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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., June 3-5) -- Mavs numbers are up, but still short of Game 1, for Game 3 downer

By ED BARK
Dirk Nowitzki and his little Mavericks pals fought valiantly in Game 3 of The Finals, but the Miami Heat's Big 3 gang-shot their way to an 88-86 win Sunday night in Dallas.

Although he missed a final game-tying two-pointer, Nowitzki emerged as the top overall scorer with 34 points while 1,170,443 D-FW viewers watched the action on ABC. That was up from Game 2's 1,031,929 viewers but still no match for the Game 1 crowd of 1,302,032.

It was the same story among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with Game 3 drawing 615,342 to split the difference between Game 1's 697,607 and Game 2's 559,402.

It seemed likely that Game 3 would burst past the 1.5 million total viewers mark after the Mavs' miraculous Game 2 comeback. But the first of three faceoffs in downtown Dallas didn't quite measure up.

Nor did Nowitzki's supporting cast. Jason Terry again under-achieved, shooting just five of 13 from the field and missing two of his six free throws. His 15 points fell short of all three Heat stars, with Dwyane Wade scoring 29, Chris Bosh adding 18 (including the game-winner) and LeBron James chipping in with 17. The only other Maverick in double figures was Shawn Marion with 10. So Nowitzki had more than double the points of the next biggest Mavs contributor. He's been Gulliver while the rest of his veteran teammates remain Lilliputians.

Terry is an accommodating guy with reporters and a big contributor to charities as well. All well and good. But he isn't getting it done on the NBA's biggest stage. If he doesn't heat up, the Heat will prevail. The Mavs' other Jason --- Kidd -- also needs to ramp it up. And his backup, J.J. Barea, has mostly been stinko throughout the series. Peja Stojakovich? Two points in three games. His three-point shot has been MIA. And all that's needed from him, really, is a couple of long-range swishes per game.

Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers are red hot even if they're still toiling in relative obscurity while the Mavs play on. Friday night's win at Cleveland averaged 207,771 total viewers on TXA21, which was good enough to win its time slot. The Saturday and Sunday Ranger wins, both on Fox Sports Southwest, respectively drew 159,291 and 124,663 viewers.

In Friday's local news derby, NBC5 and CBS11 shared first place at 10 p.m. while the Peacock flew solo with 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.

NBC5 also won at 6 a.m. in total viewers, but fell to second with 25-to-54-year-olds behind Fox4.

At 6 p.m., NBC5 and WFAA8 tied for first in total viewers, with WFAA8 alone on top in the 25-to-54 demographic.

NBC5 topped the 5 p.m. Nielsens in total viewers while Fox4 had the edge with 25-to-54-year-olds.