Heat Vs. Mavericks, Game 5: Dallas Takes 3-2 Series Lead With 112-103 Win

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He earned a rare Finals triple-double in Miami’s Game 5 loss, but remained stunningly submissive on offense in the fourth quarter, taking (and missing) just three shots before a meaningless lay-up with the game decided.

LeBron has drawn so few fouls as to be unrecognizable. While his playmaking is impressive and valuable -- four of those 10 assists from Game 5 came in the fourth, and helped lead a lay-up line that got Miami the lead it eventually set ablaze -- this is one of the great scorers of our era. And he’s not scoring.

Interestingly, the TV ratings were higher in Miami than in Dallas. The game netted a 32.7 rating in Miami, compared to a 31.9 rating in Dallas. Both of those figures are very high, of course, but it goes to show that Miami is a city that cares about its basketball more than people think.

Whatever the explanation, we’ve come a long way from LeBron James, Best Basketball Player On Earth. Really, don’t fool yourself into thinking his triple double in Game 5 was anything less than a failure. Sure, “LeBron was much more aggressive tonight,” his coach tried to tell us afterward. “He had a triple double. And he had an impact on the game.”

Thursday afternoon, LeBron called Game 5 “the biggest game of my life.” Thursday night, he went out and played a completely average, unremarkable game. Nobody’s saying that a triple double in the NBA Finals is somehow mediocre, but LeBron said it was the biggest game of his life, and next to his other games, it’s okay to say that this one grades out to about a C. It’s the sort of thing that makes you wonder what’s going on with him.

Terry provided the dagger in the Heat’s hearts with 33.8 seconds left, giving the Mavericks a seven-point lead with this three.

It doesn’t seem real.

That just isn’t how big games are supposed to go. Usually when the stakes are as high as they were Thursday, teams will come out a little too fired up. Guys get so wound up for games like these, it takes a little while for both teams to settle in, then in crunch time, it gets ugly again.

In the post-game press conference, the first question lobbed at LeBron was on his performance in the fourth, and whether he felt pressure. After a quick denial that the pressure has gotten to him, LeBron immediately cited defense as the reason the Heat lost.

Dallas shot 6-14 (42 percent) in the fourth, but that undersells the stride the Mavericks reached. Four of those makes were three-pointers -- the Mavs shot 4-5 on threes in the fourth and 2-9 on two-pointers, a mind-boggling stat -- and Dallas also earned 13 free throws. Dallas had an offensive efficiency of 128 in the fourth, just a huge number given the excellent defense we’ve seen all series.

This time around, it was the outside game springing to life in the waning moments and providing Dallas a lift as Kidd and Terry hit with deadly accuracy from beyond the arc. Combined with Nowitzki’s work on the interior, Dallas was unstoppable, and there was little the Heat could do to keep pace. Kidd and Terry combined for 13 points -- nine from the perimeter and four from the free throw line -- to ice the game. Nowitzki triggered the run with two free throws to stop the bleeding and a two to retake the lead with just under three minutes to go -- a lead the Mavericks would never surrender.

And on the defensive end, Dallas ramped up the intensity, drawing three offensive fouls in the final three minutes and frustrating the Miami superstars. While the Heat were stuck in neutral thanks to the Mavericks defensive effort, Dallas was firing, and the end result was a nine-point win -- the largest of the series -- and a one-game cushion as the series head back to Miami for Game 6 on Sunday.

via Bubba Prog. Click to animate

This series resumes on Sunday in Miami with Dallas holding a 3-2 lead in the series.

Dallas and Miami have made the most of their points from beyond the arc. Dallas has made 8-of-12 threes and Miami 7-of-15.

Here we have the sexiest foul call you’ll ever see, which includes a couple hip thrusts and a celebratory fist pump.

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However, James will need to do better than two points on 1-of-4 shooting in the first quarter. He missed a left-handed shot early in the game and came up short on a jumper, too.

The Mavericks have distributed the scoring among their starters. Tyson Chandler has nine points right now, while Dirk Nowitzki has six points. They are shooting over 60 percent as a team.

He was taken into the Heat locker room along with the team’s entire assortment of medical personnel, with a left hip injury of some sort being the word. Nothing yet on how soon he’s expected to return.

Wade had played eight minutes before leaving, turning in eight points including six free throws, plus two assists and a turnover.

The Heat have turned the ball over four times already.

I don’t know, man. Seems more like they’re making fun of the media for making so much of Nowitzki’s story, which is only sort of different than making fun of Dirk himself. I don’t remember Nowitzki asking for his sickness to be a story, though of course it is.

Or maybe Wade’s just the only guy who gets to be hurt all the time.

What else is there to talk about?

Mavs Moneyball, our Dallas Mavericks community, has a suggestion: take a look at the night’s officiating crew, Mavs fans, and find cause for alarm. You’ll excuse Dallas for keeping a close eye on the refs after the 2006 Finals. Meanwhile, SB Nation Dallas is more concerned by attention-grabbing comments made by Jason Terry and DeShawn Stevenson, the latter of which of course involves ... LeBron James! Let’s try again.

During these possessions, there is simply not enough movement to put pressure on the defense and force them to rotate. Sure, there is some movement before the play starts, but once the Heat get into their offense, there is a lot of standing around. You have Chris Bosh isolated at the elbow as everyone else just stands around. This allows the defense to feel free to help, forcing the turnover.

The problem for someone like me, who has no rooting interest in this series (other than wanting to see great basketball), is that the Heat actually do have a good offense when they want to use it. They have sets that do a good job of getting their players open in space:

LeBron James has heard the criticism over the past 48 hours, and coming into Game 5 of the Heat and Mavericks series, he told reporters, “This is probably the biggest game of my life.”

“Well, not ‘probably,’” he added a moment later. “It is.” All of this comes after James’ highly scrutinized disappearing act in Game 4, when he took just 11 shots, scored just 8 points, and Miami lost. Afterward, even Mavericks players like Deshawn Stevenson criticized James’ effort. Today, James doesn’t seem all that concerned.

Via Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears:

On Thursday morning, Nowitzki spoke again and said he felt “great.” It sounds like he will be back to himself for Game 5.