Three Straight Behind Wade

Holy crap is this guy good or what… With everything on the line he goes to the line and calmly knocks down both free throws to get the Heat one game away from their first NBA title. Daaaaaamn, can you say finals MVP?

For the second straight year, Game 5 of the NBA Finals came down to a crucial shot and a critical mistake.

This time, the big bucket was a foul shot by Dwyane Wade with 1.9 seconds left, and the critical mistake was made by Josh Howard when he burned Dallas’ final timeout in between Wade’s two game-winning free throws.

When it ended with a miss from midcourt by Devin Harris, the Miami Heat had escaped with a 101-100 victory in a thrilling Game 5 of the NBA Finals to take a 3-2 lead and move just one victory away from the first title in franchise history.

In order to prevent that from happening, Dallas needs to win the final two games on its home court, but not since 1955 has a series gone seven games with the home team victorious in all seven.

The Mavs would’ve liked to have had a better try at the end of overtime, but the timeout prevented it.

With Miami trailing 100-99, Wade dribbled free of two perimeter defenders, got past another Maverick and took a hand to the hip from Dirk Nowitzki for a foul. He went to the line and made the first to tie the game, and then things got crazy. First, the referees signaled that Dallas had called its final timeout, then they waved the players back and said no timeout had been called. But referee Joe DeRosa stepped in and said a Dallas player, apparently Howard, had indeed used up the Mavs’ final timeout. Coach Avery Johnson protested vehemently, but to no avail, and Wade calmly knocked down the next one.

…

Neither team led by more than two in overtime, and Dallas blew a couple chances to give itself a comfort zone when Erick Dampier missed one of two from the line with 1:41 left and Howard missed a pair with 54 seconds remaining. After starting 18-for-18 and 20-of-21, those misses turned extra painful when Gary Payton drove around two defenders and banked the ball high, high off the glass for a bucket that made it 99-98 with 29.8 seconds left. Nowitzki’s 18-foot jumper with 9.1 seconds left put the Mavs ahead, but only temporarily. #