Filed under: Basketball
From the Washington Post:
While the Miami Heat and its fans were reveling in a 15-point lead with about seven minutes remaining in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks were plotting an incredible comeback. During a timeout, reserve guard Jason Terry said he looked at star forward Dirk Nowitzki in the huddle and told him, "There's no way we're going out like this."
There was too much time remaining for a Mavericks team that has made a habit of coming back from huge deficits this postseason, too much time for Nowitzki to prove that Miami wasn't the only team with an all-star finisher. Nowitzki scored the Mavericks' final nine points - including a driving layup with his injured left hand - with 3.6 seconds remaining to give his team a stunning 95-93 victory.
Using a furious 22-5 closing rally, the Mavericks handed the Heat its first home loss this postseason and evened the NBA Finals at a game apiece as the series heads to Dallas for Game 3 on Sunday.
"I think in this league, you have to play till the end, especially, this is the Finals," Nowitzki said after getting his first Finals win in a building where Miami swept three home games against Dallas in order to win the championship in 2006. "You can be down 20. You have to keep plugging. You never know what's going to happen in this league. And we kept on fighting. And we got some lucky bounces there."
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