The reeling Dallas Mavericks were dealt a huge blow Friday when Jerry Stackhouse was suspended for Sunday’s Game 5 of the NBA Finals because of his hard foul on Shaquille O’Neal in the 98-74 loss to the Heat on Thursday in Game 4.
“The contact was clearly excessive and warrants a suspension,” NBA vice president Stu Jackson said in a statement.
The foul occurred with 6 minutes 29 seconds left in the third quarter with the Heat ahead 68-51 and nearly resulted in an altercation–Dwyane Wade held O’Neal down after he was hit to prevent retaliation. O’Neal went on to make both free throws and the Heat went on to even the best-of-seven Finals at 2-2.
Stackhouse’s loss clearly gives the Heat a big edge for Game 5 because he is the Mavs’ primary bench scorer and is third on the team at 13 points per game in this series. The suspension was announced after the coaches met with the media.
When asked about a possible suspension, Mavs coach Avery Johnson dismissed it.
“Was that a flagrant foul? No,” Johnson said. “I don’t think it [deserves a] suspension. If that’s a suspension, then they will have to go back in the playoffs and maybe go suspend some other players they forgot.”
Disappearing act
Wade, who is averaging 39 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in the last two games, has been the story of Miami’s comeback.
The collapse of the Mavericks rests with star Dirk Nowitzki, whose missed free throw that could have sent Game 3 into overtime was a symbol of the Mavs’ self-destruction.
Nowitzki has shot 11-for-34 the last two games and 3 of 12 on three-pointers.
Nowitzki is averaging 22 points and 10.5 rebounds in the series, but he is shooting 35.9 percent, 27.8 percent on three-pointers. He seems to be running away from contact while reverting to shooting the fallaway jumpers that always made the Mavs vulnerable in the playoffs in the past. That’s what earned him a reputation for being soft.
“More than his shot, right now is a good time for him to get some rest,” Johnson said. “I’m hoping not only his shot will come back but a lot of other things about his game too. [We’ve taken] too many three-pointers (Jason Terry 21 and Nowitzki 18).
“The wide-open ones, we need to take those. But when we talk about toughness and aggressiveness, it’s not just on the defensive end. We don’t have a post-up five-man or power forward like Tim Duncan or Shaq. Dirk can attack the paint. Stackhouse, Josh Howard, Devin Harris, Jason Terry. They haven’t shown it in the last two games.”
Oh, shoot
There has been a sneering match going on between Howard and Wade. It apparently started with Heat coach Pat Riley’s pre-series observation that Wade had a chance to be the first player from the potentially great 2003 draft class to win a championship.
No one is counting Darko Milicic’s title with Detroit.
Howard, picked 29th in that class, put down Wade’s overall game.
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“I played against him in college,” Howard said before the Finals. “For the most part, his game is primarily driving to the basket.”
Though Wade had 28 points in Game 1, Howard said they weren’t a problem because Wade needed 25 shots to get them. And Devin Harris chimed in about Wade not being a jump shooter.
So after Wade scored 36 in Game 4 to follow up his 42 in Game 3, he was asked about hitting so many jump shots.
“I think they said I can’t shoot, so why would they contest my shots?” he said. “I can’t shoot.”
Layups
Wade didn’t mention it, but Howard, the Mavs’ acknowledged second-best player, hasn’t scored a point in any of the fourth quarters, going a combined 35:27 in those periods without scoring. . . . There was talk in the Mavs’ locker room before Game 4 of whether Wade’s injuries were real or imagined. “I don’t have to fake,” Wade said. “It’s the Finals. We couldn’t care less what they say.”
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