Friday, June 10, 2011

Recap Notebook Heat-Mavericks notebook

DALLAS WON THE GAME 4 ON FINALS AGAINST HEAT


THE FACTS: Dirk Nowitzki fought through a 101-degree fever to score 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, including a decisive drive with 14.4 seconds left as Dallas evened the NBA Finals at 2-2 with an 86-83 victory over Miami in Game 4 Tuesday at the American Airlines Center. Dwyane Wade had 32 points, but fumbled away the Heat's final possession.
It was the third consecutive down-to-the-wire thriller, with 15 ties and 12 lead changes. It was also the third straight time Nowitzki figured into the outcome. In Game 2, he drove past Chris Bosh and finished with the left hand for a 95-93 victory. In Game 3, his fadeaway over Udonis Haslem was off the mark in an 88-86 loss. This time, matched up against Haslem again, Nowitzki drove to his right and beat Haslem and Wade to the hoop.
Jason Terry added 17 points (eight in the fourth), Shawn Marion scored 16 and Tyson Chandler had 13 points and 16 rebounds (nine offensive boards) for Dallas, which overcame a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit. Bosh scored 24 for Miami, while LeBron James scored a postseason-low eight points on 3-for-11 shooting.
QUOTABLE: "This is the Finals. You're going to leave it out there. Like I said earlier in the series -- it's June. ... You have to go out there and compete and try your best for your team, so that's what I did."
-- Nowitzki, who added 11 rebounds.
THE STAT: James had scored in double figures in 434 consecutive games. His teams are now 0-8 in the playoffs when he scores fewer than 15 points.
TURNING POINT: After making his first three shots and scoring the Mavericks' first six points of the game, Nowitzki then missed 10 of his next 11 shots. Dallas didn't hesitate to call his number when it mattered, however, and his drive past Haslem gave the Mavericks an 84-81 lead.
QUOTABLE II: "We'll have to look at the film. Obviously we would like to get him involved. He's a very important piece to what we do. So we'll work to help make it easier for him next game."
-- Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra on James' performance.
HOT: Bosh scored 16 points on 8-for-12 shooting in the first half. Wade scored 19 points on 8-for-10 shooting in the second half.
NOT: Miami turned the ball over six times and scored only 14 points on 33.3 percent shooting (5-for-15) during the fourth quarter. The Heat led 78-73 on Wade's layup with 7:24 remaining, but didn't score again until Bosh made two free throws at the 1:53 mark. Wade missed a potential tying free throw with 30.1 seconds left.
INSIDE THE ARENA: Kelly Clarkson, winner of the inaugural season of American Idol and a Dallas-area native, sang the national anthem. Dallas Cowboys Tony Romo and Jason Witten, NFL rushing king Emmitt Smith and rapper Lil Wayne attended the game.
GOOD MOVE: Carlisle's decision to start J.J. Barea over DeShawn Stevenson for the first time this postseason didn't have its intended effect of speeding up the tempo, but Stevenson gave Dallas a big spark off the bench in the second quarter. He scored all 11 of his points in that period, going 3-for-4 from 3-point range. Barea finished with eight points and four assists.
BAD MOVE: After Terry hit two free throws with 6.7 seconds left to put Dallas up 86-83, Miami called timeout to get possession in the frontcourt. Mike Miller threw the inbounds pass to Wade, but the ball bounced off his hands and the Heat couldn't recover in time to get a clean look.
NOTABLE: Neither team shot the ball well from 3-point distance, with Miami going 2-for-14 and Dallas 4-for-19 from beyond the arc. ... Miami's opponents have scored fewer than 100 points in 18 of 19 games this postseason. ... Nowitzki made 39 consecutive free throws and was 26-for-26 in the Finals before missing with 3:52 left in the third quarter. ... Joel Anthony has now blocked at least one shot in 15 straight postseason games, one shy of Miami's franchise record held by Alonzo Mourning.

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