It is always fun when the bad guys lose.
The Dallas Mavericks seized control of the NBA Finals Thursday night with a 112-103 victory over the Miami Heat and are now one game away from a championship. Led by Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry, the Mavericks pulled away in the final minutes as the Heat struggled to keep pace with a banged up Dwyane Wade and LeBron James having another quiet fourth quarter.
Wade suffered a hip injury in the first half but still managed to have 10 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, while James only chipped in two points on a meaningless lay-up late in the game. James did register a triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists but it will likely be overshadowed by yet another no-show in crunch time. Chris Bosh finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds and Mario Chalmers knocked down four three-pointers en route to finishing with 15 points.
For the Mavericks, Nowitzki came up big again with 29 points and received plenty of help down the stretch from Terry and Jason Kidd who both hit huge three pointers. Terry finished with 21 points and Kidd had 13. J.J Barea also finally got going on offense and chipped in 17 points.
Game 6 is Sunday night in Miami, where the Mavericks will look to wrap up their first-ever NBA Championship and make the entire basketball world outside of Miami very happy.