This refers to the old murder case McNulty and Bunk investigate when they begin to suspect D'Angelo Barksdale was responsible for the murder. It also refers to the old shell cases the duo finds outside the house.

This refers to the annual East vs. West basketball game played in this episode. Avon coaches the West side, and we are introduced to the coach of the East, Proposition Joe. Bodie and Poot explain that the game is important not just for pride, but also because the loser of the game has to throw a party for both the East and West. East ends up winning, much to Avon’s chagrine.

Herc says this to Carver when he sees that street corners all over Baltimore are now empty. It’s intended to be ironic, because everyone knows that the War on Drugs isn’t going to be won overnight. The real reason the streets are empty is that everyone is watching the East vs. West basketball game coached by Avon and Prop Joe, and things return to normal as soon as the game gets out.

This is most obviously a reference to the stray bullets from Bodie’s gunfight that end up killing a 9 year old boy. It also refers to characters that begin to stray from their original plans or assignments.

• Daniels strays from Valchek’s orders to dig up dirt on Frank Sobotka and begins investigating more into this mysterious Greek
• Stringer strays from Avon’s insistence that they maintain their own corners when he trades territory for Prop Joe’s product

This is a play on the idiom “any port in a storm”, meaning that those in dire situations must accept any outside help available whether they like it or not.

This could refer to Avon reluctantly agreeing to take on Prop Joe’s package despite fighting against it for most of the season, Sergei cooperating with the police to reduce his sentence for the murder of the crewmember, and Bubbles working with Kima after she catches him and Johnny trying to rob medical supplies.

This is a pun involving Ziggy’s pet duck. It also refers to the coverup Frank embarks his men on once he realizes his dock is under surveillance from the police.

An ebb tide is the period of time following high tide, where the tide continues to diminish until it reaches low tide. This applies to many characters that are approaching rock bottom in the wake of the Barksdale investigation, but McNulty in particular since he is now in the Marine unit and literally dealing with these tides.

The title also refers to the tide that brings the dead body to McNulty’s boat. McNulty later proves that the body was originally dumped in the BPD’s jurisdiction then carried away by the tide, just so he can dump an extra murder on Rawls and his crew.