Miami Heat make the opening statement; Beat Dallas Mavericks in game-1 of NBA Finals – Part 1
The NBA Finals 2011 got under way with an important game-1 victory for the Miami Heat. In a close game, the Heat surged late to beat the Dallas Mavericks 92-84 at the American Airlines Arena.
Dallas were in the game for more than three-fourths of the way and only lost the plot in the final quarter - a fact that disappointed forward Shawn Marion. He said after the game that the Mavs should have executed better in the clutch, "For the most part, we think we had chances to get a hold of this game," Marion said. "And we let it get out of our hands."
The Miami Heat were relying heavily on their Big Three before the game and the star trio didn’t disappoint, scoring 65 of the total team points to lead their team to a win. LeBron James had a team high 24 points along with his 9 rebounds. James was deadly from beyond the arc as he made 4-of-5. Chris Bosh had 19 points and grabbed the same number of boards as James. Dwyane Wade rounded up the big performances for the Heat with a double-double. He scored 22 points, hauled down 10 rebounds and also made 6 assists.
Wade was pleased with his own performance and that of the team when he spoke to reporters, "I just was aggressive," Wade said. "We understand that this is the kind of game we wanted to play. We had them where we wanted them in the sense of points. You know they wasn't scoring a lot on us and offensively we just executed and guys made plays."
Dirk Nowitzki was the main man for Dallas once again. The 7-foot forward scored a game high 27 points to go along with his 8 rebounds. Shawn Marion helped out with a double-double at 16 points and 10 rebounds while Jason Terry came off the bench to score 12. Jason Kidd also played well, scoring 9 and setting up his teammates 6 times.
The game started off with a Tyson Chandler foul that gave Miami their first points from the free throw line. The Heat looked stronger for the first part of the quarter and took an 11-5 lead capped by a three point play from LeBron James with 5:30 left on the clock. However, the Dallas Mavericks then went on a 12 – 5 run themselves to wrestle the advantage back from Miami. The quarter ended with the score at 17 – 16, advantage Dallas.
The second quarter was much more open compared to the first as both teams got their offence going. Dirk Nowitzki was predictably the top scorer for Dallas in this period but Miami got a surprise burst from Mario Chalmers. Chalmers came off the bench to drop 10 on the Mavs. He was 3-of-3 from the field and all of them were from beyond the arc. The scores remained relatively close in the second period and the teams managed exactly the same number of points. Thus it ended with Dallas again leading by one, this time at 43 – 44.
Link for Part-2: http://www.senore.com/Miami-Heat-make-the-opening-statement-Beat-the-Dallas-Mavericks-in-game-1-of-the-NBA-Finals-Part-2-a72857
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