Mavs' anger masks true cause of deficit -- themselves

	Mark Cuban's anger with game officials has spread to his team, obscuring the myriad mistakes they made in Games 3, 4 and 5. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images
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DALLAS -- The Heat are surging. The Mavs are seething.

That's the status of the NBA Finals as the series shifts back to Dallas for Tuesday night's Game 6 (9 p.m. ET, ABC).

Miami is up 3-2 and riding the momentum of three straight victories. With Dwyane Wade appearing unstoppable and Shaquille O'Neal providing just enough presence in the middle, the Heat need only one victory to claim the NBA title.

Dallas, meanwhile, is hoping a return home to American Airlines Center will get them going again. After losing two games they feel they should have won (Games 3 and 5), the Mavs are in an ornery mood. Forward Dirk Nowitzki was fined $5,000 by the NBA on Monday for punting the ball into the stands after Game 5.

"We are confident," Nowitzki said. "Our fans will be great at home. They pushed us in Games 1 and 2 ... so we're looking forward to more of the same in Game 6 and hopefully Game 7."

The Mavs are hoping a return home can at least get them some home cooking from the officials. Dallas believes it got shortchanged in the three games in Miami, on everything from the Heat's physical play on Nowitzki to Shaq using his off arm to ward off double teams.

Dallas' emotions boiled over in Game 5, when the officials sent Wade to the line an NBA Finals-record 25 times (same as the entire Mavs team). There was also controversy on the final play, first when Nowitzki was called for a questionable foul that put Wade on the stripe for what turned out to be the winning free throws, and then when Mavs forward Josh Howard was charged with an inadvertent timeout, which effectively killed Dallas' final chance after the free throws.

After the final horn, Dallas owner Mark Cuban stormed over to center court and glared in the direction of NBA commissioner David Stern. "I'm going to do what I think is right," Cuban wrote in his blog on Monday. "You may not like that I want the officiating in the NBA to get better. I think it's the right thing to do."

Cuban, no doubt, will be writing another check to the NBA any day now.

But while the Game 5 officiating crew might have missed a few calls (for both sides), the Mavs can't blame the refs for their predicament. Wade has been allowed to get to the basket at will. Even when Dallas knows he's coming and sends four defenders at him, as it did on the last plays of regulation and OT in Game 5, it has not stopped him or gotten the ball out of his hands. Meanwhile, Heat defenders have crowded Nowitzki and held him to 16 and 20 points, respectively, the past two games.