Basketball World

DALLAS -- Dirk Nowitzki thrust both arms in the air, a sea of blue screaming around him and the Dallas Mavericks finally ahead in these ultra-close NBA Finals.

Now it really is "now or never" for LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

Nowitzki scored 29 points, driving for the go-ahead dunk with 2:45 remaining, and the Mavericks beat the Heat 112-103 on Thursday night to take a 3-2 lead.

Five years after going up 2-0 on the Heat, the Mavs finally got that elusive third victory, and can wrap up their first championship in Game 6 at Miami on Sunday night.

"We didn't want to go to Miami and give them basically two shots to close us out. So we kept plugging there in the fourth. So definitely a big win for us," Nowitzki said. "And now we have to go down there and basically approach Sunday's game as Game 7."

James, who called this game "now or never," responded from his worst playoff performance with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and Dwyane Wade battled through a sore left hip after a first-quarter collision to finish with 23 points.

"I could have made a couple of more plays for my team," James said. "But at the end of the day, all it's about is a win or a loss. Triple-double means absolutely nothing in a loss. So we will be better in Game 6 on Sunday."

Chris Bosh had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who get the final two games at home with history against them as they try to win a title in their first season together: In the 26 previous finals that were tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner won 19 of them.

"We fought hard all season for home-court advantage. We're down 3-2," Bosh said. "We protect home court, we win the series, so we just have to keep that in mind."

The Mavs shot 60 percent through three quarters, briefly gave up the lead in the fourth, then outscored Miami 17-4 in the final 4:23, controlling the final few minutes just as they had in thrilling comebacks in Games 2 and 4.

Dallas shot 56.5 percent from the field, including 13 of 19 (68 percent) from 3-point range.

"We made more shots," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "We did a lot of good things defensively, which led to good offense. ... You never know when the games are going to go that way. The thing we've got to do is we've got to make sure our defense is consistent."

Terry scored 21 points and J.J. Barea had 17 for the Mavs, who insisted at some point their shots would start falling even against the Heat's stingy defense. Jason Kidd and Tyson Chandler both finished with 13 points.

"We are getting the same looks we knew we would get," Terry said. "After Games 1 and 2, you watch it on film, you see it and then you realize you're going to have the opportunities. I said to myself, I said to my teammates, we're not going to continue to miss those open shots that we're getting."

Their offense was simply too good, despite a good bounceback for James.

James scored eight points, going just 3 of 11 in Game 4, the first time in 90 postseason games he didn't hit double figures. Trying to pump himself during a rough first finals in Miami in which he's been accused of everything from "shrinking" to "checking out" in the fourth quarters, he wrote "Now or Never!!" on his Twitter page early Thursday morning, later calling this the biggest game of his career.

But they feel the same urgency in Dallas, where the slogan "The Time is Now" is printed on those blue T-shirts that surround the court, and where the Mavs are loaded with 30-somethings -- late 30s, in Kidd's case -- who could be on their last shot at an NBA title.

Nowitzki said early Thursday he felt "great," having shaken the fever that rose to 101 degrees in Game 4. This time, the health concern was Wade, who banged his hip in the first quarter and appeared to be limping at various points from there.

"I don't talk about injuries," Wade said. "It was unfortunate I had to leave the game, but I came back and finished it."

He remained in the locker room to start the second half, coming back onto the court about the midway point of the period. By then, the Mavs seemed in too good a groove to be cooled off no matter who Miami had out there.

A disgusted Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was already walking onto the court to call time by the time Chandler went up to dunk after catching the ball all alone under the basket, giving Dallas a nine-point lead that matched its largest of the series. Miami stormed into the lead midway through the fourth with a 9-0 run, all layups, dunks and free throws until Wade's 3-pointer made it 99-95 with 4:38 to play.

The Mavs tied it at 100 on Terry's 3-pointer with 3:23 left, and after James missed, Nowitzki drove for a baseline dunk and a 102-100 lead. James was called for an offensive foul and missed a 3-pointer on Miami's next two possessions before Kidd drilled a 3-pointer to make it 105-100, sending the crowd into a delirious chant of "Beat the Heat! Beat the Heat!"

The teams were at the same point as their 2006 matchup after four games, but that one was already in the midst of a massive swing by then. Miami won the final four games behind Wade, the MVP of that series.

This one has been developing into one of the closest finals the NBA has ever seen. Games 2-4 were decided by three points or fewer. That hadn't happened in the championship round since 1948, according to STATS, LLC, when the Baltimore Bullets and Philadelphia Warriors played Games 2-4 within a three-point margin during the Basketball Association of America finals, a year before that league merged with the National Basketball League to become the NBA.

The first four games were determined by 15 total points, the fewest since a 12-game difference between the Celtics and Lakers in the 1969 finals.

And all eyes were on James, just as they have been since he bolted Cleveland for a better shot at a championship in Miami.

He vowed to be more aggressive after his puzzling Game 4. He caught the ball in the post more frequently, but his jumper was still off for much of the game.

James threw up an airball with his left hand on his first shot, and when he did finally score, the Mavs quickly came back with six straight points for an early 13-6 lead, a promising start for a team that had been playing from behind nearly all series.

Wade walked gingerly to the locker room with a left hip contusion with about 3 minutes left in the period after colliding with Mavs reserve Brian Cardinal on a drive to the basket, and didn't return to the bench until more than 3 minutes into the second.

James had a basket inside that gave Miami a six-point lead with 4:26 left in the half, but Dallas closed with a 14-5 push, taking a 60-57 edge to the locker room after Nowitzki's jumper with 6.1 seconds remaining. The Mavs shot 12 of 17 in the quarter, and after not reaching 30 points in any period through four games, hit that number in each of the first two quarters of Game 5.

Game notes
Last year was one of the few times the Game 5 winner in a 2-2 finals didn't win the series. Boston went to Los Angeles with a 3-2 lead but the Lakers won the remaining games. ... In Games 1-3 combined, the Mavs led for a total of 35 minutes and 41 seconds, according to STATS. In Game 5, the Mavs led for a total of 30:59.




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DALLAS — For the first three games of the NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks’ supporting cast received plenty of criticism for not lending leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki enough assistance.

Tuesday night, with Mavericks trying to avoid falling in a 1-3 hole and Nowitzki knocked off his game while battling a fever due to a sinus infection, the team’s unsung heroes sent a resounding message to their critics, as the Dallas squad evened up the championship series against the Miami Heat at two games apiece with a 21-9 run to conclude a come-from-behind, 86-83 victory on the American Airlines Center floor.

"Obviously their supporting cast did a good job," Heat superstar Dwyane Wade said of the Mavericks' role players after suffering the loss. "They've been getting pounded by [the media] for the last 48 hours. So, there's a lot of pride. They came out and played well. They had a lot of different guys do a lot of good things."

Needing a spark of energy and a dose of instant offense, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle headed into Game 4 knowing that it was time to shake things up. And with his team looking to avoid a nearly insurmountable hole at the hands of the Heat, Carlisle made a change in his starting lineup, seating swingman DeShawn Stevenson in favor of reserve J.J. Barea to add the undersized guard’s ability to penetrate the lane to the first unit.

With the change in place and backup big man Brendan Haywood back from a one-game hiatus with a strained right hip flexor, the Mavericks took the floor looking to rebound from Sunday night’s 88-86 defeat while also trying to even the series in the middle matchup of three straight in Dallas.

The strategy appeared to work early on in the opening quarter, with point guard Jason Kidd drawing the defensive assignment on two-time MVP LeBron James while forward Shawn Marion slid to Wade. Meanwhile, Nowitzki went right back to work after his 34-point, 11-rebound performance in Game 3, scoring the game's first six points with an array of jumpers before his counterpart, Dallas native Chris Bosh, matched him with a 6-0 spurt of his own.

Nowitzki then got support from sixth man Jason Terry off the Dallas bench while Stevenson relieved Marion, but the Heat’s ability to control the offensive glass and force the Mavericks into turnovers — coupled with a technical foul call on Carlisle for arguing with officiating — kept the visiting Miami team in the game, with the two squads heading into the second stanza tied at 21-all.

Despite shooting just 29 percent in the first period compared to Dallas’ 50 percent, the Heat’s nine offensive rebounds made up for an inability to make shots through 12 minutes of play. The second quarter would be more of the same.

Although he was able to get into the lane at will, Barea had a hard time finishing once he got close to the basket early in the second quarter. Simultaneously, the Heat capitalized off the missed opportunities, opening the period on a 7-0 run. But Stevenson’s trifecta of 3-pointers stopped the bleeding, trimming the Heat’s lead to just two before Nowitzki tied the game at 34-34 with a vintage fadeaway jumper over Joel Anthony midway through the period.

"[Stevenson] stayed with it," Terry said of his teammate after being lifted from the starting lineup. "His confidence was there. He knew where his shots were going to come, and the defensive job he's doing in this series is very underrated. He's having to guard both [James and Wade] for the majority of the time, and I think he's holding his own. He's doing an outstanding job."

"He's a pro," Carlisle added with praise for Stevenson. "He just kept himself ready all year. The 3's he knocked down in the first half were huge, because we were fighting through some deficits. And he was one of the guys that set the tone defensively for us."

The Mavs continued to ride the momentum for most of the first half, taking the lead on a Terry jumper followed by the star reserve’s transition feed to a trailing Marion. But a Wade and Bosh-led spurt to close the half gave the Heat a 47-45 edge entering the break, as the Mavs headed to the locker room looking to come back ready to attack in the final 24 minutes of play.

With James held to just four points at the midway point, the Heat turned to the other two components of their Big Three, with Bosh leading all scorers with 16 first-half points while Wade pitched in 13 points. Stevenson’s 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting from behind the 3-point arc paced the Mavs, with Nowitzki and Terry combining to add 17 points to the cause. Meanwhile, the Dallas team finished the half getting outrebounded by the Heat, 24-18, while also being bettered by the visiting Miami squad in the shooting department, 45.2 percent to 43.2 percent.

Battling triple-digit temperatures, Nowitzki came out of the intermission looking to attack after shooting 4-for-10 in the first 24 minutes of action. But with the 7-footer clearly off his game due to the illness, Barea and Marion took charge, with the young lead guard’s penetration breaking down the Heat’s defense while Marion scored at the rim.

Marion continued to take over the scoring responsibilities while Nowitzki battled his ailments, with a 26-for-26 stretch from the foul line in the Finals series and 37 straight overall coming to a close for the 10-time All-Star in the period. But a thunderous alley-oop connection from James to Wade not only sucked some of the air out of the American Airlines Center, it also set the Heat up with a 69-65 edge heading to the fourth quarter.

The Heat then benefited from a six-point swing to start the final period, with Stevenson missing on a corner 3 while sharpshooter Mike Miller cashed in from the same spot at the other end of the floor. It would lead to 5-0 spurt, as Miami grabbed its largest lead of the night at 74-65 with 10:11 remaining for the Mavs to respond.

"I think it didn't look good there in the fourth quarter when we were down nine," Nowitzki confessed, "but energy and defense really picked us up. Didn't shoot the ball well, again, had some good looks there in the fourth, but our defense grinded it out."

Not to be forgotten, however, was Terry, whose back-to-back scores gave the Mavericks a lift while looking to stem a comeback attempt. At the same time, Nowitzki began his attack on the Miami defense, looking to answer Wade’s end-to-end play — using a spectacular block on center Tyson Chandler which led to his own layup on offense — for the Heat.

But it would be Terry that would give the Mavs a 79-78 lead after a defensive stop and long outlet feed from Stevenson, as the former Sixth Man of the Year exploited his matchup with James to put his team in front, before Chandler continued a growing run with a 1-for-2 trip at the foul line to put the Mavericks up a deuce with 4:36 remaining.

"Being aggressive, looking to attack instead of settling for the jump shot," Terry said when describing his play down the stretch. "[James'] length obviously is going to bother me if I shoot it in his face. It's going to be contested. So, percentages on those shots are going to go down. But if I can get in the paint and draw the defense and then make the pass or make the shot, then that's going to be advantages for us. That's something I looked to do tonight."

The spurt would conclude at 17-4 with Nowitzki at the line and the Mavs in the penalty with 2:16 left. But the Mavericks weren’t out of the woods yet, with Kidd sending Wade to the line, where the ’06 Finals MVP attempted to tie the game with 30.1 seconds left on the clock.

However, after making the first, Wade found all rim on the second stroke, with the Mavericks grabbing possession of the ball and calling timeout with 29.3 seconds left to close the door. Out of the timeout, the ball went to Nowitzki as he patiently attacked Heat big man Udonis Haslem, before battling through the fever to score on a drive to his right to put the Mavs up three with 14.4 seconds left.

"You know, this is the Finals. You're going to leave it out there. Like I said earlier in the series ... it's June. We've been playing on a high level for eight, nine months. So, everybody has a little something going, and 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," Nowitzki said of the final sequence.

"He's one of the greatest ever," Carlisle proclaimed of his star player. "He wants the ball, and he wants the responsibility of winning and losing the game. So, we make every effort to put him in those situations. It's not easy, because teams deny him the ball. And in those situations, you know, Jason Terry has been one of the best fourth-quarter players in the league for a number of years, and Kidd's experience. ... And generally, we want to play through Dirk as much as we can."

But again Wade answered, driving straight to the hoop for a slam with 9.0 seconds on the clock, forcing Carlisle to call the Mavs’ last timeout. Looking to finish the Heat off, the ball was inbounded to Terry, who nailed a pair of clutch foul shots after being sent to the line with 6.7 seconds left.

Still, the Heat had an opportunity to answer, but Wade nearly fumbled the ball into the backcourt before saving it and finding Miller for a desperation 3 that sailed past the rim as time expired to even the series at 2-2, after the Mavericks outscored Miami in the fourth period, 21-14.

Despite battling the illness and struggling en route to a 6-for-19 shooting night, Nowitzki finished with a team-high 21 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Marion pitched in 16 points on 7-for-12 from the floor, while Chandler also registered a double-double with his 13 points and 16 boards to help the Mavs' supporting cast make up for Nowitzki's sluggishness at the offensive end.

“I just took the [criticism] personally, because this is the Finals, and I’m going to give it all every second I’m out there. When I saw the man [Nowitzki] walking today, he was barely able to talk. I knew I had to have a big night. I just told myself what I can do that I haven’t been doing of late. And I felt like I can get out and run, open things up, get some screen-and-rolls and open myself up on the glass,” Chandler said of his big night.

Off the Dallas bench, Terry posted 17 points (eight in the fourth quarter) despite connecting on just 6-of-15 from the floor, while Stevenson’s 11 points on 3-of-7 from behind the 3-point line all came in the first half.

Wade finished as the high-point man with his 32 points on 13-of-20 shooting, while Bosh added 24 of his own. But no other Heat player reached double figures, including James, who totaled a career playoff-low eight points on 3-of-11 from the floor despite also grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out seven assists.

"Definitely didn't play great offensively," James admitted. "I've got to do a better job of being more assertive offensively, not staying out of rhythm offensively the whole game."

The Heat ended the game outshooting the Mavs, 42.7 percent to 39.7 percent, while also collecting a 44-41 rebounding advantage to combat Chandler’s monster night on the glass. But the Mavericks took full advantage of the Heat’s 15 turnovers, flipping the script in what has been a theme in the series favoring Miami and turning the giveaways into 18 points at the other end, as the visitors racked up 12 points on Dallas’ 11 total miscues.

And with the game also featuring 15 ties and 12 different lead changes, the Mavericks’ 28-15 advantage in bench scoring became even more crucial, as Terry and Stevenson alone outdueled the Heat’s reserves.

“Look, everybody has to be ready, and our game has to be a team game,” Carlisle concluded. “We’re not going to outrun or outjump these guys, but we’ve got to play a sound game, we’ve got to play a persistent game. It was tough. We had a lot of shots that were there that didn’t go tonight. But the guys kept believing, they kept battling, and then the defense in the fourth held us. And we’re able to get out of here alive.”

The Mavericks will now head into Thursday night’s Game 5 at home looking to continue the momentum of the all-important win and hoping to have a healthy Nowitzki back and ready to go as they bid for a 3-2 series lead before it shifts back to Miami.

"There's no long-term," Nowitzki said of the illness. "I'll be alright on Thursday. It's a little sinus infection. Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight, take some meds and be ready on Thursday. ... Obviously, we would love to get Game 5 here. Don't want to go to Miami down 3-2, knowing they have two chances to close us out. Big game Thursday."




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Thanks to Chris Bosh’ go-ahead jumper with 41 seconds remaining and Udonis Haslem’s tough defense on Dirk Nowitzki, Lebron James might have escaped another round of criticism.

Criticized heavily in their Game 2 loss in Miami for celebrating to early and missing four shots in the last seven minutes, James again had late-game miscues with two turnovers - a double dribble and a blocked three-point attempt by Shawn Marion.

After a team timeout when Nowitzki tied the ballgame 86-all, Lebron passed to an open Chris Bosh who calmly made the shot. On Miami’s ensuing possession after Nowitzki made a bad pass, Lebron again settled for a 3-point shot missing badly.
On Dallas’ final play, Nowitzki attempted a turnaround fadeaway shot with Haslem on his face but missed the shot, losing the game to Miami 88-86.

Dwyane Wade led Miami with 29 points and 11 rebounds. James added 17 points and nine assists with Bosh adding 18 points.

Nowitzki finished with 34 points, but didn’t get much help. Jason Terry scored 15 and Shawn Marion had 10, but both were shut out in the fourth quarter.

Miami had a 14-point lead late in the second quarter, then fell into the same bad habits they showed at the end of Game 2, letting Dallas get within 47-42 at the halftime break.




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After the Bulls routed the Heat in Game 1, Miami has come storming back with three consecutive victories.
LeBron James led the Heat in the team's most recent win with 35 points in a 101-93 overtime victory that gave Miami a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Miami has used dominant defense and solid team play to overwhelm the Bulls in the last three games. The Heat's Big Three have really come up big in this series, with the trio contributing in key moments on both sides of the floor.

Derrick Rose had a chance to win Game 4 in regulation, but LeBron's defense shut down the league MVP.

After Dwyane Wade struggled in the game, he came alive in overtime, scoring six of his 14 points, as well as two crucial defensive plays that helped give the Heat enough to hand the Bulls their first three-game loosing streak of the season.

Rose has been limited to 36 percent shooting in the series, and that in large part can be attributed to James stellar defense.

Miami has also gotten a big lift from their bench, mainly Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem, who has returned from injury to give the Heat toughness and rebounding that they had previously been lacking.

Miller broke out of his slump to post 12 points and nine rebounds in the midst of his newly born child being in the intensive care unit. Miami will need bench production again if they want to end the series tonight.

Chicago is looking to rebound on their home floor in order to avoid elimination and bring the series back to Miami for a Game 6. They have struggled in the fourth quarter against Miami, who has outscored them by 25 points in games 2-4 in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Game 5 begins at 8:30 pm ET with the Heat keeping the same starting lineup of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Mike Bibby and Joel Anthony and the Bulls sending out Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer and Keith Bogans.




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LeBron James led the Miami Heat to their third straight win over the Chicago Bulls to help Miami take a commanding 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals seven-game series.
It was a hard-fought game by both teams with Derrick Rose missing the game-winning shot to send the game went into overtime, where the Heat were able to pull away for the win.

These are the keys to the game.

The probability at this point is undeniable. The team that takes a 3-1 lead wins the series 94 percent of the time. It's hard to see either of these young teams, the Chicago Bulls or the Oklahoma City Thunder, coming back to win their series. It's likely that the Heat and Mavericks will meet in the finals.

Which brings up this point: Both Dirk Nowitzki and LeBron James have been playing like they're on a mission. They are arguably the two greatest players without a ring.








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