MIAMI: There might be a new sheriff in town, but this is still Wade County.
Dwyane Wade erupted for 15 points in the second half - including a late 3-pointer that put the game out of reach - as the Heat won Game 1 of the NBA Finals over the Dallas Mavericks, 92-84, at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.
In his first Finals game since earning Finals MVP in 2006, Wade finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Teammate LeBron James led the Heat with 24 points - the final two coming on a booming alley-oop from Wade with 40 seconds left in the game. Miami nearly had three double-doubles, with James and Chris Bosh (19 points) each pulling down nine rebounds.
But after struggling to find his game through most of the Eastern Conference Finals - a and although James proved yet again just how limelight-ready he is -- it was Wade's late trey and overall play that delivered the biggest surge of electricity through a team and a town.
"Once that three went down," James sadi, "I knew he was feeling really good."
"Understanding that Dallas is a great offensive team, I thought we played well defensively," Wade said. "That allowed us to get out and get some good shots on the other end. Obviously I made some shots tonight. But we all made plays down the stretch that helped us win the ballgame."
Dirk Nowitzki led the scoring for the Mavericks, who shot just 37.3 percent from the field. Nowitzki finished with 27 points, including another perfect night at the line, going 12-for-12 in free throws.
Wade's performance keyed a dominating second half by the Heat, who out-scored the Mavericks, 49-34, in the final 22 minutes to pull away late.
Neither team shot well (38.8 percent for the Heat, 37.3 for the Mavs), but the Heat hit 41 percent (16 of 39) in the second half, compared to just 36 percent for the Mavericks.
"They have two very good closers, two of the best in the game," Nowitzki said of Wade and James. "Dwyane made some big shots there in the fourth quarter, and LeBron has been shooting the ball really well this Playoffs. [Wade] had some open looks and really made some tough shots."
"I think in order for us to win basketball games, we have to defend, and we have to get stops," James said. "And our offense will speak for itself when we continue to get stops."
Outside of rebounding (46-36 over the Mavs), the Heat's most unlikely advantage came in bench scoring, where they held a 27-17 edge over the usually potent Mavs reserves. Of Dallas' 17 bench points, 12 came from Jason Terry. Cumulatively, the reserves shot 4-of-22, including a 1-for-8 performance from backup point guard JJ Barea.
"I thought we rushed some shots," Nowitzki said. "We just got to finish."
The shooting woes kept the game close until the Heat pulled away in the final minutes. Until Wade's dagger of a 3-pointer from the top of the key put the Heat up, 82-73, with just over three minutes left, neither team had led by more than eight points.
But until Wade took over, the Mavs looked to be the ones headed for the win.
Shawn Marion hit a jumper to put Dallas up, 46-43, to open the second half. Nowitzki followed a 19-footer after a Chris Bosh miss on the inside. A possession later, DeShawn Stevenson hit a 3-pointer from the corner with no one within 10 feet of him to put Dallas up eight points with 10:03 left in the third.
"He checked for the wind," said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. "He had three days to shoot that. And we didn't get anybody near him."
Down eight, the Heat called timeout.
"We needed to lock in," James said. "We just weren't paying attention to detail about how we were going to defend this team coming into the game."
From there, Wade took over.
First came a reverse lay-in on the ensuing Heat possession. Then, after a steal by Mike Bibby and an assist from LeBron James, came another finish at the rim for Wade, who'd spent most of the first half on the outside.
"They answered. They responded well," said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle. "During that period they were making a run at us. I thought we did a good job of hanging in. And again, I thought there were some critical situations where we needed to somehow come up with one loose ball here or go make a shot there that would have made a big difference. But it didn't happen."
Over the course of the next 10 minutes, the Heat went on a 22-10 run to close the quarter and turn the tides of the game. James and Wade scored nine and eight points, respectively, over the run.
But every time the Heat would threaten, the Mavs would answer. Turnovers traded hands, shots clanged off metal. But with 1:12 left in the third, James strode to the top of the key, pulled up and hit a three.
Miami would never trail again. Then, as if to underscore that this was the Heat's game, James hit a fall-away three at the buzzer that carried him far out of bounds to put Miami up, 65-61, heading into the fourth.
"Daring me to shoot, that's pretty much gone," James said. "I think people will still live with keeping myself and keeping D-Wade on the perimeter, but it's just my confidence. I put a lot of hard work into it, and understand that you have to be a two-way player in this league. .... Tonight once again I shot the ball extremely well from the outside, but more importantly, it helped our team get a win. That's what it's all about."
True to form, both teams started off slow, with the Heat taking an 11-5 lead after the first 6:30 of the game. But after Jason Kidd hit two threes on two straight possessions after a Mavericks timeout, the three-point barrage began.
As both defenses clamped down on the lane, the teams combined for 12 threes over the final 17 minutes of the first half, with both shooting 6-of-14 from behind the arc.
Mario Chalmers had a big second quarter, hitting three 3-pointers - two of them from the exact same spot on the baseline - after missing his first three shots of the game. Chalmers keyed an uncharacteristic quarter for the Heat, one in which they settled mostly for shots from long range, going 5-for-8 from behind the arc with Wade and Mike Miller both hitting threes.
"I feel like after I hit the first one I hit two more, and I wanted to keep going, but the quarter ran out," Chalmers said.
Neither team shot particularly well from the field in the first half, though, with the Mavericks posting a 38.2 shooting percentage and the Heat firing at 36.6 percent.
Wade's first half did nothing to dispel the rumors that he might be at least slightly injured, with only two points in the first quarter and seven for the half on 3-of-10 shooting.
"Maybe this will be something that will spark him," Spoelstra said. "All I care about was he made a lot of winning plays on both ends of the court there in the fourth quarter. I'm not going to over-analyze his first half."
The Heat held a 22-19 edge in rebounding before the break, but had a 9-5 edge on the offensive boards - including one massive two-handed put-back by Bosh early in the second quarter that fired up the crowd.
Dwyane Wade erupted for 15 points in the second half - including a late 3-pointer that put the game out of reach - as the Heat won Game 1 of the NBA Finals over the Dallas Mavericks, 92-84, at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.
In his first Finals game since earning Finals MVP in 2006, Wade finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Teammate LeBron James led the Heat with 24 points - the final two coming on a booming alley-oop from Wade with 40 seconds left in the game. Miami nearly had three double-doubles, with James and Chris Bosh (19 points) each pulling down nine rebounds.
But after struggling to find his game through most of the Eastern Conference Finals - a and although James proved yet again just how limelight-ready he is -- it was Wade's late trey and overall play that delivered the biggest surge of electricity through a team and a town.
"Once that three went down," James sadi, "I knew he was feeling really good."
"Understanding that Dallas is a great offensive team, I thought we played well defensively," Wade said. "That allowed us to get out and get some good shots on the other end. Obviously I made some shots tonight. But we all made plays down the stretch that helped us win the ballgame."
Dirk Nowitzki led the scoring for the Mavericks, who shot just 37.3 percent from the field. Nowitzki finished with 27 points, including another perfect night at the line, going 12-for-12 in free throws.
Wade's performance keyed a dominating second half by the Heat, who out-scored the Mavericks, 49-34, in the final 22 minutes to pull away late.
Neither team shot well (38.8 percent for the Heat, 37.3 for the Mavs), but the Heat hit 41 percent (16 of 39) in the second half, compared to just 36 percent for the Mavericks.
"They have two very good closers, two of the best in the game," Nowitzki said of Wade and James. "Dwyane made some big shots there in the fourth quarter, and LeBron has been shooting the ball really well this Playoffs. [Wade] had some open looks and really made some tough shots."
"I think in order for us to win basketball games, we have to defend, and we have to get stops," James said. "And our offense will speak for itself when we continue to get stops."
Outside of rebounding (46-36 over the Mavs), the Heat's most unlikely advantage came in bench scoring, where they held a 27-17 edge over the usually potent Mavs reserves. Of Dallas' 17 bench points, 12 came from Jason Terry. Cumulatively, the reserves shot 4-of-22, including a 1-for-8 performance from backup point guard JJ Barea.
"I thought we rushed some shots," Nowitzki said. "We just got to finish."
The shooting woes kept the game close until the Heat pulled away in the final minutes. Until Wade's dagger of a 3-pointer from the top of the key put the Heat up, 82-73, with just over three minutes left, neither team had led by more than eight points.
But until Wade took over, the Mavs looked to be the ones headed for the win.
Shawn Marion hit a jumper to put Dallas up, 46-43, to open the second half. Nowitzki followed a 19-footer after a Chris Bosh miss on the inside. A possession later, DeShawn Stevenson hit a 3-pointer from the corner with no one within 10 feet of him to put Dallas up eight points with 10:03 left in the third.
"He checked for the wind," said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. "He had three days to shoot that. And we didn't get anybody near him."
Down eight, the Heat called timeout.
"We needed to lock in," James said. "We just weren't paying attention to detail about how we were going to defend this team coming into the game."
From there, Wade took over.
First came a reverse lay-in on the ensuing Heat possession. Then, after a steal by Mike Bibby and an assist from LeBron James, came another finish at the rim for Wade, who'd spent most of the first half on the outside.
"They answered. They responded well," said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle. "During that period they were making a run at us. I thought we did a good job of hanging in. And again, I thought there were some critical situations where we needed to somehow come up with one loose ball here or go make a shot there that would have made a big difference. But it didn't happen."
Over the course of the next 10 minutes, the Heat went on a 22-10 run to close the quarter and turn the tides of the game. James and Wade scored nine and eight points, respectively, over the run.
But every time the Heat would threaten, the Mavs would answer. Turnovers traded hands, shots clanged off metal. But with 1:12 left in the third, James strode to the top of the key, pulled up and hit a three.
Miami would never trail again. Then, as if to underscore that this was the Heat's game, James hit a fall-away three at the buzzer that carried him far out of bounds to put Miami up, 65-61, heading into the fourth.
"Daring me to shoot, that's pretty much gone," James said. "I think people will still live with keeping myself and keeping D-Wade on the perimeter, but it's just my confidence. I put a lot of hard work into it, and understand that you have to be a two-way player in this league. .... Tonight once again I shot the ball extremely well from the outside, but more importantly, it helped our team get a win. That's what it's all about."
True to form, both teams started off slow, with the Heat taking an 11-5 lead after the first 6:30 of the game. But after Jason Kidd hit two threes on two straight possessions after a Mavericks timeout, the three-point barrage began.
As both defenses clamped down on the lane, the teams combined for 12 threes over the final 17 minutes of the first half, with both shooting 6-of-14 from behind the arc.
Mario Chalmers had a big second quarter, hitting three 3-pointers - two of them from the exact same spot on the baseline - after missing his first three shots of the game. Chalmers keyed an uncharacteristic quarter for the Heat, one in which they settled mostly for shots from long range, going 5-for-8 from behind the arc with Wade and Mike Miller both hitting threes.
"I feel like after I hit the first one I hit two more, and I wanted to keep going, but the quarter ran out," Chalmers said.
Neither team shot particularly well from the field in the first half, though, with the Mavericks posting a 38.2 shooting percentage and the Heat firing at 36.6 percent.
Wade's first half did nothing to dispel the rumors that he might be at least slightly injured, with only two points in the first quarter and seven for the half on 3-of-10 shooting.
"Maybe this will be something that will spark him," Spoelstra said. "All I care about was he made a lot of winning plays on both ends of the court there in the fourth quarter. I'm not going to over-analyze his first half."
The Heat held a 22-19 edge in rebounding before the break, but had a 9-5 edge on the offensive boards - including one massive two-handed put-back by Bosh early in the second quarter that fired up the crowd.
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