Dwyane Wade hits clutch free throws as Heat take 3-2 series lead over Mavs

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This article was published 19/06/2006 (7377 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MIAMI (AP) – Dwyane Wade didn’t pause for a second when he was asked about his plans for Father’s Day.

“Winning the game,” he said. Wade scored 43 points, the final two on a pair of free throws with 1.9 seconds left in overtime, as the Miami Heat took advantage of a mistaken timeout and won their third straight game in the homey series, 101-100 over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday for a 3-2 lead in the NBA final. Wade’s free throws gave him a finals-record 21 and capped perhaps the most memorable game of this remarkably tight post-season.

His latest virtuoso performance sent the teams to Dallas for Game 6 on Tuesday night. Game 7, if necessary, will be Thursday night.

When the Mavericks’ final shot – because of Josh Howard’s error, all they could manage was a half-court heave by Devin Harris – was off the mark, streamers fell from the top of AmericanAirlines Arena, hosting its final game of the season.

“We can smell it,” Wade said. “Dallas plays well at home but we are a confident bunch so we’ll see what happens.”

When it ended, Dallas owner Mark Cuban ran onto the floor, complaining about the final two seconds when there was confusion over Dallas’ final timeout.

Cuban, wearing a blue jersey bearing the name of suspended Dallas reserve Jerry Stackhouse, stood with his hands on his hips in disbelief as the Mavericks headed to the locker room to begin getting ready for Game 6.

Wade made 21-of-25 free throws, matching Dallas’ total, and came through again when the Heat needed their shooting star most.

After Nowitzki’s jumper with 9.1 seconds to go gave the Mavericks 100-99 lead, Wade took an inbounds pass wove and dribbled his way seemingly all over Florida and was fouled on a drive to the basket by Nowitzki.

Wade made the first, and the officials awarded Dallas a timeout even though Mavericks coach Avery Johnson was arguing that he didn’t want one until Wade’s second attempt. The officials huddled and said the Mavs had asked for a timeout and gave them their last one.

“We gave the signal, ‘Second free throw, timeout.’ One of our players was saying timeout. I said, ‘Yeah, after the second one,”‘ Johnson said.

“Pretty much most people who have ever been involved in the NBA for 20, 30 years, know we wouldn’t want one anyway with only one timeout,” he said. “So we were pretty dumbfounded that that couldn’t get relayed.”

Crew chief Joe Crawford, speaking for the officials, said: “Josh Howard goes to Joe DeRosa and not only once, but twice asks for timeout. Forced to call it, simple as that.”

The timeout took away Dallas’ ability to inbounds the ball at halfcourt, costing them 45 precious feet. Wade then knocked down his second free throw, and when Harris’ shot was way off, this series had its latest controversy.

On the way to the locker room, Nowitzki kicked a stationary bike and Cuban spent another 10 minutes pleading to anyone who would listen.

The Heat, who finished 10-1 at home in these playoff, are now one win away from that victory parade down Biscayne Boulevard that Shaquille O’Neal promised when he signed with the Heat.

O’Neal scored 18 points with 12 rebounds, but he was just 2-for-12 from the free-throw line.

Jason Terry had 35 points for the Mavericks. Howard added 25 and Nowitzki had 20.

For the second time in three games, Wade was unstoppable in the fourth quarter, scoring 17 points on every shot in his personal playbook. His 18-foot jumper gave the Heat a 91-89 lead with 1:08 left, but Nowitzki, who had just missed Dallas’ first free throw after 18 in a row, knocked down a 14-footer.

Wade finally missed on his next attempt, and Dallas capitalized as Nowitzki drew O’Neal on a double team and made a nice pass down low to Erick Dampier, whose dunk gave the Mavericks a 93-91 lead with 10.1 seconds to go.

Wade wasn’t done, not even close.

He drove the right side, got his body tight with Adrian Griffin, and pushed off just enough to get space and banked in a 10-footer with 2.8 seconds to go to tie it 93-93 and rock the arena once again.

Dallas had a final chance, but Terry, triple-teamed by Wade, O’Neal and James Posey misfired from just beyond the line before the horn sounded and a Game 5 that had it all had at least another five minutes.

At least Shaq’s defence was consistent. His foul shooting, er missing, came unbearable to watch for his wife, Shaunie.

With her husband on the line and the Heat trailing by three points in the fourth quarter, she buried her head in her hands and waited for the crowd’s reaction.

With Terry hitting almost everything he tossed toward the rim, the Heat were down by eight late in the second half when Wade, again looking Jordanesque in his ability to come up with the big plays at the most crucial times, drained two straight jumpers before feeding Posey for a 3-pointer.

Wade barely missed a running, off-balance 3 at the horn, but he had done enough to get Miami within 71-70 going into the fourth quarter.

Since losing Game 4, then Stackhouse, Johnson had spent the previous 48 hours challenging his team’s intensity, grumbling about the inconsistent officiating, Stackhouse’s ban and searching for answers.

He’s got a whole new beef now.

Feeling his players were distracted in what was the first finals for most of them, Johnson moved the Mavericks from their downtown hotel to one in Fort Lauderdale, a 45-minute drive from the arena.

He gave them roommates, made them eat dine together and created a college-like atmosphere – minus the keg party.

With his teammates played the biggest game of this season or any other in Dallas history, Stackhouse remained back at the downtown Four Seasons hotel and watched on TV. Although he couldn’t be with the Mavericks in the arena, he was there in spirit as Mavericks owner mark Cuban wore Stackhouse’s No. 42 jersey.

The Mavericks had been an extremely loose bunch before Games 3 and 4. But during the open portion of Sunday’s morning shootaround, their mood had changed noticeably. There were few smiles, even less chitchat and Dallas players acted almost robotic.

But they seemed focused, which is exactly what Johnson was trying to get his team to do since their Game 4 meltdown. By changing hotels, he put them in lockdown mode, something he experienced as a player.

Notes: Monday is Nowitzki’s 28th birthday. … Saxophonist Clarence Clemons played the national anthem. … If Miami wins the series, it would mark the fourth time the NCAA and NBA champions came from the same state. Florida won its first national title in March. The last state to claim both champs was Michigan in 1989 when Detroit won the NBA crown and the Wolverines were college basketball’s best team. California twice had both winners (UCLA and Golden State in 1975, and the Los Angeles Lakers and UCLA in 1972). … Mavs third-string centre D.J. Mbenga was active after serving a six-game suspension for going into the stands to aid Johnson’s wife during Game 4 of the Western Conference finals in Phoenix. He played seven minutes and didn’t score.