NBA Finals Game 3: Miami at Dallas (June 5) Dallas was short a man as backup center Brendan Haywood was out with a strained right hip flexor (Roddy Beaubois was activated in Haywood's place, but Beaubois did not play). This meant that little used Ian Mahinmi got to play the backup role to give Tyson Chandler some rest. It was the 100th game of the season (playoff and regular season) of both teams. I did have a chuckle when they played the Finals video before the player intros - the same one that has been shown on ABC, but for the video shown Sunday at the AAC, they cut out the clips of the Heat celebrating in 2006. The game got going with Dallas strangely opening with a post up of Jason Kidd on Mike Bibby (not see much in the previous 2 games, and the team normally doesn't run plays for Kidd) - but Kidd missed his short shot and Bibby got the laugh on the other end where he drained an open (as in Dallas was again doubling off of him) 3-pointer (but that would be his only bucket of the game). Dirk Nowitzki got Dallas on the board 50 seconds into the game. a 3-pointer by DeShawn Stevenson gave Dallas a 14-9 lead with 7:35 - while Chris Bosh had been accidentally poked in the eye on the other end, but Bosh was able to stay in the game - but Dallas' lead would get no larger than 5 points. Dwyane Wade had scored Miami's next 8 points after Bibby's 3-pointer. A 3-point play by Bosh tied the game at 18-18 with 4 minutes to go as the game stayed close. A baseliner by Jason Terry with 1:30 left ended Dallas' almost 3 minute field goal drought (with Dallas scoring just one free throw during that time) and 1-2 FT by J.J. Barea tied the game at 22-22 with a minute remaining. But LeBron James drove for a power slam and then hit 2 free throws and then Mario Chalmers' 35-foot 3-pointer rattled in at the quarter buzzer to give Miami a 29-22 lead after 1. Miami shot 12-23 FG and 3-3 FT and Dallas shot 8-16 FG and 4-6 FT - and both teams shot 2-4 3-pointers. Note that Miami attempted 7 more shots than Dallas. They also had a 16-2 points in the paint advantage. Dallas had 4 turnovers in the quarter off of which Miami scored 9 points. But the good shooting did not last as both teams would struggle finding the basket during the 2nd quarter. Chalmers opened the 3rd with a 3-pointer and Bosh hit 2 free throws to give Miami a 34-22 lead with 10:40 left. But Dallas scored the next 7 points as Miami missed 3 straight shots and had 4 turnovers. Wade did score the next 4 points to give Miami a 38-29 lead with 6:45 left. Both teams went scoreless over the next 2 1/2 minutes. After Kidd fed Terry for the short flip in, Wade nailed a 3-pointer and then got a dunk on the break (making 9 straight Wade Miami points) and then James hit 2 free throws to give Miami a 45-31 lead with 3 minutes to go - that was just 2 points by Dallas over a 4 minute period. But Dallas was finally able to score some points and closed the quarter with an 11-2 run (in part thanks to Miami getting in the penalty as 6 of those points came from the line) [but Wade's halfcourt heave at the buzzer nearly banked in]. Miami led 47-42 at the half. Thanks to their end of the quarter run, Dallas actually out-scored Miami 20-18 in the 2nd quarter. Dallas shot just 6-20 FG including 1-4 3-pointers and Miami shot 5-18 FG including 2-6 3-pointers. Dallas shot 7-9 FT and Miami shot 6-6 FT. Dallas only had 2 turnovers, but Miami scored on both of them (for 5 points) while Dallas had 6 points on Miami's 5 2nd quarter turnovers. But Dallas got the point in the paints problem adjusted as the Mavs actually had an 8-6 advantage. It was the Dwyane Wade show for the Heat as he had 11 of Miami's 18 2nd quarter points. On the Dallas side, Nowitzki had 8 points and Terry had 7 points for 15 of Dallas' 20 2nd quarter points. Dallas had a poor start to the 3rd quarter as they missed their first 2 shots and had a turnover, while Miami scored on their first 4 possessions, capped by a dunk by James on the break after the turnover, and Miami lead 55-42 with 10:10 to go. Dallas got their act somewhat together while Miami missed their next 3 shots and a 3-pointer by Kidd followed by a 3-pointer by Nowitzki pulled Dallas within 51-55 with 7 minutes remaining. A layup by Marion on the push after a Miami miss completed a 15-2 Dallas run to tie the game at 57-57 with 4:35 left - Miami shot 1-10 FG during the run. A Miami free throw was all that was scored over the next minute and a jumper by Terry (with a friendly bounce) briefly gave Dallas a 59-58 lead with 3:10 to go, but James answered with a 3-pointer and Chalmers connected on another 3-pointer to give the Heat a 64-59 lead with 2:15 remaining. Miami led 67-64 after 3. Dallas again had a slight edge in the quarter in out-scoring Miami 22-20 in the 3rd quarter. Dallas shot 7-16 FG including 3-5 3-pointers and Miami shot 8-21 FG including 2-4 3-pointers. Dallas shot 5-6 FT and Miami shot 2-4 FT. So, for the 3rd game in a row, it was all coming down to the 4th quarter. James opened the quarter with a dunk on the break and then the game was delayed for a couple of minutes as a drink was accidentally spilled on the court. Barea nailed a corner 3 (his first bucket of the game) 40 seconds into the quarter and the game stayed close. The game was tied at 72-72 with 9:40 to go and Miami rattled off the next 7 points, capped by Chalmers' 4th 3-pointer of the game, to give Miami a 79-72 lead with 7:20 left. Dallas actually had a dunk of their own on a putback slam by Chandler and, after Wade got 2 up close, Nowitzki had a layup and 2 free throws to pull Dallas within 78-81 with 5 minutes left and Miami called timeout. But Wade connected on a 3 late in the shot clock. The teams traded misses and Nowitzki was fouled, putting Miami in the penalty and Nowitzki on the line. He hit both free throws. Bosh missed and Nowitzki was fouled on the rebound - and he again hit both to pull Dallas within 82-84 with 3 minutes left and it was going to be another tight finish. Bosh passed up an open look and then missed a tough shot at the shot clock buzzer. At the other end, Kidd fed Nowitzki for a dunk to tie the game at 84-84 with 2:30 remaining. Wade hit a jumper with 2 minutes left and Nowitzki hit a tough fade away to tie the game at 86-86 with 1:40 to go. Shawn Marion blocked a 3-point attempt by James late in the shot clock. But Terry missed a long baseliner with a minute remaining. The Heat passed the ball and found Bosh near the corner for an open baseliner, thanks to a nice screen by Udonis Haslem, to give Miami a 2 point lead with 40 seconds left and Dallas called timeout. But Nowitzki threw the ball away as the double-team came. Miami ran the clock down and James side-stepped and missed a 3 late in the clock and Nowitzki grabbed the rebound and Dallas called their final timeout with 4.5 seconds left. But Nowitzki's high arcing free throw fade away bounced off the back of the rim and that was game. Miami won 88-86. Miami leads the series 2-1. Well, crap. Dallas gave right back what they got in Game 2. And it wasn't a great game by either team as both teams had trouble executing down the stretch. Miami had 2 buckets (and 2 24 second violations) on their last 8 possessions. And Dallas did not score on their last 3 possessions (though they did score on their prior 4 possessions). The difference of the game was actually the first quarter where Miami out-scored Dallas 29-22 as Dallas actually out-scored Miami in the next 3 quarters (but just by 1 or 2 points - 20-18 in the 2nd quarter, 22-20 in the 3rd, and 22-21 in the 4th). I thought at the time that it might be critical to the game, but Mario Chalmers' long 3-point runner at the 1st quarter buzzer actually ended up being the difference in the game (poor defense by Dallas resulted in Chalmers' getting a decent look for that tough shot). Okay, that's over-simplifying it. The difference in the game was that Chris Bosh hit a shot with 40 seconds left and Dirk Nowitzki didn't hit his shot at the buzzer. Crap. But that's not to say that Nowitzki was Dallas' goat - he was actually the Mavs hero as he scored 15 of Dallas' 22 4th quarter points. It's just that he didn't get enough help (only 2 other Mavs were in double-digit scoring). While the Big 3 got it going for Miami (with a grand performance by Dwyane Wade) and Chalmers was hitting 3s like crazy. For the numbers, Miami shot 43.6% (34-78) FG including 8-19 3-pointers and Dallas shot 40% (28-70) FG including 8-21 3-pointers. Dallas had the edge at the line in shooting 22-27 FT while Miami shot just 12-15 FT. After a high number in Game 2, the turnover numbers weren't bad - it was just that Miami was terribly effective in converting what Dallas gave them. Miami scored 19 points off of Dallas' 14 turnovers. Dallas had 15 points on Miami's 13 turnovers. Dallas did have a 42-36 edge in rebounds including 12-9 offensive. Miami had 20 assists and Dallas had 18 assists (decent assist numbers for scores in the 80s). It was Dallas' 2nd home loss of the postseason. As I said, Dwyane Wade was great and unstoppable at times. He had a couple of "Wow!" layups where you just have to give him props. He had 29 points including 12-21 FG, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists. LeBron James had just 17 points but was a passer with 9 assists. He did turn the ball over 4 times, but also had 2 steals. Chris Bosh had the game winner and had 18 points and (just) 3 rebounds. And Mario Chalmers hit 4 3-pointers for 12 points (he shot 4-6 3-pointers and 0-4 2-pointers). Udonis Haslem gets the unsung hero award as it was his screen that gave Bosh the open look for the game winner and Haslem played good defense on Dirk Nowitzki that results in the last shot being a very difficult one. Haslem had 6 points and 4 rebounds in 29 minutes. When Mike Bibby picked up his 4th foul during the 3rd quarter, I actually asked out loud if it was a good thing. It wasn't as Bibby hadn't done much since his game opening 3-pointer and his foul trouble put the more effective Chalmers back in the game - Bibby did not play in the 4th quarter. Bibby had 3 points on 1-5 FG and just 1 assist (he is their starting point guard) in 19 minutes. Joel Anthony had 2 points on 1-4 FG and 6 rebounds in 23 minutes. Mike Miller missed his only shot and had 2 rebounds in 12 minutes. Juwan Howard got in for 6 minutes and shot 1-2 FT and had 1 rebound and 1 assist. It was the Dirk Nowitzki show for Dallas as he simply did not get enough help. He had a game high 34 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks. He scored 15 of Dallas' 22 4th quarter points (including the last 12 Dallas points of the game), with J.J. Barea (5 points) and Tyson Chandler (2 points) the only other Dallas scorers in the 4th. Nowitzki hit all 9 free throws he attempted, to up his free throws made streak to 37 straight. Jason Terry had 15 points, but missed the only 4 shots he attempted in the 4th quarter. After 3 strong outings, Shawn Marion did not have a good game with just 10 points including 4-12 FG, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in 43 minutes. No other Mav was in double-digit scoring. Chandler did have double-digit rebounding with 11 boards to go with 3 blocks, but just had 5 points including 1-4 FG. Jason Kid had 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists, but also had 4 turnovers, including a couple of sloppy ones. J.J. Barea wasn't productive through 3 quarters (where he missed 4 shots and had no assists and 2 turnovers), but did score 5 points early in the 4th quarter. He had 6 points including 2-8 FG and 1-5 3-pointers, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 4 turnovers in 19 minutes. DeShawn Stevenson hit his only shot, a 3-pointer, and had 1 rebound and 1 assist - but he is on the court to chase after Dwyane Wade and help out with LeBron James. Hey, Peja Stojakovic actually hit a shot (his first of the series), but he only attempted 2 and, as a result of his ineffectiveness, was only on the court for 6 minutes. The Mavs did miss Brendan Haywood as it seemed the only thing Ian Mahinmi could do was collect fouls. He had 5 fouls in 8 minutes on the court (okay, he did had a rebound and hit 2 free throws (though the refs incorrectly sent him to the line instead of Nowitzki)). Brian Cardinal briefly got on the court (7 seconds) and did not have a stat (actually was on the court twice, at the end of the 1st and 2nd quarters). I'd also like to say that I didn't like how the refs called the game. Sure, it's the playoffs (and more so with the Finals) and the refs tend to let some things go, but this night there was lots of contact inside that they didn't call (on both ends) and you really do have to make the call (even in the playoffs) where the contact is such that it is directly affecting the shooter. Though the refs were good at not calling any of the flops in the game. Quotes Erik Spoelstra: "This series is turning out to be an absolute series of endurance - mental and physical. We didn't expect anything less than the competitive physicality of this game tonight. Our guys really competed. At times it was a little uneven, but we found ways to make plays on both ends of the court, to grind this game out in a very enduring win. Now we just have to move on. The tough part right now is amnesia. Both teams are highly competitive. This is a competitive series, as you can see. We have to really gather ourselves in 48 hours and get right back and do this again." Spoelstra on Miami's defense on Dallas' last play: "I don't want to get into too many specifics. Our guys know when there's opportunities for our playmakers to make some plays. That was a very similar situation to what we saw the other night. Had a different matchup. That's a makeable shot, even for him. But UD [Haslem] did a great job of keeping his chest in front of him and forcing him into a fadeaway. Nowitzki is a tough player. That shot hung up in the air about as long as it was in between Game 2 and Game 3. It was a good offensive play, and a good defensive play. And he happened to miss." Spoelstra on the rebounding: "It was a fistfight under the glass. We had 5 of those fouls on blockouts and we're giving up some size, but certainly not giving up anything in competitiveness and fight. That's the way it will be. Both teams understand how important finishing off your defense is. And 2nd chance opportunities, relief points. Our guys were getting into that fight. It will continue to be that battle. In terms of the 3-point shooting, yes, we shot a good percentage, but, again, it was within the context of what we wanted to do. That was to be aggressive, set the tone, to attack. We didn't necessarily get to the free throw line, but we were getting to the rim. And then we have rhythm shooters. So those guys have proven long enough that they'll make timely open 3s, especially when we're able to get some other things that are important for our game." Spoelstra on Miami's defense: "We have to continue to be active. We did have some breakdowns. Look, you have to give that team some credit, too. They have shooters. They have a great quarterback who will make you pay for mistakes. They have the shooting. And Nowitzki obviously draws a lot of attention. So we wanted to be active, create opportunities by making plays, keeping our bodies in front of them. This is a competitive series. When one team makes a run, usually there's a timeout and the next team comes right back. It will be a possession game virtually every game, probably to a fan's delight." Spoelstra on going to Bosh late in the game: "The important thing about that that we didn't necessarily do in Game 2 was trust. That play wasn't designed for him. It was a couple of triggers, ball moved, put the ball on the floor, some rotations, and we hit the open guy. There was a handful of those possessions in the 4th quarter, big plays where the ball moved, and it found the open man and make or miss, it's the right play. Chris has done that several times in this playoff run in those corners. When we need a big one, he hits it. I don't care what happens up to that point. Makes some winning plays and he's able to knock down a big one for us." Spoelstra on Bosh's game winner: "First it started with Dwyane. He threw it to LeBron, LeBron threw it to Chris. And that's fundamental basketball at its best. When you see an open man, you hit an open man. And like I said, we made a few of those plays down the stretch. It was good to see him knock that one down." Spoelstra on Chalmers: "He's a tough kid. He's a gutsy player. We all know in big moments he doesn't shy away. He gave us some big plays, especially when Dwyane was on the bench. He was able to create some opportunities for us, hit a big 3. He's not afraid of the moment. So we needed those minutes, every bit of them." Spoelstra on the win: "It's just one. We're not going to make it more than what it is. We have 2 wins under our belt. We have to try to be greedy and get another one. But there isn't going to be anything easy that comes in this series for either team. After Game 2, that's so far out of our mind at this point. It's all about the win or the loss. It doesn't matter. Even this, it's not a good win, it's not a bad win. It's a win. We have to move on and we have to try to get the next one." Dwyane Wade: "Tonight I just tried to be aggressive. I didn't shoot every time. I passed it off to my teammates. So this is a total win. And if I can say one thing, we wanted to win the game on the defensive end of the floor. And it came down to getting a stop." Wade on losing Game 2 and winning Game 3: "You can't lose a game like that and come and lose Game 3. We felt this was a must win. We had to put it upon ourselves to try to take homecourt back in a sense, and by any means necessary. So it was a big win for us, but it was a big game. I thought we did a good job of withstanding all their runs, withstanding the points in the game where it looked like they had momentum. And we held on to our lead and we made enough plays to win the ballgame." Wade: "Yeah, just understanding the moment. Took it upon myself as a leader to try to lead my guys by example. And I think for me it started in practice yesterday. I was very aggressive going to the hole practicing. My teammates seen it. They can tell that I wanted this game, and I came in with the same mentality today. Like I said, I've been here before. So just trying to lead. My guys did a great job of following that lead. We were able to come out with the win. Wade on Nowitzki's last shot: "Obviously, you know, we have a lot of confidence in our team defense. That was a man-to-man defense right there. It was Udonis putting his chest in front. We had a lot of confidence coming out of the huddle. We wanted to win this game right now on the defensive end with that stop. Even more confidence than we had if we were down 2 or tied and had it on the offensive end. I was very confident in UD, understanding he wanted that challenge the last game, and he wasn't able to be put in that position. Put him back in that position this time. I knew he was going to at least make it tough. If Dirk makes the shot, at least do his job and make sure he takes a fadeaway at the end." Wade on the win: "Well, confidence, you get to this point with neither team confidence won't be an issue. Obviously it's a great road win. We got 3 games in a row here. So it's good to get the first one. Personally, I moved on from this win already. I feel like we did nothing but get homecourt advantage back. But the next game is a big game. We have to bring our hard hats, understanding it's going to be tougher to win that game than it was to win this one. I believe in this team. If anyone can do it, I believe we can." Wade: "I mean, obviously a game of basketball is a game full of runs. So there was moments in the game where offense looked great and their offense looked great. There were points where neither offense looked great. Obviously they did a good job of turning up their pressure. I thought we got ourselves in a little trouble by getting late clock. When we do that, they're able to turn up the pressure. It makes us take bad shots or settle for shots. We always give teams credit where credit is due. This team worked very hard on the defensive end of the floor. But we could have did a better job and need to do a better job of making sure we don't put ourselves in 911 situations or turn the ball over and let them get in transitions like they did." Wade on Nowitzki scoring and the other Mavs not: "Obviously Dirk is great. A great 1-on-1 player. A great shooter. We understand Dirk is going to get his numbers. It's our job just to try to make it tough on other guys. They have guys that can score the ball. Shawn Marion has come into this averaging 18 and 9. Jason Terry was huge for them in Game 2 and an unbelievable scorer. They have other guys that can score. It's our job to make it tough. They've shown they have a deep bench. They've shown they have a very good team. They wouldn't be in The Finals without none of them guys. So we're not going to give Dirk all the credit at all. This Dallas Mavericks team is very deep." LeBron James on Bosh's game winner: "It's all about trusting your teammates. DWade, we ran a 2-3 pick-and-roll. They put 2 on the ball. DWade hit me first. I had Tyson Chandler closing on me. I saw CB wide open. I don't care if he missed 15 in a row, he was wide open and that's his sweet spot. He was able to knock it down. It's the trust we have in each other's ability, no matter what the point of the game is at." James: "We play our defense. This is the toughest offense we've played all year as far as how many guys they put on the floor that can make plays. Not only for themselves, but for others. Unbelievable shooting team. And they make you stay in tune. You can never relax or they make you pay. Our defense always tries to extend offenses further than where they usually start. That's just our defense. It has nothing to do about them not being a paint presence or anything like that. It's just our defense. That's how we played all postseason all year. James on his low scoring in the 4th quarters: "I think you're concentrating on one side of the floor. All you're looking at is the stat sheet. Honestly, I'm a 2-way player. Since DWade had it going offensively, so we allow him to handle the ball, bring it on offensively. You should watch the film again and see what I did defensively. You'll ask me a better question tomorrow." James on Nowitzki's last shot: "Like DWade said, we had all the confidence in the world in our defensive scheme. UD wanted that matchup in Game 2. So we knew when he got this matchup, he was going to make Dirk take a tough shot. He made that shot before. He will make it again. At least we just make him work for it. Make him take a turn around jumper. UD stayed in front of him and it rimmed out. It was a huge stop for our team." Chris Bosh on Wade: "First and foremost, he pushed himself. He played spectacular basketball. He was aggressive and took good shots. We rode the wave for a little while. He set the tone for us. When a guy like that is really getting on you and demanding more, that's what team is all about. I think that's what this situation is all about. We have to push each other. It's all about how bad you want to win it. We want to win it very bad. So if we have to get on each other, we're going to get on each other. And it going to be for the best." Bosh on his injured eye: "I feel great. Just as long as I feel as good as I do now, I'll be all right. Things happen. We just have to take the necessary precautions later, and get ready for Game 4." Bosh on his eye: "It's not limiting my vision. I can see pretty good. I guess, I don't know. I don't know what it is. We'll spit on it and put a bandaid on it and patch it up later. Bosh on Chalmers: "Mario is a fantastic shooter. When he's spaced and he has time to gather, he can really shoot the basketball. He's production off of our bench. We need him a lot. We need him to play. We need him to get into the offense. We need him to defend and just be himself. When he does that and he's hitting shots and he's aggressive, it helps out our bench points and it spreads the floor, because he's knocking shots down." Bosh on hitting the game winner: "It feels good. I'm stuck in a place where I don't feel too good, I don't feel too bad. After every game I just look at the game and think about how I can do better and how this team can do better. All in all, it's been okay. Being back home and everything is cool, but we're here to win a championship. That's what it's all about. It's good and all, but I'm not going to read too much into it." Bosh: "I still have to work on the flow of my game a little bit more. I think I did a better job today than I did last game. There is some improvement there. I just have to get down in the post. If they kick it to me, I just have to be aggressive. I either shoot it or I move it or I drive it. I think when I just make decisive moves, I don't have to be quick or fast. When I make decisive moves, they're quick and I can get to the bucket. Or I have confidence in my shot, and my teammates have confidence in me, too. I just have to let it go." Bosh on his game winner: "Just running the play. It was just running the play. We run the play all the time, and I kind of I saw Tyson's body language, and I saw Dirk's body language. You could kind of tell what they're about to do. Especially when Dwyane and LeBron are running screen-and-roll. They both turn their head, I told UD who to hit. He did a fantastic job of screening me. I knew I was going to have an open shot. When I know I'm going to have an open shot, I know I have to shoot it. I just wanted to have good form, follow through, and I'm lucky." Bosh on James passing to him: "Yeah. It was the right play. We've been making the right plays. We trust each other. Our guys have been doing a fantastic job of showing that trust, especially in crunch time situations. This is as big as it gets. When you can trust somebody to hit him real quick, I think that's great." Bosh on Chandler and Dallas missing Haywood: "Yeah, it's tough. When you know your backup center is down and you're the only center on the team, yeah, it's extremely tough. But I mean, he had a good game. No matter what happened, he still put his print on the game. We're going to have to do a better job of containing Tyson on the rebounds if we want to win this series. We're going to make the adjustments, and we just have to come out and do a better job and pay attention to detail." Udonis Haslem on Nowitzki's last shot: "He's a great player. He's obviously going to get his shot off because I'm not going to be able to block it, so I've got to just try to slide my feet, beat him to the spot, and stay straight up, and make him shoot a tough shot." Haslem on defending Nowitzki: "You know, just anticipating his move and reacting. There's not much time to think. He's a great player, 7-feet, so, like I said, he's going to get his shot over me. The key is I've just got to try and make him shoot a tough one." Haslem on defending Nowitzki: "I'm a competitor. He's a competitor. So both of us probably look forward to that opportunity." Haslem: "We've shown that we could win after losing a tough game, we were able to bounce back. We've shown that we can go on the road and win in a hostile environment. But we know it's just 1 win. We're happy to get one, but we've got to look forward to the next game because they'll come back even better." Mike Bibby: "We take pride in our defense. The only thing was toward the end of the game we tried to win the game with our defense, and we did." Bibby on Wade hitting big shots: "He definitely did that. He just kept telling us to be aggressive. Regardless of what he was doing, he was making stuff happen." Rick Carlisle on missing Haywood: "Well, not having Haywood was, you know, it made it tougher for us because he's a regular rotation guy. I thought Mahinmi's energy was good. At times maybe a little too energetic, but that was expected. We'll see how Brendan is for Game 4, and that's a day and a half away now. He's been doing better. So when we get to that point, we'll see where we're at." Carlisle on Nowitzki: "Well, he knows that he's going to have to carry a certain load. Not just a scoring load, but he's going to have to make plays, he's going to have to facilitate, he's going to have to get guys involved. And so, you know, I don't think this is anything that he doesn't expect. We would like to make it easier for him, and at times we can give him some relief, you know, with some rest and some better balance. But tonight was tough. Tonight was not one of those nights." Carlisle: "Look, we've got a top 9 guys that are rotation guys. I've consistently pointed out that we don't have a specific pecking order. We're a team built on balance. We're a team where it may take 7 guys scoring 4 points or more or 5 points or more or 8 scoring 3 points or more. We never know for sure. I think tonight one of the things that hurt us was we were digging out of holes all night, with the exception of the very beginning of the game. We get down 5 or 7, climb back into it, get a 1-point lead or get it tied, and then we were a minute or 2 later back digging ourselves back again. It's very difficult playing from behind all the time. So they played a better game tonight for sure. But we're going to have to play more efficiently. We're going to have to get the ball in the basket more. And overall we're going to have to play a better game." Carlisle: "Games get tougher as you get deeper into the playoffs. We know that. Some odd things happen. They throw in a halfcourt shot that may have been a backcourt violation at the end of the 1st [quarter]. That goes from 4 to 7. That's a great play for them, and it's a tough one for us. And then we climbed out of that. Again, I don't know the number of times we climbed out of holes, but it's just always going to make the game harder. So our overall game, yes, is going to have to be better from start to finish. Our balance has been one of our calling cards, and I believe it will be better as well." Carlisle on Miami scoring 19 points off of Dallas' turnovers: "Yeah. They were the best in the league during the season. No. 1 at converting steals into turnovers. In many ways it's turnovers and 2 points. Steals into points, actually. In many cases it's just turnovers in general. So, you know, we only had 6 in the 1st half. It led to 14 points, which is an inordinate number. So it's a good example of the importance of taking care of the ball." Carlisle: "Look, it's as much a 1st quarter league as it is a 4th quarter league. It's something I've talked about a lot of the year. Again, things that happened in the 1st, they add up and they count in the total number of events that happen through the course of the game. Yes, we have to be better in the 1st. Again, our overall game has to be better." Carlisle on Dallas' poor shooting: "I think when we look at it we'll find out there were some difficult ones, but there were also some very good opportunities that we couldn't get down. And so, look, it's a long series. One of the things is there are ebbs and flows. The shot making, it comes and goes. The defense has to be consistent overall for the whole game. We can argue that 43.6 [% FG (Miami)] is a good enough number to win. It's below 90s. But this is a team you have to score in the 90s to beat them in most cases. So, 1 or 2 untimely turnovers and the inability to get the ball in the basket in some of the better opportunities cost us." Carlisle: "Well, look, it's 7 games. Any notion that it was going to be easy would have been foolhardy by us or anybody else. Every game has been extremely difficult. We'll break down the film, and I think one of the things we need to do is point out some situations where execution needed to be better. Point out that there were many positives. Sometimes missed open shots can be positives, because they're opportunities that we did create that were good. And we have to eliminate a couple of the turnovers that lead to the quick points. It's extremely difficult when you're watching James go down the court and dunk the ball with his head over the rim. That makes it tough to win." Carlisle on Barea's and Stojakovic's struggles: "You know, our guys just they have to be systematic and approach each game with the same kind of aggressiveness they approached every game leading up to this. There's going to be some nights you don't shoot it good, but to sit up here and just bellyache about missed shots, that's never what the success of this team is going to be about. We held ourselves in the game in Game 2. We held ourselves in the game tonight. And we made some other mistakes that were uncharacteristic. So we're going to have to eliminate some of those. We're going to have to look at our overall disposition in the game. Again, I really believe the fact that we were digging out of holes all night was something that, you know, it was difficult to overcome." Dirk Nowitzki: "Well, I thought we had opportunities. First of all, we can't always fall down behind. I think we're always reacting. We did in the 1st quarter. We fell down big. 3rd quarter we came out slow, fell down big. Obviously it takes a lot of energy for us to fight back. But even down the stretch, I think there were opportunities. I thought JET had a good look at the baseline. I think it was to tie it or go up 2. And we had a mental breakdown, that one play Bosh gets the wide open jumper the last minute. So I thought we had our opportunities, and just weren't good enough. You have to give them credit. Their defense is pretty good. They hold us to the low 40s [% shooting] every game, and they really take our shooters out of the game." Nowitzki: "We all understand that basketball is a game of runs. We have to stop the runs a little quicker. We can't go down 15 all the time and battle back. You can get like a 5, 6 point swing here and there. We can't always get in a deep hole like that." Nowitzki on Game 4: "Well, be a little sharper at the beginning. I think they came out and were really attacking. I just thought it was a little too easy there. Wade got to the basket 3 times there in the 1st quarter. James did as well. So we have to be a little sharper at the beginning and not let them get their rhythm. And I thought the crowd pushed us forward. So we're going to need the same effort out of them. It's basically a must win situation." Nowitzki: "Like I said, they do a pretty good job on our shooters. If we have the open looks, we just got to make them. We haven't made enough of them. If we're going to keep shooting in the low 40s, it's going to be tough to win. Yeah, I have to keep making plays, keep being aggressive and look for my shot." Nowitzki on turnovers: "Cut it down a little bit. We're going to turn the ball over against that team. It's just going to happen. They're so fast, long, athletic. They do a good job swarming the ball once we put it down. We're going to turn it over some. I already thought we cut it down from Game 2 to this one, so hopefully in Game 4 we can cut down a couple more and we'll be okay." Nowitzki on his turnover on the 2nd to last play: "Both good plays. Shawn Marion was in the corner, and Wade just left him. I still actually kind of wanted to shoot it. I think Wade would have blocked it kind of from the side. So I wanted to swing it, and Shawn is more like slash, a cutter. He was cutting and left the corner. So that was a tough play. And the look with 4 seconds to go, I think it was as good as you can get it." Nowitzki on losing Game 3 after winning Game 2: "My view hasn't changed. This definitely was a big game. And a very tough loss. Emotional game, fought back, and to fall short at the end is tough. But they need 2 more. Hopefully we can play a better all-around game and finally get some shots to go down here at home and see what happens Tuesday. Like I said, this is a tough loss, and it's basically a must win situation on Tuesday. We can't go down 3-1." Nowitzki on Haslem's defense: "He's fronting me everywhere, trying to keep the ball out of my hands. He does a good job. He's active, he's quick on his feet. Down the stretch, I think he stayed down and made me shoot a contested shot and a shot I can make, but unfortunately it didn't go." Nowitzki on his turnover on the 2nd to last play, if he was between passing and shooting: "Sometimes I do that a lot. I go in the air and still kind of probe if I can get the shot up. If it's not there, I swing it. I do it all the time. At that point, yeah, I wanted to shoot it. But Wade really made a strong effort from the side, and I don't think I would have got it up. So I tried to swing it, and Shawn was cutting. So I guess it was a miscommunication." Nowitzki on Bosh's game winner: "We messed up on the pick-and-roll in the middle and left I think James wide open. Tyson left the basket, had to rotate to LeBron, and he kicked it over to Bosh. I was over there with 2-on-1, with Haslem and Bosh. Got to give Haslem credit. He set a god pick and Bosh was wide open. I don't really know what happened there in the screen-and-roll, but we definitely messed it up." Nowitzki on Mahinmi and missing Haywood: "I think Ian gave us energy. He's very athletic. He's quick on his feet. I actually think he played all right. But Haywood has been big for us in the paint over the last year and a half we had him. He's a big guy, and he can change a lot of shots at the rim. I actually thought Ian did his job tonight." Jason Terry: "It was disappointing. Again, we haven't put together 48 minutes of good basketball yet. " Terry on Miami's defense and Dallas' turnovers: "A lot of it is us just giving it to them. It's one thing if they're forcing turnovers, but for the most part we're a little careless - early on in the game with the turnovers." Terry on Nowitzki: "Well, we didn't really give him much help, and I take a lot of that on my shoulders. That's 2 out of 3 games offensively in the 4th quarter that I wasn't able to come up with some big plays and big shots. I'm looking forward to Game 4 and we're going to treat it like it's Game 7." Terry on if Miami defended Nowitzki differently: "Nothing at all. Well, they didn't allow him to get all the way to the basket, but he still got the look he wanted. It just didn't go in." Terry: "It was disappointing. It was disappointing to get off to the start that we did in the 1st and 3rd quarters. They really came out and were more aggressive on both ends of the floor. That's what got them the lead. And we were playing from behind. You can't continue to play from behind in the NBA Finals." Terry on if Dallas thought they were going to win: "Oh yeah. I believed we were going to do it. The ball in our hands with 4 seconds to go, we're either going to win or we're going to overtime. That's the way I feel. We got the shot we wanted, it juts didn't go in." Terry: "Our energy level was good for the most part. It's the turnovers and the opportunities we've given them in transition for them to get out and run and dunk on us. When we set our halfcourt defense, they struggle to score. That's something we're going to have to continue to do for 48 minutes. We haven't done that and that's why we're looking at a 2-1 deficit right now. We've been very inconsistent." Jason Kidd: "We have to make baskets. We had some great looks that didn't go down for us, especially late in the game. So we have to continue to take those wide open looks and hopefully in Game 4 they go down for us." Kidd: "You know, I think we got down 15 again and we're fighting our way back, and we cut it to 5 at halftime. But the big thing is, you know, they win the 1st quarter - if you want to look at it, that's the game because we won the next 3. We have to take care of the ball against this team. Make or miss shots, you can't just give these guys easy layups on the other end. That's what they're doing to us right now." Kidd: "They were aggressive in the 2 games prior. This is just like the 2 games before. I mean, we turn the ball over, they lay it up. They made shots down the stretch. They made some 3s that helped them. For that, we have to take away the 3. But the big thing is we had the game there 86-86. We have a good look, but we don't make it. Coming down the stretch you have to make plays against this team if you want to beat them." Kidd: "I think the big thing is we have had spots of turning the ball over and giving them opportunities. So we have to take care of the ball. But the big thing is we have to have somebody else step up. Just Dirk - he's doing his part - but everyone else has to pitch in." Kidd on playing from behind: "Right now in this series, that's pretty much what we're doing. We have to figure out how to get in front and play from up front. But the big thing is we've shown that we can come back. I've said that the big thing is we have to be able to make plays late in the game. In Game 2, we made the plays and in Game 3 we just didn't." Kidd: "You have to create your own momentum, and every game is going to be different. This game is different for us because we made the plays down the stretch offensively and defensively, and then tonight we just didn't do that." Kidd: "We always miss Haywood, because he's a guy who changes shots and rebounds and also can score on the offensive end. But the big thing is, again, we have to protect the paint, and we didn't do that tonight. This game is going to be different. Every game is going to be different. They shot a lot of 3s prior to tonight, and the ones they did take they made. So we have to protect the paint and also run them off the 3s. That's a lot to do with the talent that they have." Kidd on Nowitzki: "I mean, he loves that stage late. He wants the ball, and he's always come through. So, again, like I said earlier, somebody else has to step up and help him on the offensive end. Again, we're getting great looks, but they're just not going down. We have to continue to take those looks and hopefully they go down in Game 4." Kidd on Stojakovic: "Yeah, I think Peja can find a place. When he's open he has to knock down shots just like everybody else. For that, we have to get him open shots and get him off some screens. The big thing is when we have those open looks, we have to be able to knock them down no matter if it's our bench players or the starters, because right now Dirk and JET are the only ones scoring." Kidd: "We have to penetrate. Doesn't always mean we have to score when the ball is in the paint. But we have to figure out how to get the ball - start the play in the paint and work our way inside-out. They do a great job defensively of making you do something that you don't want to. And so we have to, again, when we do have those open looks, we got to knock them down." Tyson Chandler on the loss: "Very disappointing. Any time you play in a close game like this, you feel like you had an opportunity to win. So it was a lost opportunity." Chandler on Miami's defense on Nowitzki's last shot: "He was able to get to the sweet spot [in Game 2]. In this situation we were down 2, as opposed to be tied and having a little more leeway with the kind of play you can draw up." Chandler: "They do a good job of forcing a lot of turnovers. They're a very athletic group. We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball." Chandler on playinh from behind: "That was the entire game. You can't give this team so many fastbreak points, and the only way they're getting fastbreak points is off of our turnovers. We're doing a good job with halfcourt defense. We're giving them running starts. We're giving them 11-point leads, 15-point leads. Them getting out on the break, we have to slow that down." Chandler on the last play: "Any time you get the ball in Dirk's hands, you like what your opportunities are. It's tough that he's in that situation. A lot is going to be said about the last play - and other plays down the stretch - but if you look at the entire game, there are a lot of missed opportunities early in the game, where we were going on runs, then allowing them to go on runs with our careless turnovers." Ian Mahinmi on his fouls: "I was very surprised by some of the calls. Some of the calls were good, some I didn't think I foul the guy, but obviously when they blow the whistle, they blow the whistle. There's nothing you can do." 2011 Playoffs - NBA Finals: Game 3 Miami Heat 88, Dallas Mavericks 86 at Dallas (June 5) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Miami 29 18 20 21 - 88 .441 .421 .436 .800 Dallas 22 20 22 22 - 86 .408 .381 .400 .815 Halftime: Miami 47-42 3rd Q: Miami 67-64 Technicals: none Refs: Danny Crawford, Scott Foster, Derrick Stafford Attendance: 20,340 (sellout) IL: Dallas - Caron Butler, Dominique Jones, Brendan Haywood Miami - Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Jamaal Magloire, Dexter Pittman Miami Heat REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK LeBron James 45 6-14 1-4 4-4 17 0-3 9 4 3 2 0 Chris Bosh 37 7-18 0-0 4-5 18 1-3 1 2 4 0 0 Joel Anthony 23 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 4-6 1 0 2 1 2 Dwyane Wade 39 12-21 2-4 3-4 29 3-11 3 0 3 1 1 Mike Bibby 19 1-5 1-4 0-0 3 0-2 1 1 4 1 1 Udonis Haslem 29 3-7 0-0 0-0 6 1-4 1 1 4 1 1 Mike Miller 12 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-2 1 1 3 2 0 Juwan Howard 6 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 Mario Chalmers 29 4-8 4-6 0-0 12 0-4 2 1 3 0 0 Totals 48 34-78 8-19 12-15 88 9-36 20 13 27 8 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shawn Marion 43 4-12 0-1 2-2 10 2-4 3 2 2 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 42 11-21 3-5 9-9 34 1-11 1 3 1 1 3 Tyson Chandler 40 1-4 0-0 3-4 5 7-11 0 0 2 1 3 DeShawn Stevenson 14 1-1 1-1 0-0 3 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 Jason Kidd 35 3-8 2-5 1-2 9 1-6 10 4 2 0 1 Peja Stojakovic 6 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-3 0 1 1 0 0 Jason Terry 32 5-13 1-3 4-6 15 0-3 2 0 0 1 0 Ian Mahinmi 8 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 1-1 0 0 5 0 0 J.J. Barea 19 2-8 1-5 1-2 6 0-2 1 4 1 0 0 Brian Cardinal 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 28-70 8-21 22-27 86 12-42 18 14 14 3 8 Go Mavs! patricia ---- Patricia Bender pbender@eskimo.com For Trianglons puzzles: http://www.trianglons.com For NBA stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/index.html For Mavs stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/mavs.html