6/10: Game 5 Recap, etc.

Greetings all... slightly short today...

• Dallas 112, Miami 103... Another really, really good game last night... let's start with Dallas... Dirk was brilliant again with 29 points on 9 of 18 to lead 5 guys with 13+ points for the Mavs... it was easily their best offensive output of the first 5 games, and scoring 112 on this Miami team is no small feat... Jason Terry created the 2 biggest shots of the game, one on a kick-out to Jason Kidd, and the second on the absolute dagger three to seal it (although that was an awful possession from start to finish...) finishing with 21 points on 8 of 12, and doing things that Jason Terry does... on Miami's side, Lebron re-emerged a bit with a 17/10/10 triple-double, but still failed to generate much offensively down the stretch, Wade finished with 23 points but went to the locker room twice for injury (kind of muddy reporting there), and I'm sure Miami is STILL trying to figure out how they shot 53% FG, 40% 3s, made 21 of 26 FTs, outrebounded Dallas by TEN, and still lost the game by 9... One note on the Lebron charge call... 1) I thought it was the wrong one, 2) That was the single biggest play of the game, and maybe of the series... that's a 3-point play that went the other way and finished with a Dallas triple... I firmly believe Miami wins that game if that is called a block.... What does it all mean? Dallas needs to get Game 6... I don't see Miami dropping a Game 7 at home, but this series is very much in doubt... riveting hoops...

Elsewhere...

• The A's fire Bob Geren... manager since 2006, I don't really get this one... he's been victimized by injuries to Anderson and Bailey, he can't make Hideki Matsui hit, and if the reason stemmed from Brian Fuentes? That's a Fuentes issue, not a Geren issue... alas, he's out and Bob Melvin is in...
  
• The Red Sox swept the Yankees after a 3 hour rain delay... Boston has owned NYY all year, and let's just say we'll continue to hear about that...
• Venters closed last night for the Braves... with Kimbrel available... I'm absolutely fine with this, and I would've been fine with going matchups all year in the 9th inning... but I'm not sure this is the approach I would've taken (i.e. "pulling back" the commitment to Kimbrel that was obviously made)... but wins are wins, and Venters has been the best reliever on the planet in 2011...
  

What to watch for on Friday...

• Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 - Boston @ Vancouver - NBC 8:00... Yeah...
• Braves @ Astros - Hudson vs. A. Rodriguez - SportSouth 8:00

One PSA for everyone... check out ESPN's new creation (led by Bill Simmons) over at grantland.com... some outstanding longer-form writing so far... Until next time...