Wade turns up the Heat
MIAMI – Hours before the biggest game of his life and the most important in this city’s hoop history, Dwyane Wade, brimming with confidence and South Beach coolness, gave his take on the NBA finals.
“It’s not over,” he said.
Not if he says so.
Wade scored 42 points and orchestrated a furious fourth-quarter Miami comeback that reached its crescendo on Gary Payton’s jumper with 9.3 seconds left as the Heat escaped with a 98-96 win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 3 on Tuesday night.
The Heat rallied from a 13-point deficit in the final 6:34 to keep alive a series that looked to be over with Dallas up 2-0.
“As a team, we just came out and said this could be the season if they win this game,” Wade said. “We came out, ran our offense to the crisp, locked down on defense and came back and won this game.”
Despite blowing its big lead, Dallas still had plenty of chances late, but Dirk Nowitzki missed 1 of 2 free throws with 3.4 seconds to go and the Mavericks couldn’t convert on an inbounds play in the final second thanks to Wade, who tipped away the last-gasp pass after scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter.
As the final horn sounded, Heat fans, simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated, tossed their “White Hot” white T-shirts into the air, a celebration that seemed unimaginable just a few minutes earlier.
Now, after watching Wade’s heroics, Shaquille O’Neal and Udonis Haslem hit four straight crucial free throws in final 2 minutes and the second-largest fourth-quarter rally in NBA finals history, they’re coming back for Game 4 on Thursday night.
Miami was down and apparently done after Jason Terry’s basket made it 89-76 with 6:34 remaining.
That’s when Wade, playing with five fouls and conjuring memories of Michael Jordan’s playoff miracles, decided it was time for him to take over.
He hit a jumper, completed a three-point play and dropped in another bucket to bring the Heat within five.
Then, after a miss by Nowitzki, Wade drove baseline, hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity, and hit a floater to make it 91-88 with 3:36 to go.
Dallas, meanwhile, which had shown so much poise through 3 1/2 quarters, was coming apart at the seams.
Nowitzki’s two free throws slowed Miami for a moment, but O’Neal, whose abysmal foul shooting had contributed to Miami’s 0-2 deficit in the series, made two attempts to pull the Heat within 93-90 1:48 left.
Wade’s jumper got Miami within a point, and Haslem came up with the play of the game, picking off a pass intended for Nowitzki.
Haslem, playing with a badly bruised shoulder suffered in Game 2, was fouled and the Heat’s toughest player made both attempts after firing bricks on his first four tries.
Then, with the game tied, Payton, the defensive specialist coach Pat Riley brought in this season, knocked down a 21-foot jumper – just his second field goal of the series.
Nowitzki, who finished with 30 points, was fouled trying to answer Payton’s shot with a drive to the hoop.
At that point, Nowitzki was 25 of 27 from the line in the series, but he could only make the first. When he misfired on the second, he triggered a roar inside AmericanAirlines Arena.
The Mavericks appeared on their way to a 3-0 lead in the series when they outscored the Heat 34-16 in the third quarter to open a 77-68 lead entering the final 12 minutes.
Josh Howard scored 21 points for Dallas, which came in 25-0 in games in which he scores at least 20. Erick Dampier added 14 points and Jerry Stackhouse, who had 19 in Game 2, managed just four points on 1-of-9 shooting.
O’Neal had 16 points and 11 rebounds, atoning for a miserable five-point performance in Game 2.