DALLAS — The Miami Heat won this one because somebody had to.
In a game in which LeBron James looked like Luol Deng on an average night and Dwyane Wade faded through most of the second half, the best the Dallas Mavericks could do was fight their way back from one deficit after another. Resiliently but futilely — Dirk Nowitzki’s tough turnaround 16-footer from behind the free-throw line hit the back of the iron as time ran out to give the Heat an 88-86 victory in Game 3 of the NBA Finals at American Airlines Center.
The win gave the Heat a 2-1 series lead, but other than that, it didn’t turn the series in any particular direction.
‘‘It’s just one,’’ Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. ‘‘We’re not going to make it more than it is.’’
That’s good because outside of a victory that leaves the Heat two wins away from an NBA championship, it wasn’t much. It doesn’t have to be a work of art, but this wasn’t the kind of game that has made the NBA what it is. In the final 1:40 of a tie game, the Heat and Mavs combined to shoot 1-for-5 with a turnover.
The lone field goal was enough to win it. Chris Bosh took advantage of a defensive breakdown to hit a wide-open 16-footer off a feed from James to break an 86-86 tie with 39 seconds left. Bosh, who was poked in the eye and fell to the floor in the first quarter, was 6-for-17 from the field at the time. More