This Super Bowl certainly has all the makings of another thriller, the perfect finish to a season that began in turmoil and wound up the most successful in league history.

The NFL couldn’t have planned it any better.

“It’s actually been a very fun week here,” said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, seeking his fourth Super Bowl ring in 11 seasons, and doing it in the city where archrival Peyton Manning has worked for 13 years — if not for much longer, given his health issues and disagreements with Colts management. “It’s a bit surreal to be playing in Indy’s home stadium and to be practicing at their facility.”

It’s been even weirder for Eli Manning to have led the Giants here, only to find his superb season and chase for a second championship overshadowed by big brother.

The most popular storyline this week has been Peyton’s pain in his neck. Or, rather, his status following three neck surgeries in 19 months; whether the Colts will keep him around, at the cost of a $28 million roster bonus due in March; and whether he’s truly feuding with owner Jim Irsay’s rebuilding organization.

Eli, who will surpass his brother for NFL titles with a victory Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium — yes, Peyton’s Place — claims his sibling’s issues are irrelevant to this game, in which New York (12-7) is a 3-point underdog.

“I’m proud of Peyton. I’ve talked to him this week. None of that comes up,” Eli said. “When I talk to Peyton, he does a great job of trying to keep me relaxed. (We) talk a little football and talk about New England some. He’s supported me this week. I know he’s just working hard trying to get healthy and I’m going to support him on that.”

While Eli would own two championships with a victory, to one for Peyton, Brady could tie his childhood quarterbacking hero, Joe Montana, and Terry Bradshaw with four. Coach Bill Belichick would equal Chuck Noll with the same number.

To get it, the Patriots (15-3) must protect their crown jewel. Four years ago,

Tiger Woods is nowhere near them.

Showing a sloppy side in his first tournament in three months, Woods missed a 2-foot par putt and didn’t make enough birdies to keep up with his mistakes Friday. He shot 1-over 71 and was eight shots behind on another calm day at Firestone.

Fowler is still searching for his first professional win and put himself in the mix by holing out for eagle on No. 3 in a wild round of 64. Scott had the lead to himself until a bogey on his final hole made him settle for a 70. Also tied for the lead was Ryan Moore, who had a 66.

A confident yet humble Plaxico Burress said Sunday night. “I’m excited about the opportunity and I’m going to give them everything I’ve got because they put their trust in me to be able to come in and contribute and have an impact.”

The former Super Bowl star with the Giants signed a one-year deal with the Jets on Sunday after recently being released from prison after serving 20 months on a gun charge. Burress, who turns 34 on Aug. 12, caught the game-winning touchdown in the Giants’ upset of the unbeaten New England Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl, before his career derailed after he accidentally shot himself in a New York nightclub later that year.

“When something’s taken away from you that you love, you know you love it more,” he said. “You learn that playing in this business is definitely a privilege. I definitely miss being away from the game and the guys and being able to compete every Sunday with the best athletes in the world.”

Now, the Jets are hoping Burress can revive his career the way Michael Vick did with the Eagles.

Vick served 18 months in prison for his involvement in a dogfighting ring before returning to football in 2009. He was eased back into things by the Eagles before taking over as the starting quarterback last year and capping a terrific season by being selected as the AP’s Comeback Player of the Year.

Burress has a chance to make even more of an immediate mark for the Jets. He’ll join the recently re-signed Santonio Holmes as one of Mark Sanchez’s top receivers.

“I’ve never played with a guy on the other side of me who was that explosive,” Burress said of Holmes. “It’s going to be fun. I think we’re going to drive some defensive coordinators crazy – which way they want to roll their coverage in certain situations, in the red zone, so it’ll be interesting to see how teams match up against us.”

ESPN first reported the deal, saying it is for more than $3 million fully guaranteed. Burress was at the airport in Los Angeles on his way to a meeting with the San Francisco 49ers, ESPN reported, but canceled that trip when the Jets contacted him. He agreed to come back to New York, but in green and white this time, without even visiting with the Jets or speaking to Rex Ryan.

“There was no sales pitch needed,” he said. “You just look at all the pieces that are in place. You get a chance to compete for a world championship every year, play for a great organization, play with a great quarterback. I get to play beside Santonio Holmes and a future Hall of Famer in LaDainian Tomlinson.”

Burress also appreciated how owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum met with him in 2009, despite his legal situation being uncertain at the time.

“They were really the first team to support me with everything that I had going on at that time,” he said, “and it just felt right for me to be able to come here with everything that I had going on a couple of years ago, to have those guys approach me in the way that they did I just felt I made the right decision.”

A few hours after announcing the agreement, the Jets were accepting pre-orders for replica Burress jerseys for $80 on their website. Matt Higgins, the Jets’ executive vice president of business operations, tweeted that Burress would be wearing No. 17 – Braylon Edwards’ number the past two seasons.

Burress met with the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he spent his first five seasons, on Saturday after sitting down with Giants coach Tom Coughlin on Friday.

“His decision was to go elsewhere,” Coughlin said. “It sounded like a bigger guarantee. I don’t know all of the facts about that. That’s what happens in this business. His decision was made and, again, we wish he and his family well.”

Burress said there was a sense of closure with that meeting, and it was good “to kind of turn the page.”

Because of the NFL’s post-lockout rules, Burress can’t practice with the team until Thursday. But clearly, the Jets are confident – sight unseen – that he has a lot left as they try for a Super Bowl run even though he hasn’t played in the NFL since 2008.

There will be plenty of questions: How soon can he be in football shape? Has he lost a significant amount of speed? Does he still have those sure hands? Can he handle the media spotlight of being back in New York?

“I feel I’m in great shape,” he said, adding that he’ll surely be a little rusty. “I think a lot of people are going to be surprised with my conditioning and different things I’ve been doing in South Florida to get myself back to where I want to be, and that’s definitely to get back to playing at a high level real soon.”

One thing the Jets know is that Burress gives Sanchez a big receiver – he’s 6-foot-5 – who’s a red-zone presence to complement Holmes, Jerricho Cotchery, Dustin Keller and a solid running game with Shonn Greene and Tomlinson.

Burress pleaded guilty in August 2009 to attempted criminal possession of a weapon after accidentally shooting himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub in November 2008, accepting a two-year prison term. He was released about three months early for good behavior, but will be on parole for two years.

He was told to get and keep a job, undergo substance abuse testing, obey any curfew established by his Florida parole officer, support his family and undergo any anger counseling or other conditions required by his parole officer.

Burress has 505 catches for 7,845 yards and 55 touchdowns in his NFL career with the Steelers and Giants.

The move softens the blow for the Jets after losing out on cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, who was New York’s top priority after re-signing Holmes. But Asomugha surprisingly signed with Philadelphia, and the Jets were forced to turn their attention elsewhere.

Burress’ career with the Giants was filled with terrific moments along with troubles – missed meetings, a one-game suspension, a contract dispute. Then came the incident that changed his life.

He was released in April 2009, a few months before beginning his prison sentence. Now he’s free and motivated to show he can still be a productive playmaker, and the Jets are willing to let Burress prove it while they go for a Super Bowl of their own.

“I’ve been around for a little while now and I’ll just sit down with the coaches, sit down with the quarterback,” Burress said, “and just learn the formations and where I need to be at. I don’t think it’s going to take me that long at all.”

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AP Sports Writers Tom Canavan in East Rutherford, N.J., and Will Graves in Pittsburgh, and freelance writer Jim Hague in East Rutherford, N.J., contributed to this report.

The memories of a thrilling NBA season might have to last for a while. There’s no telling when basketball will be back.

The NBA locked out its players early Friday when its collective bargaining agreement expired, becoming the second major pro sport shut down by labor strife.

The players and owners remained far apart on just about every major issue, from salaries to the salary cap, revenues to revenue sharing.

“We had a great year in terms of the appreciation of our fans for our game. It just wasn’t a profitable one for the owners, and it wasn’t one that many of the smaller market teams particularly enjoyed or felt included in,” Commissioner David Stern said. “The goal here has been to make the league profitable and to have a league where all 30 teams can compete.”

It is believed to be only the second time that two leagues have been shut down simultaneously by labor problems.

In 1994, both the NHL and MLB were idle from October through the end of the year. The NHL locked out its players from October 1994 until mid-January 1995 and reduced the 1994-95 season from 84 games to 48. MLB endured a 232-day strike from August 12, 1994 until April 2, 1995, which led to the cancellation of the entire 1994 postseason and World Series.

The NBA’s long-expected lockout puts the 2011-12 season in jeopardy and all league business on hold – starting with the free agency period that would have opened Friday.

The NBA’s summer league in Las Vegas already has been canceled, and teams were prohibited from having any contact with their players.

The lockout comes exactly one year after one of the NBA’s most anticipated days in recent years, when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the rest of the celebrated class of 2010 became free agents.

That free agency bonanza – highlight by the James, Wade, Chris Bosh trio in Miami – got the league started on a season where ticket and merchandise sales, ratings and buzz were all up. That success contradicted the owners’ argument that the system was broken beyond repair, but it also demonstrated why they wanted changes, with Stern saying owners feel pressured to spend as much as possible to prove their commitment to winning to fans.

LeBron’s move to Miami and Dirk Nowitzki’s title in Dallas couldn’t hide a simple fact: Owners insisted they were losing money, perhaps $300 million this season, and weren’t interested in subsidizing a system they felt guaranteed they’d keep losing more.

The last lockout reduced the 1998-99 season to just a 50-game schedule, the only time the NBA missed games for a work stoppage.

“I think we’re either going to not miss any games or we’re going to miss the whole season,” said Cleveland Cavaliers veteran forward Antawn Jamison, a rookie during the last NBA lockout.

But union chief Billy Hunter Hunter said it’s too early to be concerned about that.

“Obviously, the clock is now running with regard to whether or not there will or will be a loss of games,” Hunter said. “I’m hoping that over the next month or so that there will be sort of a softening on their side and maybe we have to soften our position as well.”

Hunter said he hopes the two sides will meet again in the next two weeks, after the union has looked at some additional documents it requested.

The players’ association seems unlikely, at least for now, to follow the NFLPA’s model by decertifying and taking the battle into the court system, instead choosing to continue negotiations. Hunter said last week he felt owners believe the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, which is debating the legality of the NFL’s lockout, will uphold employers’ rights to impose lockouts.

Despite a three-hour meeting Thursday and a final proposal from the players – which NBA leaders said would have raised average player salaries to $7 million in the sixth year of the deal – the sides could not close the enormous gulf between their positions.

“The problem is that there’s such a gap in terms of the numbers, where they are and where we are, and we just can’t find any way to bridge that gap,” union chief Billy Hunter said.

Owners want to reduce the players’ guarantee of 57 percent of basketball revenue and weren’t moved by the players’ offer to drop it to 54.3 percent – though players said that would have cut their salaries by $500 million over five years.

They sparred over the league’s characterization of its “flex” salary cap proposal – players considered it a hard cap, which they oppose – and any chance of a last-minute deal was quickly lost Thursday when league officials said the union’s move was in the wrong direction financially.

“I don’t think we’re closer; in fact it worries me that we’re not closer. We have a huge philosophical divide,” Stern said.

The NBA appeared headed this route from the start of negotiations.

Owners took a hard-line stance from the start, with their initial proposal in 2010 calling for a hard salary cap system, reducing contract lengths and eliminating contract guarantees, as well as reducing player salary costs by about $750 million annually. Though the proposal was withdrawn after a contentious meeting with players at the 2010 All-Star weekend, the league never moved from its wish list until recently, and Hunter said he believes negotiations never recovered from that rocky beginning.

The union had previously filed an unfair labor charge against the league with the National Labor Relations Board for unfair bargaining practices, complaining the NBA’s goal was to avoid meaningful negotiation until a lockout was in place.

“We’re going to stand up for what we have to do, no matter how long it’s going to take,” Thunder star Kevin Durant told The Associated Press. “No matter how long the lockout’s going to take, we’re going to stand up. We’re not going to give in.”

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AP Sports Writer Rachel Cohen in New York, Brett Martel in New Orleans, Jeff Latzke in Oklahoma City and Mike Cranston in Charlotte contributed to this report.

—

Brian Mahoney

Not since high school players were allowed to go directly into the NBA Draft has there been more mystery surrounding the No. 1 overall pick.

Singer-composer-arranger Donny Hathaway is perhaps best known for his duets with singer Roberta Flack, but the body of solo work he left behind when he died 30 years ago is part of the foundation of American soul music. His songs have influenced performers from R&B singer Alicia Keys to rapper Common to singer-guitarist George Benson.

Hathaway’s voice was clear and powerful, and his piano-playing was remarkable in its own right. He exercised uncanny control over both of his instruments. Contemporary singer-songwriter Raul Midon — often compared to Hathaway — says Hathaway not only had an incredible voice, but also the technique of a classical singer.

“He’s just the strongest soul singer that ever existed,” he says. “Call it gospel. Call it soul. Call it whatever you want. That tradition of singing… black singers, African-American singers. He came from that tradition.”

Hathaway was born October 1, 1945 in Chicago I.L., but was raised by his grandmother in a St. Louis public housing project. By the age of three, he was already a professional gospel singer. His piano chops earned him a scholarship to attend Howard University and eventually landed him work as a producer and arranger for the likes of Aretha Franklin and the Staple Singers. In 1969, he signed with Atlantic Records and released his first single, “The Ghetto, Pt. 1.”

“When I hear him, it’s like somebody who has something to say, and you must hear it,” says producer and arranger Joe Mardin.

A League Of His Own

Mardin was still a child when he met Hathaway. His father, Arif, produced many of singer’s albums and was responsible for the lush arrangement that cradles Hathaway’s voice in “A Song For You.” He scoffs at the number of people who claim they were influenced by Hathaway. Not that it isn’t nice to see Hathaway get some props, he says. It’s just that most singers and musicians just aren’t in Hathaway’s league.

“I think there are very few people that come even close to singing the way Donny did,” he says, “or having the depth of sound and emotion in his singing.”

Mardin says many don’t realize that in addition to Hathaway’s extraordinary voice, he was a skilled writer, arranger and conductor. He points to “I Love The Lord; He Heard My Cry (Parts 1 and 2)” — with its symphonic arrangement — from Hathaway’s final solo album, Extension Of A Man.

“Nobody could write a song like that,” says legendary guitarist Phil Upchurch. “You receive it. You wake up in the middle of the night, and God talks to you and says go write this down.”

Upchurch often performed with Hathaway and says he’s never met another musician that touched his heart and sensibilities more.

“The clarity and feeling could actually raise the hair on your arms and make you cry and give you chill bumps all at the same time,” he says.

Called a “major new force in soul music” by Rolling Stone when he debuted in 1970, Donny Hathaway‘s voice had the power to bring home a message and the tenderness to sell the sweetest ballad.

Speaking of Hathaway’s song, “Some Day We’ll All Be Free,” jazz player Ben Allison said: “… his singing on it is so deeply personal.

“When I hear the lyric on that tune that’s talking about,” he added, “‘The world is spinning, hold on, everything will be all right, (I think) that tune, for me, is one of the greatest R&B tunes in the history of music.”

Famed bass player Marcus Miller points to the versatility of the man, who was not only a singer but a songwriter and producer, as well: “If you listen to Donny Hathaway, he had a lot of jazz elements in the way he sang, … For me, (jazz and R&B) borrow from each other so much that sometimes it’s hard for me to make a distinction.”

Indeed, the sound of Hathaway was one that encompassed all the influences of black America in the 1970s: the gospel he had learned at his grandmother’s knee, the jazz he’d heard in DC nightclubs while studyign at Howard University, the thriving R&B scene of his native Chicago.

Whether it be the gutsy “The Ghetto,” the longing of “Some Day We’ll All Be Free” or the pop of “Where Is the Love,” Donny Hathaway had the pipes to deliver the goods.

Lost Soul

The eclectic range of Hathaway’s final solo album extended beyond his soul and gospel roots to include Latin jazz and honky-tonk. Such breadth may have been difficult to grasp for a music industry used to selling strictly segregated genres. Hathaway’s range is also remarkable considering that — by this point in his career — he was battling depression and schizophrenia

The face of the Dallas Mavericks laughed, sang and even seemed to tear up.

For Dirk Nowitzki, the only thing that could come close to being an NBA champion for the first time was celebrating it with the fans in his adopted hometown of Dallas.

An estimated crowd of 200,000 crammed downtown Thursday morning for a parade in the team’s honor, with another 20,000 or so filling the arena for a rally filled with emotional moments.

After waiting 31 years for the franchise to be atop the NBA, fans honored the feat in a way that many said was worth the wait. Dallas wrapped up the title in Miami on Sunday night so, other than their airport arrival, this was the first chance for fans to show their appreciation in person.

They were peaceful, too, unlike the scene in Vancouver following the end of the Stanley Cup finals on Wednesday night, and the commotion during a Cowboys championship parade in 1993.

Dallas police said the biggest problem was a fight that resulted in three arrests. There also were 145 minor medical treatments, mostly because of heat that approached 90 degrees. Nine people were taken to hospitals for heat exhaustion.

Nowitzki was the unquestioned star of the show, drawing the loudest cheers from start to finish – usually chants of “M! V! P!” There were German flags in the crowd, a sign calling him “Der Kaiser” and cut-out letters that spelled “Thank you Dirk.”

After the parade and before the rally, Nowitzki and his teammates went to the balcony of the arena and spoke briefly to the crowd. Nowitzki capped it by leading a rousing rendition of their new favorite song, “We Are The Champions.”

More singing came during the rally, when team owner Mark Cuban serenaded Nowitzki with “Happy Birthday”; he turns 33 on Sunday. Nowitzki got into it, too, pretending to conduct.

But this day had two other emotional crescendos for Nowitzki.

The first came when coach Rick Carlisle said, “You’re looking at the best basketball team on the planet. It’s also very clear we have in our presence the greatest basketball player on the planet.” The overhead jumbo board showed a close-up shot of Nowitzki wiping his eyes.

When it was Nowitzki’s turn to speak, his teammates and Cuban were among those standing and chanting “MVP.” Nowitzki bit his bottom lip and looked down. He was too overcome with emotion to answer the first question from co-emcee Chuck Cooperstein.

“It’s been an amazing ride, an amazing journey,” Nowitzki said. “It’s been a lot of ups and a lot of downs. This is the top of the iceberg. It feels absolutely amazing.”

He relived his journey from a 19-year-old draftee with a bowl cut and a bad earring – “just a bad look,” he said with a smile – to the greatest player in team history, a former league MVP and the newly minted finals MVP.

“I didn’t really know what to expect,” he said of his early days in Dallas. “It’s been an amazing ride and you guys have been with me every step of the way. This is for our fans!”

Another highly charged moment came when it was Cuban’s turn to speak.

He couldn’t.

The rambunctious billionaire determined to do things his way seemed awed by the moment, surely thinking about his own journey from a fan who used to buy scalped tickets to buying the club in January 2000.

When Cooperstein joked about this being “a long way from Reunion Arena,” Cuban just shook his head, lips pinched.

In came Carlisle to the rescue.

He grabbed the microphone and discussed something he said to the players a few days before, about the difference between success and fulfillment.

“Mark has had obvious success,” Carlisle said. “The thing you have to understand is, to him, it doesn’t matter the cost, it’s to be able to bring this moment to you. So, thanks.”

They hugged as fans stood and cheered. There were chants of “Thank you Mark,” and Cuban wiped his eyes several times. Once he felt composed, the guy who loves being the center of attention motioned for quiet.

He had a story to tell.

“The day I bought the team, but it had not yet been announced, I went out with some friends to have an adult beverage,” Cuban said. “I go into this bar and I see this tall, German, goofy-looking guy – with his bowl cut, earring – and I know I’m going to be his boss the very next day. He has no idea.

“So I walk up to him and say, ‘Yo. Let me buy you a beer.’ He just looks at me, shakes his head and walks away.

“The next day, we’re at (the practice facility). I’m supposed to get introduced to the team. I walk in the door and I walk up and I just look at him and he just shakes his head. That’s pretty much been our relationship for 13 years.”

The video board cut to Nowitzki several times during the anecdote and he couldn’t stop smiling and laughing.

There were all sorts of funny moments during the rally.

Brian Cardinal, a backup nicknamed “The Custodian,” came on the stage with a broom and dustpan. With a stogie in his mouth, he tidied up a bit, then waved his arms to loud applause. He cupped a hand to his ears, asking for them to be louder, then went back into the tunnel.

Jason Kidd was the first player to speak and he talked about it being “a dream came true when I was drafted by the Mavericks in 1994.”

“I just didn’t know it was going to take 17 years to win a championship,” he said. “We’ve got one championship, now we need to go and get another championship.”

Tyson Chandler upped expectations.

“I hear they do things big in Dallas,” he said. “So if we do it big, it can’t be just one.” He held up a hand and started flipping up fingers and counting, “One, two, three, four, five.”

Jason Terry wore dark glasses and a Mardi Gras-style blue necklace. He did his traditional flying airplane motion to wild cheers, then flexed his right biceps to show off the tattoo of the trophy he added in October and vowed to scrub if they didn’t win it all.

Terry and Nowitzki are the only holdovers from the Mavericks’ only other finals team – in 2006, when they blew a 2-0 lead against Miami. So this title is especially sweet for them.

“Not only the way we did it, who we did it against,” Terry said before the rally. “We’ll never forget it. We’ll never forget ’05-06 and we sure as heck won’t forget 2011.”

Fans filled the downtown streets starting early Thursday. The plaza around the arena was filled to its 3,000-person capacity about two hours before the parade even began.

Franchise founder Donald Carter and his wife, Linda, for whom he started the club as gift, were in the lead vehicle, a white convertible.

“Fantastic,” Carter said.

At the end of the parade, those who rode along said they were overwhelmed by the turnout – people as far as they could see.

“I’m numb,” said Donnie Nelson, the team’s president of basketball operations.

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Associated Press writers Linda Stewart Ball and Diana Heidgerd contributed.

Dirk Nowitzki lingered on the bench during timeouts, waiting for the horn to sound before getting up. When he made a key shot, he walked back on defense without so much as nodding in celebration.

He was sick. A sinus infection left him coughing and wheezing, his temperature spiking to 101 degrees. At tip-off, he was still worn out from hardly sleeping the night before.

Somehow, he managed the energy to play Game 4 of the NBA finals.

And, like a flu-ridden Michael Jordan in Game 5 of the 1997 finals, he still managed to lead his team to a pivotal victory.

Nowitzki struggled through the first three quarters, then willed himself and his team at the end. He scored 10 of his 21 points and grabbed five of his 11 rebounds in the final period, lifting the Dallas Mavericks to an 86-83 victory over the Miami Heat on Tuesday night that ties the NBA finals at two games.

This best-of-seven series has been reduced to a best-of-three. Game 5 is Thursday night in Dallas, and you can be sure Nowitzki will be suited up again.

“Hopefully I’ll get some sleep tonight, take some meds and be ready to go on Thursday,” he said, sniffing throughout his postgame interview with his warm-up jacket zipped all the way up, still in his uniform instead of changing into street clothes like the NBA prefers.

This victory guarantees the series will continue with a sixth game in Miami on Sunday. Everyone from the ratings-hungry folks at ABC to basketball fans across the world are probably rooting for a seventh game considering how things are going – three straight games decided by three points or less, with story lines ranging from Nowitzki’s heroics to Dwyane Wade’s spectacular play to the shrinking confidence of LeBron James.

Start with Nowitzki, since what he’s doing is the most dramatic.

He already won Game 2 by scoring the final nine points in a 22-5 rally, making two of his final three baskets left-handed, despite having torn a tendon at the tip of the middle finger in the previous game and struggling to find the right kind of splint. He scored Dallas’ final 12 points in a Game 3 rally that came up two points short.

Now there’s this effort, when Nowitzki went from making his first three shots to missing 10 of his next 11. He also missed a free throw for the first time since Game 4 of the conference finals, ending a streak of 39 straight.

When his illness was revealed along the way, his poor performance made sense.

When Dallas trailed 74-65 with 10:12 left, it also made sense that Miami would go up 3-1, taking a lead that’s never been overcome in the finals and only been blown eight times in any round of the playoffs.

But the Mavericks turned things around, outscoring the Heat 21-9 the rest of the way. Nowitzki was 2 of 5 during the rally, including a right-handed layup that spun in off the backboard with 14.4 seconds left, and made all six of his free throws.

“The average person, you know, has sick days and battling 100-something (fever), it’s just tough to get out of bed,” Dallas center Tyson Chandler said. “This guy is playing against the best athletes in the world.”

In ’97, Jordan scored 38 points when he was sick, lifting the Bulls to a victory that gave them a 3-2 series lead over Utah.

Asked to compare the two outings, Nowitzki said: “This is the finals. You have to go out there and compete and try your best for your team. So that’s what I did. I never thought about MJ’s performance. I was way off, looking at my line.” (For the record, his line was 6 of 19, 0 of 2 on 3-pointers, 9 of 10 on free throws.)

Until the final minute, Wade looked as if he was going to be the headliner.

He was a dominant player on both ends of the court, adding a block at the rim of a dunk attempt by the 7-foot-1 Chandler to his growing collection of highlights.

There also was a three-point play on a driving shot that seemed improbable to go in; he was hit across both arms while shooting and had to grab the rim before the ball went through just to keep from tumbling to the ground.

But with 30.1 seconds left, he missed a free throw. With 6.7 seconds left, he fumbled an inbounds pass. He chased it down and got it to Mike Miller for a 3-pointer that would’ve forced overtime, but it wasn’t even close to hitting the rim. Fans could tell how off-target it was and began roaring with delight while the ball was still in the air.

“I was kind of anxious because I saw an opening really fast, trying to get there before I caught the ball,” said Wade, who scored 32 points, his fifth time cracking 30 this postseason. “Obviously I would love to have that play back. We would love to have a lot of plays back. It happened. It was unfortunate.”

Then there was the LeBron James disappearing act.

“King James” made only 3 of 11 shots – a tip-in during the first quarter, then a 15-foot jumper and a breakaway dunk in the third quarter. Not only did he fail to score in the fourth, he took only one shot while playing all 12 minutes.

He finished with eight points, ending a double-figure scoring streak of 433 consecutive games, regular season and postseason. It was his fewest points ever in the playoffs.

It can’t be dismissed as one of those things because of how badly the Heat needed him when things were falling apart. Miami scored a series-low 14 points in the fourth quarter, committing six turnovers and making only 5 of 15 shots. They actually made their first two, so they missed 10 of their final 13.

“I’ve got to do a better job of being more assertive offensively,” said James, who nonetheless contributed nine rebounds and seven assists. “I’m confident in my ability. It’s just about going out there and knocking them down.”

The Heat came into this game thinking they should have been up 3-0. The Mavs felt they should have been up 2-1.

This game was all about figuring out whether Miami was going to run away with the championship, as many have expected since “The Decision” last summer, or if the plucky veterans from Dallas really had what it took to be champs for the first time.

Now it’s 2-2. Both teams are 1-1 at home, and all those stats about who wins under various circumstances seem pretty moot.

“This series is a jump ball,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “These guys live for these type of moments. It’s about execution and disposition in the fourth quarter, being able to close out. We have a golden opportunity in the next game.”

Jason Terry – who kick-started Dallas’ Game 2 comeback with six straight points, but was 0 for 7 in the fourth quarter of the other two games – got the Mavs going with consecutive baskets. He capped the winning rally with two free throws with 6.7 seconds left that forced Miami to need a 3-pointer to force overtime.

Carlisle shook up Dallas’ lineup, starting J.J. Barea instead of DeShawn Stevenson, and made Brian Cardinal the primary backup for Nowitzki, instead of Peja Stojakovic. His changes worked out quite nicely.

Stevenson scored 11 points, his first time in double digits since Feb. 2. Cardinal drew a charge on James early and provided seven solid minutes, giving Nowitzki much-needed rest.

Terry scored 17, Shawn Marion 16 and Chandler had 13 points and 16 rebounds. Chandler also played a team-high 43 minutes because his backup, Brendan Haywood, lasted only 3:05 while trying to play through a hip injury that kept him out of Game 3.

NOTES: Nowitzki has had two streaks of 39 straight free throws this postseason. He’s 33 of 34 (.971) this series and 163 of 174 (.937) this postseason. … Chris Bosh scored 24 points. Other than Miami’s three superstars, none of the Heat scored more than six. … Of the past 26 times the finals have been tied at 2, the Game 5 winner has won it all 19 times. Last year was among the exceptions, with the Celtics winning Game 5 and the Lakers taking the last two. … The 2006 finals between these teams also was tied 2-2, but Miami overcame an 0-2 deficit to win four straight. … This was only the second time in 140 postseason games that Jason Kidd has gone scoreless.

2011 Grammy winner for Best New Artist, Esperanza Spalding is a gifted bassist, vocalist and composer, blessed with uncanny instrumental chops, a multi-lingual voice that is part angel and part siren, and a natural beauty that borders on the hypnotic, the 25-year-old prodigy-turned-pro might well be the hope for the future of jazz and instrumental music.
As her latest release, Chamber Music Society, boldly states; Spalding is now attempting to fuse classical and jazz in a chamber music setting. She’s not the first jazz person to take this approach. Chamber jazz was around over a half-century ago, since the days of Dave Brubeck and the Modern Jazz Quartet. In fact, Spalding’s own quartet would seem on the conventional side, being composed of herself on bass fiddle, David Eggar on cello, Lois Martin on viola and Entcho Todorov on violin.

If anything, it’s Spalding’s overall fearlessness that’s the really impressive thing here. She’s not afraid to bring in the legendary Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento for the astounding Apple Blossom one moment, then to put a totally uninhibited spin to the chamber music world with instrumental pieces such as Knowledge of Good and Evil or Short and Sweet.
Spalding was born in 1984 and raised on what she calls “the other side of the tracks” in a multi-lingual household and neighborhood in Portland, Oregon. Growing up in a single-parent home amid economically adverse circumstances, she learned early lessons in the meaning of perseverance and moral character from the role model whom she holds in the highest regard to this day – her mother.

But even with a rock-solid role model, school did not come easy to Spalding, although not for any lack of intellectual acumen. She was both blessed and cursed with a highly intuitive learning style that often put her at odds with the traditional education system. On top of that, she was shut in by a lengthy illness as a child, and as a result, was home-schooled for a significant portion of her elementary school years. In the end, she never quite adjusted to learning by rote in the conventional school setting.

“It was just hard for me to fit into a setting where I was expected to sit in a room and swallow everything that was being fed to me,” she recalls. “Once I figured out what it was like to be home-schooled and basically self-taught, I couldn’t fit back into the traditional environment.”

However, the one pursuit that made sense to Spalding from a very early age was music. At age four, after watching classical cellist Yo Yo Ma perform on an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the roadmap was suddenly very clear. “That was when I realized that I wanted to do something musical,” she says. “It was definitely the thing that hipped me to the whole idea of music as a creative pursuit.”

Within a year, she had essentially taught herself to play the violin well enough to land a spot in The Chamber Music Society of Oregon, a community orchestra that was open to both children and adult musicians. She stayed with the group for ten years, and by age 15, she had been elevated to a concertmaster position.

But by then, she had also discovered the bass, and all of the non-classical avenues that the instrument could open for her. Suddenly, playing classical music in a community orchestra wasn’t enough for this young teenager anymore. Before long she was playing blues, funk, hip-hop and a variety of other styles on the local club circuit. “The funny thing was, I was the songwriter, but I had never experienced love before. Being the lyricist and the lead singer, I was making up songs about red wagons, toys and other childish interests. No one knew what I was singing about, but they liked the sound of it and they just ate it up.”

At 16, Spalding left high school for good. Armed with her GED and aided by a generous scholarship, she enrolled in the music program at Portland State University. “I was definitely the youngest bass player in the program,” she says. “I was 16, and I had been playing the bass for about a year and a half. Most of the cats in the program had already had at least eight years of training under their belts, and I was trying to play in these orchestras and do these Bach cello suites. It wasn’t really flying, but if nothing else, my teachers were saying, ‘Okay, she does have talent.’”

Berklee College of Music was the place where the pieces all came together and doors started opening. After a move to the opposite coast and three years of accelerated study, she not only earned a B.M., but also signed on as an instructor in 2005 at the age of 20 – an appointment that has made her the youngest faculty member in the history of the college. She was the 2005 recipient of the prestigious Boston Jazz Society scholarship for outstanding musicianship.

In addition to the studying and the teaching, the Berklee years also created a host of networking opportunities. Spalding had the chance to work with several notable artists, including pianist Michel Camilo, vibraphonist Dave Samuels, bassist Stanley Clarke, guitarist Pat Metheny, singer Patti Austin, and saxophonists Donald Harrison and Joe Lovano. “Working with Joe was terrifying,” she recalls, “but he’s a really generous person. I don’t know if I was ready for the gig or not, but he had a lot of faith in me. It was an amazing learning experience.”

Spalding’s journey as a solo artist began with the May 2008 release of Esperanza, her debut recording for Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, which went on to become the best selling album by a new jazz artist internationally in 2008. The highly acclaimed release was the first opportunity for a worldwide audience to witness her mesmerizing talents as an instrumentalist, vocalist and composer. The New York Times raved, “Esperanza has got a lot: accomplished jazz improvisation, funk, scat singing, Brazilian vernacular rhythm and vocals in English, Portuguese and Spanish. At its center is a female bassist, singer and bandleader, one whose talent is beyond question.”

Soon after release, Esperanza went straight to the top of Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart where it remained for over 70 weeks. Spalding was booked on the Late Show with David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live, the CBS Saturday Early Show, the Tavis Smiley Show, Austin City Limits and National Public Radio. Other highlights included two appearances at the White House, a Banana Republic ad campaign, the Jazz Journalists Association’s 2009 Jazz Award for Up and Coming Artist of the Year, the 2009 JazzWeek Award for Record of the Year, and many high profile tour dates, including Central Park SummerStage in New York and the Newport Jazz Festival. 2009 was capped by an invitation from President Obama to perform at both the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway – where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded – and also at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert.

In early 2010, Spalding was the subject of an in-depth profile in The New Yorker, she was also featured in the May 2010 Anniversary issue of O, The Oprah Magazine’s “Women on the Rise” (in a fashion spread that features portraits of 10 women who are making a difference in various careers), and she was again nominated by the Jazz Journalists Association for their 2010 Jazz Award for Up and Coming Artist of the Year.

If Esperanza marked a brilliant beginning for this gifted young artist, then Spalding’s August 2010 release, Chamber Music Society, sets her on an upward trajectory to prominence. Inspired by the classical training of her younger years, Spalding has created a modern chamber music group that combines the spontaneity and intrigue of improvisation with sweet and angular string trio arrangements. The result is a sound that weaves the innovative elements of jazz, folk and world music into the enduring foundations of classical chamber music traditions. Co-produced by Esperanza and Gil Goldstein (with string arrangements provided by both), Chamber Music Society finds Esperanza with a diverse assembly of musicians: pianist Leo Genovese, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, percussionist Quintino Cinalli, guitarist Ricardo Vogt, and vocalists Gretchen Parlato and the legendary Milton Nascimento. The string trio is comprised of violinist Entcho Todorov, violist Lois Martin and cellist David Eggar.

The man now known Raphael Saadiq grew up as Charlie Ray Wiggins in Oakland, California as part of a musically-inclined family. Later, Saadiq, his cousin and brother founded the R&B trio Tony! Toni! Toné!