Dallas at Miami (January 21) Though nearing his return, Shaquille O'Neal remained out for the Finals rematch. Dallas had Devin Harris back, but he didn't play much as he had hardly eaten anything over the previous 3 days. Dallas scored the first 5 points of the game before Dwyane Wade got a layup with 9:45 remaining. Miami pulled within 1 point a couple of times, but could not take the lead. A dunk by DeSagana Diop and jumper by Dirk Nowitzki gave Dallas a 20-13 lead with 4:30 to go, but Miami then scored the next 6 points to pull within 19-20 with 3:25 left. Dallas scored the last 6 points of the quarter, capped by a jumper by Jerry Stackhouse at the buzzer, to go up 31-23 after 1. Nowitzki had 10 points and Wade had 16 points. Wade suffered a sprained ankle late in the 1st quarter, but was able to return in the 2nd quarter. The teams traded buckets to open the 2nd quarter and Josh Howard converted a 3-point play and hit a jumper to give Dallas a 38-25 lead with 9:15 remaining. The teams went scoreless over the next 2 minutes and Alonzo Mourning hit 1-2 FT. A layup by Jason Williams ended Miami's almost 5 minute field goal drought and pulled the Heat within 28-38 with 6:30 left. But consecutive Dallas buckets gave the Mavs a 52-28 lead with 5:15 remaining. A 3-point play by Udonis Haslem (his first bucket after missing his first 8 shots) and a jumper by Antoine Walker pulled Miami within 39-46 with 1:10 to go. Jason Terry nailed a rainbow fade-away 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer to give Dallas a 51-40 lead at the half. Dallas shot 47% FG and Miami shot 37% FG in the half. Nowitzki hit a jumper to open the 3rd quarter, but Miami then scored the next 6 points to pull within 46-53 with 10:25 remaining. Terry ended the mini-run with a 3-pointer, but Dallas was unable to build a lead larger than 10 points. A jumper by Jason Kapono and layup by Walker pulled Miami within 60-64 with 3:15 to go. But Howard hit a 3-pointer and Stackhouse converted a 3-point play to give Dallas another 10-point lead with 2:40 left. Neither team scored in the last minute of the quarter and Dallas led 74-67 after 3. Miami opened the 4th quarter with an 8-2 run, capped by a 3-point play by Wade, to pull within 75-76 with 10:45 left. Stackhouse then scored the next 7 points to give Dallas an 83-75 lead with 9:30 left (Stackhouse scored Dallas' first 11 points of the 4th quarter). Dallas led 86-77 with 8:15 remaining and Miami scored the next 7 points to pull within 84-86 with 6:50 to go. Dallas answered with consecutive buckets and Miami went 2 1/2 minutes without scoring. But Dallas also slumped in going over 2 minutes without scoring and 6 straight Miami points tied the game at 90-90 with 3:30 left - the first tie since the opening tip. But Nowitzki put Dallas back on top with a jumper and Walker turned the ball over. Howard drove for a layup and Miami again did not get a shot off as they committed a 24 second violation. A jumper by Terry gave Dallas a 96-90 lead with 2:10 to go. Jason Williams hit 1-2 FT with 1:50 left and Alonzo Mourning blocked a shot. Haslem was fouled, but he missed both free throws. Nowitzki missed a shot and Wade drove for 2 to pull Miami within 93-96 with 55 seconds remaining. Dallas ran the clock down and Stackhouse missed, but Nowitzki got the rebound. Dallas ran more time off the clock and Nowitzki missed with 15 seconds left. Miami did not go for a quick shot and got the ball to Wade. His step-back 3-pointer bounced off the front of the rim, a Heat player swatted the rebound out, but Stackhouse was able to grab the loose ball and took it all the way the other way for the layup and he was fouled with .5 seconds left. He hit the extra free throw for the final point. Dallas won 99-93. It wasn't as easy of a win as Dallas would have liked with the way the Mavs have been playing and with Miami being without Shaquille O'Neal, but it goes down as a W and that's all that matters in the long run. Miami picked up their shooting in the 2nd half and finished shooting 48.6% (36-74) FG for the game. Dallas was fairly steady with their shooting touch and shot 46.6% (41-88) FG for the game. Neither team was great behind the arc as Dallas shot 4-16 3-pointers and Miami shot 4-13 3-pointers. Continuing a Miami-Dallas trend (Miami shot more in all but game 1 of the Finals), Miami shot more free throws (17-25) than Dallas (13-17). Dallas did dominate the boards and out-rebounded Miami 48-35 including 14-5 offensive. Miami was very clean with the ball and only had 8 turnovers. Dallas wasn't too bad themselves and had just 12 turnovers. Miami never led in the game. Dallas had 3 players with 20+ points. Josh Howard was the high man with 25 points to go with 9 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki had a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds (he only shot 2-3 FT). 16 of Jerry Stackhouse's 23 points came in the 4th quarter. He shot 10-16 FG. Jason Terry's shot wasn't falling (11 points including 4-12 FG), but he continued his streak of strong assist games. He had 11 assists. Devin Harris only played 10 minutes as he recovers from a stomach virus. Erick Dampier had 8 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with a minute and a half left. Devean George had 6 points and 7 rebounds in 25 minutes. Greg Buckner had 2 points and 3 rebounds in 13 minutes and DeSagana Diop had 2 points and 2 rebounds in 3 1/2 minutes. Anthony Johnson missed 2 shots and had 2 fouls in 9 1/2 minutes. Dwyane Wade again played well. He had 31 points on 12-21 FG and 6-9 FT. He also had 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Jason Williams had 17 points and 3 assists. After shooting 1-10 FG in the 1st half, Udonis Haslem shot 6-6 FG in the 2nd half. He finished with 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals. Antoine Walker had 11 points and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes. Quotes Avery Johnson: "It was a pretty good 1st half for us. Jason finished off the 1st half by making that shot so it gave us a little cushion going into the half. Not a very good 2nd half, but they are champions, they are fighters, they are a very good basketball team with a superstar player that can dominate the game. They came out and had a very good 2nd half. We had not so good of a 2nd half, but we were able to hold them off. We made some big plays down the stretch. We trapped Wade 2 or 3 times down the stretch just to get the ball out of his hands and make someone else make a play and fortunately it worked out for us and they missed some shots. Jerry looked very good for us. He has been looking strong for us ever since we have had him on a minute restriction. We don't win the game if he doesn't come of the bench and do what he did tonight. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't great, but a road game in our league, especially against the World Champions, you can't discount that. We will take it and move on to the next city." Johnson on Miami's comeback: "I got a little nervous because I was looking at our team in the mirror. We were looking at ourselves because we take pride in not giving up. We gave up a big lead. They tied it up, but we didn't give up either. They didn't give up, we didn't give up. That's what I think championship teams and championship organizations are all about - never giving up." Dirk Nowitzki: "They gave us everything they had. Wade was incredible again, making big shots. But we've learned how to close out games. That's what got us to the Finals last year." Nowitzki: "Down the stretch, we got some big stops and some big baskets. And obviously Stack was incredible." Jerry Stackhouse: "Once I got going a little bit Avery just kept coming to me and the guys were finding me. That team is the World Champs so they're going to find a way to get back into the game once you start making a few shots. Obviously we are a team that tries to milk the hot guy, whoever it is. A lot of nights it is Dirk, a lot of nights it is Josh. It was my night tonight with [Terry], so we tried to take advantage of the opportunity. It's always great to know that you can turn it on when it is time." Stackhouse: "We just had to keep grinding. It was a great game which had some great players making great plays." Stackhouse on Miami's last play: "They were down 3 and those are the worst type of plays - when they shoot the long ball and there is a long rebound. I was fortunate that it came my way and I was able to extend the lead." Anthony Johnson: "You could feel the intensity from Coach, Mark Cuban, all the way down to the last guy so there was definitely something riding on this game. It showed in the 10 o'clock curfew we had last night. We have a lot of disciplined guys so if Coach was serious enough to apply a curfew then we are serious enough to abide by the rules." Ron Rothstein: "They went zone and we did not attack it well. We miss 2 free throws and we did not come up with a big offensive rebound when we had a chance. Every time we got even, they spurted and went ahead. It wasn't just at the end of the game. I am proud of our guys. I am proud of our effort and I proud of the grit that we showed. We had a chance and we didn't quite get it done." Rothstein: "The difference in the game, bottom line, is 2nd chance points. They had 19, we had 5. That is the bottom line. If we held our ground there I think I would be sitting up here really happy with a win." Rothstein: "We were getting pushed under the basket on rebounds. Those are the things that if you want to win in a hard fought game you have to control. We gave them too many gift baskets." Rothstein on taking Mourning out of the game: "They went small. Unless we were going to play zone, we really didn't have anyone for Alonzo to guard. On one play I left him out there and somebody made a 3. They don't give you a chance to make too many mistakes." Rothstein on Stackhouse: "He made some tough shots. I think our defense was okay. We were in front of him and he made tough shots. He will do that. He is a very good offensive player." Dwyane Wade: "They went to a zone. It was kind of like a match-up zone. We just didn't get good shots down the stretch like we normally do. They threw a different defense at us, so it was a good call by Avery. They did a good job. They're a good team, one of the best in the league. They came on the road and got a good win. Wade on his last shot: "It felt good. I think Jason Terry did a good job of getting his hand in there. I had a good look and I'd take that shot every time." Wade on his sprained ankle: "I did it on a stupid play. Hopefully it feels better tomorrow, otherwise I'll have to make a decision tomorrow. I was still out there to help my teammates, just by being a decoy for most of the 3rd quarter. In the 4th quarter, it kind of loosened up enough for me to move around more." Wade on his ankle: "It was very untimely. My jumper was feeling really good. I'm frustrated to have gotten it at that time. It just stopped my whole rhythm and threw me off. I was not able to drive to the hole as much. It took away from my game a lot." James Posey: "We really couldn't make a basket in the 1st half, but we were still in the game. In the 2nd half, the shots started to fall for us. We were right there and gave ourselves a chance, but we missed a couple of free throws. Even with that, we still gave ourselves a chance but we just came up short." Posey on Dallas' 2nd chance points: "They were in the right place at the right time and they were very active. That is what they did well in the 1st half." Alonzo Mourning: "We still had an opportunity to win the game. When you put yourself in a position to win, you don't want to just settle for that. They don't keep stats for moral victories." Mourning on the end of the game: "We made mistakes. They made shots." Antoine Walker on the end of the game: "We got caught out of position a lot. They took the ball out of Dwyane's hands and forced us to make other plays." Dorell Wright: "They were hitting shots, getting 2nd chance points, and getting offensive rebounds. They knocked down shots at the end and Jerry Stackhouse got hot. He just got into a rhythm and just kept making jumpers." Dallas Mavericks 99, Miami Heat 93 at Miami (January 21) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 31 20 23 25 - 99 .514 .250 .466 .765 Miami 23 17 27 26 - 93 .525 .308 .486 .680 Halftime: Dallas 51-40 3rd Q: Dallas 74-67 Technicals: Josh Howard 5:31 3rd Refs: Joe Forte, Marc Davis, Zach Zarba Attendance: 20,195 (sellout) IL: Dallas - Maurice Ager, J.J. Barea, Pops Mensah-Bonsu Miami - Shaquille O'Neal, Wayne Simien, Robert Hite Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 38 4-12 2-5 1-2 11 0-1 11 1 1 0 0 Devin Harris 10 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 1 2 1 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 41 10-23 0-1 2-3 22 3-11 1 1 2 0 1 Josh Howard 42 9-18 2-5 5-7 25 2-9 3 4 4 2 0 Erick Dampier 34 3-5 0-0 2-2 8 3-11 0 1 6 0 1 Devean George 25 3-8 0-2 0-0 6 3-7 0 1 1 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 25 10-16 0-3 3-3 23 0-3 0 0 1 2 0 Greg Buckner 13 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-3 2 1 1 1 0 Anthony Johnson 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 DeSagana Diop 3 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 2-2 1 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 41-88 4-16 13-17 99 14-48 19 12 21 5 2 Miami Heat REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Williams 41 6-12 1-3 4-5 17 0-2 3 1 3 0 1 Dwyane Wade 44 12-21 1-4 6-9 31 1-6 6 0 2 2 0 Udonis Haslem 45 7-16 0-0 1-3 15 0-8 0 2 3 3 0 Jason Kapono 28 3-7 1-2 0-0 7 0-4 3 0 3 2 0 Alonzo Mourning 19 2-6 0-0 4-6 8 3-4 0 0 2 0 4 Antoine Walker 25 5-9 1-3 0-0 11 1-5 1 1 2 0 0 James Posey 21 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-4 0 1 1 0 0 Gary Payton 7 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Michael Doleac 6 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Dorell Wright 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 2 0 0 0 Totals 48 36-74 4-13 17-25 93 5-35 13 8 18 7 5 patricia