Dallas Mavericks beat Miami Heat 112-103: NBA Finals Game 5 Second Half Analysis
Third Quarter
Leading by 60-57 at halftime, the Dallas Mavericks came out strong in the third quarter and stretched their lead to 65-60 early in the quarter. Mike Miller then hit a three-pointer and LeBron James launched a turnaround fade up
shot to tie the game at 65. Dirk Nowitzki however just refused to lay low and scored the next five points of quarter to make it 70-65 for the Mavericks.
The Mavs continued to play with focus and made it 80-71 with just 03:46 to go in the quarter, forcing the Miami coach Erik Spoelstra to call a time out. Howard replaced Bosh and made an immediate impact with a reserve lay-up. Dwyane
Wade, who was not on the bench due to a back problem in the early stages of the frame, also came back after the time out and hit a turnaround jump shot to trim the deficit to five points.
Mario Chalmers then hit a pair of free throws but Dallas still maintained a five-point, 79-84, going into the fourth.
Fourth Quarter
Miami made a push early in the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to two points just after three and half minutes of play. The Heat pressed the panic button and the Mavs saw their lead turn into a deficit of 99-95, only 4:37 left
on the clock.
Nowitzki put the Mavs back on track with his pair of free throw, making it a three-point contest. Jason Terry and Jason Kidd followed suit and hit two three-pointers at the crucial time to put Dallas ahead by 105-100 for good.
Wade committed a turnover and missed a jumper in the next 40 seconds of the quarter, making things worse for Miami.
Terry hit his second 3-pointer of the quarter and stretched the Mavs lead to 108-101 with just 33 seconds to go. James’ driving layup in the next second trimmed the deficit to five. However, the Mavericks were out of the reach
of Miami in the last 25 seconds of the game as they went on 4-0 to close the second straight victory of the NBA finals with a huge margin of 112-103.
With this victory, the Mavs are now just one win away from making history.
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