Mavericks Pull Away and Close in on Title ,DALLAS

Mavericks Pull Away and Close in on Title

DALLAS — In the fifth installment of a taut, twisting series that is seemingly redefining legacies by the hour, Jason Terry extended himself, extended his arms, soared around the court and carried the Dallas Mavericks to their biggest victory in franchise history.

On a night that offense finally prevailed in the N.B.A. finals, Terry was the Mavericks’ clutch-time savior, fueling a fantastic late run that propelled them to a 112-103 victory over the Miami Heat and a 3-2 series lead.

The Mavericks stand one win away from the first championship in franchise history, but will have to claim it in Miami, where Game 6 (and Game 7, if necessary) will be played.

Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 29 points, but it was Terry’s late 3-point shooting and playmaking that knocked Miami out. He had two 3-pointers, and dished to Jason Kidd for another, in a 15-3 run to close the game. Dallas became the first team to win consecutive games in this series.

“He was sensational tonight, especially in the fourth,” Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle said.

He called Terry’s pass to Kidd for the 3-pointer “a monster play.”

There was no minimizing the significance of the night, not for the Mavericks — who arguably had to win to have any chance in the series — and certainly not for LeBron James, who for two days had been pilloried and psychoanalyzed after a disengaged eight-point performance in Game 4. Only a dominant showing and a victory would quell the chatter.

“This is a big game, probably the biggest game of my life,” James said earlier in the day, adding, “Not probably — it is.”

Despite a triple-double — 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists — James could not meet the challenge. He missed 11 of 19 shots, had 4 turnovers and went silent down the stretch.

Dwayne Wade finished with 23 points and 8 assists, despite a bruised left hip that forced him to the locker room in the first quarter.

Miami now trails a series for the first time this postseason.

“We look at it the other way,” Miami Coach Eric Spoelstra said. “We’re going home. We wouldn’t have it any other way but the hard way. It’s a seven-game series and you have to close it out. This is where we feel comfortable.”

James mostly played the facilitator role in the fourth quarter, mostly to great effect — hitting Wade for a pair of fast-break layups and dishing to Udonis Haslem for a dunk as the Heat wiped out a 7-point deficit. He had 5 assists in 6 minutes.

Miami took a 99-95 lead on Wade’s 3-pointer, then watched its offense disintegrate while the Mavericks put together an 11-1 run, including eight unanswered points. Terry started the surge with a 3-pointer and finished it with another, to give Dallas a 108-101 lead with 33.3 seconds left. James had two deep misses and a turnover during the stretch.

“Persistence is our game,” Carlisle said. “We re am old school team. We’re not high flyers. We have a couple guys who can get off the ground a little bit but our game is near the ground and we have to play with brains and guts.”

The finals have been tied at 2-2 on 26 previous occasions. The Game 5 winner has claimed the title 19 times. The trend was defied as recently as last year, when the Boston Celtics won Game 5 but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games.

The Celtics fell victim to a more stubborn finals trend: No road team has ever won Games 6 and 7 since the N.B.A. adopted the 2-3-2 format in 1985.

Games 1 through 4 were defined by defense, with tight margins and final scores in the 80s and low 90s. Suddenly, the complexion changed. Dallas scored 60 points in the first half and surged to a nine-point lead in the third quarter with a barrage of 3-pointers from J.J. Barea, Nowitzki and Kidd.

Neither team had reached the 50 percent plateau in field-goal shooting until Thursday when the Mavericks shot 56.5 percent — including a 13-for-19 night at the arc. Barea had four 3-pointers, and Kidd and Terry three each.

The debate over James’s play, his mindset and his legacy ran nonstop for two days, fatiguing just about everyone.

“The amazing thing to me, Dwyane Wade scored 32 points, and I haven’t gotten one question about how I’m going to deal with him,” Carlisle said before the game. “That’s what I’m shocked about.”

Spoelstra took two questions before the game, both about James,

James said he had trouble sleeping Wednesday night. In his restless state, he watched television and perused the Internet, reading stories about himself, most of them unflattering.

“I’ve seen a lot of them. They’re pretty good,” James said at the morning shootaround, adding, “I’m my own critic.”

Still awake around 2 a.m., James took to Twitter, declaring, “Now or Never!!” James, who has 2 million followers, said it was “just a personal message.”

At tipoff, James was clearly amped up, perhaps too much so. His first shot — an awkward, left-handed runner — fell short for an airball. He missed his next jumper, too, and turned the ball over twice in the first six minutes as Dallas took a seven-point lead.

Wade appeared to have injured his hip in a full-speed collision with Brian Cardinal in the lane. Cardinal fell hard and took the foul. Moments later, Wade stumbled toward the bench, wincing, and flopped on his back.

Miami rallied while Wade got treated in the locker room and took a 31-30 lead by the end of the period. For the second straight game, Mario Chalmers closed the first quarter with a buzzer-beating, 3-point heave, this time from halfcourt.

Chalmers hit his third and fourth 3-pointers in the second quarter, when Miami briefly took a 6-point lead. Nowitzki scored 6 points in the final 2:05 of the period as Dallas took a 60-57 lead by halftime — the highest scoring half in a series characterized by stiff defense.

James went 4 for 10 from the field and had 9 points at halftime, surpassing his Game 4 totals.