Ballin': Mavericks Beat Heat With a Rally for the Ages

After Dwyane Wade drilled this 3-pointer in front of the Mavericks’ bench and stunted so fans could take his picture, I went to bed. Told the wife, “up 15 with seven minutes left? No shot. It’s over.”

Thank goodness for DVR.

Dirk and Jason Terry led a 22-5 closing run, with Nowitzki making the game-winning left-handed layup with :03 left – we’ll get to Chris Bosh’s mental mistake later – and Dallas stunned Miami, 95-93 to even the NBA Finals at 1-1. Dwyane Wade – who never scored again after that corner triple – missed a running three-pointer at the buzzer. Here’s a GIF of him on the ground afterward, looking like an extra who just got shot in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Before diving into the comeback, here’s a stat: Since the NBA Finals went 2-3-2, 11 NBA Finals have been tied at 1-1. In every instance, the winner of game three has won the title.

There’s visual evidence of the comeback, and below it’s broken down just in case YouTube is blocked at your place of employment. Miami led 88-73 after that Wade jumper:

Jason Terry baseline jumper 88-75
Jason Terry cherry-picking layup 88-77
Jason Terry free-throws 88-79
Shawn Marion layup 88-81
Jason Kidd 3-pointer 90-94
Jason Terry jumper 90-86
Dirk jumper 90-88
Lebron misses,
Dirk layup 90-90 (17-2 run)
Dirk 3-pointer 93-90
Chalmers 3-pointer 93-93
Dirk layup, 95-93

Worth noting: The Heat had a foul to give on the Mavs’ last possession. Why didn’t Chris Bosh use it on Dirk before he could get a shot off? That’s probably why he didn’t get help defense from anyone – the rest of the team thought Bosh would burn a foul.

Everything prior to the last seven minutes was a dunk-fest. Mike Wilbon said it looked like All-Star weekend. Miami had nine dunks in the game, and I thought this LeBron follow jam was the most impressive.

Dwyane Wade had a couple nice ones, too.

Everyone’s going to try and make sense of what this comeback means for Dallas. Did Miami choke? Get too cocky? Was Dallas really angry about the D Wade celebration? Will this comeback mean for Dallas what it meant for the Mavs in game one against LA?

If this were a boxing match, and we were scoring quarters, I’d have Miami with wins in the 3rd quarter last night and the 3rd and 4th quarters of game one. Dallas won the fourth quarter last night (obviously) and the other quarters would be draws. So even though it looked as if the series was over at times in the late 3rd/early 4th quarter last night, it’s actually been quite close throughout.

Miami sure could use Chris Bosh. After a 4-for-16 clunker last night, he’s 9-for-34 from the field through two games.