Battling a 100+ degree temperature, the Dallas Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki rose above his own body heat with a dominant fourth quarter to take down the Miami HEAT.

As we’ve witnessed almost every game throughout the 2011 NBA Finals, these two titans went blow for blow in a pivotal final frame. The difference, just as it was in the Mavericks’ Game Two victory, was Nowitzki’s assertive crunch-time play that made sure this series would at least go back to Miami.

“The average person has sick days and battling 100-something [fever], it’s just tough to get out of bed,” Mavericks’ center Tyson Chandler said of Nowitzki’s epic performance. “This guy is playing against the best athletes in the world and he’s putting himself out there because, if he has a terrible night, he’s going to be criticized about him not making shots and not stepping up [to] the challenge.”

Arguably the most dominant performer throughout the 2011 NBA postseason, Nowitzki has continued to save his best for last on the game’s biggest stage. To start the game, Nowitzki scored the Mavericks’ first six points on 3-3 shooting, but would then miss nine of his next 10 shot attempts going into the fourth quarter.

Dallas trailed 74-65 with 10:12 left in the contest before Nowitzki woke up and took command. After struggling for two-and-a-half quarters to find his game, the dynamic 7-footer scored 10 of his team-high 21 points in the deciding fourth quarter as Dallas asserted it’s will on both ends of the floor thanks to the offensive prowess of Nowitzki.

“You know, this is The Finals,” Nowitzki said. “You’re going to leave it out here. Like I said earlier in the series, it’s June… You have to go out there and compete and try your best for you team. So that’s what I did.”

Even at less than 100 percent, and with not much sleep the night before due to the lingering cold, Nowitzki imposed his will and even outplayed Dwyane Wade — who toyed with the Mavericks’ defense all game long — in the clutch. The most pivotal basket, with time winding down in the contest, saw Nowitzki blow past Udonis Haslem’s blanket defense en route to the rim and an awkward lay-in where Nowitzki fell behind the basket and the Mavericks took a three point lead.

Dallas would not trail again.

{AUTHOR_BOX}“He made a heck of a move,” HEAT coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s a great player. It’s a whole lot easier said than done when you’re trying to contain somebody that size and skill level, and then the shooting ability… Every time he shoots the ball you hold your breath. It looks like it’s going to go in, even with our defense. That’s proven and tested.”

Miami did all they could defensively against Nowitzki late. The HEAT even strayed from the mano y mano defense, with Haslem and Joel Anthony taking turns checking Nowitzki, by running an extra defender at Dirk automatically when he caught the ball.

Unfortunately for Miami, none of it appeared to work against the relentless and determined Nowitzki.

Going into Game Four, Nowitzki said it was a must-win contest and he backed up his talk by walking the walk and carrying the Mavericks to their second win of the series.

Another player who backed up his tough talk over the last few days with some quality play in Game Four, Jason Terry, believes Dallas will treat it’s next game as if it were a Game Seven, do-or-die situation.

“Game Five is Game Seven for us,” Terry said. “There’s no other way. This is the last game in front of our fans at home this season and we want to go out with a bang.”

With a healthy Nowitzki, who expects to be over his sickness by Thursday night, Dallas can expect even more from it’s super star as the Mavericks’ try to take a commanding, 3-2 series lead when the series heads back to South Beach.

Game Five is Thursday night at 8 p.m. EST and can be seen locally on ABC.