Wondrous Wade — with Payton's help — puts Heat back on Dallas

MIAMI — In his 16th NBA season, in his last best chance to win an NBA championship, Gary Payton refuses to go gently into the summer.

No longer The Glove on defense. No longer the star on offense, Payton who turns 38 next month, now is a backup point guard for Miami — except in the fourth quarter of the NBA Finals, or the overtime of an epic Finals' fifth game.

Dwyane Wade made the final two free throws and scored 43 points in Miami's 101-100 overtime victory against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday. He was the star of stars in this game that gave the Heat a 3-2 lead in the series.

With his team down by one and 9.1 seconds left, Wade willed his way to the basket, drew the foul with 1.9 seconds left and made the game-winning free throws.

But he wouldn't have had the chance if it hadn't been for Payton.

With the Heat trailing 98-97, the shot clock ticking down and the Miami offense stuck, Payton pulled out a piece of creativity he probably hasn't used since his days on the playgrounds of Oakland.

He found a crease in the Mavs' defense, beat Devin Harris and Dirk Nowitzki off the dribble and lofted an ad-libbed two-handed scoop shot over center Erick Dampier, giving the Heat a 99-98 lead with 29.8 seconds left.

"It's a big, big shot for GP," Shaquille O'Neal said. "He's been playing great. He's been good all year helping out Dwyane, helping out some of the younger guards, and I'm happy for Gary right now."

Payton, who made the game-winning jumper in the third game of the Finals, played most of the fourth quarter and all of the overtime. He was in Harris' face when Harris threw up the last-gasp shot of the game.

"It was situation when I got the ball to win, I want to win," said former Sonic Payton, who scored eight points in 29 minutes. "The clock be winding down and if I get the open shot or I get a look, I'm going to take it. I've been taking them and for me they've been going down."

For most of this night, however, the game belonged to the other guard on the other team with Seattle connections. Dallas' Jason Terry, from Franklin High School, was waging a classic battle with Wade.

These were two guards at the top of their games at the biggest moments in their basketball lives.

It was something very cool in an atmosphere that was white hot. Back and forth for the better part of three hours in the din of American Airlines Arena.

They rarely defended each other, but they mimicked each other. Back and forth in an epic night of basketball.

This was a playoff game that left almost nothing out. It even had a Chris Webber-like inadvertent timeout, called by Dallas, in the middle of Wade's two free throws with 1.9 seconds left in overtime. That timeout pretty much cost the Mavericks any chance of winning.

Wade scored 43 points in 50 minutes. Terry also played 50 indefatigable minutes and scored 35 points.

They took this moment in their basketball histories and gave us something unforgettable.

In the final three minutes of regulation, Wade was wondrous. He scored the Heat's last 11 points. He drove hard to the basket and scored over Adrian Griffin to tie the score at 93-93 with 2.8 seconds left.

Then he draped himself like a comforter on Terry, forcing Terry to miss a wild shot at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.

"He [Wade] is the best right now," O'Neal said, "and that's all you can say. He's the best."

While Wade was saving the Heat, Terry was doing the same for Dallas.

He scored seven straight points as Dallas took a late 86-82 lead. He shook free on an ankle-breaking crossover dribble on Payton and scored on a drive, then followed that with another drive, drew a foul on Payton and converted the three-point play.

Talk all you want about the wonders of Dirk Nowitzki, the 6-footer's skills in a 7-footer's body, but the heartbeat of the Mavericks, the pulse that pushes them in the most difficult times, belongs to Terry.

He's the point guard who triggers the fast break. He is the jolt of electricity that jump starts the Mavericks when the offense stalls.

When the Mavericks hadn't scored in the first minute-and-a-half of overtime, Terry grabbed a rebound, went the length of the court, drew a foul and made both free throws to tie the score at 95-95.

With sixth man Jerry Stackhouse suspended for one game because of his hard foul on O'Neal, with Nowitzki looking as comfortable as Colin Montgomerie or Phil Mickelson on the 18th at Winged Foot, Terry was the Mav who wasn't afraid to drive to the basket.

Cool as a Seattle summer, Terry was the Maverick who willingly took the big shots.

But in the dying seconds of a game that didn't want to die, the other Seattle story, Payton, wanting a championship so bad, made another difference-making shot.

"It would be great for me to win one [a championship]," Payton said. "But we still got a lot of work to do."

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com.