Heat Takes Over Dallas In Game 3

Wade hits 29 as Heat go 2-1 adrift in the finals

Miami have gone 2-1 adrift in the finals when they edged Dallas Mavericks 88-86 last night at the American Airlines Center. Wade hit 29 points as Heat are two wins from the reason why the Big Trio met in Florida last summer.

Erik Spoelstra’s side had a much better start, going seven points adrift only in the first quarter. Since then Dallas could only take it step by step and win the next terms by two and one point respectively, something which wasn’t sufficient for a late comeback. Miami won the first round 29-22, only to be overcome in the next one 18-20. So, the second half started with a five-point deficit for the hosts who were unable to open a consistent gap and thus take things under control. Mavs edged Heat 22-20 in the third one, but they still needed at least three points to push the clash into an overtime and four to go one win ahead of Miami.

Unfortunately, they won the last quarter by just one point to concede the victory and get into big trouble. The two sides are now 1-1 on away wins. The Big Three scored 64 points, Dwyane Wade being their man on fire. He finished his 39-minute work with 29 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block. LeBron, who had motivated his team-mates by telling them ‘we know we are the best team, so we should run for it desperately’, had 17 points, nine assists, three rebounds and two steals. finally, Chris Bosh came up with 18 points, three rebounds and one assist.

As for starters Joel Anthony and Mike Bibby, the first one had two points, six rebounds, two blocks, one assist and one steal, while the latter one left with three points, two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block. Concerning their bench, Mario Chalmers finished with 12 points, four rebounds and two assists and Udonis Haslem had six points, four rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block.

Juwan Howard played six minutes and managed to score one point, pick one rebound and deliver an assist, while Mkie Miller who was used for 12 minutes, came off the bench to pick two rebounds, made two steals and deliver one pass. On coach decision, Eddie House, Erick Dampier and James Jones were kept on the bench throughout the entire 48 minutes.

Overall, Miami converted eight out of 19 three-point throws, Chalmers coming up with four of them, Wade with two and LeBron and Bibby with one. They also managed to pick 36 rebounds, nine of which offensive ones.

On the other side, Dallas had Dirk Nowitzki in great shape, but even so, the home side needed something more than that. The German had 34 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks, one assist and one steal. Just two other players could score 10+ points, including Jason Terry and Shawn Marion. The first one, a reserve, came off the bench to score 15, grab three rebounds, deliver two assist and make one steal, while Mation, came up with ten points, four rebounds, three assists and one block.

Tyson Chandler picked 11 rebounds, seven of which offensive ones, made five blocks and one steal, and scored five points. Jason Kidd added nine points, delivered ten assists and grabbed six rebounds. Finally, DeShawn Stevenson had three points, one rebound and one assist.

As for their reserves, apart from Terry’s 15 points, neither other player was able to bring more than six points. Juse Juan Barea, who had provided a remarkable performance in the previous games, came off the bench to score six points, pick two rebounds and deliver one pass. Ian Mahinmi and Peja Stojakovic scored two points, each, while Brian Cardinal, who played just a few seconds, left scoreless. Rodrigue Beaubois and Corey Brewer did not play. Overall, Dallas converted eight out of 21 three-point throws. Nowitzki had three, Kidd two, while Stevenson, Terry and Barea converted one, each. They picked at the same time 42 rebounds, 12 of which offensive ones, but even so, Mavercisk needed something more than that.

Said Erik Spoelstra: “It was a good offensive play, and a good defensive play. And he happened to miss.” Haslem admitted it was pretty tough job marking Nowitzki who managed though to hit the most points. “He’s a great player, 7 feet, so he’s going to shoot over me. I’ve got to make it tough on him.” Finally, Wade suggested that the win might be a very crucial one, claiming that “This is a total win. You want to win the game on the defensive end of the floor and we got a stop.”

Miami leads the finals 2-1, Game 4 being scheduled to take place on Tuesday at the same American Airlines Center, Dallas.