MIAMI — Forget about tugging on any silly cape, Jerry Stackhouse tried to take Superman's head off.

Stackhouse's nasty, neck-high shove sent Shaquille O'Neal flying, knocking Miami's big man to the floor with a flagrant foul Thursday that sent a seismic shiver through these NBA finals.

Days ago, the best-of-seven series was nearly over.

Now, it's as tight — and testy — as can be.

"It's a series. It's 2-2," Dwyane Wade said, "the way we knew it was going to be. Now, it's the best-of-three."

Wade, delivering a worthy encore to his remarkable Game 3 comeback, scored 36 points on a sore left knee. His big buddy Shaq — smiling, throwing no-look passes and, yes, making his free throws — added 17 points with 13 rebounds as the Heat downed the Dallas Mavericks 98-74 in Game 4.

The Heat, six minutes from falling behind 0-3 in the series before being saved by Wade's 42 points in Game 3, are now in control and take the lead with a victory in Game 5 on Sunday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Miami has guaranteed the series is leaving Florida and going back to Dallas, where fans are saying: What the heck happened?

The Mavericks, who won Games 1 and 2 by double digits at home, have taken a Texas two-step backward.

Dirk Nowitzki went just 2-for-14 and rolled his left ankle, and Dallas set a finals record by scoring just seven points in the fourth quarter. Beyond that, the Mavericks couldn't stop Wade, who on the same day Michael Jordan returned to the NBA as an owner, showed again that he might be the league's brightest young star.

"Wade has hurt us in the worst way," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "We haven't been able to guard him. We have two days to go back take a look at it and we'll make some adjustments. I've been telling you guys all along this is a seven-game series."