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Gary Payton made this 21-footer with 9.3 seconds left to give the Heat a 97-95 lead
MIAMI (AP) -- Dwyane Wade wasn't going to let the Heat go down in flames.
Not here. Not now. Not this quickly.
"I said, 'I ain't going out like this,"' Wade told his teammates.
So Miami's getting-better-by-the-second guard led a furious fourth-quarter comeback that put his team back into the NBA finals.
Wade tied a career playoff-high with 42 points and orchestrated a Miami rally that climaxed on Gary Payton's jumper with 9.3 seconds left as the Heat escaped with a 98-96 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.
The Heat, with their season hanging in the balance, pulled off the biggest comeback in franchise postseason history -- a 13-point rally in the final 6:34. Instead of staring at a possible sweep, Miami is now within 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
"As a team, we just came out and said this could be the season if they win this game," Wade said. "We came out, ran our offense to the crisp, locked down on defense and came back and won this game."
Dallas still had plenty of chances late but Dirk Nowitzki missed one of two free throws with 3.4 seconds to go and the Mavericks couldn't convert on an inbounds play in the final second thanks to Wade, who tipped away the last-gasp pass.
"I had legs at the end to go down there and finish and make things happen. ... I feel a little bit better," said Wade, who has battled flu-like symptoms for nearly two weeks but had enough energy to score 15 points in the final quarter -- 12 during the game-ending spurt.
As the final horn sounded, Heat fans simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated, tossed their "White Hot" white T-shirts and seat covers into the air, a celebration that seemed unimaginable just a few minutes earlier.
Now, after watching Wade's heroics, Shaquille O'Neal and Udonis Haslem hit four crucial free throws in the final two minutes and the second-largest fourth-quarter rally in NBA finals history, they're coming back for Game 4 on Thursday.
"We had 2½ horrible games and now we can use this momentum and pick it up and just try to win four," said O'Neal, who had 16 points and 11 rebounds, atoning for a miserable five-point performance in Game 2.
Miami was down and almost done after Jason Terry's basket made it 89-76 with 6:34 remaining.
That's when Wade, playing with five fouls and conjuring memories of Michael Jordan's playoff miracles, took over.
First, he hit a jumper. Then he completed a three-point play and dropped in another bucket to bring the Heat within five. Then, after a miss by Nowitzki, Wade drove baseline, hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity, and hit a floater to make it 91-88 with 3:36 to go.
Dallas, meanwhile, which had shown so much poise through 3½ quarters, was coming apart.
"We don't like to lose but again give the Heat some credit," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "They made some nice adjustments. They played hard. They didn't quit. And like I've said all along, we've been down like that before and we've come back, so give them some credit."
Nowitzki's two free throws slowed Miami for a moment, but O'Neal, whose abysmal foul shooting had contributed to Miami's 0-2 deficit in the series, calmly spun in two attempts to pull the Heat within 93-90.
What was he thinking?
"Make 'em," he said.
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Dwyane Wade scored 15 of his 42 points during the Heat's big fourth quarter.
Wade's jumper got Miami within a point, and Haslem came up with the play of the game not made by Wade, picking off a pass intended for Nowitzki. Haslem, playing with a badly bruised shoulder suffered in Game 2, was fouled and the Heat's toughest player made both attempts after firing bricks on his first four tries.
Then, with the game tied, Payton, the defensive specialist coach Pat Riley brought in this season, knocked down a 21-foot jumper -- just his second field goal of the series.
Nowitzki, who finished with 30 points, was fouled trying to answer Payton's shot with a drive to the hoop. At that point, he was 25-of-27 from the line in the series, but he could only make the first. When he misfired on the second, he triggered a roar inside AmericanAirlines Arena that could be heard back in Dallas.
The Mavericks appeared on their way when they outscored the Heat 34-16 in the third quarter to open a 77-68 lead entering the final 12 minutes.
Josh Howard scored 21 points for Dallas, which came in 25-0 in games where he scores at least 20. Erick Dampier added 14 points and Jerry Stackhouse, who had 19 in Game 2, managed just four points on 1-of-9 shooting.
"We definitely feel like we gave this game away," Stackhouse said.
Beyond what the Mavericks' defense did to him in Games 1 and 2, O'Neal, who was fined $10,000 by the NBA for skipping his postgame interview on Sunday in Dallas, has taken a public beating in the media and from fans wondering what had happened to one of the NBA's pre-eminent towers of power.
In his final pregame blog, Dallas owner Mark Cuban first grumbled about South Florida's oppressive humidity -- "I promise never to complain about the weather in Dallas again. Dang." -- and then he imagined how the temperature might be when the Heat took the floor in AmericanAirlines Arena.
"The crowd is going to be nuts," he said. "We have to be able to take the early barrage of punches."
O'Neal and Wade combined to throw the first flurries.
On Miami's first possession, O'Neal backed down the lane and dropped a turnaround jumper over DeSagana Diop and then the big fella powered inside off a repost and banked in another bucket.
Moments later, O'Neal reached in and poked the ball away from Terry and shoveled the ball ahead to Jason Williams for a layup.
And then, with the crowd holding its breath, O'Neal stepped to the line and drained his first two free throws, matching his entire total on 16 attempts in the first two games.
Notes: Security officials escorted a woman from the Dallas locker room after she gained access to the shower area following the game. ... No respect or wishful thinking? On a ticket request form on a table in Dallas' locker room, someone spelled Nowitzki's name, "Nowinski." ... Riley didn't condone O'Neal's decision not to speak after Game 2, which also drew the Heat an NBA-imposed $25,000 penalty. "I think it's something he needs to do and live up to his obligations," Riley said. ... Funny sign: "The Only Cuban Not Welcome in Miami Is Mark Cuban."
