Dirk Nowitzki scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 99-85 win over the Miami Heat in Game 2 of the NBA Finals at American Airlines Center, Dallas.

Jerry Stackhouse scored 19 points off the bench and Jason Terry contributed 16 points and tied a career playoff-high with nine assists for the Mavericks. Josh Howard netted 15, while Devin Harris had 11 points in the game.

The Mavericks are two wins away from their first ever NBA title after also taking Game 1.

Dwyane Wade paced the Heat with 23 points and eight boards, but shot only 6- of-19 from the floor. Antoine Walker finished 4-of-7 from long distance for 20 points for Miami, which will host Game 3 on Tuesday. Jason Williams and Alonzo Mourning each chipped in 11 points in the contest.

"They did what they were supposed to do by wining two at home," said Wade. "Now we've got to go take care of our home, starting Tuesday. We'll use our crowd to get our energy up, but we've got to play a lot better on both ends of the floor."

Shaquille O'Neal had a personal playoff-low with five points on 2-of-5 shooting from the field and 1-of-7 from the line. Every time O'Neal touched the ball, the Dallas defense collapsed with double and triple- teams in the paint, forcing the center to dish the ball. With the game out of reach, O'Neal sat on the bench for most of the third quarter and the entire fourth frame.

Udonis Haslem, who was given the task of guarding Nowitzki, missed the entire second half with a bruised left shoulder.

Dallas connected on 48.6 percent of its shots, including 8-of-19 from beyond the arc, while Miami shot 41.4 percent from the field.

Dallas extended its lead to as many as 27 at 78-51. Williams' three cut the deficit to 15, 55-40, just over two minutes into the quarter, but that's as close as Miami would get. Dallas took an 82-58 lead into the final frame.

The Heat scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter, including four points from Wade, to pull within 82-66 with just under 9 1/2 minutes to play. Terry drained the Mavs' first field goal four minutes into the fourth quarter.

Not giving up, Miami used a 14-6 surge to cut the lead to 90-78 with 4:05 to play.

However, Harris' three-point play on the other end pushed the lead back to 15. Wade scored the next five Heat points, but Nowitzki scored four of his own to keep the margin at 14, 97-83, with 2:06 on the clock.

Game 3 of the Finals will be held in Miami on Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua