates as well. But that is boring and has been done before.

And frankly, if you don’t get it by now, you just ain’t gonna get it. Not today, not ever.

Instead, I am going to put it all out there – on Shaq. I am going to let the Big Fella do the talking once and for all.

In tonight’s game 6, the stage is set. The Heat have rolled off three straight wins in Miami and are poised to take the series tonight. Mark Cuban and his Dallas Bitchers have done a fair share of whining and complaining that will most certainly have an effect on how this game will be called. You can expect some calls to go the Mavs way, since they will be at home, but after the amount of complaining – something I haven’t seen outside of the French media – you got to feel like the Heat have no chance.

But they do – and it will all come down to Shaq. It is all on his broad shoulders. Everyone is complaining, now, that he is too much of a physical freak. Shaq relies too much on his ability to outmuscle his opponents. That somehow, being bigger, stronger and faster does not have any place in sports.

Fools. Sure, it is not a skill that can be taught – which is PRECISELY why Shaq is so important.

Tonight, he has to get it done. Tonight, he has to abuse Dampier and Diop like they are wookies. Tonight, he has to answer all the doubters, all the haters, and bring that championship trophy back to Miami – to the team that actually fights to win, as opposed to bitching about officiating and making outlandish conspiracy theories.

Tonight, it all falls on Shaq. When he arrived in Miami, July 14th 2004, he said, “I’m going to bring a championship to Miami.” Well, he has a chance to deliver on that; and not since the Babe have we ever seen a more bold gesture predicted and delivered, if pulled off. And seeing as how high the stakes already are, it can only validate how big his game truly is.

After Dirk Nowitzki missed a last second jumper in game five of the NBA finals last night, the Miami Heat moved one game closer to their goal of capturing their first NBA title. A goal that has eluded every NBA expansion team that was created after 1970. Now Miami is one win away from becoming the first modern era expansion team to win a title, and ironically enough, Dallas is only two wins away from capturing the same feat.

After the NBA’s “age of expansion” from 1966 to 1971, which brought eight new teams into the NBA, the league has only added nine teams from 1974-2005. (not included the ABA merger) Of those eight “age of expansion” teams, five of which have won titles, two(Bulls and Rockets) have won multiple titles, ands all except the Clippers and Cavaliers have at least made it to the NBA finals. The teams created since 1974 haven’t faired as well. Before this years finals, only two of the nine teams have made it to the NBA finals, and only one, the Utah Jazz, have been there more than once.

Both Miami and Dallas felt the stigma of being a modern era expansion team. Miami made the Eastern conference finals twice, before finally making it to the finals this year, losing in 97 to the eventual champion Chicago Bulls, and losing last year to the Detroit Pistons. Dallas made the conference finals in 87 against the Los Angeles Lakers, and had it not been for a hall-of-shame play by Derek Harper, Dallas might have been the first modern era expansion team to make the NBA finals. But as Harper dribbled out the clock, so to did the Lakers eventually dribble out the Mavericks. Dallas would make it back to the conference finals in 2003, but would lose in six to San Antonio. But now both teams are poised to make NBA history.

With the Series returning to Dallas for games six and possibly game seven, not many people even know what they are witnessing. To some NBA fans, this is a curse that was even less likely to end than the White sox wining the world series. But to others, including the casual fan, they didn’t even realize such a “curse” existed. But wether its Miami or Dallas who wins the title, the cure will be lifted.

Heat win fair and square, no need to blame the refs
Written by Brandman316

When all was said and done, viewers of Game 5 of the NBA Finals had just watched one of the best NBA Finals games of all time. And although Maverick fans accross the nation will be watching slow-motion video over and over and over again trying to find exactly where a foul occured, they still won’t realize why they lost Game 5. Instead of focusing on the parts of the game the Mavericks could control, they will be focusing on a play where the Dallas Mavericks put their life on the line in the hands of three old men who in most careers would be retired.

The biggest question from Game 5 shouldn’t be “Was that a foul on Wade?”, rather it should be “How could Josh Howard screw things up so bad?”

With 0:54 seconds left in overtime, Josh Howard gets fouled and goes to the line to shoot two. At this point, Howard had been 9-9 from the charity stripe and was having an all-around good game. Instead of continuing that success, Howard misses both free-throws short, hitting the front rim and allowing Miami to steal the game, something the Mavericks have done twice in the three game homestand in Miami.

Then with 1.9 seconds to go, Avery Johnson tells Howard to call a timeout after the second freethrow, only Howard miss-reads the signs and calls a timeout after the first freethrow, giving Dallas an almost impossible chance at winning the game.

The fact of the matter is, as Dallas travels back home they have nobody to blame for being down 2-3 but themselves. Dallas had two great chances to get a win in Miami, and both times crumbled under pressure with poor decision making and critical free-throw misses.

If the Dallas Mavericks want to win a NBA Championship, they can not put their destiny in the hands of referees and hope a foul is not called. They need to fight back and show the same determination Miami has shown to get back in this series.

What’s even more unfortunate is how Wade’s brilliant performance may be somewhat forgotten, with Maverick fans positive that there is a conspiracy against their team. Foul or no foul, Wade hit two clutch free-throws to give Miami the lead and was able to have another stellar night, scoring 42 point and making a franchise high 21 freethrows.

To put it quite simple, the Miami Heat took care of business in Miami and captured the series lead to 3-2. Instead of focusing on aspects of the game they can’t control, the officiating by the referees, they instead focused on their on court play and won games 3 and 5 by simple determination. As the series continues, it is starting to become obvious which team has all the veterans on it who have never won a NBA Championship before.

The Miami Heat won Game 5. Period. They weren’t given a gift, or bailed out by the referees. Don’t the blame the referees if you’re a Dallas fan, blame your team for not being able to close out a game. Blame your team for missing key free-throws. Last time I checked, the referees had nothing to do with Dwyane Wade making clutch shot after clutch shot, or Gary Payton making the lay up over Dampier in the final moments, or Howard’s two missed free-throws…

Miami did what they had to do, and that’s win. The Heat are a determined team, and determination is what NBA Championship teams are all about.

Well, well, well.

There are a lot of people who never thought they would see this day. They were writing off the Heat, saying this eastern power was no match for the juggernaut from the west in Dallas.

Yet, the Finals is now tied, 2-2 and it becomes a race to win 2 out of the next 3 games. Suddenly, the Heat look more likely to pull of such a feat, with Dallas looking like the joke.

24 point differential in scoring in the 4th game of the Finals. Only 7 points scored for the Mavericks in the 4th quarter, a new record for the Finals for fewest points scored in a quarter, while the Heat poured on the rout.

The Mavs showed life in the third quarter, scoring 23 points while the Heat scored 24. Even ending the quarter on an 8-0 run, but there were several questionable calls that gave life to the Mavericks.

Even these calls, including not hitting Stack with a flagrant and ejection, could not stop the Heat. The Heat showed their depth, going deeper into the rotation then ever before in this series bringin Shandon Anderson into the game. All Mr. Anderson did was get 2 points (on a back door cut for a layup) and 5 rebounds: at least according to the box score. He outhustled everyone on the floor, getting to key loose balls and playing strong, pesky defense.

Alonzo Mourning arrived in this game, too. Several key, poster-worthy blocks that changed the face of this game and built up the Heat’s momentum. And it was crucial, Shaq drew two early fouls and only played 4 minutes in the first quarter. The best backup center in the entire NBA answered the call.

There was also James Posey, who grabbed 10 rebounds and scored 15 points. Posey, as usual, took on the tough perimeter defensive assignments and was very effective against Howard, Terry, and Nowitzki.

Let’s talk about Hasselhoff’s biggest fan. He had an awful night shooting 2-14 on the night, and getting most of his points from the FT line (11-13). Dirk also landed on Shaq’s foot on a three point attempt, twisting his ankle. But even that could not be used as an excuse, as he was blanketed by the Heat defense for most of the night – forcing Dirk to shoot off rythmn.

This series is far from over. The Heat put on a dominating performance from start to finish. There was a few hiccups along the way, mostly due to some questionable officiating which bordered on laughable. Still, there will be some fallout from this game – Stackhouse could face a suspension for his blantant hack on Shaq, which brought the Big Fella out of the air and crashing into the front row. And Dirk’s ankle. And the Mavericks’ collective psyche – which is smarting from the Game 3 shocker still.

The Heat outrebounded the Mavericks, outshot the Mavericks and amassed more turnovers than their opponents but managed to win. Not bad for a team that was given no chance in this series.

In fact, several things were witnessed we didn’t expect: Shaq getting knocked down by Stackhouse and shaking it off without an incident. Oh yeah, Jason Kapono and Michael Doleac logging minutes in the 4th quarter of the NBA Finals.

And a 2-2 tie as the Heat hold serve on their home court. Still, 2 more to go.