The Miami Heat Take Game 3 Against Dallas Mavericks

New Salary Cap Suggests “The Big 3″ May Be Broken Up

Click here, for a full recap.

New Salary Cap Suggests “The Big 3″ May Be Broken Up

Dallas Mavericks Win Game 2 Against Miami Heat

The NBA Finals finally (no pun intended) get under way tonight (May 31st) in Miami. In a rematch of the 2006 championship Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks look to avenge a disheartening loss to Dwyane Wade and the Heat five years ago where they blew a 2-0 series lead and a 13-point 4th quarter lead in Game 3.

Besides Nowitzki and super sixth man Jason Terry for Dallas and Wade and Udonis Haslem for Miami, all the players are different, many new to the NBA Finals stage. 38 year-old Jason Kidd has been to the Finals twice as a member of the New Jersey Nets and LeBron James put his former team on his back en route to the 2007 Finals before getting swept by San Antonio.

I will admit I was the main person saying the Heat would not win a title this year. Since that statement in late October, the Boston Celtics traded away one of the key pieces of their defense in Kendrick Perkins (a major factor in how easily Miami handled the Celtics) the Atlanta Hawks beat Orlando and the only real center in the Eastern Conference in Dwight Howard, the Memphis Grizzlies upset the San Antonio Spurs in the first round and the Lakers got swept out of the postseason by the Dallas Mavericks without a fight  in the Western Conference Semifinals.

I can easily say that the road to the Finals was laid out without any major obstacles for Miami, but that would be a major disservice to how dominant they have been. None of Miami’s playoff series have gone more than five games, something I expected in the first round, but not after that. The way the Heat are playing is something I expected in year two. They have been surprisingly cohesive in dismantling the best defense in the NBA in the Eastern Conference Finals. It seems all the criticism and inability to close games during the regular season has been their training ground. They have gone through the playoff level adversity of Jordan versus the Pistons, and Isiah versus the Celtics in the course of one regular season and are ready to reach their goal way ahead of schedule.

That being said, I am through picking against the Heat. Chris Bosh has found his superstar swagger and Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller have finally arrived after injuries robbed them of precious game time.

Prediction: The Heat will roll out the Derrick Rose defensive strategy on Dirk. They will live with Nowitzki making those unguardable one-legged fadeaway jumpers and run Terry, Kidd and Peja Stojakovich off the three point line. While they have not faced a center like Tyson Chandler so far, Chris Bosh and Joel Anthony should be able to neutralize him. The Mavs will miss Caron Butler, though Butler is not ruling himself out for the series attempting to come back from a snapped patella tendon in his knee that sidelined him since January 1st. Shawn Marion has turned back the clock to his “Matrix” heyday which will help. However, like the Bulls series it will be 3 superstars on 1 which equals too much for Dallas. Heat win one for LeBron in six games, 4-2.

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It was arguably the ugliest game seven of an NBA Finals, but the Los Angeles Lakers overcame a poor shooting night by Kobe Bryant to win their 16th NBA title.

Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant now have a ring for each finger on their hands winning back-to-back NBA titles.   Despite shooting 6 for 24 (o-6 from 3) Bryant still lead all scorers with 23 points and 15 rebounds on the night. Ron Artest and Pau Gasol kept the Lakers in the game scoring 20 and 19 points respectively. Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 18 points.

“This was the sweetest,” Bryant said of his fifth championship. He also took home series MVP honors. “Tonight got the best of me.”

The Lakers now only need one more title to match the Celtics record of 17 NBA championships. Kobe Bryant needs one more to match the man he is constantly compared to, the legendary Michael Jordan.

Watch highlights of the game below:

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The Game was in the studio yesterday at HotHipHopDetroit and he talked to Big Greg about why his album R.E.D. has been pushed back. He also touched on subjects such as working with Dre on Detox and R.E.D. at the same time, his Los Angeles Lakers in in the NBA Finals and lastly whether or not he would sponsor Teairra Mari!

Lil Wayne shares his bromance song with Kobe Bryant after they won the NBA championship.

Check out the footage below:

Next year, Lebron… next year!

Rihanna & Chris Brown both attended game 4 of the NBA finals last night and sparked talk of a reunion of sorts between the two. It is rumored that they both disappeared during half-time and were caught hanging out in the club area of the arena.

Does Rihanna have a new man? Find out here!

Rihanna is called to testify! Check it out here!

My Cavs so disappointed me during Game 6. Absolutely falling apart as they let the Orlando Magic make their championship hopes disappear, LeBron may have been a sore loser, but he explains himself below.

What are they gonna do with the LBJ-23 puppet now?!

Who do you got winning it all now that the Cavs are out? Magic or Lakers? Vote in our poll below:

VIA HH:

There’s a new Cuban Missile Crisis. It has to do with the shots that continue to be launched between Dallas owner Mark Cuban and Denver forward Kenyon Martin.

A movie was made on the 1962 crisis called “Thirteen Days.” The way this one is going, it might last a lot longer.

“He’s a coward,” Martin said Saturday about Cuban, a week after Cuban made an unflattering comment to Martin’s mother during a West semifinal series, with Martin believing Cuban has yet to apologize in an appropriate manner.

Meanwhile, Cuban admits he “made a mistake” in having apologized to Martin’s mother on his blog and not having yet done so personally in a timely fashion. But Cuban, in an e-mail to HoopsHype.com, wrote he wants Martin to take responsibility for his actions, which he wrote included calling a wife of a Mavericks staff member a “(expletive) fat pig” and making an obscene gesture.

It all heated up May 9 after Game 3. After the Nuggets won a controversial game in Dallas, when the NBA later admitted a foul should have been called on Mavericks guard Antoine Wright and a game-winning three-pointer from Denver forward Carmelo Anthony wiped out, Cuban was incensed. He passed by Martin’s mother, Lydia Moore, and has admitted saying “that includes your son’’ when a fan called Nuggets players thugs.

Martin had been fined $25,000 by the NBA and assessed a flagrant foul 1 for a Game 1 incident in which he knocked Mavericks star forward Dirk Nowitzki hard to the floor [click here to watch the video!].

Following last Monday’s Game 4 in Dallas, the Mavericks’ only win in a 4-1 series loss, it has been reported Martin launched profanity in the direction of Cuban. Then, a few hours after that game, Cuban did get around to apologizing to Martin’s mother, doing it on his blog.

But that hasn’t sat well with Martin. Even though NBA commissioner David Stern has recommended Cuban apologize in a more direct manner, Martin said as of Saturday afternoon he knew of no additional apology having been made.

“He’s a coward,” Martin said about Cuban. “He couldn’t face it… You all read the only apology that he’s made (on his blog)… The world got to see it before the person who it was meant for got to see it. That tells you how that goes. I ain’t never known nobody apology to somebody through other people.”

Click here to read the full story and don’t forget to check out our ‘All-NBA Team’ gallery below:

Kobe sure does hate a lot of stuff that he does on the court, but give him his props, he’s been honing those skills for awhile. Spike throws a camera in his face and suddenly you get a deeper look at the man who’s trying to win his first ring without Shaq.

Kobe Doin’ Work was a Tribeca gem and ESPN most recently aired it commercial free. DJ Vlad decided that that wasn’t enough and made it available online. The Urban Daily is only following suit! For your viewing pleasure, we present Kobe in his finest moments before the 2009 NBA Finals.

Did you enjoy the Lakers Game 7 win last night? Well, you’ll enjoy Kobe Doin’ Work – check it out below:

I say yes. I even have a bet going on with the good folks down the hall at GIANT. But as the Cavaliers have their best chance at an NBA championship since like… forever, Spike Lee sat down with the talking drones at ESPN to waxpoetic about King James.

What do YOU think?! Who are some of your predictions for the NBA Finals?!

VIA RapRadar:

Killa was on MTV2 this past weekend and in between the typical album-in-stores promo B.S., the Harlem Diplomat weighed in on the NBA Playoffs. Like most, he sees a Cavs-Lakers final but he’s afraid of the outcome.

“I really do want LeBron to win but I just think Kobe right now, he’s in a different zone. And then also too I think LeBron is better than Kobe, but LeBron just shows Kobe too much respect. He should just go at Kobe instead of always givin’ him props… You’re better than Kobe. You don’t have to give him that much props and respect.”