Heat hold off Mavs to seize lead in Finals

LeBron James of the Miami Heat dunks in the second half of Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks Sunday, June 5, 2011, in Dallas. Photo by AP

DALLAS –  Dwyane Wade finished with 29 points and 11 rebounds and LeBron James added 17 points to lead the Miami Heat to a 88-86 win over Dallas in game three of the NBA Finals.

Chris Bosh scored 18 points for Miami and Mario Chalmers came off the bench to score 12 for the Heat, who took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Miami led by as many as 14 points in the first half but the Mavericks staged a couple of furious rallies to pull within three points at the end of the third quarter and set the stage for the second dramatic finish in a row in the series.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 34 points for the Mavericks, who just fell short of pulling off another stunning come-from-behind victory.

Miami Heat’s Chris Bosh (1) and Dwayne Wade (3) celebrate their win against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 3 of the NBA Finals at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas June 5, 2011. AFP

They fought back from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter of game two and went on a 17-3 run in the third quarter on Thursday to take a 59-58 lead.

Just like game two, Nowitzki had the ball in his hands in the final seconds Thursday but this time he couldn’t get his shot to go in the hoop.

James also had nine assists for the Heat, who were desperate to prevent themselves from going down two games to one with the next two games in Dallas, the next of them on Thursday.