Mavs Win, Even Series at 2

The Dallas Mavericks evened the NBA Finals at 2 games each against the Miami Heat with a 86-83 victory Tuesday night at the American Airlines Center.

Dirk Nowitzki, playing with a 101-degree fever, led Dallas with 21 points, 10 in the 4th quarter.  Nowitzki also grabbed 11 rebounds for the Mavericks.  “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.” said Nowitzki during an obviously uncomfortable post-game press conference.

Tyson Chandler also got a double-double for Dallas, scoring 13 points and 16 rebounds.  Jason Terry came up big for the Mavs, scoring 8 of his 17 points in the 4th quarter.  Shawn Marion added 16 points.

J.J. Barea, getting his first start of the playoffs, led Dallas with 4 assists while scoring 8 points.  DeShawn Stevenson came off the bench and scored all 11 of his points in the 2nd quarter.

LeBron James only scored 8 points for Miami, who looked to Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh for the offense.  Bosh scored 24 points, but it was Wade who led all scorers with 32.

Miami had the ball with a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but Wade could not handle an inbounds pass and made a desperation toss to Mike Miller who wasn’t even close on the final shot.

Dallas has one more home game on Thursday before the series heads back to Miami.