Stein is a pathetic fan boy that should be fired. He doesn't even pretend to not be biased. It's obvious plenty of the ESPN writers are biased, but you don't see the others essentially flaunting it in their writing. Stein makes no bones about his creepy love affair/obsession with Nowitzki (and to a lesser extent, Nash).
Another totally one sided piece in the Daily Dime today, where he says "LeBron and D-Wade have so little respect for the star on the other side" and "in a series where Nowitzki has been the clear cut best player, no less," among other comments that make it abundantly clear that he's an ardent Mavs supporter.
A national writer shouldn't be crying about this and taking shots at the opposition. And he's been constantly taking subtle shots at James and Wade the entire series (claiming Wade's going to the free throw line plenty in '06 were him looking for "bailouts"), while continuing to prop up Nowitzki to no end (with subtle shots at his "supporting cast" non stop), claiming he's the first "lone star" in this position since Olajuwon in '94. I guess he forgot Duncan in '03, which is funny, because he's the same guy who wrote about him playing 1-on-4 against the Lakers in '04.