Jerry Stackhouse scored 10 of his 19 points late in the first half to springboard the Dallas Mavericks to a 99-85 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday and take a 2-0 series lead in the NBA finals.

The Mavericks won both games on their home court and are now just two wins away from the first National Basketball Association title in their 26-year franchise history.

Miami led 18-17 after the first quarter and 40-34 late in the second before Stackhouse seized control in front of a boisterous crowd of 20,459 at the Dallas arena.

"He's a scorer and he's done it for a lot of years in this league," Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said of Stackhouse. "He's bailed us out a lot this year, and I don't think we would be here without him."

Dirk Nowitzki bounced back from a sub-par Game 1 to collect a game-high 26 points, 16 rebounds and four assists for Dallas, while Josh Howard had 15 points on six-of-12 shooting from the field.

"We moved the ball to the open guy, shared it well and really attacked from all angles," Nowitzki said.

It marked the worst game in NBA finals history for Miami's giant centre Shaquille O'Neal, as it was the first time in 26 finals games that the Diesel scored fewer than 10 points.

The Mavericks used the double team to smother O'Neal, who finished with just five points on two-of-five shooting.

O'Neal's previous worst finals game was a 14 point, eight rebound performance against Detroit in the third game of the 2004 NBA finals.

Stackhouse, who is usually the first Maverick off the bench, was Dallas' brightest star.

The 11-year NBA veteran hit three consecutive three pointers and a free throw to score the final 10 points of the first half for the Mavericks, giving them a 50-34 halftime lead.

Stackhouse, who is still sporting the scar from an O'Neal elbow to the nose in Game 1, said he worked on his three-point shooting in the gym until 10 o'clock Saturday night.

"I felt tonight was a good opportunity for me," Stackhouse said. "I was in the gym last night working late on my threes and it paid off.

"I'm a slasher, but I also consider myself a streak shooter, too. When I am feeling good they go down for me."

Stackhouse was fouled on one of his three pointers giving him a free throw and thus only the seventh four-point play in finals history. Dallas went on to an 11-0 run to end the first half and led by as much as 27 points at one point.

It was the fourth time in his career Stackhouse hit four three pointers in a playoff game.

The Mavericks took the lead for good 30-28 on a tip in by Howard with 7 minutes left in the first half.

The Mavericks shot 48.6 per cent, including 23-of-28 from the free-throw line.

Miami's Dwyane Wade had 23 points and eight rebounds while Antoine Walker scored 20 points.

The Mavericks came out with more energy and poise than Miami as Nowitzki tried to establish his inside game on his first possession, drawing a foul by going straight at O'Neal.

"Early on I wanted to be aggressive," Nowitzki said. "On the first play I spun and dribbled off my foot so that wasn't the start I was looking for."

O'Neal did not have a field goal in the second half and did not play the final 15 minutes of the game. Heat coach Pat Riley said he decided to sit O'Neal because of the lopsided score.

"We were down 25 points, and I didn't want to get him hurt," Riley said. "It had nothing to do with anything but the score."

Wade, who also sat for a big stretch in the second half, said he couldn't understand why O'Neal was on the bench in the second half and questioned the move by Riley.

"It's crazy," Wade said. "You wonder why, but five shots is not what we want and we want him to play more than 29 minutes (actually 27:56 minutes)."

The series now shifts to Miami for Game 3 today. The Heat will also host Game 4 and 5 if necessary.

Source: China Daily