10:58: LeBron misses two free throws. Rough night for him. He's 2-for-8 from the field. The big statistical difference early was that Miami was ruling the boards. Now it's that Miami is 1-for-9 on threes, compared to Dallas' 4-for-10. But there's Wade with a jam, and the Heat are up 67-64 with 2:00 left in the third quarter.
10:56: Wade goes to the rim and finishes with the left hand. Then Wade gets the steal and feeds LeBron for the breakaway. Miami up by one, with under 3 minutes left in the third quarter.
10:52: Nowitzki shows he's human and misses his first free throw of the Finals. That ends a streak of 39 FTs in a row for him in the playoffs. But Dallas has a 64-61 edge as we take a timeout with 3:52 left in the third. Nowitzki has been held to 11 points so far.
10:49: Marion has 14 after nailing the floater over LeBron. Wade makes one free throw, and it's tied at 61. Little bit of foul trouble brewing for Miami, because LeBron, Anthony, Haslem and Bibby all have 3 personals apiece.
10:47: It won't take much for Dallas to have six players in double figures. Marion already has 12, Stevenson has 11 fueled by 3 threes, Nowitzki has 10, Chandler and terry are on the board with 9 and Barea has 8.
10:44: Bosh hits a long jumper to get to 22 points. And then Wade nails the step-back for a 60-59 Miami lead. Dallas takes a timeout with 5:49 left in the third. Wade has 20 now, LeBron has been stuck on 4 forever and Bibby is scoreless tonight.
10:41: Bosh hits two free throws, is the first guy to get to 20 points in the game, and it's tied again at 53.
10:39: Shawn Marion has 10 points after an uncontested jam. Dallas up 53-51.
10:37: Bosh hits 2 FTs and has 18. All tied at 49. LeBron hasn't done a lot. He has only 4 points on 1-for-5 shooting, plus 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
10:34: Nowitzki must have heard what was being said about him. He gets to the line for the first time, hits two, and we're all tied at 47.
10:32: Third quarter under way. ABC reports Nowitzki is playing with a fever, in the 101-102-degree range. He started the game 3-for-3, but was only 1-for-7 the rest of the half. Nowitzki also had only one rebound, and didn't get to the line.
10:13: The half ends with Miami up 47-45. Nowitzki and LeBron both missed desperation shots in the final seconds.
10:10: Bosh hits a soft jumper and has 16 points on 8-for-12 shooting. Miami has rallied for a 45-53 lead, under a minute left in the half.
10:08: Chandler hits one free throw. Wade makes a mighty baseline drive and puts it down despite taking a hard foul. He adds the plus-one and we're all tied at 43.
10:04: Dallas gives up an easy lay-up. If they don't win tonight some of this lax defense in the first half is going to haunt them. Tyson Chandler has 2 FTs coming, timeout, 2:04 left in the half and Dallas leading 42-40.
10:02: Anthony gets a too-easy jam standing under the basket. Miami cuts it to 40-38 with under 3 minutes left in the half.
9:59: Dallas takes a 38-34 lead with a 9-0 run. Nowitzki hits another of those one-footed, off-balance fallaways, Terry hits a pull-up jumper and Marion scores on a breakaway. Timeout with 3;57 left in the half.
9:56: Jason Kidd does an outstanding job of drawing the charge on Lebron James. Then Kidd makes sure Dallas takes advantage of the turnover, and finds Stevenson with a no-look pass. Stevenson buries his third straight three, and Dallas is within 34-32, 6:14 left in the half.
9:51: Miami's defense ignores Stevenson and he drills home his second three. But Dallas still isn't rebounding at the other end, where an Anthony tip-in gives Miami a 34-29 lead. That's 10 offensive rebounds for the Heat. Miami takes a timeout with 6:50 left in the half.
9:49: DeShawn Stevenson, working off the bench for the first time in the playoffs, enters and drains a three. That's his seventh trey of the series, in 10 attempts. And Haslem commits his third personal. Tyson Chandler adds two FTs, and Dallas is back within 28-26.
9:44: Mike Miller misses his first try for a three, but bombs in his second. That gives Miami a 7-0 run for a 28-21 lead and forces a Dallas timeout with 10:08 left in the first half.
9:41: Bosh opens the second-quarter scoring and leads everyone with 8 points. Then Bosh adds another pair driving to the rim. Heat up by 4.
9:39: Miami is in a tie despite shooting only 29.2% in the first quarter. The Heat made up the difference by winning the rebound battle 16-10, including a 9-2 margin on the offensive boards.
9:36: Barea ties it with a pair of FTs and the first quarter ends in a 21-21 tie.
9:34: Terry misses two free throws. And then Dallas loses its composure as coach Rick Carlisle gets called for a technical after LeBron draws a foul. Chalmers hits the technical, LeBron puts down both of his shots, and suddenly Miami is leading for the first time, 21-19.
9:32: Nowitzki is back on the floor, and so is Brendan Haywood, apparently recovered from his hip flexor problem. J.J. Barea gets to the rim after some excellent passing, but fails to finish. Chalmers hits two FTs for Miami at the other end. Heat down one with under a minute left in the first.
9:29: Nowitzki on the bench. He has 6 points after opening the game with three quick baskets. Jason Terry to the line, hits two, and has 7 points in 5 minutes. Dallas is up 19-16 with 1:42 left.
9:26: Jason Terry nails his first three of the night on a feed from Kidd. Wade answers with a jam, and has 6 points. Timeout with 2:01 left in the first, and Dallas leading 17-16. Miami is shooting only 31.8%.
9:23: Offensive rebounds are killing Dallas. LeBron gets an easy tip-in with the Heat's ninth OR, for a 12-12 tie.
9:20: That careening skyhook of Shaw Marion looks chaotic, but it goes down. And Dallas scores again on its next trip down, on a Tyson Chandler throwdown. Dallas up 12-8, but Miami already has 8 offensive boards.
9:17: Miami has a 11-6 edge on rebounding. Neither team has made it to the line yet, halfway through the first period.
9:15: Make that 6 for Bosh. And J.J. Barea gets his scoring going with a tough drive through the lane, and a left-handed finish. His move into the starting lineup pays quick dividends. All tied at 8, timeout, 5:51 left in the first.
9:13: Bosh with a tip-in. Dallas up 6-4 and Nowitzki has all the Mavs points. Likewise Bosh for the Heat.
9:11: Bosh puts the Heat on the scoreboard.
9:10: Dirk hits again, and the score is now Nowitzki 6, Miami 0.
9:08: Nowitzki hits two difficult shots to start the game and the Mavs are off to a 4-0 start.
9:03: In case you were wondering, Mark Jackson will finish out the series on the ABC crew, even though he has just been hired as the new head coach for the Golden State Warriors. Who do you want to see replace Jackson and become Jeff Van Gundy's new banter-mate on the ABC-ESPN broadcasts? Shaq?
9:00: Starting lineup change for Dallas tonight. J.J. Barea gets the nod to open at the two guard, and DeShawn Stevenson will take a seat. Stevenson has been 6-for-9 on threes, but also has passed up a lot of shots. In 50 minutes, he's put up only 10 shots.
8:55: Kelly Clarkson is singing the anthem. Lineup intros coming. Tipoff is about 15 minutes away, give or take.
See photos of: LeBron James, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Dwyane Wade, Jason Kidd, Chris Bosh, Jason Terry
Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomSports-TopStories/~3/eTyfRCPl8dE/1
No comments:
Post a Comment