Gi-no-you-didn't

Game recap: The Manu giveth and the Manu taketh away. After hitting a 3 pt shot to break a tie with 30 seconds to go and give the Spurs their first lead of the game, it looked like San Antonio had somehow found a way to survive against a quicker, better shooting Dallas club. After a timeout, Dallas, now trailing by 3, ran a play for Dirk Nowitski in the post to get the quick two. However Ginobili had other ideas. He came from the weakside to commit a foul that was absolutely Mike Jensen-like (sorry Zach) and give Dallas the 3 point play to send the game into overtime. Once in OT, Dallas released their secret weapon, DeSagana Diop, who shut down Tim Duncan and had a few huge rebounds. Dallas took control of the OT, giving Mark Cuban the opportunity to dry hump Josh Howard on national tv, and the Mavs advanced to the conference finals.

Other notes on the game:
-On three consecutive possessions, TNT announcer Steve Kerr sang the praises for "unsung hero" DeSagana Diop.

-I know that Robert Horry hasn't been able to guard anyone in the last 10 years, but wouldn't you want him on the court in the last few minutes of a game 7? Doesn't he have a bit of experience in those 'big shot' situations?

-Spurs coach Gregg Popovich seemed genuinely happy for Avery Johnson's success during their postgame handshake. Pop did not seem quite as pleased when a reporter asked him in the postgame, "were you suprised that your team fouled Nowitski." You could see that Pop really wanted to go Bobby Knight on the beat reporter, but unfortunately he found some self-restraint and simply replied "yeah."

-In a preview for the Eastern conference finals, someone asked Shaq how this year's Miami team was different than last season's. He replied, "I think we're a little bit more smarter."

-Meaningless conference finals prediction: Pistons and Mavericks...both in 6 games.