"Just Throwing it All Away..."

Genesis couldn't have described this game any better in that old Phil Collins lyric from 1986. 13 point lead at 6:06, and 5 points the rest of the game. We just, quite literally, reverted to our first half nerves and threw it all away.

Quick, can someone tell Jerry Stackhouse what to do with the ball at the end of a game? He doesn't quite seem to know whether to dribble, pass, shoot, drive or faint, despite the fact that he is being guarded by Gary Payton, who, incidentally, couldn't guard my mother (though she can be a bit saucy).

But I digress...

Hey, the Heat are in control of the series now....

Undoubtedly we will hear a spike in national media types that praise and praise Miami, and give them credit for "earning" this win. Right. I won't bore you with statistics tonight, but I think the difference in Mike Breen's voice inflection and choice of words told much of the story. After being relatively unbiased in Game 2, Breen showed some serious Miami-Love tonight. Did you note the way he screamed like a little girl when Dallas scored and took the lead in the third quarter? No? Oh, that may be because he DIDN'T. No, when Dallas finally came back to take the lead, he called it like just another basket. However, when Miami got the lead under 10 points, every Miami basket was like he was watching fireworks the way he was ooing and aahhing. Folks, that's bias.

Credit where credit is due: Hubie Brown called it both ways, and really favored no one. ABC heavily favored the Heat with the graphics, but what else is new.

As for the series, let's think about this: Dallas played miserably in the 4th quarter, and Miami was out of their minds; Dirk misses a free throw and Shaq hits two; Haslem is 0-4 on free throws and he hits two; Gary-freaking-Payton hits the game winner; We let Wade play the entire fourth quarter with 5 fouls and didn't attack him; Miami had 3 team fouls 1:04 into the 4th and we did not force another team foul until about three minutes were left in the game, so we failed to get to the bonus; and we still only lost by 2. Not time to panic.

Hey Scottie, Another Round?

If you got a chance to see the post game on ESPN, you were treated to a very obviously drunk Scottie Pippen. Poor Greg Anthony--he had to sit next to Pippen and twice tried very quickly to cut him off as he slurred through his inane and inarticulate comments. I say "poor" because undoubtedly he must have been nauseated by the stench of Malt Liquor raining down on his $1,000 suit, and wondering if Scottie was going to ask Greg to kiss him on camera. As for me, I was wondering when Pippen would belch and slur out a loud "DeeeWayne Wade, I luv you man!" Surely this drunken stupor will mark the end of Scottie Pippen's short and comical stint as an "analyst."

Well, I trust most of you are as depressed as I am. We let Gary Payton hit the game winner. Gary Payton, I said. Like I have also been saying, the only way Miami can beat Dallas is for Dallas to collapse.

Hello collapse.