MIAMI – Desperation is a powerful force, and in the case of the Miami Heat, it propelled them to a stunning comeback win over Dallas in Game 3 of the finals on Tuesday.

It was the desperation of a team that was down 2-0 and staring a sweep in the face,down by 13 points with just over six minutes left. Thanks to Herculean efforts from Dwyane Wade at the offensive end and Udonis Haslem on defense, the Heat closed the game on a 22-8 run to earn their first win of the series.

But that kind of desperation is virtually impossible to sustain for more than a few minutes, so the Heat still have plenty of work to do if they’re going to even the series in tonight’s Game 4. Besides, the Mavs aren’t standing still. Jerry Stackhouse isn’t going to lay another ostrich egg like he did in Game 3, and Dirk Nowitzki still hasn’t had the kind of blow-up game that we all know he’s capable of producing.

In the big picture, we can distill Miami’s wish list for tonight’s game into five keys. If you can’t handle staying up until midnight, watch for these trends early and you’ll have a good idea about the eventual outcome:

CALM DOWN ANTOINE There’s a fine line here. The Heat want Antoine Walker to look for his shot and be aggressive offensively, because that takes the pressure off Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal to produce all their points. At the same time,Walker has to remember he’s not with the 2004-05 Atlanta Hawks and resist the urge to hoist long jumpers off the dribble early in the shot clock.

Right now, Walker is playing right into Dallas’s hands. The Mavs are double-teaming O’Neal, forcing the ball to rotate over to Walker, and then letting Walker’s gunner tendencies take over. He’s averaging more than 17 field-goal attempts per game in the first three contests, or nearly double what Shaq is getting. It got so bad in Game 3 that Pat Riley yanked Walker for the final six minutes – he was 6-for-17 at the time – and went with defensive specialist James Posey for the stretch run.

Riley would rather Walker took fewer high-percentage tries and kicked the ball over to Wade if there isn’t a play available. If Walker takes 17 shots again in Game 4, the Heat are dead meat.

BRING THE SAME ENERGY Miami looked like they were a bit satisfied in the first two games, knowing that they had beaten Detroit and perhaps subconsciously achieved their primary offseason goal. But on Tuesday, Miami’s effort level was noticeably better, even before its desperate play at the end.

The Heat ended up with 16 offensive boards in Game 3, compared to a total of 15 in the first two games, signifying the team’s across-the-board energy increase. O’Neal in particular was more active, taking a charge, diving on the floor for a loose ball, and stepping out to steal the ball from Jason Terry near mid-court. Haslem, Posey, and Jason Williams were also notable for their increased fervor.

USE YOUR BRAINS The Heat played hard in Game 3, but man, did they play like idiots. Miami probably made more moronic plays in the first half of the game than in the rest of the postseason put together. Most obviously, two unnecessary technical fouls handed Dallas two free points and got a slow-starting Nowitzki unstuck.

Meanwhile, both O’Neal and Wade ended up in some foul trouble as the result of a silly play. In Shaq’s case, it was putting a hand on Erick Dampier’s back as he was making a dunk – way to protect the basket, big fella. Wade was the victim of a careless Posey pass that Devin Harris picked off, forcing Wade to foul to prevent a lay-up.

That Posey pass was one of Miami’s 20 turnovers, a whopping total that kept Dallas close in a game it deserved to lose handily. Almost all the miscues were unforced, too. Shaq threw a pass that seemed intended for referee Jack Nies and bounced harmlessly out of bounds. Wade left his feet for no reason at midcourt and earned a traveling call. O’Neal also had multiple 3-second violations, contributing to his total of seven turnovers on the night.

SHAKE UP THE BENCH Gary Payton hit the game-winning shot on Tuesday, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was awful. At one point, he came across halfcourt and nobody was guarding him. He was wide open for a lay-up, but didn’t seem to believe that he could get his aging body to the rim, and instead kept slowly dribbling upcourt until somebody picked him up about four feet from the rim.You almost expected a cane to come out from offstage and yank him off the court.

Payton’s jumper with 10 seconds left was his first basket of the series, and for all we know it might be his last.Yet the Heat insist on playing him for 20-25 minutes a night, jeopardizing an offensive attack that already is far from its peak performance. Riley seems to have incredible respect for Payton’s veteran guile, but the Glove has nothing left in the tank. At this point, the Heat have to consider going to more adept offensive weapons like Derek Anderson and Jason Kapono rather than letting Payton post another bagel.

GO TO WADE If there’s one thing the Heat should have learned from Game 3, it’s this: They’re a much more imposing offensive team when the attack goes through Wade rather than O’Neal. With the Mavs’ multiple big men and quick double-teaming strategy, running plays for O’Neal in the post has been a futile effort.

The Wade-centric attack of the fourth quarter produced a 30-point period for the Heat,allowing them to pull out a win and get back in the series. Wade took nine of the team’s 18 shots in the quarter and scored 15 of their 30 points.

Moreover, the secondary players seemed to have an easier time getting shots off Wade’s penetration than they did with Shaq passing out of doubleteams. With Shaq, it was a set piece the Mavs could prepare for in advance, while Wade came from unpredictable angles and at different times in the shot clock. That makes it much harder for Dallas to rotate back to shooters like Williams and Posey.

One hopes the Heat will learn from Game 3 and go to Wade for four quarters tonight, because Miami can’t count on desperation to carry it through again. Only by focusing the offensive attack on the most productive players can it hope to tie the series.That means more of Wade, less of Payton, a better Walker, and a smarter game from everybody. Miami can’t just have one or two of those things happen – they need all of them. The Mavericks are that good.

Mr. Hollinger is the author of the 2005-06 Pro Basketball Forecast. He can be reached at jhollinger@nysun.com.