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Dallas Mavericks

2011 NBA FINALS GAME 3 -- Heat 88, Mavericks 86: My Top 10 Observer-Ations

By Richie Whitt Sun., Jun. 5 2011 at 10:02 PM

Categories: Dallas Mavericks

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10. I absolutely love ABC's The Finals open with snippets of great plays and legendary players from the past. How surreal would it be to a year from now see Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd in that production?

9. Down 45-31, Dallas came roaring back again and almost pulled off another miracle comeback win. This series is feeling like the tortoise and the hare. The Miami Rabbits always sprint to a lead and the Dallas Turtles slowly fight back the whole game. Hard way to win a series.

8. If dunks counted 2.5 points, this series would easily be a Heat sweep. My unofficial count is Miami 137, Dallas 2.

7. Raise your hand if you had a high anticipation of Ian Mahinmi vs. Joel Anthony. Once upon a time The Finals gave us a center matchup of Hakeem Olajuwon vs. Shaquille O'Neal. Sorry, but Mahinmi vs. Anthony wouldn't draw flies in the D-League.

6. Very cool, spine-tingling promo played on AAC video board during second quarter: "The Time is Now" motivational vignettes from Roger Staubach, Nolan Ryan, Mike Modano, Daryl Johnston, Emmitt Smith, Ron Washington and, wait, Modano? The Detroit Red Wing? Just happy Dwaine Caraway didn't give Dwyane Wade the key to the city of Dallas.

5. Dirk was fantastic with 34 points and 11 rebounds. But on Dallas' last two possessions he produced a bad-pass turnover and a missed shot. Every now and then we're reminded that he's human.

4. Coulda swore that at one end Dirk missed a wide-open 3-pointer and then at the other blocked a dunk attempt by Chris Bosh. He was wearing No. 41 but that wasn't Dirk, was it?

3. This will sound like sour grapes, but the Mario Chalmers 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter shouldn't have counted because of a back-court violation. Refs missed it. Chalmers nailed a 40-footer. It counted three points. Miami wins by two. Just sayin'.

2. Give credit to Chris Bosh. The Mavs played great defense to get the ball out of the hands of LeBron and Wade in the final minute, but the former Dallas Lincoln High School star nailed a baseline jumper that proved to be the game-winner. Biggest shot of Bosh's career.

1. Down two with 4.4 seconds left, the Mavs appropriately went to Dirk. And his Flamingo Fadeaway over Udonis Haslem from above the free-throw line was...off the back rim. Last game it was Wade's last shot off the back rim. Hell of a series we got going, eh?

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Tags:

basketball, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, LeBron James, Rick Carlisle

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at least when Dallas gets sissy calls, someone actually touched them as opposed that fuckhead wade.
its not , but its typical hockey bashing around here.
According to http://refcalls.com/ Chalmer's three point shot was legit, and even if it wasn't Dallas got a ton of sissy bs phantom foul calls in the second half
Guys, the bottom line is, whoever scores the most points, wins! Can I get that in small bills?
Bottom line is Jet, JJ and Peja better start hitting their three point shots. That is what buried the Lakers and opens up the floor for Dirk and Marion. If they make them Dallas wins, if they continue to crap their pants, Dallas loses. Simple as that.
How is Modano "the Red Wing" any different than Emmitt "the Cardinal"?
When your point guard is magnetically repelled by the rim, the backup point guard is so small he gets pinballed away from the rim, the other Euro couldn't hit the broad side of a high-speed train from Prague to Berlin, and Michael Finley V2.0 in Terry aren't getting points, Dirk can't do it all. Miami plays some damn good defense, as much as I hate admitting. The fact the Mavs could've won in spite of that and the piss-poor bench play is not a bad sign at all.
Get your 2011 Dallas Mavericks Tin Foil Hats right here, folks!
who cares? It happened in the first quarter. If you guys are hanging on to that, well, I don't even know what to say.
Tired of the mavs playing from behind, the only time anything is good from behind is when Im drillin my wife from behind. I wish the NBA had a flopping Technical foul like in soccer when diving can be a card. Wade is the biggest bitch in the league and the more I see him, the more I just wish Carlisle would let Cardinal go in and rip wades head off and get tossed, itd be so worth it. Dirk is Dirk, and in the end Id rather have Dirk taking my last shot than LeBron. I enjoy seeing lbj become the sidekick to wade's show.
As a Spur fan, I can proudly say, Wade flops more than Ginobili.
There's a reason my Spurs didn't bid against the Mavs to keep Mahimni. Dude is a sparrrrrre. I keep hearing "raw talent", but he hasnt shown much. With Haywood, I think the Mavs win, but there's no way that dude is putting it all on the line since he's had his feelings hurt so much this year. Oh yeah, Dirk is amazing.
Meh on the backcourt violation talk. I'm with Davy, sometimes Dirk is human. Not often, but sometimes. JJ needs to step it up, actually..everyone not named Dirk, needs to step it the Hell up.
Tortoise & the hare? someone has been listening to The Hardline again. They made that point several times after gm 2. Do you have any original material or do you just steal everything from the station you wished you worked for? What a hack.
With their constant crying to the refs for calls and flopping with ghost injuries, the Miami Heat are actually the best team...in the English Premeire League. Vomit.
Violation or not, the fact that Chalmers even had a chance to shoot says it all for this series. Another silly point guard turnover game him the chance. Miami's backup PG is outplaying our backup PG. Most everything else has evened out. Can't solely blame JJ for being down 2-1, but we've grown accustomed to better from him, and now we see how much we've come to depend on his production.
I really hope we don't have to hear on the radio all day today about how the Mario Chalmers 3-pointer is proof the referees have cheated the Mavericks again. I haven't heard too much about how Jason Kidd traveled before Dwyane Wade fouled him for three shots. Bad calls happen. Just sayin'. EDIT: But for those of you ripping Richie about the rule, read this: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Mario-Chalmers-and-the-buzzer-beater-that-shoul?urn=nba-wp4412 When a player establishes frontcourt possession, it's true that his entire body, including both feet, must cross the line. However, once frontcourt possession has been established, as Udonis Haslem had done before passing to Mario Chalmers, all that is required for a backcourt violation is the slightest touching of the line by the player with the ball -- just like on a regular out-of-bounds call. Chalmers, having possession of the ball and his foot on the line, was committing a backcourt violation.
Chalmers 3pter was NOT illegal??. Look at the NBA rulebook, you tool. a player is required to establish presence and possession with their entire body in the frontcourt. THAT DID NOT HAPPEN. WE'VE REVIEWED THIS PLAY EXACTLY 327 TIMES. HE HAD HALF OF HIS FOOT ON ONE SIDE, THE OTHER HALF, ON THE OTHER SIDE. YOU CANT GO BACK AND FORTH FROM ONE SIDE TO THE OTHER AND EXPECT TO RETAIN POSSESSION. CHALMERS COMMITTED A FOUL THAT STERN DIDN'T WANT CALLED. KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS PLAY WAS REVIEWABLE, UNDER NBA STANDARDS, BUT THEY REFUSED TO REVIEW IT. Mario Chalmers 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter shouldn't have counted because of a back-court violation. Refs missed it. Chalmers nailed a 40-footer. It counted three points. Miami wins by two. Just sayin'
no Josh, replay showed it was backcourt and didn't get called....mavs still have to make more shots and limit turnovers....expecting a better result in game 4...going to be uh grate sehven gayme seeries.
love it ...we win..heheheh
y'know when you go to flush the toilet, but you let go too fast and it stalls instead? yeppers, it's kinda like that.. oh boy...
This loss doesn't feel like a punch in the gut as other playoff losses have. You want Dirk to have the ball in that situation at the end. Sometimes they just don't go in. The way Miami flops reminds me of the fish at the end of that Faith No More video from 20 years ago. I don't think Dallas will win (blasphemy, I know), but I'd really like their chance if they could somehow get it to a game 7.
I love the Mavs even though it's hard to root for them sometimes. Tonight's loss wasn't so disappointing as it was annoying. With as many turnovers as they had, weak D for most of the game (only solid when they were digging outta holes) it's no surprise they lost this one. Awesome job by Dirk though although 2006 showed that he can't win this all by himself. I'm not going to panic just yet but I'm not so certain they're taking this series as some (ok a scant few) predicted.
Replay showed Chalmers end of half 3 ptr was legal. RAGE would be a lot better if it was just AGE. Richie sucks. Long live Greggo.
I'm gonna slink off into a corner and cry. Then when I get that out of my system, I'm gonna call down every hellfire curse I can think of on Wade and his Mercenary Duo.