Mavericks are in command, up 2-0

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 9/15/2004

There are three NBA teams in the state of Texas — San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. One problem: the heat’s on Dallas, because both San Antonio and Houston have won at least two NBA titles, leaving it up to Dallas to make it a trifecta.

 

After dominating the Miami Heat 99-85 in game two of the NBA Finals, the Mavs are halfway home to their first NBA World Championship. Dallas is now 4-0 against Miami this year.

 

In previous NBA Finals, the team that wins the first two games of the finals has gone on to win 25 of the last 27 World Championships, so precedent bodes well for Dallas. In game two, Shaquille O’Neal was held to an NBA playoff career low of five points.

 

O’Neal was so frustrated by the loss that he refused to talk with the media after the game and was fined $10,000 by the NBA, and the Miami Heat was fined $25,000. Since the NBA switched to the 2-3-2 home-away format for the finals, the team that wins the first two games in the finals is 12-0. Miami has been 8-1 at home in the playoffs so far, where the next three games will be played.

 

Michael Jordan’s game-winning shot in game six of the 1998 Finals, which clinched the Chicago Bulls’ sixth championship, has been named the single greatest moment in NBA playoff history according to fans around the world in 180 countries who voted on NBA.com.

 

Jordan is also the NBA’s all-time leading playoff scorer with 5,987 points. Number two is Kareem Abdul Jabbar with 5,762 points, and Karl Malone is number three with 4,761. What makes O’Neal’s five-point effort in this year’s game two so shocking is that he’s number four on the all-time scoring list with 4,758 points.

 

Eighteen percent of the NBA’s players are now foreigners. If that surprises you, that’s nothing compared to Major League Baseball, where 223 of the 813 MLB players are now foreigners. That’s nearly 28 percent.

 

 

Tiger’s our favorite now

 

For the first time since 1993, an athlete other than Michael Jordan is America’s favorite sports star. He is the world’s number-one golfer, Tiger Woods, who will play in this week’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot. It’s Tiger’s first tournament since the Masters in April. Woods has been mourning the loss of his father, Earl, who died on May 3.

 

Woods is the only player in history to win four straight Majors. Masters champion Phil Mickelson has won the last two Majors, so Tiger vs. Phil will take center stage this week at the U.S. Open.