As if this series needed another compelling storyline, there was Dirk Nowitzki in desperate need of Nyquil. Word quickly spread the Mavs star was running a fever that apparently climbed to 102 before tipoff.
Dallas coach Rick Carlisle tried to rest him more than usual in the first half, and at one point Nowitzki was trying to use several towels like a makeshift blanket. On this night, he would desperately need help from the same teammates who had been absent for much of the series. They responded in a big way and the Mavs erased a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Miami, 86-83, and assure the NBA Finals will return to South Beach. Now Dallas can take a 3-2 lead with a win Thursday.
It was Jason Terry who started the Mavs' latest fourth-quarter comeback with two quick baskets sandwiched around a traveling call (seriously) on LeBron James. Nowitzki had two turnovers in the fourth quarter and actually deferred to Terry and DeShawn Stevenson in the final minutes. But with the Mavs clinging to an 82-81 lead following Dwyane Wade's missed free throw, there was little doubt where the ball was going. Nowitzki caught the ball near the top of the key and then he blew by Udonis Haslem for a right-handed layup with 14.9 seconds left. It was as if Nowitzki had saved all his energy for that one drive to the basket, although he did manage 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter.
"Well, he's one of the greatest ever," said Mavs coach Rick Carlisle of Nowitzki. "He wants the ball, and he wants the responsibility of winning and losing the game. So we make every effort to put him in those situations. It's not easy, because teams do a great job of trying to deny him the ball."
Miami will be kicking itself for not closing out a game in which Nowitzki was 6-of-19 from the field and had three turnovers. Wade and Dallas native Chris Bosh combined for 56 points, but LeBron James went meekly into the night with only eight points. He should've claimed some type of physical ailment to rival Nowitzki's, but he instead blamed it on a lack of "aggression."
That wasn't an issue for Mavs center Tyson Chandler who finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds, nine of which came on offense. He played cautiously at times in Game 3 because his backup Brendan Haywood was out with a hip injury, but he didn't let that affect him in Game 4. Haywood could only give his team three minutes and when Chandler saw him laboring in the second quarter, he quickly checked himself into the game.
"I told him before the game, 'We need you out there, but you're not healthy enough to compete, then don't go out there,'" said Chandler of Haywood. "I saw that he was just trying to battle it out, but I told Coach, 'You have to get me back out there. I will play 48 [minutes] if I need to.'"
Miami destroyed the Mavs on the offensive boards in the first quarter, but Chandler helped put a stop to that situation. He had four of his nine offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter and he also had a steal. Terry scored on a layup with 5:12 remaining in the game, but the Mavs didn't have another field goal until Nowitzki's layup in the final minute. Chandler helped them maintain a slim lead because of his defense and rebounding. He may be the best in the NBA at using his open palm to knock rebounds out to his teammates on the perimeter. He's worked on it so much in practice that he's become deadly accurate with what appear to be passes. Chandler played nearly 43 minutes, more than any of his teammates. That he only picked up three fouls is another sign of how he's learned to be a more disciplined player.
Carlisle took the unusual step of shaking up the starting lineup that had helped the Mavs reached the Finals. He replaced Stevenson with J.J. Barea, who'd been ineffective for much of this series. Barea didn't break out of his shooting slump, but he did put pressure on the Heat's defense with his ability to penetrate. Stevenson embraced his new role and knocked down three 3-pointers in the second quarter on his way to 11 points. He also played lock-down defense on James in the fourth quarter.
"Well, it changed the dynamics of the rotation," said Carlisle. "I thought it helped [Shawn] Marion in large part. Look, there's a lot of different things you can do. Barea is a guy that we've asked to do this before. He gives us a different dimension with our team. His stats don't look great, but his penetration helped us, and his ball pressure helped us. So we'll see what we do in Game 5."
This series has been portrayed as Nowitzki vs. Miami's Big 3. But for one night, Nowitzki's teammates had his back.
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