HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

On Sunday night, the Dallas Mavericks will have an opportunity to win their first championship in franchise history. They are just 48 minutes away from hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy, and they enter Miami with the series lead and momentum.

However, that could all change if Dallas loses tomorrow night. The last thing the Mavericks want to do is play a Game 7 on the road, which is why they have deemed Game 6 a must-win.

In last year’s NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics were in the exact same position as the Mavericks, leading 3-2 against the Los Angeles Lakers as the series headed back West. In Game 6, the Celtics were blown out by 22 points, and the Lakers never looked back. They evened the series, shifted the momentum in their favor and eventually won the title on their home court.

Dallas hopes to avoid that fate and are determined to end this series as soon as possible.

“We’re going in there Sunday swinging from the jump and hopefully we steal one,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “We have to go down there and basically approach Sunday’s game as Game 7.  You don’t want to give this great team any hope or anything. We’ve got to play more of the same and keep attacking. We’ll see what happens Sunday.”

Luckily for Dallas, history is on their side. This was the 27th time that the Finals have been tied 2-2 after four games and in 19 of the previous 26 instances, the team that won Game 5 ended up winning the championship.

Prior to last year, the last time the Finals were tied 2-2 and the Game 5 winner didn’t win the series came in 1994 when the Houston Rockets lost Game 5 to the New York Knicks, but ended up winning Games 6 and 7 at home to win the title.

During this postseason, the Mavericks have yet to lose a close-out game.

“Close it out. Get the job done. We’ve been great in close out games this entire playoffs. We have to continue that trend,” Tyson Chandler said.

“Game 6 is Game 7 for us,” Jason Terry said. “We want to play like there’s no tomorrow.  If we do that, I have no doubt in my mind we can be successful. We must come out aggressively. It’s the first one to win four and we have our opportunity in Game 6.  We must go out, play aggressively and take advantage of our opportunity.”

Rick Carlisle understands the importance of closing the series on Sunday, but he also doesn’t want his team getting ahead of themselves.

“We’re going to stay in the moment and we’re going to just keep studying how we play our best,” Carlisle said. “We’re going to play whistle to whistle. I heard that term because I’ve been watching the hockey series. A lot of the people in the hockey world use that term and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to try to win each possession and just take it one at a time.”

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are too talented and hungry to give life. If the Mavericks cannot end this series tomorrow night, their task becomes much more difficult.

Wade Downplays Injury: 28.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.4 blocks.

That’s what the Miami HEAT would be missing if Dwyane Wade isn’t able to play in Game 6. Luckily, it appears he’ll be ready to go.

After colliding with Brian Cardinal in the first half of Game 5, Wade made his way back to locker room. His injury was determined to be a left hip contusion and he returned to play in the second half. Now, he doesn’t think the injury is even worth mentioning.

“I don’t talk about injuries,” Wade said. “It was unfortunate I had to leave the game, but I came back and I finished it.”

“Once you’re on the court, you’re on the court,” he added. “I don’t have no excuses. I was on the court. I was able to help my team get an opportunity to win. I’m smart enough to play the game without obviously being 100%.  That’s all I did when I came back.”

When Wade first left the game, Erik Spoelstra assumed that he wouldn’t return.

“I was staying in the moment,” Spoelstra said. “Jay [Sabol] just said, ‘He can’t start this half.  I’ll let you know in a few minutes whether he can go or not.’ My plan was for him not to go. I didn’t even see him on the bench when he came back. We went on from there.”

Immediately after Thursday’s game, Wade made it clear that he wouldn’t let his hip keep him from playing in this crucial elimination game.

“I’ll be fine Sunday,” Wade said.

He likely won’t be at full strength, but Miami has their best chance to win when he’s on the court.

Popovich Isn’t Considering Retirement: Gregg Popovich is 62 years old and there had been some talk in NBA circles recently that he’s thinking about retirement.

{AUTHOR_BOX}After the San Antonio Spurs lost to the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs, some suspected that the Spurs would begin rebuilding and Popovich would walk away from the game, possibly alongside the 35-year old Tim Duncan.

However, Popovich recently went on record to say that’s not the case.

“You do it as long as you go to training camp and the juices are flowing and you get excited about getting it started,” Popovich told San Antonio TV station WOAI. “I know I’m like that because I was bouncing off the walls for weeks. So, I’m pretty far away from wanting to sit back and have a pinot noir and watch a Robert Mitchum movie. I’m going to do it until the juice is gone, until there’s no juice.”

“For right now. I love it,” he added. “I’ll never have it better than this, so I’m going to enjoy it while it’s here.”

Popovich also dispelled the notion that San Antonio needs to rebuild.

“They won 61 games!” Popovich said. “You can talk about that we’re old, we’re unathletic. We’re this, we’re that. All the things you are when you lose.”

“When you win, you’re experienced. But if you lose, you are old and unathletic.”

NBA Chats: There are no chats scheduled for today, but you can check outour entire upcoming chat schedule here.