Heat bumble away late lead in 86-83 loss, Finals tied 2-2

DALLAS— The Miami Heat won the franchise's only NBA championship on the Dallas Mavericks' home court in 2006. It won't happen again. Down nine early in the fourth quarter, the Mavericks stormed back to an 86-83 victory Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Center, tying these best-of-seven NBA Finals 2-2. Game 5 is Thursday back on the Mavericks' court, with a Game 6 now assured for Sunday night at American Airlines Arena. Tickets for that game in Miami go on sale Wednesday. A Game 7, if necessary, would be next Tuesday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

It was a night when a depth of star talent wasn't enough to overcome an uneven performance from LeBron James, who failed to score in double figures for the first time in his playoff career, closing with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting. With Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh unable to sufficiently compensate for James' struggles, the Mavericks won on a night Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki battled a 101-degree fever. Wade led the Heat with 32 points, but missed a key late free throw with 30.1 seconds to play. Bosh added 24 points for the Heat. Nowitzki, whose missed a potential game-tying buzzer at the close of the Mavericks' 88-86 Game 2 loss on Sunday night, finished with 21 points on 6-of-19 shooting.

Having missed a potential tying basket at the close of Sunday's Game 3, Nowitzki this time spun in on Heat forward Udonis Haslem for a layup with 14.4 seconds to play to put Dallas up 84-81.

For the Heat, it was a finish as foul as their Game 2 loss last Thursday at AmericanAirlines Arena, when they blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead.

A baseline jumper with 10:11 to play by Haslem capped a 6-0 start to the fourth quarter and pushed the Heat to a 75-65 edge, their largest lead of the night.

Dallas fought back from there, closing within 78-77 with 5:40 to play on a Tyson Chandler follow-up basket and moving ahead 79-78 on a fastbreak layup by guard Jason Terry.

At that stage, the Heat was reduced to looking to Wade to do it all on offense against a swarming Dallas defense.

As stagnant on offense as they were when they blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead in Game 2, the Heat continually bumbled opportunities.

A pair of Nowitzki free throws pushed Dallas to an 82-78 lead with 2:16 to play, with Bosh matching those free throws on the other end to draw the Heat within 82-80.

Both teams then had scoreless possessions, and after Dallas again came up scoreless, Wade worked his way to the line with 30.1 seconds to play. At 5 of 7 from the line to that stage, Wade rimmed in the first attempt, but rimmed out the second, leaving the Heat down 82-81 with 29.3 seconds to play.

Nowitzki then scored his layup against Haslem, with the Heat, down three, getting a funk by Wade with 9 seconds to play that pulled the Heat within 84-83. The Mavericks followed with their final timeout of the night.

Terry then was fouled with 6.7 seconds to play, making both for an 86-83 Dallas lead, forcing the Heat to burn their final timeout of the night.

In need of a 3-pointer, the Heat bumbled the inbounds pass and could get nothing more than a wayward, desperation 3-point attempt by Mike Miller just before the buzzer.

Dallas shook up its lineup and active roster, with J.J. Barea opening in the backcourt alongside Jason Kidd, and Stevenson moved to the bench. Backup center Brendan Haywood also was active, after spending Game 3 on the inactive list due to a hip problem. Tuesday's switch had reserve guard Roddy Beaubois back on the Mavericks' inactive list.

It was just the third start for Barea, regular season and playoffs.

The Mavericks entered aware that while eight teams have been able to overcome 3-1 deficits in NBA playoff series, none have done so in the Finals.

With Games 2 and 3 each decided by two points, it marked the first time consecutive Finals games had been decided by two or fewer points since the 1998 Finals.

The Heat entered having won their previous two playoff games in Dallas, despite losing their last nine regular-season visits to Dallas.

The Mavericks entered 7-2 at home this postseason.

Games 6 and 7, if necessary, would be Sunday and next Tuesday in Miami. SOURCE:LATTIMES