The Point Spread Column

By: Bob Johnson   Date: June 20, 2006

Last week was very strong as we went 13-5 finishing with a 3-0 sweep on Sunday. Based on the baseball prices it was good for a $762 profit based on $100 per play. The basketball has been hot as we have won 10 of our last 12 playoff games! The Mavs covered again in game 5 of the series and although they lost all 3 games in Miami straight-up, they got the money in 2 of the 3 games there. Dallas only lost by 2 points and 1 point in those games they covered. That is close competition and they should have and would have won the last game if not for an unwarranted whistle. All of the sudden, the NBA has completely gone crazy with what has happened in this championship series. Of course, the Jerry Stackhouse suspension is just a bizarre decision. Here we have a veteran player making a smart play and a correct play in basketball and he gets penalized for playing the game the way it is supposed to be played! Go figure. He was not ejected from the game by the referees and it took almost 24 hours for the league office to decide that they were suspending the top bench player and third leading scorer for Dallas. I still cannot understand it. I guess the next thing they should do is move the league to Europe and have the players wear dresses. But the madness doesn't stop there. With 1.9 seconds to play in overtime of crucial game # 5, the referee blows a whistle to decide it. For as long as I have been alive it has always been an unwritten rule that the refs were not to make a call like that unless it was a blatant foul. In other words, the refs are supposed to let the players play it out in a situation like that. They are not supposed to make a call that decides a game late unless it is really necessary. There was not enough contact on that play to warrant a whistle. Dwayne Wade was triple-teamed and off balance and missed the shot. He should not have been rewarded in that situation. But Wade not only got a whistle to decide the game, but he also went to the foul line more times in that game than the entire Dallas team. That is unbalanced, considering all the forearms, elbows and outright shoves that Miami is putting on Dirk Nowitzki. Give Wade credit for knowing what to do when he has single coverage by Devin Howard. He knows that is a mismatch and takes advantage. Avery Johnson has to address that or the Mavs will go down. We are now hearing Wade and Jordan compared. PUHLEEZE. However, it is true that the Mavericks are letting one man beat their whole team and it isn't Shaq. Dallas outshot Miami from the field in the last game and they had 9 more rebounds, but the free-throw discrepancy was 49-25. Talk about a home court advantage. Miami camped-out at the line for some home cooking and it makes the refs look like they were homers too. That last call was a homer call that might have decided the series. Will Dallas be so lucky at home or is there really a conspiracy to stick it to Mark Cuban? It does make one wonder.