NBA - Wade leads Heat to Game 3 victory [video]

DALLAS (NBA) - Dwyane Wade stepped up as the Miami Heat regained the advantage in the NBA Finals with an 88-86 victory on Dallas' floor on Sunday night.

Wade had 29 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat, who then needed Dallas native Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem to make key plays in the closing seconds to hold off man-on-a-mission Dirk Nowitzki and preserve the win.

Nowitzki had 15 of his 34 points in the final quarter while the rest of the Mavericks combined for just seven points in the period.

After Bosh had given Miami the lead with 39 seconds left, it was the Germany star who drove down the court looking to get a shot off, but Haslem harrassed him and made the stop.

"This is a total win," said Wade. "You want to win the game on the defensive end of the floor and we got a stop."

That said, they did not make many late in the game as Dallas surged back from a 14-point deficit to have a chance of victory at the end. That came after they wiped out a 15-point Miami lead to win Game 2.

Miami had led 81-74 with six and a half minutes to go but watched Nowitzki pour in 12 quick points to tie the game at 86.

But after a Jason Terry miss, Bosh hit a long-range jumper.

Nowitzki had a last-gasp chance but saw his shot hit the rim as Haslem got in his face.

"It was a good offensive play, and a good defensive play," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "And he happened to miss."

Bosh finished with 18 points, while LeBron James added 17 points and nine assists, but made some costly turnovers late on.

Besides Nowitzki, only Terry and Shawn Marion got in double figures with 15 and 10 respectively.

Jason Kidd had nine points and 10 assists.

"We have to have somebody step up besides Dirk," Kidd said. "We have to figure out how to get up front and play up front.

"The big thing is we've got to be able to make plays late in the game. Game 2 we made the plays, Game 3 we just didn't."

Miami will now know the numbers are on their side, as the winner of Game 3 has claimed the title 11 times since the current playoffs format was introduced in 1985.

Check out Sunday's top five plays

FIBA