No time to cry but, certainly the Dallas Mavericks staff and their fans can blame several ref decisions why their team loss to the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Dallas missed five critical shots from the foul line; they shot 40% from the field, lost possession of the ball 18 times, and failed to score on a number of solid three-point opportunities when the game was on the line. But it was Miami guard Mario Chalmers’ buzzer-beating three to end the first period, one that should have not been allowed as Chalmers’ foot was in theory in the back court as he received the ball that will hurt more. Basketball scores.

The half court line is considered part of the back court, and the referees missed the fact that Chalmers had his heel on the line when he grabbed the pass from teammate Udonis Haslem in the front court.

The rule is that you must be considered fully in the front court before you can get a pass from the front court, and Chalmers’ foot was still in the back court when he caught the rock. To summarize it, all Mavs fans will look at is that two-point deficit on the scoreboard as the final buzzer sounded, while blaming the three-point basket that shouldn’t have counted. Basketball odds.

There is no question that if Dirk Nowitzki had not missed two shots when the game was on the line in the final stretch and kept the ball instead of dishing off for a Jason Terry miss, and not gotten caught up in a Haslem screen that permitted Chris Bosh to nail the eventual game-winner, nobody will remember this. In the end this was an incredibly close game. Basketball spreads.

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