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NBA FINALS: HEAT v MAVERICKSJune 13, 2006Dirk NowitzkiMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game Three Q. Talk about the third quarter that you guys had and talk about the second free throw. DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, I thought in the first half, we didn't play well. But the good thing was, we were in striking distance, you know, only down nine. I mean, that's nothing for us with our offensive capabilities. In the third quarter, we finally started making some shots and moved the ball pretty well. Our defense picked up a little bit and got a nice little lead. And just at the end, the last couple minutes, we folded a little bit. Dwyane got to the basket a couple times; that didn't happen before. So he made some tough shots, and offensively we didn't execute obviously the way we wanted the last couple minutes. So it was a tough loss, and we still had the chance to tie it, just missed the free throw. I was a little strong, so obviously this is going to be a tough one to swallow for us. But, you know, get back tomorrow, watch some film and be ready on Thursday. Q. Was this game reminiscent to you of Game 1 of the Conference Finals against Phoenix when you had a lead with three minutes to go and you could not close them out? DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, I didn't even think of that, but obviously it's similar situation. Yeah, we couldn't really get anything done down the stretch on both ends of the floor. Maybe we started to relax too early or celebrate; I don't know what it was. But we didn't defend them the way we did before and we couldn't get anything to drop. So it's obviously frustrating. But, you know, the only good thing; we're still up 2-1. Q. You guys have dominated the rebounds so much, what happened tonight that they had such an advantage over you guys? DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, that was a big key, I thought. They really crashed the offensive glass. Haslem did a great job getting in there. Obviously usually when we rebound the ball well, we win games. That really puts us in transition and we're able to, you know, play a faster game if we dominate the boards. Obviously we've got to go back and look at some film, what happened. They just wanted the rebounds a little more, so we've got to make sure we do a lot better in that area on Thursday. Q. What is the effect of tonight's result confidence-wise as you look towards Game 4? DIRK NOWITZKI: What? Q. What is the effect of tonight's result as you look towards game No. 4 confidence-wise? DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, obviously that gets them back in the series. You know, we wanted to keep the pedal to the medal and obviously go up 3-0, but it didn't happen. They executed well down the stretch and got a win. So, obviously, now we've got a series. It's 2-1. They have got two more home games. Now we're in a dogfight for sure. Q. Pat Riley made the comment that for Shaquille's free throw, he thought the basketball gods were with them. You shoot 94 percent; do you think the basketball gods weren't with you? DIRK NOWITZKI: I don't believe in that. Shaquille made big free throws down the stretch there. Those two were big. We're still up five and he made those two to only make it a three-point game. And mine, like I said, it was just a free throw that I usually make. I don't know what happened. I just shot it a little strong.
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