Game 1 - Dallas Flying High

The Jet, Jason Terry, didn't shoot the ball in the 3rd quarter, yet he led the Mavs in scoring with 32. He shot 13-18 from the field.

Miami shot 70% in the 1st. Miami rose and fell with Dwyane Wade. Wade scored 13 in the 1st and ended with 28, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, but he struggled during the middle of the game. Wade was also only 6-10 from the line. Shaq was just 1-9 with 17 points in his 6th Finals Game 1. Dallas came back from down 11 in the 2nd to take the lead by the half.

Miami hung tough until the end. Udonis Haslem's hustle and defense on Nowitzki was important. Antoine Walker added 17 points for the Heat, but he and Wade had 11 turnovers. Nowitzki showed why he's great, helping his team in many ways. Dirk had 16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Josh Howard was equally as helpful to Dallas' cause with 10 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 rebounds. Former scoring star Jerry Stackhouse had 13 points for the Mavs. DeSagana Diop and Erik Dampier played good D on Shaq after the 1st, which mirrored Dallas' defense as a whole. Dallas won 90-80 after giving up 31 in the 1st.

2006 NBA Finals: How They Got Here

Miami Heat vs Dallas Mavericks

Regular Season-
Miami started the season with many new players, but the same coach, Stan Van Gundy. Van Gundy resigned early in the season and pat Riley took over. Miami coasted to a #2 seed without much effort.

Dallas battled with San Antonio for the top seed in the West all season. Because of the bizarre seeding system, Dallas finished with the West's 2nd best record, but the #4 seed. Avery John won Coach of the Year in his first full season at the helm.

Playoffs-
Miami-
1st round- The Heat beat the Chicago Bulls 4-2. At first, Chicago was too quick, but the Heat's experience and talent won them the series.

Conference Semis- The Heat beat the New Jersey Nets 4-1. After Game 1, the Nets never had a chance.

Conference Finals- Miami made up for last year's loss to the Detroit Pistons in the East Final, winning 4-2. Detroit's reign atop the East ended.

Dallas-
1st round- Dallas swept the Memphis Grizzlies.

Conference Semis- In a great series between the West's 2 best teams, Dallas beat the Spurs in San Antonio in Game 7.

Conference Finals- Tim Thomas of the Phoenix Suns blew Dirk Nowitzki a kiss in Game 5. Nowitszki answered with 50 points. The Mavs made up an 18 point deficit on the road in Game 6 to win their first conference championship and oust former Mav, MVP Steve Nash.

NBA Reactions 2001-2005

Here are my reactions following the NBA Finals from 2001-2005.

2001
The league has some fantastic new stars Iverson, Shaq, Kobe, Tor Vince Carter, Mil Ray Allen, Orl Tracy McGrady, among many others, that will help the popularity on the NBA grow. Unfortunately players are entering the Draft before they are ready, which diminished talent. The big thing this offseason is the possible return of Michael Jordan. With that, and everything else, we'll see!

2002
This was an upside-down season for the NBA. The key for the league is some continuity in the success of certain teams and stars who has break out years this year. The old guard seems to be ousted from NBA supremacy. Michael Jordan came back and failed to make the playoffs, though I was present for the ride. This year marks the end of an era, NBC lost the rights to broadcast NBA games.

2003
With the Dream Team era almost over, the league will see new young stars next season including much-hyped Lebron James. These kids coming out of high school and into the NBA can learn a thing or two from a David Robinson about professionalism, charity, and winning basketball. Western Conference supremacy continues.

2004
Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony brought a new excitement to the NBA. With more high schoolers and the expansion Charlotte Bobcats entering next year, the talent in the league might be thinned. But the NBA is the only league with consistently good teams year in and year out and now the East has proven the NBA will be fun to follow next year.

2005
With all of the young players in the NBA, it is fitting that these two teams tussled for the title. They represent what is good about the sport. Sure, basketball can be a game of stars and their flashy moves, but teamwork, toughness, sacrifice, and defense will get you to the promised land. If teams follow this mold, the NBA will be in good shape.

Outside the Box

Ironically, I couldn't think of any creative way to say this. I've been disappointed at intellectuals that cannot see outside the box. Everything is literal to them. Either you make a reasoned argument or follow a specific premise or you're wrong and you're either an "-ist" or a Commie French lover.

My issue with intelligent liberals is different from my problem with intelligent conservatives. I'll address liberals first because I'd like to see them progress more. I've been thinking about the role of Hip Hop (specifically, but this applies to a lot more) in today's culture. I believe that it has been overwhelmingly positive. Liberals do not give most emcees nearly enough credit for their intelligence. They've brought issues into the nation's dialogue that would not otherwise be there. Sometimes they've done this in a liberal-friendly way. Other times they've done this in an offensive way. The important part is that there is dialogue and avenues towards solving local, national, and global problems.

A really big problem I have with liberals is their defensiveness. If someone says something offensive it must be harmful. As I said above, everything is taken literally. If an otherwise intelligent person makes a ridiculous argument, perhaps it is intentional. Maybe you just didn't get it. An important part in being smart is the ability to be humble. Try to rise that person’s level instead of just criticizing them without thinking.

I guess conservative intellectuals see causation where it doesn't exist. If you disagree with gay people marrying because it's part of your religion that's fine (as long as you're consistent and follow everything else your religion preaches). Those are your personal beliefs, keep them to yourself, great, fine, good. However, gay marriage is not the death of heterosexual marriage. That just doesn't make any fucking sense. Straight people won't have to marry gay (unless I missed part of the debate), so you’ll be fine. Anyway, I don't care enough about conservatives to go on. I hope I've offended somebody (finally).

More From the World Cup

I hope Poland beats Germany. That would make up for the Holocaust.

I really want Angola to beat Portugal- their former imperialists. I remember when Senegal beat France in the 2002 World Cup. Even for a not-very-knowledgeable soccer fan, it was hard to miss the emotion surrounding that match. That was really just great, that's the only way to describe that moment: great.

7 of the 23 Ukrainian players are named Andriy.

7 of the 23 Saudi players are named Muhammad.

My All Names team:
Razak Pimpong (Ghana) - His theme song should be KRS-One's new song "Bling Blong."
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Netherlands) - "of Hesselink?" It's not the 15th century anymore.
Ludovic Assemoassa (Togo) - read "ass-e-mo-ass-a." Awesome. Plus... Ludovic?
Iniesta (Spain) - The whole one name thing seems to be an Iberian/ former Iberian colonies fad. Iniesta represents the ridiculousness of it. Especially since "Iniesta" means "huge penis" in Spanish. Maybe... I don't really speak Spanish.
Bosko Balaban (Croatia) - My favorite. BOSKO BAL-A-BAN!!!!!

My Official World Cup Predictions

The teams that will advance past the group stage:
Group A: Germany, Costa Rica; Group B: England, Paraguay; Group C: Argentina, Netherlands; Group D: Mexico, Angola; Group E: USA, Italy; Group F: Brazil, Japan; Group G: France, Korea; Group H: Spain, Ukraine.

Quarterfinals (team beaten in round of 16):
Germany (Par) over Argentina (Ang)
USA (Jpn) over France (Ukr)
England (CR) over Mexico (Net)
Brazil (Ita) over Spain (Kor)

Semis- USA over Germany; Brazil over England;

Final (3rd Place)
USA over Brazil (Germany over England)

Yeah, that's a homer pick. Please keep in mind that I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.

Kiss of Death

In Game 5, Tim Thomas of the Phoenix Suns blew Dallas Maverick Dirk Nowitzki a kiss. It wasn't to show his affection for Dirk, a la Magic Johnson\ Isiah Thomas. Instead, Tim Thomas tried to psych out Nowitzki. It didn't work.

Nowitzki dropped 50 points on the Suns, carrying his team to a 3-2 series lead.

Last night, Dallas came back from down 18 points in Phoenix to capture their first ever conference championship. The difference in Game 6 was simply the increase in the quality of the Mavs' play from the 1st half to the 2nd. Jason Terry played 3 minutes due to fouls in the 1st half, but along with Dirk, led Dallas all the way back in the 2nd. The game ended with Dallas comfortably ahead. Avery Johnson had another great coaching series. He now faces a tough challenge, an experienced cheat- Pat Riley- in the 2006 NBA Finals.

Heat Rash

The Miami Heat have made the NBA Finals for the first time in history. Of course, it should be "have" and not "has" because in this case "Heat" is plural (a group of players), just like Knicks, Lakers, fish, and deer. So, no more: the Heat is a bunch of losers; it's the Heat are a bunch of losers.

I didn't have such a problem with the Heat when Shaq first arrived last season. I like Shaq and Wade, and they had a coach named Van Gundy. But they've since returned to their horrible roots. The man on the bench is that backstabbing cheat, Pat Riley. They also have re-employed the worst human being in the world, Alonzo Mourning. Mourning is despicable. He fights with opponents for no reason at all. He gives time and money to various charities, such as Baby-Eaters Anonymous and the I Hate Whatever Ethnic Group You Are Association. He also stole a kidney from a little boy, because Mourning had a bit of a kidney problem.

This didn't have much to do with basketball I'll admit, but I really hate Riley and Mourning. Not in just a sports sense, but as human beings.


note: this is not a hate post either.

Top 10 NBA Players

These are the Top 10 NBA players today according to my expert panel. This does not include a player's overall career. Injuries (unless career-hampering) were ignored.

Included next to the accumulated Top 10 list is the position that each person selected that player. A players highest and lowest selections were eliminated when calculating the average. NR- means that person did not rate the player in the Top 10. da- David, j- Jon, i- Ian, s- Sherkhan, m-Mike, de- Dewain.

Top 10
1) Kobe Bryant : da- 1; j- 1; i- 3; s- 2; m- 3; de- 1.
2) LeBron James : da- 3; j- 4; i- 2; s- 1; m- 1; de- 2.
3) Steve Nash : da- 4; j- 2; i- 1; s- 5; m- 4; de- 5.
4) Dirk Nowitzki : da- 5; j- NR; i- 4; s- 3; m- 2; de- 6.
5) Tim Duncan : da- 2; j- 9; i- 5; s- 4; m- 9; de- 4.
6) Dwyane Wade : da- 6; j- 5; i- 6; s- 9; m- 10; de- 7.
7) Kevin Garnett : da- NR; j- NR; i- 9; s- 7; m- 6; de- 3.
8) Elton Brand : da- 9; j- 6; i- 8; s- NR; m- 8; de- NR.
9) Allen Iverson : da- NR; j- 3; i- NR; s- 6; m- NR; de - 9.
10) Jason Kidd : da- 8; j- 10; i- 7; s- NR; m- NR; de- NR.

Honorable mentions in order: Shawn Marion, Shaquille O'Neal, Gilbert Arenas, Chauncey Billups, Andrei Kirilenko, Paul Pierce, Tony Parker, Dwight Howard.

I'm sure any of us would be willing to answer any critique of our lists.

I Am Not Pro-Choice!

Dear Pro-Lifers,

We are not pro-choice; we are pro-abortion. There's a difference!

Sincerely,
The Pro-Abortion Lobby