Dirk needs help, mainly from Mavs’ ‘Jet’

As much as Nowitzki has dominated in these playoffs, even he needs more offensive help for the Mavericks to win the championship.

“If we’re going to keep shooting in the low 40s, it’s going to be tough to win,” Nowitzki said. “Yeah, I have to keep making plays, keep being aggressive and look for my shot.”

Said Terry: “Now we get to see who is going to step up, who’s going to really go after this thing.”

Nowitzki must be quietly envious of Miami’s Dwyane Wade(notes). After being in a Nowitzki-like situation for years without an intimidating second scorer, Wade added two All-Stars that would be No. 1 scorers on most teams in LeBron James(notes) and Chris Bosh(notes). Even after Bosh had his offensive struggles in most of Game 3, James confidently threw a behind-the-back pass to him for the game-winning 16-foot jumper that gave Miami an 88-86 advantage with 39.6 seconds left. Wade (29), Bosh (18) and James (17) all scored well on the night. Miami even got 12 points from reserve Mario Chalmers(notes).

“I don’t care if [Bosh] missed 15 in a row, he was wide-open and that’s his sweet spot,” James said. “He was able to knock it down. It’s the trust we have in each other’s ability, no matter what the point of the game it is.”

Should Nowitzki trust his teammates the same way?

Said Jason Kidd: “Somebody else has to step up and help [Nowitzki] on the offensive end. We’re getting great looks, but they’re just not going down. We have to continue to take those looks and hopefully they go down in Game 4.”

Terry is averaging 14.3 points on a dismal 38.2 percent shooting from the field and has missed eight of 12 3-pointers in the series. James, an All-NBA defender who is six inches taller than Terry, is making it tough for the 6-foot-2 guard.

The Maverick with three nicknames promises to live up to them the rest of the Finals.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Terry said. “I know where my opportunities are going to come. It’s going to be on me whether I’m going to take advantage of it or not. I put my money on myself.”

“Hopefully, we can play a better all-around game and finally get some shots to go down here at home and see what happens Tuesday,” Nowitzki said. “This is a tough loss, and it’s basically a must-win situation.”