THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — Chris Bosh isn’t sure if he could even see out of his left eye after getting inadvertently poked. He just kept playing in Game 3 of the NBA finals.
"I wasn’t thinking about my vision or anything. I was trying to play the best basketball possible," Bosh said Monday. "If I had an open shot, I had to knock it down and still make plays. I can’t remember if I could see or not."
The Heat are up 2-1 in the series after Bosh made the tiebreaking 16-foot jumper with 39 seconds left Sunday night in an 88-86 victory. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Dallas.
Before the Heat practiced Monday, Bosh said his eye "feels a lot better" though it appeared his left eye wasn’t open as wide as the right one.
"Last night was rough, really for the whole game for me. It is what it is," he said. "That’s over and we just have to stay on top of it and make sure it’s not an issue" Tuesday night.
LeBron James said he could see Bosh messing with his watering eye the whole game.
"Just trying to keep a tissue during timeouts to keep it padded," James said. "But he fought through it, and then you definitely respect that."
Early in Game 3, Bosh found himself in the air sandwiched between two Dallas players. Then he wound up in a heap on the floor in obvious pain after getting poked in the eye when Jason Kidd reached back trying to defend him.
"I was talking to one of my friends and I was kind of saying how tough it’s going to be to come in here and win, and it was a little bit tougher on my end just because of that," Bosh said. "In situations like that, you really see what you’re made of. And you have to go and get it done anyway."
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HURT HAYWOOD: Injured Dallas Mavericks backup centre Brendan Haywood was taking part in a shooting game at the end of practice Monday when he told a teammate to give him a break since he was "on one leg."
Haywood, who missed Game 3 of the NBA finals because of a strained right hip flexor, said he was joking with starting centre Tyson Chandler. Still, there’s no certainty Haywood will be back for Game 4.
While Haywood said he felt a lot better, when asked how optimistic he was about playing Tuesday night, he responded, "I don’t want to commit to anything." Though he was able to move a little faster, it was during a light workout and not the pace of a game. He did some jogging, but no full-out sprints.
"Really striding out is a problem, and then sometimes just making explosive plays around the basket," Haywood said. "I need to be able to go out there and feel like I can play a normal game at least 70-80 per cent. If I feel like I’m pulling something or something is straining every play, then I probably don’t need to be out there. We’ll see how it goes."
Coach Rick Carlisle said Haywood would be a game-time decision again for Game 4, like he was for Sunday night’s game when he was ruled out about 90 minutes before tipoff.
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COOL CHALMERS: Mario Chalmers is often remembered for that three-pointer he made for Kansas in the closing seconds of regulation to send the 2008 NCAA championship game to overtime, when the Jayhawks beat Memphis.
Don’t overlook the three-pointer he made against Dallas in Game 3 of the NBA finals. His 36-foot buzzer beater at the end of the first quarter pushed the Heat ahead 29-22 in a game they went on to win by two points to take a 2-1 series lead.
"His halfcourt shot was the difference in the game. In the finals, you look at every critical situation, every possession. That 3, you don’t make that shot — he made it," Mavericks guard Jason Terry said. "The 3 I let him get in Game 2 that could’ve tied it up, sent it to overtime if Dirk didn’t hit the shot, he made that one. So he’s making shots. Give him credit."
Left wide open with 25 seconds left in Game 2, Chalmers hit a tying 3-pointer before Dirk Nowitzki made the game-winner for Dallas.
Chalmers said Monday he is recognized more for what he has done with the Heat and being teamed with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh than his NCAA championship shot.
"I really don’t hear too much about the championship game anymore," Chalmers said. "That was three years ago. A lot of people just talk about what I’m doing with the Heat now."
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PLUSES-MINUSES: For as maligned as the plus-minus stat — which charts the margin a team outscores another with certain players on the floor — can be in basketball, it clearly has some merit.
Just look at the leaders this season.
Entering Game 4 of the NBA finals, Miami’s LeBron James and Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki are tied for the league lead with plus-689 ratings. That’s three points ahead of Miami’s Chris Bosh and 52 ahead of Heat guard Dwyane Wade, who ranks fourth on the NBA list in that department this season, including playoffs.
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FREE THROWS: The Miami Heat have won consecutive NBA finals games in Dallas, their title-clinching Game 6 victory in 2006 and Game 3 of this year’s series Sunday night. But in regular season games on the road against the Mavericks, the Heat have lost nine consecutive games since March 2002. … Mavs guard Jason Kidd has 50 double-digit assist playoff games after dishing out 10 assists in Game 3 of the NBA finals. In 138 career post-season games, Kidd had 1,198 assists, trailing only Magic Johnson (2,346) and John Stockton (1,839).
