Mavericks 86, Heat 83
Dirk Nowitzki battled a fever to score 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter as the Dallas Mavericks upended the visiting Miami Heat 86-83 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night.
Nowitzki, who had a reported temperature of 102 degrees Fahrenheit, shot just 6 for 19 on the night but made several clutch free throws down the stretch as the Mavericks evened the series at two games apiece. Game 5 goes Thursday night in Dallas.
Tyson Chandler added 13 points and 16 rebounds for the Mavericks, who won despite shooting just 40 percent from the field.
Dwyane Wade led the way with 32 points while Chris Bosh added 24 in defeat for the Heat. LeBron James had just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting.
Down 82-80 with 30 seconds remaining, Wade made one of two free throws to trim the deficit to one. Dallas gave the ball to Nowitzki on the ensuing possession, and the ailing German hit a driving layup with 14.4 seconds left to put the Mavs up by three.
A Wade dunk made it 84-83, but Jason Terry countered with a pair of free throws to restore the three-point edge. Miami inbounded with 6.7 seconds left, but Wade couldn't handle a Mike Miller pass and Miller airballed a last-second 3-point attempt to leave the Heat short.
James had just four points at the half, but Miami used 16 from Bosh and 13 from Wade to forge a 47-45 advantage entering the break. Dallas surged ahead by the midway point of the third quarter on a Chandler putback of a JJ Barea miss, but Miami regained the lead and used a Wade dunk on an alley-oop pass from James in the final minute to go in front 69-65 entering the fourth.
Consecutive jumpers by Miller and Udonis Haslem to open the final period gave Miami a nine-point edge, its largest of the game. Dallas closed to within three but was denied a chance to draw closer when Chandler was stuffed by Wade, who hit a running layup at the other end to make it 78-73.
The Mavericks pressed on and eventually regained the lead on a Terry layup with 5:05 remaining. Miami had repeated opportunities to draw even but was foiled by Dallas' zone defense, scoring just two points in a six-minute span entering the final minute.