Football Party

Worlds Collide

Thirty-two nations, one golden dream.

Five Players To Watch

1. Kaká, Brazil

2. Michael Ballack, Germany

3. Francesco Totti, Italy

4. Oguchi Onyewu, U.S.

5. Lionel Messi, Argentina

Five Teams To Watch

1. United States

2. France  

3. Ivory Coast

4. Spain

5. Australia

Five Storylines To Follow

1. A return to normalcy.

2. Will Wayne Rooney even Play?

3. Will the Serie A scandal affcet Italy?

4. Can Spain’s Luis Aragones and Ulraine’s Oleg Blokin hold their tongues?

5. Mixing politics with sports.

Now it’s our party of football. Let’s look forward to these Fives together.

Go, Mavericks

Mavs rally to finish Suns, earn first trip to NBA Finals

It’s wonderful! It’s a great win!

Dirk Nowitzki shook off an awful start and the Mavericks’ defense shut down Phoenix in a second-half comeback, beating the Suns 102-93 on Saturday night to win the Western Conference finals 4-2.

"That’s the kind of defense we play under Avery," Nowitzki said, "and it won us the game in the second half."

Nowitzki, coming off a career playoff high 50 points in Game 5, scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half and the Mavericks clinched a series on the road for the third time in three tries in these playoffs.

"For the first time in my life," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said, "I’m speechless."

Dallas opens the NBA finals at home against the Miami Heat on Thursday night. It will be a showdown of finals’ first-timers, the first time that’s happened since Baltimore played Milwaukee in 1971.

"This was a special night for us," Johnson said. "We were so bad in the first half and so good in the second half. The way we turned it on from the middle of the third quarter on into the fourth was incredible."

Johnson, the NBA coach of the year in his first full season, focused on adding toughness and defense to a team known as a high-scoring, finesse squad.

NBA’s MVP for the 2004-06 season,Steve Nash thought the team may have simply worn down, unable to keep up the energy that was so necessary for its success without big Amare Stoudemire, who missed all but three games this season because of knee surgery.

The Suns needed seven games to beat the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers in the first two rounds, and led at the half in five of the six games against Dallas.

"I don’t know if you can pin it all on fatigue," Nash said, "but I also think it would be ignorant not to say it played a part."

Congratulations, Dallas. You paly well.

Actually, I am not the fan of Mavericks. Tracy McGrady is my favourite. However, I send my best regards to Dalls, especially for Dirk. Afrer all, it’s a exciting victory whick belongs to all of the players and fans. That is BASKETBALL.

Go, Mavericks. Play for the NBA World Champion. And tell O’Neal and Wade that you are the best!