Heat hope to rebound from collapse

Associated Press

DALLAS

After two days of intense film study and painstaking analysis of the final 14 possessions in their end-of-game collapse in Game 2 of the NBA finals, the Miami Heat finally came up with the reason why.

It wasn’t highly technical.

“We let one go,” Dwyane Wade said.

And entering Game 3 of the NBA finals, the Heat will try to let Game 2 go again. The way Miami sees it, carrying over the stigma of that loss — one of the worst late-game collapses in finals history — would only doom them again tonight when the scene shifts to Dallas for the first of three games on the Mavericks’ home floor.

Dallas rallied from 15 points down in the final seven minutes to beat Miami in Game 2, outscoring the Heat 22-5 to finish the game and knot the series. Thanks to that win, Mavs’ fans still may see another NBA championship celebration, only this time, by the Western Conference champions and not a Heat team that hoisted a trophy at Dallas in 2006.

“In the playoffs, it’s a win or a loss. However it comes by, it’s a win or a loss,” Heat forward LeBron James said. “We’ve moved on from Game 2, seen the mistakes we’ve made.”

Game 3 is crucial for so many obvious reasons, like the Heat wanting not to deal with another stumble and the Mavericks wanting to keep momentum rolling and retain home-court advantage. Statistically, there’s proof that it’s a Texas-sized swing game as well. Since the NBA went to the 2-3-2 format for the finals, teams have split the first two games 12 times. In the previous 11, the winner of Game 3 has always gone on to win the championship.

Big whoop, both teams said in response to that one.

“We just can’t let up. We’re not good enough to just relax,” said Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, who led Dallas’ late-game charge in Game 2. “We need to play with an edge at all times in every game. So hopefully, with the crowd behind us, we’re going to have a great game.”

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was more succinct.

“I think both teams have bucked a lot of those numbers and odds up to this point already,” he said. “We’re a non-traditional team.”