SoBe Nightcap

Tonight's NightCap is brought to you by Adrenaline Rush energy drink and Full Tilt Poker (link at right), where after 600 hands of no-limit hold 'em, the world becomes a blur. It was a good session tho, and some quick math tells me that I'm only an additional 1,249 consecutive identical sessions from winning as much money as it costs Mark Cuban to say "Fuck" to a reporter.

-NBA Championship Rings: Kevin Garnett- 0. Ray Allen- 0. Steve Nash- 0. Jason Kapono- 1.

-Kapono becomes the 3rd player from the 2003 NBA draft to get a championship ring, joining Darko Milicic and this other guy you may have heard of, Dwyane Wade.

-Wade had 21 free throws in Game 6, compared to the Mavericks 23 free throw attempts as a team. You would have thought that at some point, Avery Johnson would have told his team to stop fouling Wade. But they just wouldn't listen- especially not Dirk Nowitski who made the unforgivable error of getting his solar plexus in the way of Wade's right jab, sending Wade to the line for a couple key free throws late in the game.

-Yes, Jason Terry was fouled by Gary Payton on his 3 pt attempt at the end of the game. But you have to know that a ref isn't going to call a touch foul at a key moment in a Finals game unless it's either undeniably blatant, or there are exactly 1.9 seconds left in the game and your nickname is "The Flash." I'm sorry, but those are the rules.

-Despite some spotty officiating in the series, the Mavericks have noone to blame but themselves for the loss. Too many times this team settled for one-on-one basketball and forced jumpers. Neither Terry nor Josh Howard could hit a shot in the 2nd half. In fact, only Marquis Daniels looked comfortable in the 4th quarter. Some credit goes to Miami's defense of course, but the Mavs looked like a very tight team to me tonight.

-The rims were tight in Game 6 as well. The two teams combined to go 7-40 from the 3 pt line. Among those bricks, Antoine Walker was 0-6, Jason Williams was 1-7, and Jason Terry was 2-11. How bad is 7-40? It's even worse than Shaq's free throw percentage for the playoffs.


-Does anyone in Miami realize that the Marlins have now won 9 in a row and are only six games back in the wild card hunt? If you need another indicator of how quick the Marlins management is to get rid of talent before it becomes too expensive, Tuesday Dontrelle Willis became the all-time franchise leader in wins...with 50.

-I wonder if Riley trademarked "15 Strong" the way he did "Threepeat?" Perhaps Riles was originally going to go with the more appropriate "12 strong and 3 DNPs," but then he became worried about paying for the additional letters on a tshirt?

-Finally, Shaq called Dan Patrick over to remind the world that Riley is the best coach he ever had, Dwyane Wade is the best guard he ever played with, and Mitch Kupchak has syphillis.