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NBA Finals Capsules: Heat shake off collapse, say they're up for Game 3
DALLAS (AP) — After two days of intense film study and painstaking analysis of the final 14 possessions in their end-of-game collapse in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, the Miami Heat finally came up with the reason why.
It wasn't a highly technical reason.
"We let one go," Dwyane Wade said.
And entering Game 3 of the NBA Finals, the Heat will try to let Game 2 go again. The way Miami sees it, carrying over the stigma of that loss — one of the worst late-game collapses in finals history — would only doom them again Sunday night when the scene shifts to steamy Dallas for the first of three games on the Mavericks' home floor.
Dallas rallied from 15 points down in the final 7 minutes to beat Miami in Game 2, outscoring the Heat 22-5 to finish the game and knot the series. Thanks to that win, Mavs' fans still may see another NBA championship celebration, only this time, by the Western Conference champions and not a Heat team that hoisted a trophy at Dallas after the 2006 Finals.
"In the playoffs, it's a win or a loss. However it comes by, it's a win or a loss," Heat forward LeBron James said. "We've moved on from Game 2, seen the mistakes we've made. Seen some of the great things we've done as well. It's a win or loss. The series is tied 1-1. We never get too high or too low in the series. We haven't gotten too high or low in the regular season as well."
Game 3 is crucial for so many obvious reasons, like the Heat wanting not to deal with another stumble and the Mavericks wanting to keep momentum rolling and retain home-court advantage. Statistically, there's proof that it's a Texas-sized swing game as well. Since the NBA went to the 2-3-2 format for the Finals, teams have now split the first two games 12 times. In the previous 11, the winner of Game 3 has always gone on to win the championship.
Big whoop, both teams said in response to that one.
"We just can't let up. We're not good enough to just relax," said Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, who led Dallas' late-game charge in Game 2 at Miami. "We need to play with an edge at all times in every game. So hopefully (Sunday), with the crowd behind us, we're going to have a great game. Just looking at this one game."
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was more succinct.
"I think both teams have bucked a lot of those numbers and odds up to this point already," he said. "We're a non-traditional team."
Maybe that's one of the reasons why the Heat were so loose Saturday.
Players arrived at the arena around noon, most with headphones on as they walked off the bus, bobbing heads in time with the music and nodding to people as they walked by. James and Wade were chatting and laughing, a few players checked out the turf that would host an Arena Football League game later Saturday night and some stretched their arms to tap the goalposts as they walked across the floor where a basketball court will be Sunday.
The mood couldn't have been more different from when they walked off the floor in Miami on Thursday, stunned by what just happened.
"We're coming home, but we know that's no guarantee of anything," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "We've lost at home this year in the playoffs. Now Miami has as well. The venue has significance, but it never guarantees anyone anything. ... The mistake that we're not going to make is feel like coming home is going to be something that helps get us over the hump. It's not going to be like that. Both these teams are too good of road teams."
Including the playoffs, the Mavericks have won 34 road games this season, tops in the NBA. Miami ranks second with 32.
The Heat also haven't lost consecutive games since early March, winning after all six of their most recent losses by an average of 11.7 points. And in their last 24 games away from home, they're 17-7.
All good signs for Miami now, given that if it doesn't win one of the next three in Dallas, the season will end here.
"We've been a pretty resilient bunch all year," Heat forward Udonis Haslem said. "We've bounced back every time we've been knocked down. I'm expecting the same thing with this situation."
There's stats the Mavs can point to as ones they like as well, including one that seems particularly significant: Miami rarely wins in Dallas, period.
Dallas has won 12 of the last 14 meetings between the teams at home, six of those coming in single-digit games. Of course, one of those two exceptions was the last time the Mavericks hosted a Finals game, June 20, 2006, when Jason Terry missed a potentially game-tying 3-pointer, Wade got the rebound, threw the ball skyward as time expired and Miami prevailed 95-92.
"We're looking at Game 3. That's the only thing on our mind right now," Terry said. "We're at home. What does that mean? It means our building is going to be crazy. We're going to play with a lot of energy. Some of those shots we're missing better go down. That's what home court is all about."
The series is even. So, too, was the level of confidence both sides were showing Saturday.
Come late Sunday night, neither of those statements will keep ringing true.
"I know I'm excited for the game tomorrow," James said before Miami's workout session on Saturday. "It hurt. We had time to let it hurt us as much as it could yesterday after the game. But today is a new day. And we're back and focused. We're a confident bunch. Me personally, I'm looking forward to the challenge. It's going to be fun."
In Game 3, Mavs aim to pick up where they left off
DALLAS (AP) — The passes were on target, the shots were falling and the defense made things tough on the other guys. The Dallas Mavericks played their best stretch of the NBA Finals at the end of Game 2, pulling off a rally that reshaped the series.
Now they have to try to keep it going.
The Mavs go into Game 3 on Sunday night feeling good about themselves because of the way the last game ended and because they will be back home. They also know that to win their first NBA title, they're going to have to play more like they did down the stretch of the last game, and less like they did in the 7½ quarters that preceded it.
"We just can't let up," Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki said Saturday. "We're not good enough to just relax. We need to play with an edge especially in every game."
Although the series is tied 1-1, the Heat have been the better team for longer stretches.
Take it quarter by quarter. Dallas has won only two of the eight: 17-16 in an ugly first period of the first game, and 24-18 in their glorious finish to Game 2.
Check out the biggest leads for each team. Miami was up by 12 in the opener and 15 before its collapse in Game 2. The Mavericks' widest advantage in either game was nine.
Then there are the bad habits Dallas has gotten into in each game. In the opener, it was watching the Heat grab 16 of their misses, leading to them taking 13 more shots than the Mavs. Dallas cleaned that up in Game 2, only to spring another leak with 20 turnovers; Miami turned them into 31 points.
"It's very unusual to win a game the way we did in Game 2," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "That kind of template is not going to hold up in this series long term. We know that."
The Mavericks also can't expect to duplicate their performance over the last 7:14 of Game 2.
That would be tough to do on a video game. After all, Dallas made 9 of its last 10 shots, while forcing Miami to miss nine in a row and 10 of 11.
But the Mavs can do some of the things they did right in that stretch. The main thing is playing more of their "flow" offense, which is basically freelancing, except that Jason Kidd is orchestrating it all.
When Dallas was in its set offense, Miami did a good job of covering everyone, no matter how often the Mavericks passed the ball. And there were many times when they just kept passing because nobody felt open enough to shoot.
When Dallas is "flowing," there's less predictability because even the Mavericks don't know what they are going to do. Kidd looks at the matchups and figures out the best way to attack. If the Heat are double-teaming Nowitzki, he'll throw it elsewhere. Whoever gets it will either have an open shot or pass it again so someone else does. Once the Mavs got going, room opened up.
Of all aspects of the Game 2 finish, this is the one Dallas has the best chance of picking up where it left off, especially if Jason Terry found his stroke. He was 4 of 16 for the series before making all three shots he took during the winning rally.
"We understand how to play off of one another," Kidd said. "What happened in those 7 minutes, we started to play like we did when we were playing the Lakers, and also Oklahoma City, where we weren't calling plays, and we were just playing."
Neither team has yet to play a full game it can be proud of. Game 3 is a great place to start considering the history of series tied at 1 since the NBA went to 2-3-2 format; all 11 winners have been crowned the champs.
The biggest edge the Mavericks could have is being back in a familiar environment.
During the regular season, Dallas shot better and scored more at home than it did on the road, but only by a small margin. In the postseason, there's been a significant difference in accuracy on field goals (up by .018), 3-pointers (up by .042), free throws (up by .027), and a jump of 8.6 points per game.
Whether it comes from home cooking or the energy provided by their fans, the Mavericks are looking forward to it again in Games 3, 4 and 5. Carlisle, however, is warning his guys not to make the mistake of expecting the home crowd to do more than scream support.
"They're not going to be out there running back on defense and trying to execute pick-and-roll coverages and those kinds of things," he said. "We've got to do that."
Miami tied Dallas for the best road record this season, but is only 4-3 on the road in the playoffs. That includes losses by 21 points in Chicago and 16 points in Boston.
-- Jaime Aron
Bosh going home to Dallas, this time in Finals
DALLAS (AP) — The first time Chris Bosh returned to Dallas as an NBA player in 2003, he needed 175 tickets for family and friends. He won't get anywhere near that many on this trip home.
"You don't get your hands on extra tickets," Bosh said. "The ticket thing, man, it's something else."
Especially now, in the NBA Finals. Bosh and the Miami Heat arrived in Dallas on Friday to begin prepping for Sunday's Game 3 of the Finals, a series that's knotted at a game apiece with the next three games all to be played on the Mavericks' home floor — meaning Miami will need a road win to keep its title hopes alive.
And to Bosh, that's all that matters.
He was a high school star in Dallas, led a team to a 40-0 record and a state title, but the jolt of energy that accompanied returning to his hometown as an opponent began to dim a long time ago. It's almost just like another stop on the NBA schedule now, and given the stakes the Heat and Mavs are playing for, Bosh doesn't see anything wrong with that way of thinking.
"My family and I have had conversations about the difference of the regular season and now," Bosh said. "The thrill of playing at home is gone. I just concentrate on trying to win games. I've been there a bunch of times, played in that arena my fair share of times. I go back all the time. Nothing's changed, it looks the same, the people are the same. That's why the thrill is kind of gone. As you get older, it becomes more of a task."
Nothing compares to the task that awaits Bosh and the Heat now.
Dallas fans are still smarting from seeing the Heat celebrate the 2006 NBA title on their floor, and there's nothing the Mavs would enjoy more than wrapping up this series and hoisting their first championship trophy on Thursday night. Dallas outscored Miami 22-5 to close Game 2, a stunning rally that rescued the Mavs from a 15-point hole and carried them to a 95-93 win.
Bosh is averaging 15.5 points so far in the Finals, but his shooting has been atrocious, 9 for 34. Maybe a trip home will provide a boost after all, even though Bosh has steadfastly said he will not let Dallas become a Texas-sized distraction.
"He's had that all year long," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "He's a very intelligent, mature player and person. He's able to compartmentalize things in his life and in his profession. He keeps an even keel, but don't mistake that for a lack of competitiveness. He has a burning fire inside of him. It took me a little bit by surprise. We did a lot of research about him, but he's one of the more competitive players I've ever been around. And once you get to coach him, you realize that pretty quickly."
It might be harder for Bosh to have the just-another-game approach had he been a Mavericks fan growing up.
LeBron James will forever be tied to Cleveland, Dwyane Wade grew up rooting for his hometown Chicago Bulls, and trips to those cities will be emotional for those two Bosh teammates throughout the remainder of their careers. With Bosh, that doesn't seem to be the case. Truth be told, he hardly followed the Mavs as a kid, focusing more on individual players instead.
"They struggled," Bosh said. "They struggled for a number of years and they always tried different formulas. They always went to the drawing board and when things didn't work they just kept trying, kept trying, kept trying until about 10, 12 years ago they really started to turn the curve."
When Bosh played his first NBA game there with Toronto on Dec. 15, 2003, he was nervous. He missed a dunk in the first minute before settling down, and got a bit embarrassed by a video montage that played in the arena that night.
"I was 19. I was a year removed from home," Bosh said. "It was my first NBA game at home. They played a little tribute. It was nice. We lost. And we went home. That was about it. Going home's always exciting for a while, but you get used to things and you just do your job. Home is the hotel room."
He acknowledged there are "pros and cons" to playing in Dallas, though he was hard-pressed to actually identify anything.
"The pros is just being in the Finals," Bosh said. "That's enough for me."
-- Tim Reynolds
Notebook: Mavs’ Haywood (hip) uncertain for G3 vs. Heat
DALLAS (AP) — Dallas Mavericks backup center Brendan Haywood was going nowhere fast during practice Saturday.
Haywood, who came out of Game 2 of the NBA Finals early because of a strained right hip flexor, spent much of the Mavericks’ practice riding a stationary bicycle. Other than that, he was limited to spot-up shots and free throws with no contact or full-speed work.
His status for Game 3 against Miami on Sunday was uncertain.
"I feel a lot better than yesterday. I don’t know what that means for tomorrow," said Haywood, who purposely fouled somebody to stop the clock when he was hurting early in the fourth quarter Thursday night.
Coach Rick Carlisle said well-rested Ian Mahinmi would be ready to play if Haywood isn’t available. The Mavs could also go with smaller lineups.
Mahinmi has appeared in three of the 17 playoff games, playing only six minutes since appearing in 56 regular season games.
When the Mavericks got back to Dallas on Friday, Mahinmi said he went straight to the gym.
"I’ve prepared myself a lot since we came back from Miami. I didn’t take no break," he said. "I’m watching a lot of film. ... I’m doing everything to make sure that I’m ready mentally and physically. If my name is called, I’ve got to step onto that court and be confident and do what I do."
FLYING CELEBRATION: After the Mavericks completed their comeback from a 15-point deficit to win Game 2, guard Jason Terry said they were motivated by how Miami exuberantly responded in front of the Dallas bench to a 3-pointer by Dwyane Wade.
"This is coming from a guy, Jason Terry, who acts like a plane every time he makes a free throw," Udonis Haslem said. "So come on, what’s excessive celebration? ... The guys makes a layup and acts like a 747. Is that excessive? Nobody complains about that."
Terry, whose nickname JET is based on his initials, will be on his home runway Sunday when the series moves to the American Airlines Center in Dallas for Game 3. The fourth and fifth games are there as well.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is more concerned about his team’s lack of execution those final 7 minutes than talk of any premature celebrations.
"Another storyline," Spoelstra said Saturday. "We have enthusiastic guys, excitable players. I would certainly rather have that than a bunch of zombies."
FOUL TROUBLES: Miami forward LeBron James wants to shoot more free throws in the NBA finals. And Dallas coach Rick Carlisle would not mind that, either.
(We’ll explain that second part in a moment.)
James has taken only six foul shots in the first two games of this series against Dallas. It’s only the third time all season where James shot six free throws in a two-game stretch. To put that in some perspective, he shot at least six in a single game 72 times during the regular season and playoffs.
"Six free throws in two games — I do that in my sleep," James said Saturday.
He’s been credited with five dunks in the series, and Carlisle said Saturday that he’d like to see the Mavericks do a better job taking that away, even if that means challenging James with more force at the rim.
"Look, there are a lot of situations I wish we would send them to the foul line and not allow them to go up and tear the rim down with dunks," Carlisle said. "That’s hard. The thing is if he gets to the launching pad and he gets that kind of force going, even if you foul him, he’s going to finish."
When James shoots at least nine free throws, the Heat are 35-9 this season. When he doesn’t, they’re 35-17.
Along with the dunks, James has also made six 3-pointers in the series.
"Oh, he’s making those, too, I forgot that part," Mavs guard Jason Kidd said. "He’s making 3s, laying the ball in, so there’s no way we can put him to the free throw line."
TOUGH TICKET: Demand for tickets to Game 3 of the NBA Finals increased dramatically for the series shift to Dallas after the Mavericks’ big comeback to avoid coming home down 0-2.
By the middle of Saturday afternoon, there were less than 700 tickets listed on Stubhub. The cheapest ticket was $340 for an upper level seat in the corner near the top of American Airlines Center.
The building was full during Game 2 for a free watch party. There were so many people who showed up that about 1,200 had to watch the game on screens in the plaza outside the building.
"It was crazy," said Steve Letson, vice president of operations and arena development for the Mavericks. "It really had the feel of a game if you were in there. Even the people that hadn’t been here, this was just as good as a game for them."
NO HOME VISIT: The only significance of being home in Dallas this time for Miami’s Chris Bosh is that he’s playing in the NBA Finals. Family and friends will have to wait until the series is over to see him.
"My family, they know I love them, and I’ll see them later," Bosh said. "I just have to focus on what I’m supposed to do right now, and they understand that."
Bosh has shot only 27 percent (9 of 34) from the field in the Finals.
"I just have to play basketball. I’m putting too much emphasis on where I’m supposed to be and what I’m supposed to do," Bosh said. "I just have to play. I’m good enough to where I can just trust my instincts and not have a specific game plan."
WADE IN DALLAS: Dwyane Wade has one win at Dallas in seven tries since joining the NBA.
Ah, but it was a big win.
Wade’s only victory on the Mavericks’ home floor was June 20, 2006, when the Heat clinched the NBA title with a 95-92 victory. He’s 0-4 at Dallas in regular-season appearances, which doesn’t even include four other games — also all losses — he didn’t play. And the Heat dropped two games in Dallas to open the 2006 finals.
"Obviously, we did something great here," Wade said. "We won one game here. It was the biggest game in our franchise history up until this point."
-- Stephen Hawkins
Other NBA Capsules
Analysts wonder if labor will cost NBA momentum
DALLAS (AP) — So far in the NBA Finals, television numbers have been skyrocketing, as was the case around the league for much of the season. ABC and ESPN had record viewership numbers all season for NBA telecasts. Some would suggest interest in the league has never been higher.
Which begs the question: Would those eyeballs come back if next season is interrupted by labor strife? It’s one that ABC and ESPN analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy hope they don’t see answered.
Both expressed concern Saturday over the direction the league’s labor rift may be heading. More talks between the NBA and its players are scheduled to take place in Dallas over the coming days, though both parties — even while indicating some progress may have been made at a negotiating session in Miami after Game 1 of the Finals — still appear to be bracing for a lockout to commence when the current collective bargaining agreement expires on June 30.
"Very concerned," Jackson said. "It’s been an all-time great season from top to bottom. You can’t go anywhere where people are not talking about the great stories that have occurred throughout the course of the year. It’s important ownership, management, players, union get together and try to keep this momentum going. I think there’s more than enough money available to make a deal where everybody will be happy. It’s going to be interesting."
The NBA wants a hard salary cap, which players absolutely do not want to see. The current salary cap system allows for certain exceptions that permit teams to exceed it, such as to re-sign their own free agents. They wouldn’t have that luxury under a hard cap system, potentially forcing teams to make some difficult decisions to stay below the threshold.
The league has also said it wants to cut player-salary costs by nearly $800 million a year.
Despite all the pressing labor matters, fans are watching in droves.
ABC’s broadcasts of the first two games of the NBA Finals drew an average of 15,347,000 viewers, up 28 percent over the last Miami-Dallas Finals series in 2006 and even up 3 percent over what two traditional powerhouse franchises — the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics — lured last year. And around the league, viewership on regional sports networks was up 13 percent this season, the NBA said.
"If this does go to a lockout, it’s different than the NFL," Van Gundy said Saturday. "There are real economic hardships that some teams are facing in the NBA losing money. The NFL, it’s just, ‘How much more do you want to make?"’
Months of NFL labor talks broke down on March 11 and plenty of discussion sessions since have not ended that dispute, placing the 2011 season in jeopardy. The NBA played a 50-game schedule instead of the customary 82 in the 1998-99 season because of a lockout.
"If you have a well-managed team, where whoever is making the business and basketball decisions, you should be guaranteed two things," Van Gundy said. "One, that you can earn a profit and two, that you have a chance to compete for a championship, no matter what city you’re in. And I think right now, you can’t say that that’s possible under this system. But the first qualifier is being managed properly, and there’s a lot of teams you could go say that the players (should not) have to buy you out of your mistakes."
Van Gundy is not cringing at the thought of a lockout this summer, though he clearly does not want to see next season interrupted, either.
He sees some potential benefits if everyone is forced into a break this summer, most notably rest from the demands of a long season, especially for young players — many of whom started training camp in September, play all fall and winter and then get asked to participate in summer leagues and other offseason workouts.
"God bless the lockout," Van Gundy said, "until September 1."
With two major leagues facing the same dilemma — even though the problems plaguing both are different — Jackson suggested it might be a good idea to get negotiating sides from the NFL and the NBA in the same room to work through deals.
"Let’s get them all in a room and say, ‘Fellas, do you understand what’s at risk here? Do you understand what’s going on in society today? Do you know how many people are hurting and struggling?"’ Jackson said. "I’d bring football people in the same room and say, ‘OK, let’s find a way to get this done.’ We can get it done where everybody’s happy and continue to keep the momentum going."
-- Tim Reynolds
Bobcats' Oakley says assault led to back problem
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Charles Oakley, one of the NBA's all-time tough guys, may not return to the Charlotte Bobcats' bench next season because of a painful back condition he says was caused during an assault last year in Las Vegas.
Oakley, who was in his first season as an assistant coach, had to be carried from the bench before a game in San Antonio on March 19. He missed Charlotte's final 13 games with a sciatic nerve problem.
The 47-year-old Oakley, still moving gingerly, attended Charlotte's workout of draft prospects Saturday. As he contemplates surgery, Oakley said he told general manager Rod Higgins to consider replacing him on coach Paul Silas' staff.
Silas said Saturday there's no timetable for making a decision.
"I want to do what's best for the team, always," Oakley said. "We'll have to see what happens and if I'm not back, they'll have someone just as good as me or better."
Oakley has sued the Aria hotel-casino, claiming he was beaten by security guards in May 2010. Oakley is convinced the incident led to his current condition.
"I wasn't going to sue, but they just did too much damage to me," said Oakley, who filed the suit last month. "It just handicapped me for a period of time and they think it was a joke. I don't want to go into too much detail, but I never tried to assault them. They tried to assault me.
"I'm not a troublemaker. People say, 'You got into a lot of incidents.' Yeah, but it was on the basketball floor."
The complaint contends five officers wrestled the 6-foot-9 Oakley to the ground and punched and handcuffed him after a verbal dispute over whether Oakley could return to a VIP pool area. It said Oakley was taken to the hospital with injuries to his neck, back, head and wrist. Oakley said Saturday two slipped disks suffered in the incident led to the sciatic nerve condition.
"It's like having a nail in your tire. You can only go so far and then the nail keeps going in, going in," Oakley said. "Once it reaches the peak, the hole gets bigger and all the air comes out of your tire. The damage to my disk — it just couldn't take no more."
The complaint alleges negligence, assault, assault with excessive force, battery, false imprisonment and defamation. It seeks unspecified general, special and punitive damages.
MGM Resorts International, which owns the resort, has declined to comment since the suit was filed.
Oakley, a former teammate of Bobcats owner Michael Jordan in Chicago, was known as a relentless rebounder and collector of hard fouls in his 18-year career. Oakley, who ranks 20th in NBA history with 12,205 boards, also played for New York, Toronto, Washington and Houston.
Oakley was proud to prove he could coach. He routinely worked out with players in practice and was credited with helping Bobcats center Kwame Brown's development late last season.
Then Oakley's body gave out in a jarring scene in San Antonio.
"I hate to go out like that," Oakley said. "It looks like somebody got knocked out of the ring and couldn't get back on his feet. But I'm back walking and hopefully getting my back back together and back to 100 percent."
Oakley said he's moving better and recently started riding a bike. He hopes to avoid surgery.
"I just want to get back to normal," Oakley said. "It's draining sometimes, but you've got to stay strong. ... Hopefully, I'll be back coaching someday. If not, I've got to continue living."
-- Mike Cranston
Brown looks to NBA future, not NCAA miss
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Gilbert Brown made the big shots look routine in college. It’s the one he missed that will be remembered in Pittsburgh.
Now focused on his future professional career, Brown is trying to prove to NBA scouts that there’s more to his game than just an errant free throw.
"It does linger on a little bit," said Brown, whose miss with 1.4 seconds left led to Butler’s stunning second-round NCAA tournament upset in March. "It’s kind of like a couple of years ago when (Villanova’s) Scottie Reynolds hit that layup. You’re always going to have those kind of moments."
They’re just not easy to forget, especially when you have the kind of game Brown did that day.
The 6-foot-6 forward scored a team-high 24 points against Butler and had a chance to save the top-seeded Panthers’ season when Shelvin Mack inexplicably fouled Brown near midcourt with 1.4 seconds to go. Mack later called it the dumbest foul in Butler history.
Brown responded by making the first free throw to tie the score at 70, but missed the second shot. Butler forward Matt Howard grabbed the rebound and Nasir Robinson, even more inexplicably, fouled Howard 85 feet from the basket. Howard made the first shot to break the tie and missed the second intentionally to burn time and send Butler into the regional round for the second straight year.
Brown and his teammates went home early again.
On Friday, Brown’s whirlwind tour of nearly a dozen NBA cities took him to Indianapolis, where he worked out in front of Larry Bird and the Pacers. Brown said he neither had timed or the desire to visit Butler’s campus, six miles away.
Not surprisingly, Brown seemed to know he would have to relive the March misery all over.
"A lot of people were talking to me, saying it wasn’t my fault, that it’s just part of the game," Brown said after the workout in Indy. "You know, I tried to ignore it. But as soon as I got home, it was on SportsCenter, so I had to watch the game again."
Those who have played basketball at the highest levels understand what Brown has gone through the last 2½ months.
Two of the six players in Brown’s group, San Diego State’s Malcolm Thomas and Kansas’ Markieff Morris, were eliminated earlier than expected last season. Pacers forward Josh McRoberts, a former Duke player, still remembers the times he missed critical free throws at the ends of games.
It happens to everyone if you play long enough.
"I don’t think you ever forget it," McRoberts said. "It’s tough to sleep at night, so you can’t forget it."
Especially when it’s replayed time and again on television and referred to constantly as one of the wackiest finishes in NCAA tourney history.
Thomas, one of Brown’s teammates at another NBA camp in Portsmouth, Va., remembers seeing the replays.
"I never asked him about it because I know how it feels," Thomas said. "It’s probably the toughest thing I’ve had to deal with, to get that close and lose, it’s just tough to put it behind you."
Brown has tried to do it.
After running the gamut of emotions in the immediate aftermath, Brown finally went back and watched tape of the game. His conclusion was that the Panthers made too many mistakes before The Miss to win the game.
That hasn’t made chasing his NBA dream any easier. When the NBA handed out invitations to the combine in Chicago, Brown didn’t make the list.
Then teams started calling to line up the workouts and Brown accepted every invitation. The tour stops include Indy, Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles Washington and Detroit, among others.
"I want to show them that I’m a defensive stopper, that I’m capable of guarding anyone from one to four, that I’m a reliable shooter, too," Brown said. "I want to show them that I’m more of a player than they think I am."
And that he’s over the sting of losing to Butler.
"Looking back, you look at the last two teams we lost to (Butler and UConn), and you felt like you could have been there," Brown said, referring to the two teams that played for the national championship. "It’s tough, it’s tough."
-- Michael Marot
WNBA
Young leads Silver Stars past Shock
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Sophia Young scored 20 points, Becky Hammon added 18 and the San Antonio Silver Stars beat the Tulsa Shock 93-73 on Saturday night.
Jia Perkins added 17 points and Ruth Riley 12 for the Silver Stars, who recorded their first season-opening win since 2006. San Antonio hit nine 3-pointers in the first half to build a 51-26 lead at the break and never let up the rest of the way.
"It's a nice beginning," coach Dan Hughes said. "You see a nice energy."
Hughes was back on the sidelines for San Antonio after he relinquished the head coaching job last year to focus solely on being the general manager.
Liz Cambage, the 19-year-old center who was the second overall pick in the draft, led the Shock (0-1) with 18 points in her pro debut. Ivory Latta added 15 and Amber Holt had 11.
Sheryl Swoopes made her return to the WBNA after retiring in 2008 because of injuries. The three-time MVP, who just turned 40, finished with five points.
San Antonio would build its lead to 31 points in the third quarter before Tulsa mounted a modest comeback, cutting the lead to 13 on Ivory Latta's layup with 9:09 left in the game.
The Silver Stars regrouped behind Riley's hot fourth-quarter shooting. She hit all four of her shots for eight points to secure the win.
"It's really hard for you to have everything go right for 40 minutes. I thought everything was going right for us," Hammon said. "We took a pretty good hit from them. We just have to learn from that."
Both teams look much different than they did in 2008, when the then Shock swept San Antonio for the WNBA title. No member of that team is currently on the Tulsa roster, and the Silver Stars only have three members remaining from their finals team: Hammon, Riley and Young.
The Shock are now rebuilding behind Cambage and the rest of their young players.
"We didn't play very well, particularly in the first half," Shock coach Nolan Richardson said. "The thing that is hurting us quite a bit is the turnovers."
WNBA Capsules
Bird, Little lead Storm past Mercury
SEATTLE (AP) — Sue Bird scored 13 points and handed out 10 assists, Camille Little led Seattle with 18 points and the defending WNBA champion Storm opened the 2011 season with a 78-71 win over of the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday.
Lauren Jackson added 15 points and seven rebounds as Seattle built a big fourth-quarter lead and then watched Phoenix's Diana Taurasi try to rally the Mercury in the closing seconds.
Taurasi scored a game-high 31, including 11 in the closing minutes as Phoenix trimmed a 19-point deficit to within five with 16 seconds left.
The six returning members of Seattle's championship team from a year ago received their title rings, then went out and beat Phoenix for the eighth straight time and ran the Storm's regular-season home win streak to 18 after going undefeated at home a year ago.
Sun 89, Mystics 73
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Tina Charles had 18 points and six rebounds, Renee Montgomery added 15 points and Asjha Jones scored 10 of her 14 points in the second half for the Sun.
Danielle McCray, who missed her rookie season after a knee injury during her senior season in college, hit all five of her shots and finished with 14 points.
Nicky Anosike, who was acquired from the Minnesota Lynx two days before the WNBA draft, and Crystal Langhorne each had 16 points to lead Washington.
Fever 65, Sky 57
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Katie Douglas scored 19 points with seven rebounds, Tamika Catchings had 15 points and nine boards and the Fever cruised to an easy win.
Tangela Smith scored 16 points for the Fever, who beat the Sky for the sixth straight time. Smith hit was 4 of 7 from behind the arc, one shy of her career high for 3s in a game.
Epiphanny Prince scored 20 points and Sylvia Fowles added 10 points and seven rebounds for Chicago, which fell behind 10-1 at the start of the game and never led.
The Sky cut the deficit to four by the end of the half, but Indiana jumped to a 10-point lead with a 9-2 run to start the third quarter.
