Dirk plays through sinus infection to lead Mavs and tie NBA Finals series

It's hard to keep a warrior down.

Dirk Nowitzki battled through a 101 degree fever yet he catapulted the Mavs to an 86-83 win over the Miami Heat to knot the Finals series at 2 games a piece and boil their battle down to a best of 3 affair last night at Dallas Texas.

Nowitzki and the Mavs were very close to being down 3-1 until they made their run to outscore the Heat 21-9 after they went trailing 74-65 with 10 minutes left in the final period. Dirk scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter including six free throws.

LeBron James was the main missing link for the Heat after accounting for only 8 points, breaking his streak of 433 consecutive double figure scoring games and not only that he also was scoreless in the final quarter in which his team only scored 14 points.

Dwayne Wade scored 32 points but his costly mistakes in the homestretch like the missed freethrow with 30 seconds left and his faulty inbounds pass forced Mike Miller to take a hurried shot that didn't even come close to hitting the rim as the Dallas fans celebrated their team's victory.

Game 5 will ever be more crucial as both teams try to take the driver seat in the series and go up 3-2 still at Dallas' homecourt.

-details courtesy of yahoo! sports

Mavericks get 3-1 lead after stunning comeback against OKC

The Thunder celebrated too early.

The Dallas mavericks mounted an unbelievable comeback to rally back from 15 points down with less than 5 minutes remaining to win in OT 112-105 and seize the 3-1 lead in front of stunned OKC crowd in Oklahoma City.

Dirk Nowitzki tallied his 2nd 40 point game to lead his team down the stretch and keep their heads above water while the Thunder broke down when it mattered the most as their supportive crowd watched in disbelief.

The Thunder outrebounded the Mavs 55-33, that's a +22 but still lost, becoming the first team in 25 years to lose a playoff game after getting a major rebounding advantage.

OKC's offense went ice cold starting the 4:48 mark of the 4th quarter, the time when James Harden fouled out. Their complacency was evident as they settled for outside shots and it took it's toll on them causing them this loss.

OKC will be in a major uphill climb for the rest of this series as Game 5 will be played in the hostile territory of Dallas and every game is a do or die game for the Thunder from now on.

Mavs win Game 3 on the road against Thunder.

They survived a furious comeback.

The Dallas Mavericks held on to a 93-87 victory against the home team OKC Thunder to seize 2-1 series lead last night after surviving a late game surge and once again gain series homecourt advantage.

The Mavs literally cuffed the younger Thunder in the first quarter only allowing 12 points for the period to lead by 15 points 27-12. The struggle went on for OKC until the halfway mark of the second quarter.

OKC 's performance towards the end second quarter improved but the lead was too big to overhaul and the first half ended with the Mavericks still in the driver seat 52-36 with Kevin Durant having evident offensive struggles.

Things started to turn physical in the third quarter as Russell Westbrook and Dirk Nowitzki exchanged shoves resulting in a double technical foul off a loose ball scuffle. Tyson Chandler elbowed James Harden in the face and by the end of the third quarter, Mavs lead 70-56.

Thunder make their run in the fourth, led by Westbrook,Durant and Harden to cut the lead to just four points but poor shot selection from OKC allowed Dallas to hold on and foil their end game rally.

Game 4 will be in OKC where the Thunder will try to tie it while the mavs try to take the commanding 3-1 lead

Mavericks send Lakers home with an embarrassing sweep

The Last Stand turned into a huge disaster.

Phil Jackson's decorated coaching career ended in the worst way anyone could have imagined as he and the LA Lakers got busted out of the playoffs by the Dallas Mavericks after a 122-86 demolishing to complete the 4-0 sweep of the Western Conference semifinals last night in Dallas Texas.

Mavericks lit up the Lakers with 20 three pointers tying the record for most 3's in a playoff game and their 49 three pointers set the new record for most 3's in a 4 game series. Jason Terry was literally on fire scoring 32 points including 9-10 three's as he tied the record for most in a single game.

Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum got ejected in the latter part of the game as they were both called for flagrant fouls 2 in a point of the game where the Lakers clearly had no chance and the series was definitely over.

Back up pointguard JJ Barea scored 22 for the Mavs and one of the heroes of their Game 3 comeback Peja Stojakovic came up big once again scoring 21 as they close out the Lakers in a total over run.

This is the most disastrous series in Phil Jackson's career as he was down 0-3 for the first time and this sweep only made things that much worse.

The Mavs will face the winner of the OKC vs Memphis battle in th West Finals in a series where the Grizzlies are leading 2-1