Dallas snap Miami’s 12 match winning streak as they squeak out a 98-96 win
The Miami Heat turned their fortunes upside down after the loss to the Dallas Mavericks last time when these teams met this season.
Riding high on a 12 match winning spree, on Monday night, Miami set foot on their home turf with a thought of avenging their loss.
The Mavericks, though, had other ideas.
Dallas whose 12 match winning streak came to a halt just two weeks ago proved to be the streak-busters this time around as they held their nerves down the stretch to pin down a red hot Miami Heat.
Dirk Nowitzki spearheaded the Dallas assault with 26 points and 9 rebounds while Jason Terry proved once again that he is man to count on when going gets tough.
Terry put on a freak show in the final 11 minutes of the game, scoring all of his 19 points, as the Mavericks held LeBron James scoreless in the first half en-route to their 14th straight regular season win over the Heat.
While the rest of his team-mates lost their shooting touch in the fourth quarter, especially Nowitzki with 0-of-5, Terry came off the bench to rip apart the Miami defense, shooting 6 of 10 from the field and complemented it with 3-of-6 from downtown.
As a frenetic final quarter of play unveiled some jittery play from both teams, Terry kept his cool and his biggest blow came with 1:25 left, as he sank in a 3-pointer putting Dallas up 89-85, moments after Nowitzki air-balled a 3-pointer but Miami couldn't
get the rebound.
Miami got within striking distance 91-90 on a three-point play by James, but that was the last gasp as Dallas held on to 98-96 win.
The nerve wrecking extravaganza had many turns and twists in it, with Dallas roping in the early honors as they caught the Heat defense in its strides and blazed away with a 14-2 run inside the first four minutes of play.
The first quarter assault by the Mavericks was however cut short as Wade spearheaded a 17 point unanswered spurt by the Heat, bridging the first and early part of the second quarter. The blow-out surge that saw the Heat converting a 13 point deficit to 27-23
lead injected pace into the first half, that seemed to have as many story lines as it had minutes.
The Mavericks followed the Miami spurt with one of their own as they reeled off 9 straight points to get back into the driving seat. The Heat, though, had an air of tenacity about them on the night as they pulled back at level terms on 39, with 3:07 left
till the break.
Miami then missed four consecutive field goal and 3-point attempts before Mario Chalmers finally nailed a 3-pointer followed by Wade’s jumper to wrest back the lead. Dallas however rallied back as the teams headed to the locker room with Miami leading at
44-43.
The topsy-turvy trend ensued in the second half as Dallas raced ahead to an early 55-48 lead, courtesy a 12-2 run. Miami though sprung right back with a six point lead of their own as LeBron James found the night for the very first time on the night with
a triple pointer to spark a 13-0 run, that he capped with another 3-pointer.
Miami held the advantage going midway through the final quarter, but always found the spirited Mavericks nearby. Dallas finally pushed with a Jose Barea layup and although Miami was within one point four times in the final 6:27, the Mavericks never relinquished
the lead.
Jason Terry took over the fourth quarter as nervy Miami coach called one time-out after the other. His moves were to no avail as Wade hit a meaningless three pointer with 8 seconds left on the clock to finish the match at 96-98.
With the resolute Dallas back line giving fits to the Big Three of Miami, they struggled with their shooting rate and so did Miami. The Heat shot at 40.4 percent as Dwyane Wade scored 22 points, while James and Bosh each scored 19 for Miami.
LeBron acknowledged the superior defense of the Mavericks post match as he said.
"They can get you off-balance," James said. "Definitely."
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