Dirk Nowitzki carries Mavericks as LeBron James disappears

louis vuitton outlet Hand the award to the public-address announcer who begged the Dallas Mavericks for help a few minutes into the fourth quarter of Game 4.
"I just checked the game clock," he intoned loudly into a courtside microphone. "It is officially time for some Big D." (Exclamation points omitted to prevent annoying all readers.)
It was cheeky, it was scripted and who knows if any players actually heard it, but it made so much sense at the time.
The Mavericks couldn't stop Wade or Chris Bosh and fell behind the Miami Heat by nine with 10 minutes left. All they did from there was hold the Heat to nine points.
Not even a point a minute. That works out to 43 points over 48 minutes.
The Mavericks won, 86-83, and evened the Finals at two games each.
Big D, indeed.
On a night where Nowitzki made only six of 19 shots, the Mavericks uncorked a defensive gem. Nolan Ryan provided the analogy by exhorting them on the scoreboard to win a championship on behalf of Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, and any other Texas city not named Houston or San Antonio.
Gucci D Gold Large Shoulder Bag 189835 Beige /Brown But the party looked like it would be in South Beach on Tuesday after Udonis Haslem's jumper gave the Heat a 74-65 lead. Then Miami missed 10 of its final 13 shots and committed five turnovers.
LeBron James took his poor fourth-quarter play to a new low this series, going scoreless on one shot in the quarter.
Nowitzki had a fever of 101 degrees, skipped the Tuesday morning shoot-around and coughed and wheezed throughout the game. He still outscored James by 13.
"It's a little sinus infection," Nowitzki said, providing the most understated illness assessment this season.
Said Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle: "Fighting through that was not easy."
James has been battling quite a few things, including a verbal snipe a few days ago from a reporter who asked about James "shrinking" in the fourth quarter of the Finals.
James admonished the reporter at the time, telling him to come up with a better question, but there weren't any better than that after James again disappeared in the final 12 minutes.
He finished with eight points, nine rebounds and seven assists. He never scored so few points in 89 prior playoff games.
"I've got to do a better job of being more assertive offensively, not staying out of rhythm offensively the whole game," James said.
How bad is it? James said he would consider extra shooting after practice Wednesday. He's averaging 2.8 points in the fourth quarter this series.
If he opts for the solo shooting session, James might want to line up cardboard cutouts of the Dallas defenders who badgered the Heat with a zone defense.
Gucci 1973 Medium Shoulder Bag 251820 Gunmetal "They're really clogging it up, and he's not having his usual free rein," Bosh said.
Miami's final possession was awful, and it didn't even involve James.
Wade mishandled the inbounds pass, dived to catch up to it and flung the ball back to Mike Miller, who airballed a hurried three-point attempt with 0.9 seconds left.
It looked like something out of a JV game, and that's being kind.
The Heat will surely be back for Game 5. So will a healthier Nowitzki, as well as the Mavericks' courtside announcer.

Gucci Heritage Medium Shoulder Bag 247597 Grey /Brown Nato defence ministers are meeting in Brussels to review the results of two months of air strikes in Libya, as the alliance steps up its campaign.

More explosions were heard overnight in the capital, Tripoli, after a day of intensified bombardment on Tuesday.

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has vowed to remain in the country "dead or alive", saying martyrdom would be a "million times better" than surrender.

He urged supporters to defy Nato and gather at his Tripoli compound.

Meanwhile, China and Russia are involved in separate diplomatic efforts to try to end the conflict.

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi has been visiting Beijing, and a Russian envoy is in eastern Libya's rebel stronghold of Benghazi to meet opposition leaders.

Daytime raids

Gucci 1973 Medium Shoulder Bag 251809 Black While Wednesday's Nato meeting is likely to centre around maintaining the pressure on Col Gaddafi, it will also focus on what happens when the air campaign ends and during any subsequent transition period, says BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus at the bloc's Brussels headquarters.

For all the talk of stalemate, Nato commanders insist that Col Gaddafi's forces have lost the initiative.

Nobody knows when his regime might collapse. But if he does go - and the main Nato players still see this as the only viable option - defence ministers urgently want to talk about what needs to be done during any transitional period. There are likely to be significant humanitarian challenges, and a raft of security concerns.

There's little appetite here in Brussels for a major post-war Nato role. This, alliance diplomats believe, is a job for somebody else. But they do acknowledge that Nato may have to offer initial practical assistance to whoever takes on the task.

Last week, Nato agreed to extend its air operations over Libya for a further 90 days, as it increased the scope and intensity of its UN-mandated campaign to protect civilians.

Since then, British and French attack helicopters have gone into action and command centres in Tripoli have been pounded.

Gucci Heritage Medium Shoulder Bag 247599 Brown /Multicolor  On Tuesday Nato carried out its heaviest daytime raids of its nine-week campaign on what it said were command and control centres in and around the capital, with more than 20 air strikes by low-flying jets.

With the increased intensity of its attacks, Nato is sending a clear message to the Libyan leader that the strikes will continue until he hands over power, says the BBC's Wyre Davies in Tripoli.

The Libyan government acknowledged that military installations belonging to the Republican Guard had been targeted, while Libyan television reported Col Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound had also been hit.