Miami holds on to 88 - 86 win

Poked in the eye in the first quarter which resulted in a swollen eyelid, shooting horribly during the finals as he went 4-22 in Miami and 6 for 17 for most of the game and more importantly letting Dirk Nowitzki blow by him for the game 2 game winner, Chris Bosh had all the reasons to be written off in the 2011 NBA finals. But the beauty of basketball is that when the opportunity to turn it all around comes, you should grab it. Bosh sank the most important shot of the evening, a 16 foot baseline jumper with 39.6 seconds that proved to be the game winner and enough cushion to give the Miami Heat an 88 - 86 win over the Dallas Mavericks to take a 2 - 1 series lead in the 2011 NBA Finals.

Dwayne Wade is still the man in Miami

On the other hand, Dirk Nowitzki scored 15 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter including Dallas' last 12 points. Nowitzki scored the game winner with a left handed lay-up in Miami against Bosh and was squared to sink the game tying shot. But with a few adjustments Nowitzki turned from hero to goat as Miami learned its lesson by putting on Udonis Haslem on Nowitzki in the final seconds to give a better stand against Nowitzki as he was forced to take a difficult fade-away shot that missed.

Jason Terry had 15 points

The Heat vowed that they will be in attack mode and made that promise true as they capitalized on 14 Dallas turnovers by scoring 19 points off them and more importantly dominating the paint with a 40 - 22 margin with eight of them coming off dunk shots. Point guard Mario Chalmers was 4 of 6 from downtown and led the bench scoring with 12 points. Dallas played catch up most of the time as they needed an 11 - 2 run in the first half and another 17 - 3 run in the third quarter and another 6 -0 run in the last two minutes of the 4th quarter but eventually lost steam in the final minute as Miami found ways to finish them off in the last quarter.

Lebron on another dunk

Dwayned Wade continued where he left off as he scored 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Lebron James had 17 points and 9 assists including the pass to Bosh who nailed the game winner, Bosh had 18 points. Jason Terry had 15 points, Shawn Marion added 10 while Jason Kid had 9 points, 11 assists and 4 turnovers, the same number that Jose Barea had. The Miami defense has obviously stymied the high scoring Dallas offense as they gave them only spurts and limited them to an 88 point average, a far cry from their 105 ppg average against OKC and 102 ppg average against the Lakers.

Veteran battle

Statistics does not favor the Dallas Mavericks since the 11 times that the series was tied 1 - 1 going to game 3 of the finals, the winner of game three won the title 11 times. But then again stats can be proven wrong as the Mavericks are very much in the series with games 4 and 5 still to be played in the American Airlines Center. Braze yourselves for another epic game 4.

Dallas steals one in Miami

Wade misses the game winner as Mavs celebrate

Mario Chalmers scrambled under the basket and found a cutting Dwayne Wade who sank a three-pointer to give the Miami Heat a commanding 88 – 73 lead with 7 minutes and 14 second left in the fourth quarter of game 2 of the 2011 NBA Finals. Dallas Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle sued for time and the Miami Heat with Lebron James and Dwayne Wade were fueling the crowd’s cheers as the Heat sense a commanding 2 – 0 lead in the series. But then again the celebration went way too early as the Mavericks uncorked a paralyzing 22 – 5 run that ended with a Dirk Nowitzki lay up to escape with a 95 – 93 win and even the series at one game apiece.

Lebron celebrates

Dejavu, that sums up the 2011 Playoffs for the Dallas Mavericks as their vaunted offense finally came to life in the last six minutes of the game with Jason Terry waking up from his game 1 nightmare to score eight points as he presided over an 8 – 0 run by the Mavs after Carlisle’s time out. The early celebration might have defocused the Heat as their offense suddenly sputtered as Wade, James, Bosh and Chalmers all missed their jumpers in that stretch which allowed the Mavericks to comeback. The Mavericks have been in this situation in the conference finals as they wiped out Oklahoma’s 15 point fourth quarter lead to win in overtime but this one tops it all.

Dwayne Wade was almost unstoppable

While Terry ignited the rally, Nowitzki finished off the Heat with his fourth quarter clutch shooting as he scored seven points in the last minute to give the Heat their first home loss in the play-offs which some say might be their last game in Miami. Nowitzki score off a jumper and a three pointer but none was bigger than his lay up with 3 seconds left to give the Mavs the victory. It was rumored that Nowitzki might have a hard time scoring since he tore the tendon in the top knuckle of this left finger late in game 1. But as they say heroes rise to the occasion as his winning shot was a left handed lay up over Chris Bosh.

Shawn Marion was all business

It was a sorry loss for the Heat moreso for Dwayne Wade who finally exploded as he led all scorers with 36 points with James adding 20, Mike Bibby scoring 14 and Bosh 12 points. Nowitzki’s 24 points were all hard earned and he got great support from Shawn Marion who scored 20 poinyts on 9 of 14 shooting. Jason Terry and Tyson Chandler scored 16 and 13 points respectively. As they say whenever a team wins on the road the series becomes a little more interesting which is what the next three games in Dallas will be.

Nowitzki's game winner