Stackhouse stems Miami rally with late surge

MIAMI - JERRY Stackhouse regained his scoring touch at the right time for Dallas, helping them to stave off a Miami comeback on Sunday.

The Mavericks won 99-93 in the first match-up between the National Basketball Association finalists.

Stackhouse, who is working his way back after spraining his left ankle last month, scored 16 of his 23 points in the final quarter.

Josh Howard added 25 points, Dirk Nowitzki 22, and Jason Terry 11 points and 11 assists.

Dallas, who have lost only once in 21 games, improved their NBA-best record to 34-8.

Plus, they got some tiny measure of revenge over the Heat, who lost the first two games of last year's Finals before rallying to triumph 4-2.

'We just had to keep grinding,' Stackhouse said. 'It was a great game, which had some great players making great plays.'

Dwyane Wade, who suffered a left-ankle injury after stepping on Nowitzki's foot in the first quarter, returned and played 44 minutes.

'A stupid play,' he said.

The guard finished with 31 points, six rebounds and six assists for Miami.

But he missed a three-pointer that would have tied the game with 5.8 seconds left.

Jason Williams added 17 points, Udonis Haslem 15, who missed his first eight shots, and Antoine Walker 11.

Miami were without centre Shaquille O'Neal for the 34th straight game following knee surgery.

Down by 13 points early in the second half, they pulled to within one - 75-76 - on Wade's three-point play with 10min 44sec left.

But Stackhouse scored seven straight points to quell the rally to restore some breathing space.

He landed another jumper with 5:34 left to push the advantage to 90-84.

Miami responded with the next six points, with Wade tying it with a jumper.

'They're the world champions. You knew they were going to come back with a champion's heart,' Stackhouse said.

But his team scored the next six points, with baskets from Nowitzki and Howard 26 seconds apart to put them back on top.

Miami got back to within 93-96 on a Wade lay-up with 57 seconds left. But they would fail to score again.

It turned out to be their 10th home loss of the season, matching the total from all of last year.

'We gave up a big lead, they tied it up. But we didn't give up either,' Mavs coach Avery Johnson said.

'They didn't give up. We didn't give up. That's what I think championship teams and championship organisations are all about.'

Dallas never trailed in the game, which was tied only once after the tip-off.

They held a 16-5 rebounding edge - 48-35 in total - in the first quarter. Nowitzki had six of his 11 boards in that period alone.

They disrupted Miami's attack so much that the hosts managed just three assists in the opening half.

And, while Miami clearly improved after half-time, the Mavs' edge in rebounding and second-chance points (19-5) proved to be crucial.

'That's the bottom line,' Miami interim coach Ron Rothstein said.

'If we held our ground there, I think I would be sitting up here really happy with a win.'

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