The Mavs will be hosting watch parties at the AAC for Tuesday's and Thursday's games in Miami. The cost is $5 per person and parking is free. For more details, see the Mavs' web page (http://www.nba.com/mavericks/). If you are thinking about going, get your tickets now as a lot of people have already bought tickets. They will also have a watch party if there is a game 5 on Sunday, but tickets for that will not go on sale until it is known that there is a game 5. The NBA fined Shaquille O'Neal $10,000 and fined Miami $25,000 for O'Neal failing to address the media following Sunday's game. Game 2: Miami at Dallas (June 11) Miami opened the game doing as they promised as Shaquille O'Neal got a layup and was fouled - O'Neal's free throw woes continued as he missed 2 free throws (got a 2nd attempt on a lane violation). Dallas was getting the whistles quickly early and were in the penalty with 8:45 left (and O'Neal missing 2 more free throws). Despite the foul problems, Dallas scored 7 straight points to go up 11-5 with 6:55 remaining and Miami called timeout. A 3-point play by Dirk Nowitzki gave Dallas their largest lead of the quarter at 14-7 with 5:10 to go. After the teams traded buckets, Miami scored the next 7 points to tie the game at 16-16 with 1:30 left (including Jason Williams hitting 2 free throws, the first time in the series that someone other than O'Neal or Dwyane Wade shot free throws for Miami). A jumper by Dallas and a free throw by Miami was all that was scored the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 18-17 after 1. Neither team shot well in the slow paced, ugly quarter. Dallas shot 7-21 FG and 4-4 FT and Miami shot 4-14 FG and 8-14 FT. Keith Van Horn hit a jumper to open the 2nd quarter, but Miami then went on an 11-3 run, capped by a 3-pointer by James Posey, to go up 28-23 with 8:30 remaining. But Dallas then got white hot and scored on 7 of their next 8 possessions and Miami shot 1-6 FG and committed 2 turnovers as Dallas went on a 16-2 run to go up 39-30 with 3:30 left. O'Neal hit a hook shot with 3:10 left - his first basket and first points since 23 seconds into the game. After a Dallas turnover, Udonis Haslem drove for a dunk to pull Miami within 34-39 with 2:10 to go. Jason Terry hit 1-2 FT and then it was the Jerry Stackhouse show. Stackhouse nailed a 3-pointer with 1:20 remaining (off a nice pass from Nowitzki), Wade was called for palming, Stackhouse nailed 3 from 2 feet behind the arc (off another pass from Nowitzki) and Wade ran into him and Stackhouse completed the rare 4-point play (the 7th time one has occurred in the Finals), Haslem turned the ball over, and Dallas ran the clock down near the end of the quarter and Stackhouse buried the turnaround fade away 3-pointer as the shot clock expired. It was an 11-0 Dallas run to close the quarter as Stackhouse scored 10 straight points in a mere 77 seconds. Dallas led 50-34 at the half. Dallas shot 12-17 FG including 5-8 3-pointers as the Mavs out-scored Miami 32-17 in the 2nd quarter. The 34 points for Miami in the 1st half set the Mavs' opponent playoff low for points in the 1st half. O'Neal shot just 2-3 FG in the half. Unknown at the time, Haslem injured his shoulder with 4:30 left in the 2nd quarter (and stayed in the game), but was only able to play the first 2 minutes of the 3rd quarter and sat the rest of the game. Nowitzki hit a jumper to open the 3rd quarter and give Dallas an 18 point lead. A 3-pointer by Williams pulled the Heat within 40-55 with 9:50 to go, but Josh Howard answered with a 3-pointer and he was fouled - and made the extra for the 8th 4-point play in the Finals (and only time 2 4-point plays have occurred in the Finals). A jumper by Wade pulled Miami within 44-61 with 7 minutes remaining, but Dallas then went on a 13-4 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Terry, to go up 74-48 with 3:30 left. 2 free throws by Erick Dampier and a dunk by Dampier gave Dallas their largest lead at 78-51 with 2:25 to go. Antoine Walker did hit 2 3-pointers (and he had just 7 points prior to those 3s) to cut into Dallas' lead (and Wade hit 1-2 FT), but a 3-pointer by Stackhouse with 5 seconds left gave Dallas an 82-58 lead after 3. Dallas' hot shooting continued as they shot 10-17 FG in the 3rd quarter (Miami wasn't bad either at 8-17 FG) and Dallas out-scored Miami 32-24 in the quarter. Well, Dallas' good game came to an end during the break and they started playing ugly ball again. The Mavs missed their first 5 shots and committed 3 turnovers to open the 4th quarter and Miami (minus O'Neal) was able to take advantage by scoring the first 8 points of the quarter to pull within 66-82 with 9:30 remaining - and neither team scored for the next 90 seconds. A jumper by Terry gave Dallas their first basket of the quarter with 8 minutes to go. The Heat were unable to get closer than 16 points until Walker hit a 3-pointer to pull them within 75-88 with 5:25 left. A 3-pointer by Posey pulled Miami within 78-90 with 4:05 remaining, but Devin Harris attacked the basket and got a floater and was fouled and converted the extra free throw to give Dallas a 15 point lead. Consecutive layups by Wade pulled Miami within 83-95 with 2:30 left, but they would not score again until Gary Payton's meaningless layup with 12 seconds to go. Dallas won 99-85. Dallas lead the series 2-0. It was very good 2nd and 3rd quarters by Dallas - and ugly 1st and 4th quarters. Fortunately the Mavs built a large enough lead that their ugly 4th wasn't much of a factor. Dallas held a double-digit lead the entire 2nd half, with their largest lead being 27 points. Dallas got the lead in part due to their strong outside shooting and in part to Shaquille O'Neal being invisible in the game. Dallas shot 48.6% (34-70) FG including 8-19 3-pointers. Miami shot 41.4% (29-70) FG including 7-17 3-pointers. In addition, Dallas won the rebound war in out-rebounding Miami 46-32 including 9-8 offensive. The Heat continued to struggle from the line (but no where near as bad as they did in game 1). Miami shot 20-32 FT and Dallas shot 23-28 FT. Dallas had 23 assists and Miami had 16 assists. Dallas' big weakness in this game was being sloppy with the ball, but fortunately Miami didn't fully capitalize on Dallas' miscues while Dallas did a good job on converting when Miami turned the ball over. Dallas had 19 turnovers on which Miami scored 23 points. Miami had 13 turnovers on which Dallas scored 21 points. The games head to Miami for the next 2 or 3 (if needed) games with game 3 Tuesday at 8 pm Central on ABC. The hero of this game was Jerry Stackhouse. It's hard to consider 80 seconds in the 2nd quarter to be where the game was won, but that is what it felt like. After Stackhouse's 3 3-pointers (including a 4-point play) to close the 2nd quarter, Miami went into halftime with their heads hung and they were never able to get back in to the game. Stack had 19 points including 4-5 3-pointers (shot 2-6 2-pointers) in 34 minutes off the bench. 3 was his number this night as he also had a bunch of other 3s: 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 turnovers and shot 3-3 FT. Dirk Nowitzki was solid and aggressively going after the rebounds. He had a double-double with 26 points and 16 rebounds. He shot 8-16 FG and 10-11 FT and also had 4 assists and 2 blocks. Jason Terry should have stayed inside the arc as he shot just 1-6 3-pointers and shot 5-9 2-pointers. But he did a good job of passing the ball with a playoff career high 9 assists to go with his 16 points. Josh Howard battled foul trouble and had 16 points, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 4 turnovers (some of them sloppy) in 25 minutes. Erick Dampier and DeSagana Diop again did a good job of defending Shaquille O'Neal, though the Mavs did double-team O'Neal a lot. Damp was active and had 6 points on 2-3 FG and 2-3 FT and 13 rebounds including 4 offensive. Diop didn't attempt a shot and shot 1-2 FT and he had 4 rebounds and 5 fouls in 16 minutes. Devin Harris drove for a couple of buckets and had 11 points (though shot just 4-10 FG) and had 4 assists in 33 minutes. Adrian Griffin did his usual workman job without many stats. Griff didn't attempt a shot and had 4 rebounds in 22 minutes. Keith Van Horn chipped in 5 points early in the 2nd quarter. Marquis Daniels didn't attempt a shot in 14 minutes. Shaquille O'Neal was the story of the night. After having just 17 points and 7 rebounds in game 1, everyone was expecting O'Neal to explode in this game. Instead the opposite happened. O'Neal had a playoff career low 5 points (old: 7 points). He shot just 2-5 FG (missed 3 shots in the 3rd quarter) and sat (coach's decision) the last 15 minutes of the game. His troubles from the line continued as O'Neal shot just 1-7 FT (unofficially 1-8 FT due to a lane violation). And he didn't make up his poor offensive game by doing other things. O'Neal had just 5 rebounds. He did have 6 assists, though. And he simply didn't get enough touches (and give some credit to Dallas' swarming defense). Dwyane Wade did have 23 points, but struggled with his shot in shooting just 6-19 FG, though he did shot 11-14 FT. Wade also had 8 rebounds including 4 offensive and 3 assists, but also had 4 turnovers. 13 of Antoine Walker's 20 points came after Dallas was up by 27 points (2:25 left in the 3rd quarter) - 3 of his 4 3-pointers came after that time. How bad of a night was it for Miami? Walker actually hit a 3-pointer with 3:15 left in the 3rd (and down by 26 points), but the refs waved it off as they had called a defensive 3 seconds on Dallas just prior to the shot. Jason Williams had 11 points including 3-10 FG and 1-4 3-pointers and 4 assists. Udonis Haslem had 6 points on 3-6 FG in 24 minutes before leaving the game for good early in the 3rd quarter with a bruised left shoulder. His backup, James Posey, had 7 points (his 2 field goals were 3-pointers) and 5 rebounds before fouling out with 3:15 left in the 4th quarter. Alonzo Mourning was part of the group that tried to get Miami back in to the game in the 4th quarter. Mourning had 11 points on 4-4 FG and 3-4 FT and 4 rebounds in 17 minutes. Shandon Anderson saw his first action of the series in playing the last 1:30 of the game. Quotes Avery Johnson on O'Neal: "Well, I don't know if we took him out of the game. Obviously, just had a hard time getting going, you know. On top of it, sometimes when your free throw is not going, you know, that can stimy you a little bit. So, we just tried to keep a body on their guys. They're very tough to guard. And we know it's going to be a different story in Miami. They'll probably be more aggressive than they were in both of these games." Johnson on O'Neal wanting to get more shots in game 2 but only attempting 5: "You know, we kind of knew that coming into the game. And if you watched the game, you know we were really trying to double-team him, you know, quite a bit, even before he got the ball. So we're just trying to make them go other places sometime, and sometime it worked and sometime it don't." Johnson on the 2nd quarter: "Yeah, it was big. We just had a really, really bad 1st quarter. We threw the ball all over the gym. And we were trying to run, we made a concerted effort to run more. They got in the bonus with, what, after the first 2 minutes of the quarter, they seemed like they were in the bonus. And we were trying to run more, but we just couldn't finish our break. And on top of it, we had a bad 1st and a bad 4th quarter, but the 2nd and the 3rd quarters were the quarters that really kind of helped us get control of the game. So our guys are trying. You know, we're not playing perfect basketball. But, again, if you don't play perfect basketball and still can win another game like this and, you know, they score 80 and 85 points, you know, we'll take it; but we're not satisfied." Johnson on Nowitzki: "Ya, again, Dirk, boy, he came back tonight. He, you know, got to the free throw line a little bit more. You know, we tried to move him around a little bit. If you don't move them around against this tough defense, they sit on all your plays; they sit on the front side of all your plays, so we've got to use both sides of the court, and sometimes even the third side. That's how good their defense is. So we try to move them around quite a bit." Johnson on Stackhouse's 3s in the end of the 2nd quarter: "That was big because we talked about not settling for 3s and you'll have your opportunity to get some. And we did a good job of penetrating and getting the ball back out. And we did a good job of trying to finish our shots, especially when they forced us deep into the shot clock, which they do quite often. So again, we didn't want to come out and settle for 3s, but if they were, there take them and take them with confidence." Johnson on the 4th quarter: "It goes both ways, man. You know, you've got a 24 point lead. You're in the Finals, nobody is going to just pack it up and go home. It's too much time left in the game. And, you know, when you've got a player of Wade's caliber, you know, he gets to the free throw line and he makes shots. And, you know, Antoine Walker's, you know, hurt us a couple of times with 3s. So they're not going to quit. We've been down by 20 or 26 points and have stormed back during certain games this year. I wouldn't expect our guys to quit. So there's a lot of fight in that team, and we didn't expect them to quit. And we got stuck, we got stuck. And we'll take a look at it. And hopefully if we're ever in this situation again, which is a rare deal, we'll try to execute better and, you know, finish the game stronger." Johnson on O'Neal not playing in the 4th: "Again that's a coach's decision. We didn't know whether he was going to come back in or not. You know, Mourning did pretty well in there for them and we'll have to take a look at that because we didn't see Zo much in the 1st game. But now we've got some film, we can take a look at how he hurt us a little bit inside. But Damp and DeSagana, they're big guys that play defense in different styles. We've got to give them a lot of help, by no stretch of the imagination are they playing Shaq 1-on-1 all the time. But they are working hard, all right. And it's a tough job for tough people, and that's why we got them." Johnson on Terry and Harris: "Again, JT, you know, 16 and 9 tonight. Devin, a big lift for us. You know, practically, what, 40 points or something off our bench, if I'm adding it up right. So we need that. We feel that we have, you know, 9 or 10 guys. Obviously Marquis is not playing a lot, but our point guards, you know, we need their quickness out there with all of the different schemes that we have. And Devin was much more under control tonight. And he and Terry, you know, they play together some and Devin backs up Terry. So we have a couple of different options." Johnson on Stackhouse: "Yeah, it's been huge. You know, you saw it years ago with a team like Detroit Pistons with a guy like Vinnie Johnson. To have that guy that can come off the bench and get you points, without you even setting screens for him. You know, Stackhouse is a scorer, and he's done it for a lot of years in our league. You know, it's so rare to have a guy like that on your team, especially with the way the NBA is now. You know, it's hard to have a 6th man of that caliber. So he's bailed us out a lot this year. I don't think we'd be here without him." Dirk Nowitzki: "Yeah, I thought our energy was great today. Energy was great today. We were hustling on defense, but offensively moved the ball to the open guy and really shared the ball well and played with each other as a team and really attacked from all angles. And I thought defensively we rotated for each other and we had active hands and it was fun to watch. And then I thought in the 4th quarter we let down a little bit and we played more to keep the lead instead of keep attacking. So that was something we've got to look at and address in the 4th quarter. But to get the lead, I thought we played a heck of a game." Nowitzki on O'Neal defending him: "Yeah, I mean, he's been doing it in the 1st game too. He's been trying to, you know, blitz on the screen-and-rolls and get out there and move his feet. He's been very active for them." Nowitzki: "I think, you know, it's a complete team effort. If you get to the Finals, you have to be clicking in all angles and our big guys have been doing a great job obviously on Shaq. You know, nobody really can stop him 1-on-1. And we're trying to send help as soon as we can. But they're trying to battle him, they're trying to keep him out of the paint. Diop and Damp, they were both active getting rebounds and just trying to keep a body on Shaq. So, they were big the first 2 games, and hopefully they can keep it up. You know, Van Horn, Stack, we need all the guys from the bench making plays. Stack was huge in that run we had in the 2nd quarter. He got hot. He's a very, very streaky shooter and, you know, he just caught fire and it was fun to watch." Nowitzki on O'Neal attempting only 5 shots: "Well, like I said, we're trying to battle him as much as we can. We're trying to help our big guys as soon as we can and just scramble and make things happen on the defensive end. I thought we had great energy." Nowitzki on not being overconfident: "Well, obviously we've got to stay focused. We haven't really done anything. We won 2 games at home. But we know they are a different animal at home. They are going to be obviously fired up. You know, Shaq and Dwyane, they are going to get their troops ready to play. And you know, it's all about, you know, getting rest and be ready. It's a quick turnaround with the flight tomorrow. So, we've just got to be ready to play, that's the bottom line. And I thought, you know, hopefully we learned from the Phoenix series where we won the 3rd game on the road and I thought we relaxed a little bit, and next thing you know, we get drilled in game 4. So I think we learned in the playoffs, you know, the teams are too good. You can never relax, you can never take a breath. You always have to, you know, keep the pedal to the medal and hopefully we can all stay focused." Nowitzki on the difference from game 1: "Well, I still think they tried to play me very physical and get in me. And they basically tried to do the same things they did in game 1. And I thought I caught the ball a little more on the move, which is better, because when I catch it standing, you know, they're going to box up, the guy's going to get into me and really we have nothing going. So I thought just out of the movement, I'm a better player anyway instead of just holding it and playing 1-on-1. So I thought we did a better job of that and just, you know, trying to be active and really help the team win." Nowitzki: "Yeah, I think early on I tried to be aggressive. And first spun right away in the first play of the game and dribbled off my foot. So obviously that really wasn't the start I was looking for. But, you know, I know that our team is good and that we can all make plays and make shots. And if they stay with me on pick-and-rolls the way they do, then our other players have to step up and play well and make plays. If the opportunity is there for me, I'm still going to be aggressive and trying to score. And so I thought we found a good mix today. We had a lot of guys in double-figures, and that's how we have to attack them if we want to win." Nowitzki: "I think our depth is really what got us here. You know, we won 60 games in the regular season with a lot of injury problems. And, you know, our bench has had to step up a lot of times to win big games for us. In the playoffs, obviously, like I said, you've got to have a great team to get to this point, in the Finals. You know, nobody is going to carry a team by themselves or with 2 guys. You can't come here to the Finals. The league is way too good for that. You got to have guys playing well together. You've got to have a strong bench. You've got to be obviously well coached, and both teams are that. So, looking for a battle in game 3." Josh Howard: "We stepped it up on the defensive end. Offensively, Stackhouse came through with some big 3s." Howard on Stackhouse: "That was just great. That's our guy, our 6th man of the year. Our bench play was awesome, not just him, but Damp coming off the bench had a great night against Shaq again." Howard on Dallas' defense on O'Neal: "It's pretty much the same game plan from last game. It's just try to contain him and try to get the ball out of Shaq's hand and we did that tonight." Howard on Dallas' defense on Wade: "It was great team defense. Guys kept challenging him no matter what he was doing." Howard: "Everybody came to play tonight and, like you said, it was a balance scoring night. Dirk and I came out and really had a good shooting night. Hopefully that will carry over to game 3." Howard on going to Miami: "It's a great opportunity for us to go there and get some wins. We're just going to take it 1 game at a time, so were looking forward to the next game." Howard on going to Miami: "To be honest, just take it 1 quarter at a time. We know it's going to be a hostile environment. They're going to have their fans out there going crazy. They're going be real jacked up. So, 1 quarter at a time. And at the end of the 4th, hopefully we'll be up." Jerry Stackhouse on the end of the 2nd quarter: "Well, yeah, it was great to get a little distance going into halftime. We obviously, we started out pretty good in the 1st quarter, and then all of a sudden everything kind of got stagnant and we looked up and the score was 16-16 and 16-18, and we knew that couldn't be our game. And we had to force the issue, you know, make it a little more of a tempo game. Fortunately we were able to hit a few 3s in that stretch to end the half. But I think our defense picked up in the 2nd half and we were still able to make shots. We knew, you know, even with a 20, 30 point lead, a team like that that has capable 3-point shooters are going to be able to make a run, but we held them off." Stackhouse on Dallas' offense: "Yeah, we just moved the ball. I mean, I think that, you know, sometimes when, you know, when you move the ball, certain guys are going to be the ones that [are] consistently open. Tonight it just kind of spread out. Everybody, you know, we moved the ball around the horn. You know, we ran our plays when they came and double-teamed. Seemed like every time tonight, we made, you know, the right play. But obviously we had a few turnovers when we were, you know, trying to force the issue a little bit. But for the most part, we were just playing together like we have all year." Stackhouse on if being a 6th man has extended his career in any way: "Na, I don't think so. I think my pattern has been my pattern. It's been a great ride for me. I mean, I've been from a team that, you know, won 18 games my rookie year to a team that's playing in the World Finals. And a lot of highs and a few lows in between. But, you know, it's all been worth it. I mean, I think everything that I've gone to and gone through has, you know, helped me be able to be in this role now. I mean, I think even the Washington situation, I mean, I was always, you know, aggressive and aggressive, aggressive, aggressive, attacking. And I think in Washington when I was hurting, to slow down a little bit and I think that's probably when my game really, you know, changed for the better because I couldn't really go at the pace that I wanted to. And then when I got healthy again, I had both speeds. I had the speed to still go and get 30 and the speed to, you know, try to bait them to move the ball. And it worked out perfectly with this team. I think Avery believed in me, not only as a player, but as a person and I think that that's - and these guys trust me with their lives. So, you know, it can't be a better situation for me." Stackhouse on being more of a driver than a 3-point shooter: "I mean, I think, you know, that's what you guys say. You know what I'm saying. But I felt, you know, tonight was the way they've been playing and how they've been slacking off in the corners and everything, that it was a good opportunity for me to go in the gym last night late and work on some 3s and it paid off. And I just thank God for him allowing it to go in for me tonight. But, you know, I am a slasher. I am a guy that gets to the basket. But you know, I would even consider myself a streak shooter too. You know, I mean, you have a few that might not go in, but I feel that any time, you know, when I'm feeling good that they can go down for me. So, I just try to stay aggressive. And like I said, my teammates're always encouraging me whenever I'm in the game and got an open look to shoot it, you know, especially certain spots, you know, on the floor." Stackhouse on if hitting the first one makes the next few easier: "Well, yeah. I mean, this game is all about confidence, and seeing the ball go in is huge. And I think, like I said, last night, you know, coming in and, you know working on it. And obviously when I stepped on the floor tonight and the first one, you know, was a long 2, went down, you know, my mechanics were right and I felt that I was doing the things that I needed to do to have a good shooting night. Obviously I wanted to set those shots up and still be able to drive and get to the basket. Our still focus is trying to get into the paint and get to the basket, put pressure on their defense. But tonight was one of those nights for me, you know, from the line. But I don't know what it's going to be next time. Like I said, we're a team that tries to take whatever the defense gives us and we feel that we've got a lot of people that's capable of stepping and up and having big nights on any given night." Stackhouse on if it felt like his shots were going to go in when they left his hands: "No, you never know it's going to go in until it's through the hole. But it definitely felt, the ball felt good leaving my hand tonight. Last night I was - we got a lot of guys that come in and put the work in. You know, Dirk, JT, you know, those guys are always in the gym late. You know, I bump into them. I'm thinking I'm letting them do all what they do and kind of sneak in behind them, but I still didn't miss them - Dirk was still hanging around the gym last night when I got here. But, you know, we feel that this is an opportunity for us and we want to do all that we can to prepare ourselves to be able to fulfill a dream of ours and fulfill the dream of our city, fulfill the dream of our organization, and we're one more step closer to that." Stackhouse on how late he practiced Saturday night: "No, I don't. I don't know. It was just, you know, a few - I was here probably 20 minutes, 20, 30 minutes. It was like 10:00. I was still in bed in plenty of time." Stackhouse on scoring 10 points in 80 seconds: "I don't know, it's probably happened at some point during the season. I mean, you know, you guys really started taking notice of us once we, you know, got to the playoffs and started making some noise. But, you know, we've been a team that have competed and done, you know, things like that all year, off the bench, and my role of coming in and bringing energy. I mean, I think everybody that looks as my role on this team as coming in as a scorer off the bench, but, you know, I feel that with my presence, a lot of times it's drawing double-teams and maybe not even getting assists, making the pass out of the double-team that, you know, moves to the next pass that gets a guy a good open shot. And, you know, it's about sacrificing and then giving up yourself. I mean, Avery talks about that all the time. Give yourself up for the next guy to get a good shot and I think all of our guys have bought into that, and that's why we're where we are." Stackhouse on scoring 10 points in 80 seconds: "I mean, I just knew it. I mean, they double-teamed Dirk. You know, my guy was leaving and then, like I said, after I shot the first one, there was no hesitation, you know, once I caught it the second time. I was probably 3 feet behind the 3-point line on the second one. But, you know, when you're feeling good, you let it ride. But, like I said, tomorrow is a different day. Maybe my time to be on the block, hopefully with what I've done this half; same thing with Jason last half. They were a little more conscious of him tonight, and maybe they'll be a little more conscious of both of us in the next game and there will and another guy; it will be Josh or Marquis or Keith or another Devin, another one of our guys will step up and have another big night for us, because everyone on our team is capable." Stackhouse on changes after the 1st quarter: "Well we just knew that we had to push the tempo a little more. I mean, I think at the pace that we were playing and where the score was, it was in their favor. We had to force the issue a little bit. Fortunate for us, we got some 3s to go down for us. In the 2nd half, our defense picked up along with our offense." Devin Harris: "I mean, we really, you know, played at our pace I think in the 2nd and 3rd quarter. A little stagnant in the 4th quarter. But we really defensively tried to mix it up. We rebounded well and really got in to that transition game." Adrian Griffin on Stackhouse: "It's funny. He comes in and subs for me, and I look at the expression of the other team. You usually think you get a little weaker when you sub, but we get stronger. Now they've got to deal with Stack." Griffin: "This is the deepest team I've been on. You have to give credit to Avery because he's like the mastermind behind it." Erick Dampier on defending O'Neal: "We just try to give him different looks in the defensive scheme of things. It all depends on where he was catching the ball. You know, we double sometimes, which made him pass out to open players and they had to make plays. You know, I just think we put together a good defensive effort tonight." Dampier on if he takes O'Neal's past comments on him personally: "I just go out there and play. You know, do what ever I can to help the team win. Obviously, we made some comments back and forth last year. I think that's behind us now. I think the most important thing is just for me to go out there and play and help the team win, regardless of what's said." Dampier on not playing against Phoenix: "Even though I didn't play a lot the Phoenix series, it gave me an opportunity to get a lot of rest. They played a smaller lineup, so we had to play small, you know, even though we did play DeSagana Diop, who came in and did an excellent job for us. You know, we have guys that can come off the bench, you know, which is my job to come off the bench and give us quality time at the center position in this series. So we know exactly what we have to do against Shaq." Dampier on he and Diop: "When he's on the floor, you know, I'm trying to find things in his game that can help him. When I'm on the floor, he tries to find things that I can do better to help the team win." Dampier on O'Neal and game 3: "Well, if you go back and look at game 1, they said that he didn't get a lot of touches. You know, somebody went back and watched the game and I think he got 30 touches, you know, and 12 times he passed it out. So, how many more times does he want to touch the ball and are they going to throw it in. So regardless what they're going to do, we're going to make the adjustments." Dampier: "Hey, it's the 2 best teams, 1 from the East, 1 from the West. You know, it's whoever's going to go out there and execute the best, you know, execute their game plan. We stood with our system and did what we're supposed to do defensively. And we just went out there and were victorious." Dampier on O'Neal being 0-3 FG in the 2nd half: "Hey, we know that 80% of their offensive is going to run through Wade and Shaq, so we just got to stick with our defensive tactics and just play them hard and contest the shots that they take." DeSagana Diop: "We're halfway there, and it feels good. But we got a lot of work to do in Miami." Pat Riley on O'Neal only attempting 5 shots: "Well, you know, first of all, we didn't come out - you can talk about touches all you want. It's always about touches, and that's not what this game was about today. You can say whatever you want to say about it. Yes, we need to get him the basketball. But this game was about another team's competitiveness and energy at the start of the game. I mean, they doubled him every single time he caught the ball; he made the passes he was supposed to make out of them. And the other times they would front him. Any time he tried to throw the ball over the top, you know, we didn't get out of it what we want. So, obviously we have to go to work on that the next couple of days. But I just thought their energy and their effort, you know, far surpassed ours." Riley on Wade: "I thought he was very aggressive. It's just that, you know, he didn't have a game that I think you all are accustomed seeing him have. He's missing layups. They did a great job of helping on him. And, you know, he's a great student of the game. They're doing some things that I think we can learn from. At home, you know, maybe attack a little bit differently. But they know who to stay home on and they know who to leave open. That's what the answer is, that's what the question is right now: who's going to be stepping up and making shots on double-teams." Riley on if he could live with Stackhouse shooting 3-pointers: "Well, no. No, I don't think we want to live with any open shots with this team. You know, they got off to a good start. We had a 28-23 lead, it was 39-34 and then it was an 11-nothing run. I think he had 3 3s, one was a 4 point play. And, you know, that sent us into the locker room, obviously, not in a very good state of mind. But he's too streaky a shooter. I mean, he'll make 3s, he'll make shots. And he did a great job for them today." Riley on if playing more physical was their plan: "That wasn't our plan. Who said it? Somebody said that was our plan? [Reporter: it seemed like it] It seemed like it? No. No. We wanted to be aggressive every game, but it wasn't like, you know, we've been preaching every day let's come out and be physical with the team. You know, I mean, it's a couple of hard fouls or something like that, doesn't mean that that's the game plan. We want to attack, we want to be aggressive, you know, as much as we can. If there's a team that was physical today, they were more physical than we were, there's no question about that." Riley: "Well, we don't care if it's 2-2-1-1-1 or 2-3-2, they did what they had to do here, you know. What will have to change in Miami is obviously we have to play the game a hell of a lot better than we played here in Dallas. And definitely whatever adjustments we make over the next couple of days are going to have to work. So, we're going home. We got 3 in a row at home. There's no guarantee that that's going to make a difference, you know, unless you really come and play. But they did what they had to do, you know. And everybody's written our team off, you know, even in Chicago. You know, when we lost 2 games in Chicago and then we got, you know, buried by New Jersey in the 1st game. I mean, we were history. And then we were history against Detroit. So even when we were ahead 3-1, we were history. So, I'm sure we're history right now. And so we'll see what happens, you know, at home." Riley: "No, I don't think it had anything to do with energy. You know, I mean, first of all, we've been here for 6 days, I mean, that's not an excuse, but you're in a town for 6 days. We played our best game the other night on the road here. But no, that's not an excuse, you know, from an energy standpoint. I've been in a lot of playoff games, and I've gotten beat by 40, 30, you know, 25, you know; won by 25 or 30. It doesn't make any difference. The whole thing is about the next game and trying to leave this behind us. Maybe it will, you know, set a fire in us a little bit to do something a little bit different than we did down here. But I leave it behind us and we go and make the adjustments. We come ready and hard, you know, on Tuesday night, and that's all it's about now." Riley on O'Neal sitting the last 15 minutes of the game: "He's fine. Shaq's fine. We're down 25. We're down 25 points, you know, I mean. As a matter of fact, it looked as though the game might even have gone. You know, we made the belated run, you know, late in the 4th quarter and I didn't want to get, you know, him hurt or to get Dwyane hurt, but looked like we made a belated run there in the 4th quarter. But it had nothing to do with anything other than it that was the score. I want his energy. I want his total game, you know, for Tuesday night. Period." Riley on Haslem: "He took quite a fall. So, you know, it's just real sore. And, you know, it's very hard to keep him out. You know, I just didn't want to exasperate at all, you know, what could be a problem. So we won't know until he gets x-rayed." Dwyane Wade on the 1st half: "Can't really explain it. I think, you know, the 2nd quarter in both games, it got away from us. It really did, you know. They executed, you know, got good shots. We turned the ball over or missed long shots; they got out in open transition and got open shots. And they did a good job of moving the ball around. You know, the 2nd quarter, like I said, in both games has been our downfall so far." Wade: "Well, first of all, Tuesday night is game 3. You know, they did what they're supposed to do, won 2 at home. And then we have to go take care of our home starting Tuesday. So, you know, we use our crowd to get us our energy up. But we got to play a lot better, you know, both ends of the floor. They did what they did last game. I think they came out and tried to blitz the pick-and-roll more instead of laying back. But obviously they're able to attack when they wanted to. And, you know, I missed some shots that I normally hit but I was still being aggressive." Wade on what O'Neal said on the bench: "Nothing about nothing. You know, he didn't show his frustration to me. You know, just, you know, at that point he's asking me why I wasn't in the game. But, you know, of course, you know, you know, he can't be as dominant as he wants to be right now because, you know, because his other guys is not playing as good as we should. So they're able to key on him and take away the other guys a little bit because we're missing shots, not being efficient. So that's taking away from Shaq a little bit. But, you know what, you can't get down, it's 2 games. It's the best of 7 series. I think Shaq understands that, he's been in this position more than anybody that's on the court. So I'm sure we'll bounce back." Wade on O'Neal sitting the last 15 minutes of the game: "It was crazy, you know, especially when he's not in foul trouble, you know, you know, and you wonder why. But, you know, we've got to find a way, you know, we've got to find a way to get our big guy to be more dominant. With the touches that we give him, we have to find a way to make him more efficient. So, you know, 5 shots, you know, of course that don't mean we get the ball to him 5 times, but 5 shots is not what we want. You know, we're playing him 29 minutes, we want him playing more than that. So, we'll find a way, you know. That's what, you know, looking at film and going over the next game plan and everything is all about." Wade on O'Neal only attempting 5 shots: "Well I mean, they double-teamed him. You know, when he gets the ball, so, you know, he's kicking it out. You know, there's nothing more for him to do besides that. And, you know, like I said, I mean, it's going to be hard for him to get more shots if they continue to double-team him, if he kicks it out and not scoring. You know, we got to, our eyes got to light up, you know, when we see them double-teams Shaq. For one, he's a great passer. For two, if someone's open, you know, he finds the open guy sometimes and sometimes they are not, so we got to a better job at that." Wade on what needs to change for game 3: "Everything. But, you know, we're going to come out. And like I said, our crowd will be behind us. We'll play with, you know, a lot of energy. But we got to execute better on offense. You know, being patient and at the same time attack more. We can't go through stretches like we have on the road of, you know, letting this team, you know, get out and, you know, be explosive. You know, if they are going on a run, we got to, you know, at least keep it to a minimum. Like they did at the end of the 2nd on us, we can't do that at home. You know, so a lot got to change, but, you know, hopefully, we'll see a different team. You know, we'll look over film tomorrow and see what we got to do to come back in game 3 better." Wade on how he's feeling: "I'm feeling all right. You know, I think Tuesday will probably be my best game the way I feel physically. So the next 3 games at home will probably be the best I feel all series. So, looking forward to it. Looking forward to playing a lot of minutes and being efficient." Wade on his finger being bandaged: "No, just jammed my finger. It's nothing." Antoine Walker: "Early in the game we had the game under control. It was just about 7 or 8 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter, we had a 5 point lead and we didn't score the rest of the quarter. I had a couple good looks. I mean, we got good shots, but they just didn't fall. They were double-teaming Shaq well and he just threw it out of the post. And, you know, early in the game we missed a lot of layups and our free throw shooting is killing us, it's keeping them - and when they make a 6-0, 7-0 run, it makes it seem like a 15-0 run on us because we're not closing the gap when we have opportunities to close the gap. So, those are that things we're going to have to work on as we go in the series." Walker: "Well, I mean, the 1st half, I, you know, shot 3, 4 times. I had a couple good looks by myself that I missed. I just wanted to stay aggressive. And it's the way they're defending us and the way they're playing, they're going to make myself and Jason and other guys make some shots. So I just wanted to stay aggressive. I was lucky to get a couple layups to get myself going and to get involved in the game. But as the series goes on, I just got to stay aggressive and when the opportunities come to shoot the basketball, shoot." Walker: "We're fine. I take my hats off to Dallas, though. They defended on their own court. Obviously we would have loved to have came here and got a game, but now the series switches to Miami. And we got 3 games on our home floor. We have to take care of business, we got to hold serve. It's not a guarantee, so Tuesday night becomes the biggest game of the season for us. We're going to have to lay it on the line, becomes a game 7 type of situation for us. We need to get a win, we need to get back in this series, and we got to realize we got to come out focused. This series is far from over. We know that and hopefully they know that. It's far from over. We'll take a veteran group of guys with, you know, a lot of us have worked our whole career to get to this point and we ain't going to lay down now." Walker on O'Neal: "Shaq's fine. He's frustrated, I mean, at times. You know, he's a guy that likes to get involved in the game. I mean, they're doing a good job of double-teaming him. Obviously, you know, a couple of passes in there got taken or stolen trying to get it to him. And he probably could have ended up with a different game, but obviously we went to a smaller lineup to try to get back into the game, which we had chances there at the end to get back into it. And so it just ended up in a bad way. But Shaq will be fine, you know, he's a warrior. You know, hopefully he doesn't mind. He's a guy that we follow, so we follow his lead. So we definitely be going back to him." Walker on O'Neal: "I mean, it's not to say 5 shots. I thought did he a great job. I thought the 1st half he did a great job of establishing chances there, when we was a 6, 7 point game. I think I had a 2 good looks at 3 where he passed it out the post. I mean, those shots, they got to be knocked down. They might limit shot attempts fronting him, but he's giving other guys shots and involved in the game. So, obviously the 2nd half, it didn't go according to plan. We got down by 20 points, so we have to go to a small lineup to try to get back in the game. Shaq will be fine. We got to make some adjustments and maybe try to get him on the move a little bit more where he can get involved. But hopefully he stays with the guys on the floor, stays focused because this series is far from over." Walker on changes for game 3: "Just little things. I mean, I think we got to pick up our energy level. I think tonight they beat us to the loose balls, especially early in the game. We may block a shot or get a hand on the ball, they come up with the loose ball and hit a couple of big shots. Stackhouse, you know, finished that half strong, in the 1st half. So we just got to get back to playing Miami Heat basketball - that's inside-out - and establish our game. And we've got away from that in these 2 games. So we've got to get back to what got us here to the Finals." Udonis Haslem on O'Neal: "We have to figure out a way to get him the ball. I don't know the answer. If I did, we would do it. We have to figure it out. But we have to have him [to beat Dallas] - we have to have him to beat anybody. He's our main man. We've got to find a way to get him the ball." Haslem on O'Neal: "I don't know what the situation is. It's definitely a problem that needs to be taken care of. We've got to have him to beat anybody. He's our main man." Haslem on his injured shoulder: "Na, na. I'll be playing the next game." Alonzo Mourning: "We got our butts kicked. No one expected us to come out and play the way we did the past 2 games. This sport is very humbling." Game 2: Dallas Mavericks 99, Miami Heat 85 at Dallas (June 11) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 18 32 32 17 - 99 .510 .421 .486 .821 Miami 17 17 24 27 - 85 .415 .412 .414 .625 Halftime: Dallas 50-34 3rd Q: Dallas 82-58 Technicals: Miami defensive 3 seconds 9:08 1st, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 5:49 1st, Dwyane Wade 0:37 2nd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 3:11 3rd Refs: Steve Javie, Bob Delaney, Ed Rush Attendance: 20,459 (sellout) IL: DJ Mbenga (Dal, suspended), Wayne Simien (Mia) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 22 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-4 0 1 4 0 0 Jason Terry 30 6-15 1-6 3-5 16 0-1 9 3 2 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 23 8-16 0-2 10-11 26 1-16 4 1 2 0 2 Josh Howard 25 6-12 2-3 1-1 15 1-3 1 4 5 0 2 DeSagana Diop 16 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 1-4 0 1 5 1 0 Jerry Stackhouse 34 6-11 4-5 3-3 19 1-3 3 3 1 0 0 Erick Dampier 29 2-3 0-0 2-3 6 4-13 1 2 2 1 1 Devin Harris 33 4-10 0-1 3-3 11 0-1 4 1 4 1 0 Keith Van_Horn 18 2-3 1-2 0-0 5 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Marquis Daniels 14 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 34-70 8-19 23-28 99 9-46 23 19 27 5 5 Miami Heat REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Williams 28 3-10 1-4 4-5 11 0-2 4 0 2 1 0 Dwyane Wade 20 6-19 0-0 11-14 23 4-8 3 4 4 2 1 Udonis Haslem 22 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 0-1 0 2 2 0 0 Antoine Walker 17 8-16 4-7 0-0 20 0-4 2 2 3 0 1 Shaquille O'Neal 21 2-5 0-0 1-7 5 1-6 2 2 1 0 0 Gary Payton 25 1-4 0-2 0-0 2 0-1 4 0 2 2 0 James Posey 26 2-6 2-4 1-1 7 2-5 1 1 6 0 0 Alonzo Mourning 17 4-4 0-0 3-5 11 1-4 0 1 3 0 1 Shandon Anderson 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 29-70 7-17 20-32 85 8-32 16 13 23 5 3 patricia Go Mavs!