The talk here all day was of the tropical depression and the threat it held for the lives and well-being of the community.
Oh, yes, and there was tropical storm Alberto. But with the weather warning more forecast than reality, the attention remained on the big, darkening cloud hovering over the city, the Dallas Mavericks and their chance to effectively end these NBA Finals.
The Mavs were not able to Tuesday as the Heat closed within 2-1 with a 98-96 victory with Game 4 here Thursday. Dwyane Wade scored 42 points, 15 in the fourth quarter when the Heat rallied from a 12-point deficit.
Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki scored 30 but missed one of two potentially game-tying free throws with 3.4 seconds left.
After hitting one of two free throws with 1.4 seconds left, Wade batted away a last-second alley-oop attempt to Josh Howard.
In so many respects, this wasn’t what the Heat planned for. Falling behind in the Finals is obvious. But this Heat team clearly is built more to play the rugged, slower style of the Detroit Pistons in the East and the San Antonio Spurs in the West. The thinking made sense because who, after all, expected the Mavs to be here?
The Heat did its part in getting past the Pistons, but it found itself a step behind the surprising Mavs.
To counter that, Heat coach Pat Riley turned the focus inward.
“We’ve been through some tough things through the playoffs,” Riley said. “And the only way we’ll ever get back on top is to play together and play to one another.”
And there was that “force” stuff Riley usually talks about.
The Heat brought it this time in leading by eight after the first quarter, letting the margin evaporate and then taking a 52-43 halftime lead.
“We want to attack,” Riley said. “We want to be as aggressive as we can.”
This time it was the Heat, driven by the home crowd and its own damaged pride, which was overplaying on defense. It was Shaquille O’Neal with the active hands, tapping a ball away from Jason Terry in the open court for a Jason Williams fast-break layup and 13-7 lead. Wade, who had been stymied by the Mavs in the first two games, came out quickly, hitting on his drives before the Mavs defense could set and help.
It enabled Wade to get 13 first-quarter points, most on layups and a backward hanging slam dunk. That came just before the biggest roar of the first quarter, when O’Neal converted two free throws after he had been 2 of 16 in the first two games with three other lane violation misses.
“Shaq is fine,” Antoine Walker said before the game. “He’s a warrior. He’s a guy we will follow.”
Early it was the Mavs’ star Nowitzki who was flummoxed with additional defensive attention whenever he turned. Nowitzki missed all five of his shots in the first quarter and was only 2 of 9 at the half, though he did hit seven free throws.
“Nobody is going to carry a team, or even two guys,” Nowitzki said beforehand. “You can’t come here, the Finals, [and do that]. The league is way too good for that. You have to have guys playing well together, a strong bench.”
The Heat was controlling the game, dominating Dallas on the boards 30-16 in the first half. This was a switch. Before Tuesday, the Mavs had been outrebounded just once in the playoffs, and that being in Game 1 against the Heat.
Despite shooting 33 percent in the first quarter and just 35 percent in the half, the Mavs climbed back into the game with Miami losing concentration. Nowitzki got fouled by O’Neal on a jump shot and Gary Payton drew a technical for complaining. Terry followed with a three-pointer and Nowitzki with a jumper after an Adrian Griffin steal and all the Heat’s feel-good momentum seemed gone as the Mavs pulled within 33-31.
But Wade was terrorizing the Eastern Conference and a determined O’Neal was his partner.
Wade drove hard down the baseline for a 37-33 lead, got fouled on a drive and made one of two free throws. The Heat denied the Mavs’ passes, overplayed Nowitzki and played like the seventh game they believed they were in.
“A lot of us have worked our whole careers to get to this point,” Walker said, “and we ain’t laying down now.”
Apparently, neither were the Mavs, who hit the Heat with a 12-2 run to open the second half to take their first lead since 7-5 at 55-54. The run featured three-pointers from Howard and Nowitzki and a clever pick-and-roll with DeSagana Diop finishing for a layup. The Mavs suddenly were scorching, hitting 12 of their first 15 shots to open the third led by darts from Nowitzki and Howard to lead 77-68 after three periods.
“When you win there’s always [supposed to be] trickery the winning team is doing,” Mavs coach Avery Johnson said. “The coaches have these rocket-science ideas. There’s no trickery here. We’re just trying to play solid basketball.”
NBA Finals
DALLAS LEADS MIAMI, 2-1
All games at 8 p.m. on WLS-Ch. 7
Game 3: MIAMI 98, Dallas 96
Game 4: Thursday at Miami
Game 5: Sunday at Miami-*
Game 6: June 20 at Dallas-*
Game 7: June 22 at Dallas-*
Game 1: Thursday, DALLAS 90-80
Game 2: Sunday, DALLAS 99-85
Home team in CAPS*–if necessary
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sasmith@tribune.com
