Game 3 - Hanging On

After a hard fought first quarter, Miami edged out to a slight lead before Mario Chalmers nailed a prayer at the buzzer to give the Heat a 29-22 lead over the Mavericks after one quarter. Wade put the Heat on his back as Miami took a big lead in the second quarter. Wade ended with 29 points and 11 rebounds.

But Dallas is a determined team. Despite constant spurts of sloppy play and poor defense, the Mavs hung in the game. Bosh easily flew by Peja Stojakovic on one play. On another, LeBron, who had 17 points and 9 assists, drove past Shawn Marion and dunked on top of Ian Mahimi, who was playing for the injured Brendan Haywood. Miami held a 7 point lead at the half.

Dallas got down again in the third, but would not let the game slip away. Chandler had 11 boards and 5 points including an impressive two handed put back. But Miami kept stretching the lead as soon as Dallas was finished making noise. Bosh, who poked in the eye in the first, shot a little better for his 18 points, although he had the worst plus/minus of any Heat player.

Miami went into the fourth up only three. But in the fourth, they managed to stretch the lead again. Jason Terry went cold for the Mavs. He had 15 points, but struggled from the outside in the fourth. Barea continued to play poorly. Only Dirk Nowitzki kept the Mavs in the game. He scored the last 12 Dallas points. He had little help offensively late in the game.

With two and half minutes left in the game, Dirk tied the game off of Jason Kidd's 11th assists. After Wade scored, Dirk answered again with a minute and half to go. With the scored tied at 86 with a minute to go, Miami in bounded. Dallas's zone had been effective, but two men got caught on LeBron and Bosh was left open. Haslem screened Nowitzki to give Bosh an open look from the left corner. He nailed the shot to take a 88-86 lead.

On the next possession, Dirk was triple teamed and threw the ball out of bounds. Dallas was able to hold Miami, giving the Mavs the ball with 4.4 second left. The ball had to go to Dirk; no one else was scoring. Dirk got it above the three point line and drove inside the ark. He fired a fadeaway, but Haslem was in good defensive position. The ball caromed off the back rim and out. Miami takes a 2-1 lead and regains homecourt advantage.