The NBA treated us to two exciting finals last night, when the Heat outscored the Nets 106-105 and in double overtime, the Suns outscored the Clippers 125-118. The Heat’s victory eliminates the Nets (4-1) and the Suns’ victory gives them a 3-2 lead in their series with the Clippers (resumes Thursday night in Los Angeles).

My bye game for Wednesday is Min Twins over Det Tigers at 7:05 ET. Got a gift from the “gods of the game” last night with the Suns, extending my playoff streak to 5-1 83% since last Wednesday. I’m ‘shooting’ Wednesday with an exclusive LEGEND Play (4-0 in this year’s postseason) plus another 15* Game 5 Showdown. My MLB for Wednesdays will be available at 1:00 ET.

Both home teams won giving the home teams a five-game winning streak since Sunday night’s Suns/Clippers game. They are now 12-6 SU in the second round, going 8-10 ATS. Both games were over, as the high scoring continued into this year’s postseason. In the first round, nine of their last 10 games went over the total and in the second they went over 13 of 18 games. The biggest bettors now have more than 15.4 games, cashing in 78.6 percent of their ‘tickets’ in the last 28 playoff contests.

‘Players’ following the ‘Zig-Zag’ theory have had a successful run to date in the second round, as playing ‘in’ the SU loser from the previous game has them 5.6 games up with a 10-4 record. (71.4 percent). However, this can change quickly, as we saw in the first round. The “Zig Zag” theory opened the first round with 19-8-2 ATS but finished the round on a 0-8 ATS streak, showing just one win (plus 1.4 games) for the effort.

In last night’s NJ/Mia game, the Nets’ trio of Carter, Jefferson and Kidd combined for 86 points (Carter and Jefferson had 33), but it wasn’t enough to lead the Nets past the Heat, who had six players who scored in double figures (Walker led the way with 23). Miami, after losing Game 1 100-88, has won four straight. Teams that have fallen behind 3-1 in a seven-game series are now just 8-156 all-time. Are the Mavs and Spurs listening?

In Phoenix, the Suns blew a 19-point third-quarter lead and Cassell sent the game into overtime with a 3-pointer for the Clippers. So it was the Suns’ Bell who hit a 3-pointer late in the first overtime, before the Suns outscored the Clippers by seven points in the second overtime (for the front page!). Three Clippers played 50 minutes or more (Brand, Cassell and Mobley), while two Suns did (Bell and Marion).

Teams that win Game 5 of a seven-game series when tied at 2-all have won 165 of 183 times in NBA playoff history. That’s a winning percentage of .855. Breaking those numbers down further reveals that the teams that won Game 5 at home are 118-10 (.922), while the teams that won Game 5 on the road are 47-18 (.723). Are the Cavs and Pistons listening?

wednesday games

The Cavs and Pistons kick off tonight in Detroit at 7:05 ET on TNT. The Mavs and Spurs will follow from San Antonio at 9:35 ET. The Pistons are favored by 11 points with a total of 179, while the Spurs are favored by five points with a total of 191 1/2.

The Pistons were scoreless in both losses in Cleveland, getting just 77 and 72 points while shooting 39.4 and shooting 33.3 percent. Detroit was completely stifled in the second halves of both games, scoring 35 points and 34 points, while being outscored in the fourth quarter of Game 3 (33-21) and Game 4 (21-13). Will going home make a difference? The Pistons have averaged 106.6 points per game in five playoff games at home, shooting 48 percent.

As for the Cavs, James played all 48 minutes in each of the last three games of this series and neither Ilgauskas (7.0-6.5) nor Gooden (7.0-5.5) were much help in Cleveland’s two wins. Hughes is likely to miss his third straight game (perhaps not a big deal, since he only shot 31 percent in the playoffs). Can Cleveland players like Marshall, Murray, Snow and Varejao play as well in Detroit as they did in Cleveland?

The Mavs have won three straight over the Spurs (113.3 PPG average) after losing Game 1, 87-85. Devin Harris has been one of the main reasons, averaging 20.7 points per game and shooting 58.3 percent over the three games (he was inserted as the starter for Game 2). Nowitzki scored just 10 baskets in the two wins at Dallas, but made 35 of 39 FT, leading the way for the Mavs who shot 125 FT in the three wins, shooting 102 (.816).

The Spurs have been one of the best defensive teams in the league for years (they ranked second in PPG allowed this year with an 88.8 average), but they haven’t been able to stop the Mavs from being aggressive (leading to the large number of of FT attempts). ) nor have they been able to force turnovers (Dallas has just 32 in the three wins). As mentioned yesterday, San Antonio is 0-5 in history when trailing in this series (since 1997).

MLB ratings

The Cleveland Indians ended the longest active losing streak in MLB last night (they had lost six in a row), when Travis Hafner’s two-run HR capped a three-run ninth, giving the Indians a 6-4 victory over the Royals. I’ll have to check the official record book though, as I’m not sure what to beat the Royals, who own the worst record in MLB at 10-26 (including a pathetic 2-18 on the road), really count!

San Francisco beat the Astros in Houston last night 14-3, following a 10-1 victory in Houston on Monday. Even though his team scored 24 runs in two days, Barry Bonds extended his home run-less streak to 26 at-bats. Also noteworthy in this game was the fact that Jamey Wright got the win. Why the big deal? Wright entered the game 0-12 with a 7.35 ERA in 17 previous appearances against the Astros. Last night he was banking on a 5-0 lead before taking the mound and pitched seven innings, allowing six hits and three runs.

The Rangers jumped the Yankees early last night, taking leads 9-0 (2nd) and 10-1 (3rd). However, the Yanks won 14-13, matching the biggest comeback in club history. It was the fourth time in team history the Yankees had won after trailing by nine runs. The last time they did was against the Red Sox (6/26/87), when Roger Clemens was Boston’s starting pitcher in that game! The two teams combined for 33 hits and 27 runs last night.

The Tigers own the longest active winning streak at five games (the Tigers are also the top “money makers” in the league at $1,270+) and host the Twins tonight. The pitching matchup is noteworthy, as Johan Santana takes on Detroit phenom Justin Verlander. The Reds, who have lost four in a row (longest active losing streak) are in Pittsburgh, which owns the worst record in the National League at 12-27, as well as being the worst money-burners in MLB (minus $1,468). .

All 30 teams are back in action tonight (15 games), with the first interleague games of the season just two days away.

Ness Notes is available at 1:00 ET Monday through Friday.