Shockingly, the Mavs aren't happy with the refs

I did what NBA detractors say you should always do with Game 3 of the Mavs vs. Nuggets series -- turned it on at the end of the third quarter. (Blame it on Mother's Day prep, and the fact that watching Mark Cuban gives me hives.)

So I tuned in at 80-79, just in time for the Lemur to tell me how the Nugs have ran the Mavs out of the building in the fourth in each of the earlier games, and it looked like more of the same as Carmelo Anthony exerted his will on both ends. But Melo giveth and Melo giveth away, and his bad turnover got the home team back in it. The Denver bigs were also in big foul trouble, with Birdman Anderson fouling out with nine minutes left, and Nene replacing him with five.

I have to say, I'm relieved to have missed a lot of this one. When the game has 80+ free throws and the teams are never more than six points apart, that's old-time Pistons basketball, and when you add that to reaction shots of Mark Cuban, that's not exactly what I think of as an afternoon well-spent. But at least the fourth quarter had some flow and drama.

In crunch time, Chauncey Billups crushed the Mavs -- he had 32 tonight -- as part of the continuing proof that Jason Kidd can't guard anyone, but at least he can punish people in the post. Both teams got the D up late, with matching turnovers, and with 1:28 left, Anthony got called for a foul on a loose ball on the floor, his fifth, on a fairly weak call; the subsequent free throw put the lead back to three at a time where the Mavs looked fairly lost on offense. Billups then missed from point blank range, and Nowitzki missed badly on a shot that would have been a dagger. Nene then showed his previously dormant chops on a baseline spin move to cut it to 1. Jason Terry then made a corner three with 31 second left to make it a four-point game, and you start to think this series was going to go longer. But Carmelo Anthony had other ideas.

The Syracuse man converted to get it back to two. Dallas called time to run the highly innovative play of Give It To Dirk And Hope; Kenyon Martin's defense forced a miss there, and the Nuggets got the board with 6.5 seconds left. Dallas, and this is critical, had a foul to give. The Nuggets inbounded to Melo, and as he rolled around the top of the arc, Dallas's Antoine Wright committed a foul... but the refs didn't call it, and 'Melo kept playing, rising up to hit an off-balance three that was absolutely huge. The last play og the game was Dirk missing again, and just like that, it's 3-0 Denver, and all over except for the crying (from Josh Howard and Mark Cuban, who admittedly is an old hand at feeling aggrieved by the refs).

Now, I have to say, I've got no sympathy for the Mavs on this one. If you're going to foul a guy, you need to make it more obvious than what he did to Anthony. You also probably need to go tell the ref in the dead ball before it happens. And if Nowitki can do anything in the fourth -- he ha 33 and 16 tonight, but none when it mattered -- the road team isn't close enough to steal it.

As for the Nuggets, they continue to look like an interesting dark horse, except for the fact that Kobe Bryant treats them like he treated that girl a few years ago. (Hey-o!) If they can sweep the Rockets and the Lakes get taken deep by Houston, maybe they can steal the first game on the road and make it a series. But since Yao Ming is now out for the rest of the playoffs due to a broken foot, I'm thinking it's looking more like two fast series in the West. And that's not such a bad thing, because less Mark Cuban on the television is just good for everyone, really.