LeBron James still looks back, but only fleetingly.

Instead, his primary focus is on bigger and better things for himself and his team.

Speaking Monday in his native Akron, Ohio, where he was hosting his annual charity bicycle event, the Miami Heat forward briefly reflected on his team’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, while also expressing optimism amid the NBA lockout that there would be a 2011-12 season for redemption.

He also spoke of a new, Hall of Fame training partner.

“Right now,” he said, “I’ve just been focusing on getting better, working on my game every single day. The Dallas Mavericks were a great team and they deserved to win that championship. It’s just more motivation coming into this season.”

That motivation drove him to spend time this summer with former Houston Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon, working on his post play. The Hall of Fame center also has worked this summer with Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard on that facet.

“You always want to be victorious,” James said, “but when you’re not victorious, it’s about how you bounce back.”

The issue of post play has been a touchy one for James over his eight-season career. He proved proficient in such a role when Heat teammate Chris Bosh was briefly sidelined at midseason, but then drifted back to the perimeter, as had also been the case during his first seven NBA seasons, with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“I’m in bounce-back mode,” he said, “and I’ve dedicated this offseason to myself being a better basketball player.”

While other star players have spoken of possibly playing overseas amid the lockout, James said he is optimistic there will be NBA basketball at some point over the coming year, perhaps even on schedule.

“I’m very passionate about the game of basketball and I’ve been working toward the upcoming season,” he said. “I’m very optimistic about (union leader) Billy Hunter and the owners getting a deal done. I love the game that much, so that’s my focus right now.

“My focus is having a training camp next month at the end of the month and getting ready to go.”

Before that, there is a nine-day trip to China that begins this week, with teammate Dwyane Wade having just returned from China.

Wade, Bosh and James were teammates during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and James told the Associated Press that he is hopeful of participating in the 2012 London Games.

Monday, though, was about his hometown and setting up youth for a brighter future, pledging academic support to 360 area third-graders through their high-school years.

“Every 26 seconds a kid drops out of high school. To be able to shed light on a statistic like that, I’m all for it,” he said. “It’s only important to you if you have a love for it. If an athlete has a love for it and he wants to give back, he should do it. If not, it’s not going to look authentic and you shouldn’t do it.

“But I really care and being an inner-city kid who didn’t have much and lived off a dream and had people help him get to that dream, it’s just natural for me.”

iwinderman@tribune.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat

Subscribe to our feed!.

Not much else going on in the NBA world today.

The Dallas Mavericks, behind Dirk Nowitzki’s 29 points, went on a 17-4 scoring run with just over four and a half minutes remaining to defeat the Miami Heat Thursday night, 112-103 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Leave your comments on the news below.

By
Sportsmail Reporter

Last updated at 9:31 AM on 10th June 2011

The Dallas Mavericks are on the brink of winning their first-ever NBA crown after a storming late run earned a  112-103 victory over the Miami Heat in Game Five.

With a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, Dallas can claim the title by winning one of the two remaining contests, but they will have to complete the feat in Miami where the teams split the opening two games.

The Mavericks went on a 15-3 run to finish off the Heat, turning a three-point deficit into the comfortable victory amid chants of ‘Beat the Heat’ from a boisterous 20,433 crowd.

In your face: Dirk Nowitzki (No 41) slam dunks during another fine shift for the Mavericks

‘That was a big win for us, obviously,’ said Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki after scoring 29 points.

‘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. And now we have to go down there and basically approach Sunday’s game as Game Seven. You don’t want to give this great team any hope.’

Sharp-shooting guard Jason Terry had a pair of three-pointers during the game-ending run, finishing with 21 points on eight-of-12 shooting and adding six assists.

Dallas shot 57 per cent, including 13 of 19 from beyond the arc.

Threesy does it: Jason Terry celebrates after nailing one from outside the arc late in the game

‘All season long, ever since I’ve been a Maverick, I’ve been the guy in the fourth quarter they depended on to either make plays or make shots,’ said Terry.

‘So I really relish that role. Regardless of what’s going on throughout three quarters of the game, in the fourth quarter I know I’m depended on to come through. Thank God I was able to do that again.’

LeBron James disappeared once again in the fourth quarter, tallying only two points.

The former NBA scoring champion and two-times MVP has now amassed a combined 11 points in the final quarter of the entire series.

James was blanked in the final frame of Tuesday’s 86-83 Mavericks victory, and while he was more aggressive on Thursday, he had similar results.

Fan-tastic: Nowitzki leaves the court a hero after the Mavericks’ win over the Heat in Game Five

‘We as a team, we played good enough to win again,’ said James, who scored 17 points and had 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Put ourself in position to win down the stretch. Guys made plays. They just made a few more than we did. That’s what it came down to.’

Dwyane Wade had 23 for the Heat, scoring 10 in the final quarter, while Chris Bosh added 19.

Wade bruised his hip in the opening quarter when he collided with Brian Cardinal of the Mavericks. He went to the locker room but returned shortly after and played 34 minutes.

‘It was unfortunate I had to leave the game,’ said Wade. ‘But I came back and I finished it. Once you’re on the court, you’re on the court. I don’t have no excuses.

‘I was able to help my team get an opportunity to win. And I’ll be fine Sunday.’

Glamour game: The Dallas Mavericks cheerleaders helped lift the spirits during a fourth-quarter timeout

Dallas shot 56.5 per cent from the floor but were outrebounded 36-26 by a Miami team that committed 16 turnovers on the way to registering consecutive losses for the first time this post-season.

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said Terry took on the responsibility of team leader when the Mavericks’ best player, Nowitzki, was on the bench.

‘He played great, and during periods where Dirk was out of the game we were going to him and he was delivering,’ Carlisle said.

‘Those are tough minutes for us because it’s hard when Dirk is out of the game. But it’s the total game we’ve all been preaching to Jet (Terry) since the play-offs began and he did a terrific job.’

Terry does not want the series to go to a Game Seven and added: ‘We want to get this first one.’

Gutted: Miami pair LeBron James and Dwayne Wade can’t hide their disappointment as Dallas storm back

 

 

Thanks for reading! .

Thanks for reading! .

As exciting as it is to watch Dirk Nowitzki make shot after shot in the NBA finals, the Dallas Mavericks don’t want to keep doing that.

Nowitzki needs help — from someone. Anyone.

The supporting cast that helped carry Nowitzki and the Mavericks into the NBA finals has shriveled under the pressure of this stage, the defense of the Miami Heat or a little of both.

The Mavs trail 2-1 going into Game 4 on Tuesday night mainly because they aren’t scoring enough. Their average of 88.3 points per game is down 11.4 from the previous three rounds.

Nowitzki is contributing 28.3 points, almost exactly his postseason average coming in. The drop-off is everywhere else, especially among the three guys who are supposed to provide instant offense from the bench: Jason Terry, J.J. Barea and Peja Stojakovic.

Terry’s slump hurts the most.

He and Nowitzki were among the league’s top fourth-quarter scoring tandems this season. The Heat threw that off with the surprise move of having 6-foot-8 LeBron James cover the 6-foot-2 Terry. He was shut out in the fourth quarters of Game 1 and 3, the ones Dallas lost.

Terry was a big part of the Mavericks’ winning rally in Game 2, scoring the first six points in a 22-5 surge and eight overall. In Game 3, when Nowitzki scored Dallas’ final 12 points, Terry went 0 for 4 in the fourth quarter, including a 21-footer with the game tied in the final minute.

“Jet (Terry’s nickname) hasn’t really been a crunch-time, clutch player for us the way we need him to,” Nowitzki said Monday. “We have to find a way to get Jet some freedom and get him off some movement, and he’s got to make some shots for us.”

Confidence is never a problem for Terry. This is a guy who got the finals trophy tattooed to his right biceps in October and vows to have it removed if the Mavs don’t win it all. On Monday he vowed that if he again gets the same shots he missed down the stretch in Game 3, “I bet I make them.”

Perhaps tempting fate, Terry also questioned whether James “can defend me like that for seven games” and claimed that first-round foe Portland played better defense than Miami. He also said that if Dallas can score 100 points, “they can’t beat us.”

“I’m going to tell you this: we will be there in Game 4,” Terry said. “I’m ready for the challenge.”

Miami is flustering Dallas with its combination of active, long-armed defenders who seem to always be in the right place at the right time. The Heat are always charging at shooters, making them fire quickly or opt to pass.

Center Tyson Chandler said Miami’s style has made the Mavericks “timid.”

“Because they close out quick, guys second-guess their shots — is this a good shot? Should I drive?” he said. “We just have to make them pay. If we start knocking down shots, it loosens up everything.”

The Heat are giving the Mavs some chances. When two guys are covering Nowitzki, as usually happens, then someone else is open. Those guys are simply missing, perhaps because they’re anticipating a Miami player coming at them so they rush the shot.

“I think we still got a lot of open looks that we could’ve knocked down,” Barea said. “If we’d knocked down a few more, we would’ve won.”

Barea is the backup point guard who usually energizes the Dallas’ offense. He zips around the court, somehow getting to the rim despite being maybe 6 feet in high tops, or dishing to others when the defense swarms him.

But in this series he’s made only 5 of 23 shots, 1 of 8 on 3-pointers. He’s gone from scoring 8.9 pointers per playoff game to 4.3.

“The ball is going to start going down,” Barea said. “I’m going to stay aggressive, play my game, keep doing what brought me here.”

Then there’s Stojakovic.

Dallas signed him around midseason in hopes he could be another weapon off the bench. He got into shape and had some great moments late in the season and early in the postseason, such as going 6 for 6 on 3-pointers when the Mavericks polished off a sweep of the Lakers.

This series, he’s been a lost cause — making only 1 of 5 shots (0 for 4 on 3-pointers) and repeatedly getting beaten on defense. His average has plummeted from 8.8 points to 0.7.

“I think our ability to spread the floor and shoot is a big reason why we made it to the finals,” Nowitzki said. “We just looked at the film. We had some opportunities. … And if we get those opportunities, we got to make the most out of it.”

Leave your comments on the news below.

DALLAS — As exciting as it is to watch Dirk Nowitzki make shot after shot in the NBA finals, the Dallas Mavericks don’t want to keep doing that.

Nowitzki needs help — from someone. Anyone.

The supporting cast that helped carry Nowitzki and the Mavericks into the NBA finals has shrivelled under the pressure of this stage, the defence of the Miami Heat or a little of both.

The Mavs trail 2-1 going into Game 4 on Tuesday night mainly because they aren’t scoring enough. Their average of 88.3 points per game is down 11.4 from the previous three rounds.

Nowitzki is contributing 28.3 points, almost exactly his post-season average coming in. The drop-off is everywhere else, especially among the three guys who are supposed to provide instant offence from the bench: Jason Terry, J.J. Barea and Peja Stojakovic.

Terry’s slump hurts the most.

He and Nowitzki were among the league’s top fourth-quarter scoring tandems this season. The Heat threw that off with the surprise move of having 6-foot-8 LeBron James cover the 6-foot-2 Terry. He was shut out in the fourth quarters of Game 1 and 3, the ones Dallas lost.

Terry was a big part of the Mavericks’ winning rally in Game 2, scoring the first six points in a 22-5 surge and eight overall. In Game 3, when Nowitzki scored Dallas’ final 12 points, Terry went 0 for 4 in the fourth quarter, including a 21-footer with the game tied in the final minute.

“Jet (Terry’s nickname) hasn’t really been a crunch-time, clutch player for us the way we need him to,” Nowitzki said Monday. “We have to find a way to get Jet some freedom and get him off some movement, and he’s got to make some shots for us.”

Confidence is never a problem for Terry. This is a guy who got the finals trophy tattooed to his right biceps in October and vows to have it removed if the Mavs don’t win it all. On Monday he vowed that if he again gets the same shots he missed down the stretch in Game 3, “I bet I make them.”

Perhaps tempting fate, Terry also questioned whether James “can defend me like that for seven games” and claimed that first-round foe Portland played better defence than Miami. He also said that if Dallas can score 100 points, “they can’t beat us.”

“I’m going to tell you this: we will be there in Game 4,” Terry said. “I’m ready for the challenge.”

Miami is flustering Dallas with its combination of active, long-armed defenders who seem to always be in the right place at the right time. The Heat are always charging at shooters, making them fire quickly or opt to pass.

Centre Tyson Chandler said Miami’s style has made the Mavericks “timid.”

“Because they close out quick, guys second-guess their shots — is this a good shot? Should I drive?” he said. “We just have to make them pay. If we start knocking down shots, it loosens up everything.”

The Heat are giving the Mavs some chances. When two guys are covering Nowitzki, as usually happens, then someone else is open. Those guys are simply missing, perhaps because they’re anticipating a Miami player coming at them so they rush the shot.

“I think we still got a lot of open looks that we could’ve knocked down,” Barea said. “If we’d knocked down a few more, we would’ve won.”

Barea is the backup point guard who usually energizes the Dallas’ offence. He zips around the court, somehow getting to the rim despite being maybe 6 feet in high tops, or dishing to others when the defence swarms him.

But in this series he’s made only 5 of 23 shots, 1 of 8 on three-pointers. He’s gone from scoring 8.9 pointers per playoff game to 4.3.

“The ball is going to start going down,” Barea said. “I’m going to stay aggressive, play my game, keep doing what brought me here.”

Then there’s Stojakovic.

Dallas signed him around midseason in hopes he could be another weapon off the bench. He got into shape and had some great moments late in the season and early in the post-season, such as going 6 for 6 on three-pointers when the Mavericks polished off a sweep of the Lakers.

This series, he’s been a lost cause — making only 1 of 5 shots (0 for 4 on three-pointers) and repeatedly getting beaten on defence. His average has plummeted from 8.8 points to 0.7.

“I think our ability to spread the floor and shoot is a big reason why we made it to the finals,” Nowitzki said. “We just looked at the film. We had some opportunities. … And if we get those opportunities, we got to make the most out of it.”

The Associated Press

Feel free to leave your comments below.

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

He’s doing it to them again.

Five years later, Dwyane Wade is once again becoming the Dallas Mavericks’ worst nightmare in the NBA Finals. Largely due to favorable matchups, the Heat have turned to DWade late in games to bring it home for them, and he has.

This has predictably led to some pretty awful (and wildly incorrect) assumptions from certain members of the media about Wade’s teammate, LeBron James, but the truth of the matter should be obvious to anyone who has ever watched the NBA for more than 10 minutes: both Wade and James are doing exactly what has been asked of them, which is inching them ever closer to their first title together.

In the NBA Finals, Dwyane Wade has once again taken over the familiar role of team leader both on and off the court.

NBA.com has the quotes:

Wade only got to the line four times on Sunday, but he finished with 29 points on 12-for-21 from the field, hitting two of his four attempts from 3-point range. Before Bosh’s game-winner, Wade had the Heat’s previous three buckets, one off a post-up and two pull-up jumpers (one of them a trey) from the top of the key. “We allowed him to bring us home offensively,” [LeBron] James said.

“He played spectacular basketball,” [Chris] Bosh said of Wade. “He was aggressive and took good shots. We rode the wave for a little while. He set the tone for us.” For the series, Wade is averaging 29.0 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists. He’s shooting 57 percent from the field and 6-for-15 from 3-point range. His scoring and free-throw attempts are down from the 2006 Finals (when he averaged 34.7 points), but he’s still the Heat’s go-to guy. And on Sunday, Wade wasn’t just making buckets. He was trying to get his teammates to come along for the ride. “He had every right to say what he said to me,” James admitted. “As a competitor, you love when guys challenge you. He challenged me in the locker room at halftime. He challenged me on the court. As a competitor, like I said, I respect that.” … Wade wanted this game, and he got it. “I’ve been here before,” he said.

The Miami Heat is using a tried-and-tested formula against Dallas in these Finals: play suffocating defense, and let Dwyane Wade carry the offense.

Sounds a lot like 2006, and looks like the Mavs still haven’t figured out how to overcome either obstacle.

Gotta run!.

(Sports Network) – The scene shifts to north Texas tonight when the Dallas
Mavericks play host to the Miami Heat in the pivotal Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

A remarkable comeback on Thursday in Game 2 has shifted momentum to the Mavs
in the series.

Dirk Nowitzki spun around Chris Bosh and lurched to the basket for a go-ahead
left-handed layup in the final seconds of that one, lifting Dallas to a
thrilling 95-93 victory over Miami.

The Mavs had been staring at a daunting 15-point deficit with six-plus minutes
remaining and an 0-2 series hole when they went on a game-ending 22-5 run to
erase the Heat’s big cushion.

“That’s about as tough a fourth quarter as you can have. When it started to
slide, it just kept going,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

Despite playing with a splint on his left middle finger after tearing a tendon
late in Tuesday’s Game 1, Nowitzki scored the final nine points for his team,
ending with 24 points as Dallas improbably evened the best-of-seven series at
one game apiece with the next three contests set to take place in north Texas.

“It’s an honor and a pleasure to watch him play,” TNT analyst and Hall of
Famer Charles Barkley said after watching Dirk fuel yet another unlikely
comeback. “They talk about Champagne and Mercedes Benz [being the greatest
European import to America]. [Dirk] is the greatest European import ever.”

Nowitzki finished 10-of-22 from the floor, including 4-of-7 in the fourth
quarter.

“I played with (Larry) Bird for three years when he was the best player in the
world. Guys like [Bird and Nowitzki] don’t feel pain right now,” said Dallas
head coach Rick Carlisle. “If you’re feeling pain, you make yourself numb so
you don’t feel pain.”

Shawn Marion scored 10 points in each half for Dallas, while Tyson Chandler
added 13 and Jason Terry scored 16 off the bench. Nowitzki also had a game-
high 11 rebounds.

Guarded by the tough-minded Udonis Haslem for much the game, Nowitzki drew
Bosh near the left elbow on Dallas’ final play. Using his 7-foot body to
create space, Nowitzki first looked right, then spun left, leaving Bosh in the
dust. Haslem was late with the weakside help and a Miami crowd that was
celebrating moments earlier was sent out into the night in shock

“He does the move that he always does. He uses his body well,” said Bosh. “I
got caught up in trying to cover his drive, and that’s what he wanted. I just
played bad defense for a couple of seconds, and it cost us two points.”

“We pride ourselves on the defensive end,” added Heat star Dwyane Wade, “and
they were able to break us down.”

Wade, stealing the show for Miami until the final minutes, missed a
long, gliding three-point try at the buzzer with a chance to win the game for
the Heat. He led all scorers with 36 points, scoring 21 of them in the first
half, while LeBron James had 20 points and Bosh 12.

When the Heat do fall, fingers usually point at James and Wade. Miami was up
88-73 with 7:14 remaining when Wade, after two unselfish passes from James and
Mario Chalmers, buried a three-pointer from the right corner.

Wade left his right hand dangling in the air for the whole building to see,
and he celebrated with James in front of the Dallas bench as the Mavs called a
timeout. Some Dallas players said the celebration bothered them.

“There was no celebration at all,” James said. “I was excited that he hit a
big shot and we went up 15.”

“When you blow a big lead you have to do two things wrong: not score and not
stop the other team,” Barkley said. “Let’s take our hats off to the Dallas
Mavericks. It’s like LeBron [James] and Dwyane Wade were playing hero
basketball.”

Carlisle will likely try to temper his team a bit by pointing out that the
Heat have outplayed the Mavs thus far with the exception of some small
stretches.

But one thing is certain, in a tight game, it’s advantage Mavericks thanks to
Nowitzki.

“In this league, you gotta play to the end,” Dirk said. “You can be down 20,
you gotta keep plugging.”

The series is a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals, when Wade and the Heat beat
Nowitzki’s Mavericks in six games after falling behind 0-2 in the series. It
was the only other time either franchise made the Finals.

Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday, also in Dallas.

The Sports Network

Feel free to leave your comments below.

By David Moore, Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — Shawn Marion has a home in Chicago. Once Dwyane Wade saw it, he bought one close. The two are neighbors.

Who knew Marion would also find himself in the same statistical neighborhood as Miami’s other star through the first two games of The Finals?

LeBron James has more points than Marion, but not as many as you might think. James has just two more assists even though he has the ball in his hands the majority of the time.

Marion holds the edge over James in rebounds, blocked shots and field-goal percentage. He’s even made more trips to the free throw line than the league’s most powerful perimeter presence.

In the category of “outcomes no one envisioned,” this ranks second behind the Heat blowing a 15-point lead in the final 6:20 of a home game to arrive in Dallas with the series tied.

Marion’s rise in the offensive pecking order and his defense on James are positive developments for the Mavericks as they prepare for today’s Game 3.

“He’s been phenomenal taking the challenge on both ends,” Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said.

Nowitzki is the team’s primary scoring threat. Jason Terry is usually the second option. But the nature of Terry’s game, along with the Mavericks unselfish flow offense, means the team’s No. 2 scorer is determined on a rotating basis.

The spin of the dial has landed on Marion lately. Terry has struggled with his shot since the second game of the Western Conference finals. Marion has responded by averaging 17.4 points and shooting 57.3 percent from the field over the last five games.

He’s averaged 18 points in The Finals, which is six points higher than his average this post-season.

“I think Shawn Marion has done a great job, especially offensively,” James said. “He’s picked up his game offensively.”

This is part of the plan. The Mavericks want to reduce the ability of James and Wade to roam defensively. The best way to do that is to have Marion attack the basket and force Miami’s defense to account for him.

“He’s been cutting for us, he’s been posting up,” Nowitzki said. “He’s been getting offensive rebounds, put-backs.

“He looks really comfortable right now. He’s got a bounce in his step, and it’s fun to watch.”

DeShawn Stevenson opens the game on James, but Marion has actually spent more time on him. The Mavericks forward has worked hard to keep James out of transition and off the free throw line. He fights over the top of screens on pick-and-rolls and tries to obstruct James’ line of vision.

“A lot of his fouls come in transition,” Marion said. “I’m able to get back and stop him from doing that. In the halfcourt, I’m able to get in front of him and contest his shot without fouling.

“It’s just been good, solid defense and me moving my feet and staying down.”

Nearly 40 percent of the shots James has taken in this series have come from 3-point range. Why so many?

“A few of them are open,” Marion said. “A lot he took last game were at the end of the shot clock. He had no choice but to hoist it because I wouldn’t give him a look at anything else.”

Marion’s decision to poke the two-time MVP with this verbal stick is questionable. But there are no questions about his performance on offense and defense so far in this series.

“I’ve always prided myself on playing both ends of the floor,” Marion said. “I thrive on competing. I feel I can do just about anything I want to do out on that floor.

“It’s about getting opportunities.”

Marion has made the most of these opportunities.

He’s put himself in a pretty good neighborhood.

Gotta run!.

Dirk Nowitzki (R) of the Dallas Mavericks shoots over Udonis Haslem (L) of the Miami Heat during Game Two of the NBA. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)

With the score favoring the Miami Heat 88-73 over the Dallas Mavericks, and with 6:20 left in Game two of the NBA Finals, the Marvelous Mavericks made their move. The rally had begun, led by Maverick forward Dirk Nowitzki.

In fact, there was some concern just how effective Nowitzki would be after tearing a tendon on his left middle finger during Game One of this final playoff series. He had managed only 15 points headed into the final period. But that last period was golden, providing the difference as he scored nine points, shaping the win.

With only 26.7 seconds left Nowitzki swished in a 3-pointer on a dish from guard Jason Terry, who himself had just made 3 points, giving Dallas a 93-90 led. The Heat’s Marion Chalmer’s shot a high-arch 3-pointer that banged in from the sideline, tying the game 93 all with 24.5 left in the game.

Nowitzki positions high, just out of the paint, gets the ball, fakes right, spins left around the Heat defender Chris Bosh, extends himself, and using his injured left hand, banks the ball off the glass for two with 3.6 left in the game. Miami could not respond and the Mavericks would win 95-93. The victory came on a 22-5 scoring run by the Mavericks.  

After last Tuesday’s loss to the Heat, Mavericks’ Coach Rick Carlisle was asked what he needed to change if they were going to be victorious. “We are going to have to rebound better,” he said simply.  

The Heat had out-rebounded the Mavs 46-36 in Game One, with 16 of them being offensive rebounds. In Game Two the Mavericks reversed the course, 51-39, and edged the Heat 11-6 in offensive boards.

How LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki play will determine the winner of the series.

The effort of the Mavs in the last quarter of this game has to be one of the finest offensive displays in NBA Finals history. But the Mavericks have a way of doing the seemingly impossible. In LA this year the Mavericks were down by 16, but went on to rally and defeat the Lakers. They were behind the Oklahoma City Thunder by 15 in Game Four, but defeated them. Tonight it was the Miami Heat’s turn.

Several Maverick players played outstanding basketball Thursday night.

Maverick center Tyson Chandler forced turnovers from Miami forward Chris Bosh. Chandler himself got into foul trouble but still scored 13 points.

A tremendous defensive effort was provided by Shawn Marion to keep Miami superstar LeBron James at bay. James had foul troubles and took to the bench early in the first half. James would score 20 points. Marion would go on to score 20 points, going 9-14 from the field with 8 rebounds.

Maverick guard J.J. Barea scored only 5 points, but unlike the first game against Miami, he was able to drive the lane and sidelines at will, though he couldn’t seem to find the bucket.

Jason Terry (L) of the Dallas Mavericks goes to the basket against the Miami Heat. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)

Maverick guard Jason Terry, along with Jason Kidd had 5 assists, Terry also scored 16 points. “We felt real good about tonight,” said Terry after the game. “This team is all heart and we will never give up. I promised myself if I got a chance to play again for the NBA Championship, the outcome would be different.”

Terry was referring to the last time the Mavs had played for the NBA Championship and were defeated by the Miami Heat after leading the series by two games.  

LeBron James (R) of the Miami Heat tries to head off the driving Jason Terry (L) of the Dallas Mavericks. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)

The Heat’s LeBron James may be one of the finest players in NBA history. He is big—6’9”—and strong, but is cat-quick and can jump into the night sky and hang on a star. He scored only 20 points in the game, down about 6 points from his average, but his sheer presence on the court gives Miami an advantage. In fact, I believe how James and Maverick Nowitzki play will determine the winner of the series.

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade is a sight to behold. He drives to the bucket at will, and shoots a 3-pointer like Robin Hood does an arrow into the heart of the Sheriff of Nottingham. I don’t think Dallas has anyone that can cover him unless it is guard DeShawn Stevenson. Although Stevenson had 9 points in the game, the fiery Wade had 36 points and 6 assists.

This series will have more drama than a knife fight on a Mississippi riverboat. These two strong-willed teams will go at it again Sunday night at The American Airline Center in Dallas, starting at 7 pm. The following two games will also be in Dallas, the next being Tuesday night at 7pm.

Durhl Caussey, a Dallas resident, writes on sports, automobiles, and life in general.

Thanks for reading! .

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

After Dirk Nowitzki(notes) hit that game-winning lefty layup to cap a furious fourth-quarter comeback that gave the Dallas Mavericks a stunning 95-93 victory over the Miami Heat on Thursday night, there was a rattled rush to pinpoint when, how and why everything turned around.

It’s totally understandable — for the first 41 minutes of Game 2 (and really, for most of the first 90 minutes of this series), Miami had looked like a clearly superior unit, capable of operating on athletic and defensive levels that Dallas just couldn’t match. Behind a dominant turn from Dwyane Wade(notes), the Heat looked like a top-heavy doomsday machine set to simply overpower their more execution-dependent veteran opponents.

Then, with 7:13 remaining in the fourth quarter, Wade hit a 3-pointer from the corner right in front of the Mavs’ bench that pushed Miami’s lead to 15. The AmericanAirlines Arena crowd erupted, everyone told everyone else they were watching with that the game was over, Wade held his hand in the air and LeBron James(notes) excitedly punched his teammate in the chest a few times. From that point on, Dallas ripped off a remarkable 22-5 run that sent the NBA Finals back to Texas all-square and changed the narrative of the series.

That reassembling of the narrative around the potential/perceived-slight-as-turning-point wound up dominating much of the postgame press conferences and television discussion. Many who watched and covered Game 2 drew a bright, bold line beneath the play you see in the video clip above (or, if you don’t, that you see here, thanks to Ben Golliver) and identified it as an inspirational moment of truth. One such story came from Yahoo!’s own Dan Wetzel, who called the Heat stars’ post-triple celebration “relatively tame by NBA standards,” but took Wade and James to task for daring “to taunt the Mavericks — or at least [daring] to not even consider that they might be taunting the Mavericks,” thus waking a sleeping giant.

It’s not hard to see why; after all, several members of the Mavericks, including Tyson Chandler(notes) and Jason Terry(notes), did say they saw and were irked by the raised-hand-and-fun-punches. Especially given the good-versus-evil story underpinning this Finals matchup, the memeification of that moment was inevitable.

But it doesn’t really tell us much about the actual anatomy of the comeback — the basketball reasons behind why Dallas won the last seven minutes. Those were pretty interesting, too, and certainly worth another look in the harsh light of morning. Let’s hit ‘em after the jump.

Terry started to hit shots. After missing 4-of-6 shots through the first three quarters on Thursday night, 11 of his first 16 field-goal tries in the NBA Finals, and 52 of 80 attempts since the last time he was (not) guarded by a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas’ secondary fourth-quarter scorer finally got into a bit of a rhythm.

He missed his first two shots of the final frame, but heated up midway through the fourth, scoring six points in less than a minute to cut the Miami advantage from 15 to single digits with 5:20 remaining. Terry tacked on another bucket with 3:11 left to bring the Mavs within four, giving him eight points (half of his total Game 2 output) in the final 12 minutes, which was surely a heartening sight for Dallas fans whose eyes have been made sore watching Jet clang jumpers for the past two weeks.

Dallas cleaned the glass. Much was made of Dallas losing the battle of the boards in Game 1, allowing the Heat to rip down 16 offensive rebounds while only managing six of their own. They outrebounded Miami 41-30 overall on Thursday night, posting a 14-10 advantage in the fourth quarter, including a 7-4 win on the offensive boards.

After the Heat went up 15, the Mavs grabbed nine rebounds to Miami’s four. Perhaps more importantly, Dallas gave up only two offensive rebounds during that stretch, both of which came after missed 3-pointers taken by the Heat with just over a minute left, during what ESPN.com’s Tom Haberstroh referred to as “the 55-second possession of doom,” as the Heat looked to extend a lead that had dwindled to two points. Neither carom led to a Miami basket.

Dallas started running staggered ball screens. With about four minutes left in the fourth quarter, Dallas coach Rick Carlisle made an awesome adjustment, running a staggered pick-and-roll with Nowitzki and Chandler that gave Miami a look it hadn’t seen, prevented the Heat from bringing their brand of pipe-bursting pressure on ball-handlers in screen situations, and created multiple variations and options for Dallas’ half-court offense.

The set, shown in the clip above and masterfully illustrated by Sebastian Pruiti at NBA Playbook, netted Dallas eight points, including two made 3-pointers, in four possessions, playing a huge role in slicing the Heat lead. It was a game-changing coaching move by Carlisle, one that in Pruiti’s opinion “may have won Dallas the series” by wresting home-court advantage from the Heat before Sunday starts three straight games in Texas.

Miami stopped getting to the rim and started chucking long balls. Throughout Game 2, whether in transition after forcing a Mavericks turnover, in the post after realizing that Wade couldn’t be guarded by DeShawn Stevenson(notes) or Jason Kidd(notes), or in the half-court offense generated by sharp cuts off their now-customary elbow sets, the Heat — read: Wade and James — had gotten into the paint seemingly at will, and done quite a bit of damage once they got there. Miami shot 15 for 22 (68.2 percent) at the rim in Game 2, according to Hoopdata, with its top two scorers missing just twice in 14 attempts, generating highlight-reel plays most of the way.

But Miami attempted 12 field goals after Chris Bosh(notes) made a bunny with just under eight minutes remaining in the fourth. Only one — a layup that James short-armed with 5:28 to go — was taken in the paint; in fact, that miss was the only attempt from closer than 15 feet out. Only two Heat shots — the Wade three that launched a thousand columns and the Mario Chalmers(notes) three that tied the game at 93 with 24.5 seconds remaining — found the bottom of the net.

Some will blame Miami’s offense for moving away from its regular sets and flow in favor of a more isolation-heavy attack that seemed content to let the sand pass through the hourglass and bank on the ability of one of its signature stars to plant another dagger in Dallas’ heart. Some will credit the Mavs’ defense for making life more difficult on Miami’s slashers in the last half of the fourth, especially by trapping more on Heat pick-and-rolls, as The Two Man Game’s Rob Mahoney brought up and James discussed during the postgame press conference. Whether the answer is one, the other or a bit of both, the end result was Miami moving away from what made it successful throughout most of the game’s first 41 minutes.

Dirk was, well, Dirk. After missing his first two shots of the fourth quarter and hitting just six of his first 17 tries on Thursday night, Nowitzki closed like a monster. He hit 4-of-5 shots in the final 2:44, scoring Dallas’ last nine points and sealing matters with that lefty layup.

As he had throughout the playoffs prior to some slight struggles in Game 1, Dirk got where he wanted, got what we wanted and, as our Y! colleague Adrian Wojnarowski wrote, once again got the Mavs where they needed to go:

Now, he had absorbed every blow from Wade and James, and he was still standing, still swinging in the final minutes. There were 24.5 seconds on the clock out of the timeout, and it ticked down until the ball found its way to Nowitzki. He was going to the rim, and going with absolute audacity. From right to left, he ripped the ball through the air, dribbled past Chris Bosh, past flailing Heat arms and hands, and never hesitated to raise the ball into the left hand [...] The ball dropped into the basket with 3.6 seconds left — his eighth and ninth straight points to end one of the most improbable, incredible and indelible comebacks in NBA Finals history.

Out of nowhere, out of a hellacious resolve, the scoreboard finally flickered: Dallas 95, Miami 93.

Sure, maybe Wade and James stoked Dallas’ competitive fire by being excitable after a big shot, and maybe that inflamed passion spurred the Mavs to play harder down the stretch. But just because, as CBSSports.com’s Royce Young wrote while the smoke cleared in Miami on Thursday night, it reads, sounds and feels good to peg every valley to “the ego and arrogance of the Heat,” we shouldn’t lose sight of this handful of actual, on-court basketball things. They sure looked like they had as much to do with the Heat flailing and the Mavs sailing as anything else.

Related: Mario Chalmers, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Tyson Chandler, DeShawn Stevenson, Jason Terry, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Video, 2011 NBA Playoffs

Feel free to leave your comments below.

Read More: Jason Kidd (G – DAL), Tyson Chandler (C – DAL), Jason Terry (G – DAL), DeShawn Stevenson (G – DAL), LeBron James (F – MIA), Dwyane Wade (G – MIA), Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat

Here is the much-discussed “celebration” that LeBron James and Dwyane Wade engaged in that supposedly fired up the Dallas Mavericks and caused them to rally from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. It was a play that Tyson Chandler, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd all resented, with Chandler going as far to say that it “angered” the Mavericks. This means that everyone writing about this game has a built-in narrative that will be happily consumed by the masses thanks to all the Heat hate.

But let’s step back for a second. Really, Dallas Mavericks? That’s the celebration that you say inspired you? Weak sauce.

As Holly MacKenzie pointed out: if that’s your standard for a celebration, then Miami should be inspired every time DeShawn Stevenson does anything. If you watch the video, the only player on the Mavericks who is even responding to Wade holding his follow through is Terry, which is ironic in and of itself considering Terry’s antics when he hits big shots. As for Chandler, you can’t even really see him in the picture anyway.

Wade and James didn’t seem to think it was a big deal either. Via Dan Wetzel of Yahoo!

“It was no celebration at all,” James said, unwilling to acknowledge the comments pouring out of the Mavericks’ locker room. “I was excited about the fact that [Wade] hit a big shot, and we went up 15. The same thing we’ve done over the course of the season. There was no celebration at all. We knew we had seven minutes to go still to close out the game.”

“There was no celebration,” Wade said. “It was a shot made going into a timeout. Every team does something. That’s the game. … That’s not the first time. It won’t be the last time.”

It’s a nice little turning point that Mavericks players can turn to after the fact to explain their stunning comeback, but that’s not the same thing as saying it actually fired them up. No, what fired Dallas up was facing a 15-point deficit in what was essentially a must-win game in the NBA Finals. If the Mavericks want to say otherwise, it’s their right, but that’s closer to the truth.

Feel free to leave your comments below.

By Stephen F. Holder, Times Staff Writer

In Print: Friday, June 3, 2011

Heat guard Dwyane Wade, dribbling against the Mavericks’ DeShawn Stevenson, scores 36 but none during the game’s final 7:14.
	[Getty Images]

MIAMI — The celebration was in full swing late Thursday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The Heat dancers were gyrating, the crowd swaying and the players, perhaps, mulling some early morning revelry. Lively Latin music pumped through the speakers, and there was nary a sweaty palm in the building.

With Miami sporting a 15-point lead — and Dallas seemingly losing interest — why should there be? At that very moment, no one could have predicted the series of events to come.

Closing the game with a 22-5 run, the Mavericks shocked the Heat with a 95-93 win that left the best-of-seven NBA Finals tied at 1 as the scene shifts to Dallas for Games 3, 4 and 5.

The story of the game starts and ends with Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki who after playing one of his most uninspired games of the postseason finished with a championship-worthy performance capped by a driving layup against Chris Bosh with 3.6 seconds left.

After making six of his first 17 shots, Nowitzki made four of his final five to score Dallas’ final nine. He finished with 24 points. But even more impressive was the fact that a couple of Nowitzki’s late shots were finished with his left hand, the hand on which he has a torn tendon in the middle finger.

“I played with (Larry) Bird for three years when he was the best player in the world,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “Guys like that don’t feel pain right now. You play, and if you’re feeling pain, you make yourself numb. You’ve got to be a warrior.”

Before Nowitzki upstaged him, Miami’s Dwyane Wade seemed intent on winning another Finals most valuable player award. His 3-pointer with 7:14 left gave Miami an 88-73 lead and him 36 points.

He would not score again. Dallas’ defense clamped down, and Miami folded.

Will the Heat recover?

“When it started to slide, it just kept on going,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ve had our moments where we feel uncomfortable and feel like our backs are against the wall. That’s when we’ve responded and been at our best.”

Thursday, there was a stark contrast to the in-your-face, no-room-to-breathe brand of defense exhibited by both clubs in Game 1. The pace of the game was quite different, featuring many more fastbreaks.

That’s a style of play embraced by the Mavericks. Carlisle even conceded before the game they would be hard-pressed to win a series playing a halfcourt game.

The problem is Miami can play that game, too. There was no better evidence than the opening minutes of the third quarter, during which the Heat had three straight fastbreak baskets.

A Nowitzki turnover led to the first, a breakaway dunk for LeBron James. The next was one of the flashiest highlights of these playoffs, Wade grabbing the ball in the open court, racing past Nowitzki while wrapping the ball around his back and finishing with a two-handed reverse slam. Finally, Wade tossed an alley-oop to James, leaving Dallas trailing 57-52.

All night, Miami made runs, and Dallas didn’t respond — until the end.

Miami still led by 10 with 5:21 left, but Dallas kept chipping away. Jason Kidd cut the lead to 90-84 with a 3-pointer. Then after a Miami miss, Jason Terry hit a pull-up jumper to slice the deficit to four.

Then Nowitzki happened. And this series got turned upside down.

Mavericks 95, Heat 93

DALLAS (95): Marion 9-14 2-2 20, Nowitzki 10-22 3-3 24, Chandler 4-6 5-8 13, Kidd 2-7 0-0 6, Stevenson 3-6 0-0 9, Stojakovic 0-0 0-0 0, Terry 5-11 6-6 16, Haywood 1-2 0-0 2, Barea 2-7 1-2 5, Cardinal 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 36-75 17-21 95.

MIAMI (93): James 8-15 2-4 20, Bosh 4-16 4-4 12, Anthony 0-0 0-0 0, Bibby 5-8 0-0 14, Wade 13-20 8-12 36, Haslem 1-3 0-0 2, Chalmers 3-8 2-4 9, Miller 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 34-73 16-24 93.

Dallas28232024—95

Miami28232418—93

3-Point Goals—Dallas 6-17 (Stevenson 3-5, Kidd 2-5, Nowitzki 1-2, Terry 0-2, Barea 0-3), Miami 9-30 (Bibby 4-7, Wade 2-7, James 2-7, Chalmers 1-6, Miller 0-3). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Dallas 51 (Nowitzki 11), Miami 39 (Bosh, James 8). Assists—Dallas 18 (Kidd, Terry 5), Miami 13 (Wade 6). Total Fouls—Dallas 20, Miami 17. Technicals—Dallas Coach Carlisle, Miller. A—20,003 (19,600).

[Last modified: Jun 03, 2011 09:44 AM]

Click here for reuse options!

Copyright 2011 St. Petersburg Times

You must enable javascript to view and add comments.

Gotta run!.