We're live-blogging Game 2 of the Western Conference finals between the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight. (Broadcast on ESPN, 9 p.m. ET.)  The big question is whether Dirk Nowitzki can repeat his 48-point performance in Game 1, when he set a playoff record with 24 free throws without a miss.  Then again, maybe the bigger question is whether Nowitzki will be be able to outscore OKC's Kevin Durant, who had 40 last time out.  Who do you think will be more explosive, Dallas' big man or the Thunder's young two-time NBA scoring champion?  9:43: First quarter stats: Durant had 14 but was 0-for-3 on threes. Nowitzki had 7 and Jason Kidd was good for 6 on a pair of threes, plus 4 assists. Dallas turned it over two times, OKC three. OKC led on the boards, 12-9.  9:38: Stojakovic misses the long attempt at the horn. First quarter ends with Dallas ahead 31-26. Mavs have to feel good, but Thunder regrouped just in time when it was on the verge of getting out of hand.  9:36: J.J. Barea is in the house and gets his first basket.  9:34: Durant comes flying in from the wing for a jam, but gets a technical for some trash talk after the basket. Nowitzki hits the free throw, and Durant hits the plus-one. Dallas still leads 29-22. Under a minute left. Durant adds another basket, and has 14.  9:30: Stojakovic hits a rainbow-arc three. Jason Terry drives for another basket and the Mavs are up 28-17. Under 2 minutes left in the first.  9:27: Timeout, 3:38 left in the first, Mavs still lead, 23-17.  9:25: Nowitzki gets an early rest. Jason Terry is in and draws a quick foul. He hits 2 FTs, and Dallas is up 23-13 with 4:09 left in the first.  9:21: Perfect alley-oop pass from Kidd to Tyson Chandler for a sensational jam. And then Kidd and Chandler repeat it. Is there an echo in there? Mavs up 21-11 and a very lost OKC team needs another TO. 5 minutes left in the first.  9:20: So far, Durant has 7, Nowitzki and Kidd have 6 and Marion checks in with 5. Dallas is shooting 50%, OKC 55.6%.  9:17: Nowitzki adds a bucket, and the Thunder breaks down for an additional basket. Mavs up 17-11 and OKC needs a timeout with 6:06 left in the first.  9:15: Nowitzki makes his first trip to the line and naturally hits two. He ended the Lakers series with 7 straight, had 24 in Game 1 and now adds two more. That's 33 in a row.  9:13: Durant drills a short J. He already has 7 points, with 7:39 left in the first.  9:12: Durant hits one of two at the line. Nowitzki buries his first jumper. Mavs up 11-9.  9:10: Jason Kidd for a three. And Durant answers with a fastbreak two. But there's Kidd with a second three. He already has topped his Game 1 scoring.  9:10: Durant misses his first shot, but Westbrook is there for the OR and feeds Durant for the follow. 2-2.  9:08: Dallas is 6-0 at home in the playoffs. The Thunder haven't lost two in a row in this postseason. Something has to give tonight. And we're under way, as Dallas strikes first with a bucket from Shawn Marion.  9:04: Magic Johnson is predicting a triple-double for Russell Westbrook tonight. His ESPN colleague, Jon Barry, also says there will be a triple double, but that it will belong to Jason Kidd. If there indeed is a T-D, I think Westbrook is the far stronger candidate. Can't see Kidd getting 10 boards on those 38-year-old legs.  8:55: Mavs will be going for their eighth consecutive playoff victory tonight. And they'll seek that win at home against a team that hasn't been all that great on the road during the postseason. Thunder are 2-4 away from home during the playoffs.  8:50: Waiting for tipoff. Lot of chatter on ESPN about whether Nowitzki needs a championship to get included in the debate about "10 Greatest Players Ever." I don't think he's there, even with one ring. He was amazing in Game 1, but that's one game.  See photos of: Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA Playoffs  In a star-studded upfront presentation for advertisers Wednesday, CBS announced its prime-time schedule for the 2011-12 season.  Two new comedies were added to the network's slate. But neither of them will be based on ESPN NFL analyst and former offensive lineman Mark Schlereth.  CBS didn't include Home Game, which was based on the Schlereth's home life, on its schedule for next season. Schlereth confirmed the news on his Twitter page Wednesday.  The series' pilot starred Rob Riggle (Step Brothers, The Hangover) playing the Schlereth role, Constance Zimmer (Entourage) as his wife and Ken Marino (Party Down) as his brother.  This is the second sitcom about an ESPN personality CBS has passed on. The network also declined a series based on the life of Colin Cowherd that was set to star Damon Wayans and Eliza Dushku.  Dick Ebersol, one of the most powerful figures in TV sports, is leaving his post as chief of NBC Sports.  Mark Lazarus, currently president of NBC Sports Cable Group, will become the new Chairman of the NBC Sports Group, announced Steve Burke, chief executive officer of NBC Universal and executive vice president of Comcast, on Thursday.  The 63-year old Ebersol said in a statement: "What I have enjoyed most is working so closely with so many truly outstanding and incredibly talented people over decades of producing some of the greatest events in the world. Those relationships are what I cherish most. I have always said this business is about relationships and I have been fortunate enough to have more deep and meaningful friendships than any man could imagine...I simply want to say thank you to all of those people who have touched me so deeply throughout my career."  As first reported by the New York Times, Ebersol decided to resign after he could not come to a new contract agreement with Comcast, which recently completed its takeover of NBCUniversal.  The Associated Press reports said the move was because of a contract dispute and did not involve the network's negotiations with the International Olympic Committee over the broadcasting rights for upcoming games under its new partnership with Comcast.  Ernie Banks is famous for saying "Let's play two" in baseball. Jack Nicklaus has a different number in mind, 12. As in a 12-hole round of golf.  Nicklaus says the length of time it takes to play an 18-hole round is alienating many golfers, particularly youngsters who are used to playing most athletic contests in 2-3 hours.  "The kids are all playing soccer or lacrosse or basketball," Nicklaus told the Tennessean while in the Nashville area for the charity tournament of country star Vince Gill.  Nicklaus said he has had 12-hole scorecards made up at his Muirfield and Bear's Club courses and, "My seniors are loving it."  "It's the health of the game, the growth of the game, keeping people in the game, that I'm interested in," Nicklaus said.  See photos of: Jack Nicklaus  Football officials traditionally wear black and white, and in the state of Washington there apparently is zero-tolerance for the zebras adding a little pink to their appearance.  In a move that surely will be viewed as overbearing and heartless, 143 high school refs are being disciplined for using pink whistles to raise breast cancer awareness.  Radio station KIRO reports the Washington Officials Association will severely curb the refs' from playoff games for two years, and that their organization, the Pacific Northwest Football Officials Association, is on probation for three years.  The refs argued that there is no specific rule governing the color of whistles. PNFOA President Jeff Mattson also told KIRO that many of the officials had donated game checks to breast cancer-related causes, because many had been affected by the disease in some way.  When Mike Tyson was at the top of his boxing career the focus was always on his devastating punches, not his footwork. But now Iron Mike is showing he has the steps, on the Argentine version of Dancing With The Stars, while partnering with his wife. It's no Ali Shuffle, but it's not bad.  See photos of: Mike Tyson  Major sports, such as the NBA, are established enough that there rarely big swings in their TV ratings. But the LeBron James saga that kicked off with his midsummer TV special, combined with a contender in the USA's third-largest TV market, is producing boffo TV box office.  Wednesday's Eastern Conference Game 2 on TNT drew a 7.4 overnight rating -- translating into 7.4% of households in the 56 urban markets measured for overnights. That ties Sunday's 7.4 Miami-Chicago overnight -- which ended up with the biggest cable TV audience ever for an NBA game when national ratings were included -- and is up 30% from last year's Boston-Orlando Eastern Conference Game 2.  And Cleveland, ironically, was a big help. Predictably, the game got its highest local ratings in Chicago, where it drew 24.6% of local households, followed by Miami (22.4%) -- but the third highest-rated market was James' former home base, where the game drew 11.4%.  See photos of: LeBron James  Athletes and those connected to sports ranked high on Forbes Most Powerful Celebrities list.  POWER: Forbes list dotted by athletes  Twenty-one sports people were on the list that measured wealth, TV/radio ranking, press ranking, web ranking and social ranking.  Tiger Woods was No. 6 and the highest athlete. Phil Mickelson was No. 36.  LeBron James was No. 10 with teammate Dwayne Wade at No. 57. Kobe Bryant was No. 14 and Dwight Howard No. 59.  Alex Rodriguez was No. 49 with teammate Derek Jeter at No. 69.  Tom Brady was No. 55 and his wife Gisele Bundchen was No.60.  Sisters Serena and Venus Williams were No.84 and No. 86.  See photos of: Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Alex Rodriguez, Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, Phil Mickelson, Derek Jeter, Dwyane Wade, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Gisele Bundchen  Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes. -- Roger Murdock  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the greatest players in both college and pro basketball, feels slighted because the Los Angeles Lakers have not erected a statue of him in front of Staples Center.  Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Wayne Gretzky, Oscar De La Hoya and broadcaster Chick Hearn all have statues outside of the arena.  Abdul-Jabbar tells Sporting News that "I don't understand. It's either an oversight or they're taking me for granted. I'm not going to try to read people's minds, but it doesn't make me happy. It's definitely a slight. I feel slighted."  And in a statement he added:  "I am highly offended by the total lack of acknowledgment of my contribution to Laker success. I guess being the linchpin for five world championships is not considered significant enough in terms of being part of Laker history."  Lakers spokesman John Black said the next statue of a player will be Abdul-Jabbar but the all-time great tweeted .."don't hold your breath. The Lakers don't care about me."  Kareem was on Mike and Mike this morning, and said he was to blame for some of his communication problems with the Lakers. Asked by Mike Golic about his reputation of sometimes being difficult to deal with, Abdul-Jabbar said:  "There was no head-butting. I showed up for practice on time. I didn't cause any problems." But he added that: "I kept to myself. That's been my problem. I've been reclusive. I've been shy my whole life . . . I didn't do a good job dealing with it."  Kareem said he expected things to get smoothed over with the Lakers: "Oh yeah, the relationship absolutely can be repaired . . . I got a call from Lakers management, from Linda Rambis, saying they're going to take care of it. Things will absolutely work themselves out ... I think the poor communication has gone both way sometimes."  Kareem said he felt slighted when he was asked to take a salary cut while the team was paying Phil Jackson more than $10 million to coach, and that he also was offended by giving seats on Lakers flights in the back of the plane when spacious seats were available up front.  "It's just about a whole lot of smaller incidents that, as they pile up on you, you get the feeling you don't mean anything to them," he said.  "I've never been this vocal about anything," he said. "I've always tried to stay out of the fray and not be an object of controversy."  And Kareem made it clear he feels the Lakers have taken care of Magic Johnson, but not him. Asked about his relationship with Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, he answered: "It's okay . . . When you look at what he did for Earvin and what he did for me, big disparity there."  See photos of: Lakers, Magic Johnson, Oscar De La Hoya  Besides recording hot singles, fighting to pass controversial laws as a congressman in the Philippines and possibly preparing for a third match against Juan Manuel Marquez, we now know the world's best pound-for-pound boxer Manny Pacquiao also likes to lay out comedians who think they can take his best punch.  Filming a segment for his Comedy Central series Tosh.0 that aired this week, Daniel Tosh climbed into the ring and took a shot in the face from the champ.  And based on his swipe at the end of the segment, Tosh is eager to see Floyd Mayweather Jr. take Pacquiao's best shots too.  If you click ahead, proceed with caution as the segment contains language some audiences won't find acceptable.  See photos of: Manny Pacquiao  The Heat are who we thought they were.  Miami's 85-75 win in Chicago last night did exactly what was needed for the visitors. The Heat can now win the Eastern Conference finals without having to win another game on the road in a series that coach Erik Spolestra calls "an absolute street fight."  Helping in that fight was co-captain Udonis Haslem who begged Spoelstra to get him in the game. He responded with 13 points and five rebounds and said after "no rebounds, no rings."  HEAT WIN: James leads Miami to tie series  LIVE BLOG: How the Heat won  GAME 2 PREVIEW: Mavericks vs. Thunder  Just a few days after being humiliated by the Bulls and having their championship credentials questioned, the Heat have pulled themselves back to being eye-to-eye with the Bulls.  "The series has just started," said LeBron James, who scored 29 points in the win. "It's 1-1. We're excited that we were able to come here and get a win. But it's just started."  After being dominated in Game 1, the Heat flashed the game's second best rated defense holding the Bulls to 28-82 shooting including 12-38 for Derrick Rose and Luol Deng.  "We got that one that we needed," Wade said. "Now, we go home (the teams play Sunday) and we've got to take care of business. This team right here is like us. They can win at home and on the road."  Momentum is a tricky thing in any game much less a seven-game series. Has it now swung south?  While we wait for weekend action, here is some good work by some good people that we might have missed while sleeping or wondering if baseball in Cleveland can erase the bad taste basketball left this season.  The Huddle: Fans believe NFL owners to blame.  Columnist Christine Brennan writes about the long odds facing Tiger Woods.  Columnist Mike Lopresti opines that the Bulls could have used the Oprah factor.  Is there a Triple Crown in Animal Kingdom's future?  Bryce Harper won't be wearing a Major League uniform this season.  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is looking for a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar statue.  Here is RotoWorld's mock NBA draft.  Jim Calhoun still thinking about the future.  Ohio State won't cover Jim Tressel's legal costs.  Maya Moore now part of the Jordan Brand.  Dean Smith began fighting for civil rights in high school.  He may not have played much but Shaq had fun in Boston.  You can locate USA TODAY Sports on Facebook by clicking here. To locate Reid Cherner on Twitter, click here. To tap into Tom Weir's tweets, knock here. For Mike McCarthy you can go here. And for Michael Hiestand click here. And to keep posted on the Game On! tweeter posts, tap here.  See photos of: Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade, Oprah Winfrey, Derrick Rose, Jim Calhoun, Luol Deng, Udonis Haslem, Maya Moore  We live-blogged Game 2 of the Bulls-Heat playoff series tonight. Heat win, 85-75, to even the series at 1-1. Game 3 at Miami won't be until Sunday. (But we'll be back Thursday night, live-blogging Game 2 of the Dallas-Oklahoma City series.)  11:23: Final Miami stats: LeBron James led everybody with 29 points and scored 9 of Miami's final 11 points. He also checked in with 10 rebounds and 3 steals, which more than atoned for his 5 turnovers. Dwyane Wade poured in 24, and the little guy also had 9 rebounds and 2 blocks. Chris Bosh had a quiet 10 points and 8 boards. Udonis Haslem was the big surprise, getting 13 key points off the bench, most of them in the third quarter, which is where Miami had been getting killed all season by the Bulls. Haslem, injured most of the season, also had 5 rebounds in his 23 minutes. Miami shot 47.1%, was 18-for-24 from the line but was amiss on threes, going 3-for-13. Perhaps most importantly, Miami won the battle of the boards after getting trashed there in Game 1. This time the Heat won that count, 45-41. LeBron, talking to TNT right after the game, didn't claim an advantage, saying, "No, it's just started."  11:15: Final Chicago stats: Bulls couldn't find a shooting groove and finished at 34.1% after starting both halves very cold. Derrick Rose had 21 points, but was 7-for-23 and added 8 assists and 6 rebounds. Luol Deng had 13 on 5-for-15 shooting. Joakim Noah was god for 9 points and 8 rebounds. Carlos Boozer contributed only 7 points on 3-for-10 shooting, and had 8 boards. Bulls were a lousy 16-for-26 from the line, and only 3-for-20 on threes.  11:11: Game over. Miami wins 85-75 and squares the series. Back in a couple with final stats.  11:10: Wade hits one of two at the line. Miami up 10.  11:08: LeBron again, on a long fadeaway. That looked like match point. Miami up by 9, 84-75, with 47.3 seconds left. LeBron has 9 of Miami's last 11 points.  11:07: LeBron gets the putback, Miami up 7 and pulling away here. Just 1:01 left.  11:06: Noah hacks Wade, and he hits both FTs for an 80-75 lead with 2:06 left.  11:05: Gibson scores but can't add the plus-one. Miami up by 3.  11:04: LeBron called for walking, and he's not happy.  11:00: Five straight points by LeBron, as he gets free by working the pump fake. Miami up 78-73 with 3:14 left. Timeout.  10:59: LeBron nails a three, his first basket of the fina quarter. Miami up 76-73. LeBron has 25.  10:58: And here's another timeout. Heat need to stop the bleeding on Wade's elbow. Still 4:36 left.  10:56: Play resumes. Big Three are 0-for-5 in the fourth quarter for Miami. Noah back in the game for Bulls after a long rest.  10:53: Rose has an air ball, and Chicago misses a chance to grab the lead. But the Bulls are on a 17-6 run. Miami is 1-for-7, and the Heat's Big Three haven't scored in more than 10 minutes. Still tied at 73, 4:36 left.  10:48: Timeout with 6:37 left and everything tied up at 73. Rose has 21, Lebron 20, Wade 21 and Bosh 10.  See photos of: LeBron James, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, NBA Playoffs  ESPN could be described as the Worldwide Leader in feuds, clashing egos and corporate back-biting, according to a new behind-the-scenes history of the sports TV giant on sale May 24.  INTERVIEW: Game On interview with author  The book , Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, expertly details ESPN's meteoric rise from rink-dinky cable network in 1979 to one of the world's most successful, dominant sports brands.  But the happy-go-lucky world of jocks, anchors and mascots in those "This is SportsCenter" commercials is the opposite of reality, according to the book.  Like many companies, the real ESPN is riven by resentment, jealousies and corporate infighting. In the last chapter alone, several big names -- including Chris Berman, Tony Kornheiser and Bill Simmons -- settle old scores.  The nice thing about the new book by Jim Miller and Tom Shales is it's an "oral history" so readers get quotes directly from the more than 500 people interviewed.  Here's some of the biggest feuds and on-air embarrassments in the new book from Little, Brown & Co.:  * Chris Berman vs. Tony Kornheiser: Apparently, ESPN's two biggest on-air personalities make no secret of hating each other's guts. Never more so than when Kornheiser invaded Berman's NFL turf as an awkward everyman on Monday Night Football. Kornheiser says Berman accused him of spreading the rumor that Berman tried to pick up a woman in bar.  "The whole time I was on Monday Night Football, Chris Berman never mentioned my name. He loathes me, in part because of the stuff I used to write about him," says Kornheiser in the book.  Counters Berman: "In the mid-90's, somebody said I was in a bar and used a pickup line on a woman wearing a leather bra and she left with me. I really didn't know what they were talking about. But a colleague of mine, Mr. Kornheiser, chose to run with it, and the Internet chose to run with it for years. I don't even know what 'it' is but it's a very dangerous thing, especially when a colleague piles on and gives credence to it."  *Jim Gray vs. ESPN: Gray accuses ESPN of running away from him after the negative reaction to his exclusive interview with LeBron James, The Decision, in which Gray dawdled through numerous questions (such as whether the NBA superstar bites his nails) before getting to the only one that mattered: would James stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers or jump to another team?  Gray, a former ESPN reporter turned freelance TV journalist, says ESPN was totally on-board with his approach to the interview. "So to throw me under the bus and say, like, 'Our hands are off this. We didn't pay him. He's not a part of it. We wouldn't have had anything to do with it.' Come on!"  John Skipper, ESPN's executive vice president of content, issues a mea culpa for giving James and Gray control over ESPN's air-time, commercial inventory and, ultimately, its editorial integrity. "Look, I did the deal. This was a fault of mine."  * Bill Simmons vs. Mike Tirico: Simmons, ESPN's top online columnist, accuses the MNF play-by-play announcer of undermining Kornheiser and causing his departure from the show.  "I thought how (Tirico) acted was unforgivable and I continue to feel bad for Tony. He never wanted to work with Tony. He made a decision that he wasn't going to sell him at all and that he was going to undermine him as subtly as he could."  Tirico responds that Kornheiser, co-host of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, may have been miscast as an NFL game analyst. "People come to the game for the game itself."  * Kornheiser vs.Hannah Storm: ESPN nailed Kornheiser with a two-week suspension (costing him about $40,000 in salary) for saying on his radio show that Storm was wearing a "horrifying," tight-fitting outfit that made her into a "Holden Caulfield fantasy."  Storm says the comment quickly "blew up" on the Internet. "I received really nasty e-mails, really hateful stuff about my clothes. Even voice-mails," she says.  Kornheiser responds he didn't do anything nearly as nasty as some of his co-workers who were suspended or fired for their missteps. "I was suspended for saying something about a co-worker I shouldn't have said, and I apologized."  * Jim Everett attacks Jim Rome: One of the most memorable on-air moments came when NFL quarterback Jim Everett overturned a table and went after Jim Rome for calling him "Chris Everett."  Everett says the tough-talking Rome curled up in a "fetal" position like a "little bunny." Says Rome: "The whole thing unraveled on me."  * Joe Namath tries to kiss Suzy Kolber: The female sideline reporter recalls how the former New York Jets QB looked at her during an on-air interview and said, "I want to kiss you." Kolber: "I'm thinking how do I get out of this?"  Producer Jay Rothman recalls Namath fell flat on his face at halftime, a pratfall not shown to the viewers at home. "That's how stinking drunk he was," Rothman says.  When the guys who run the deli in the ESPN commercial see this clip, they might want to change the name of the Esposito sandwich to something else (The McHale? The Neely? The Bourque?).  Speaking to Fox's Tampa Bay affiliate before the NHL Eastern Conference finals series between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning, former Bruin Phil Esposito said he "could give one damn about Boston."  Esposito played nine of his 19 years in Boston and helped lead the Bruins to their two most recent Stanley Cup wins in 1970 and 1972. He said in the Fox piece it was "his favorite place in the world" to play.  But that was the past. Esposito helped establish the Lightning in 1992, served as the team's first president and general manager and he's now in the booth as a radio color commentator. And you always back the team that pays you. He said:  "Tampa Bay is my home. The Lightning are like my child. I gave birth to it. It took everything that I had physically ... and probably mentally."  (Hat tip: Zuri Berry, Boston.com)  See photos of: Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning
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