Miami Heat make the opening statement; Beat Dallas Mavericks in game-1 of NBA Finals – Part 2
Link for Part-1: http://www.senore.com/Miami-Heat-make-the-opening-statement-Beat-the-Dallas-Mavericks-in-game-1-of-the-NBA-Finals-Part-1-a72840
Coming out of the interval, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James led the Miami Heat and overtook the Dallas Mavericks in the third quarter. LeBron had 9 while Wade scored 8 in the quarter. Dallas started off stronger in the second half as they went 7 – 0 at the start, stretching their lead to eight points. Miami however clawed down the lead back to 2 points with 7:20 remaining thanks to an 8-2 surge.
Udonis Haslem tied the scores at 57 – 57 with 2:34 remaining and LeBron James scored 6 inside the last two minutes, coming from two 3-pointers, to give Miami a 4 point lead heading into the final quarter. The third period ended at 65 – 61.
The game got away from Dallas in the fourth quarter as they failed to chase down the Heat. Miami never let Dallas get near them and kept on knocking down shots to increase their advantage. A three point play from LeBron with 2:48 remaining took the gap into double figures and the Mavericks did not look like recovering after that. When Dirk Nowitzki did cut the lead to 6 with 1:36 left on the clock, Miami responded by scoring 6 straight that put the result beyond doubt. The game closed at 84 – 92.
Heat guard Dwyane Wade spoke after the game about Miami’s surge late on and their good defensive play,
"That's kind of the way we've been winning games, of late," Wade said. "You've got stay with it. You can't get frustrated because the ball's not going in. There's other ways you can dominate the game and we was able to do that tonight. I thought we did a great job in the second half of rebounding the ball, limiting them to one shot as much as possible."
Although this was just the first game, Dallas would be alarmed at shooting as low as 37.3 percent, which is the lowest they have shot this post season. The Mavs also got outdone on 3-pointers, a specialty of theirs, shooting 40.9 percent compared to 45.8 percent by Miami.
The battle of the boards also went to the Heat 46-36 and the loss on the offensive glass, 6-to-16, really hurt the Mavericks.
The Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle admitted that there were a lot of areas where the Mavs could improve, "By and large, we've got to play better, just overall,"
However, the coach also added that he had faith in his team and the Mavs will undoubtedly come back to play better in the next game and the series in general.
"We'll play better. I'm very certain of that," Carlisle said. "We had some opportunities. Shots we normally make, they didn't go down. Look, it's a long series. We'll adjust.”
Tags: