News Flash: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is fined $250,000 for “several acts of misconduct� during Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Cuban walked onto the court to berate an official at the conclusion of the game, and the Miami Herald reported he also screamed obscenities at Commissioner David Stern. Cuban vehemently denies saying anything to Stern.

Teddy’s Take: You gotta love a team owner who maintains his own blog and even finds time to update it during a championship game!

On a more serious note, I would be a bit irate if I were Cuban. As much as I dislike his antics and think he exhibits an amazing lack of class for someone of his stature, he’s right on in his criticism of the officiating.

Heading into Game 5, the Mavericks were already shorthanded thanks to the suspension of Jerry Stackhouse for committing a flagrant foul on Shaquille O’Neal. Forget for a moment that the contact on the play was no more severe than any time Shaq buries his shoulder into a defender. Suspending a player one game for a hard foul during the Finals, when on two occasions you’ve handed out the same punishment for a punch to the nuts, is a joke.

Also during the 5th game, Miami took 49 free throws to Dallas’ 25. (For the series, the Heat have shot 38 more FT’s) Heck, Dwyane Wade took as many as the Mavericks did all by himself. I understand the time honored tradition of giving the superstar the call should he even catch a whiff of a defenders breath, but there are 2 superstars in this series. You give Wade those calls, you have to give them to Dirk Nowitzky.

Instead, Nowitzky gets bumped and held each time he even tries to free himself to catch a pass, while Wade gets to decide the game from the foul line on a play with minimal contact. It’s understood that officials do not decide championships. If you’re going to call a foul with 2 seconds remaining in a one point game, there had better be blood. At the very least, the player driving the lane should be bumped off course more than an inch and a half.

So yes, Mark Cuban is a pain in the butt. But if he’s trying to say the officiating in this series is awful and slanted against his team, he’s 100% on the money!

That’s my take…what’s yours? Are the Heat getting helped by the officiating? Are Cuban and I imagining it? What do you think of the finals themselves? Can Dallas come back?