LeBron Led The Heat With 24 Points

The Mavs hadn’t faced an aggressive defense this Playoffs like the one they faced in Game one Tuesday.

“You hold a team to 38 percent shooting and 92 points, for us, that’s usually a victory,” Mavs forward Shawn Marion said.  It was that type of game.  A game in which the Heat bruised the Mavs in an all-out battle of will and strength.

Many consider the Heat’s style to be lots of flash and little substance.  Guess again.

Not only did the Mavs bench get outscored 27-17, but the Heat held them to a lowly 37 percent from the field.

And when the game is tight, intense, and on the line you always give the edge to the team with two elite crunch time players.

“They have two very good closers,” Dirk Nowitzki, who was held to 7-18 shooting, said, “two of the best in the game.”

“For me, going into the fourth quarter, it’s winning time,” LeBron James said.  LeBron and Wade combined for 29 points in the pivotal 2nd half.

It was just another close Playoff game where the heavily determined Heat pulled away due to impressive defense and late game execution.

“Feels good because it’s the first game and we played well as a team,” James said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. … That’s one in the books. We’re excited about this game. Tomorrow we prepare for Game 2, and I see ways we can get better.”

It feels good when you can limit the opponent’s best player (Dirk) to seven made field goals and contain their most explosive scorer (Jason Terry) off the bench to just 3-10 from the floor.  Dallas’ two strengths that have led them this postseason: hot hand of Dirk and accurate trigger fingers complimentary of the second unit.  Both strengths were kept in check while both LeBron and Wade did their thing.  As for the top two players in the world, you know what you’re going to get from them.

“That’s who they’ve been their entire careers,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.  Can’t you expect anything else?  Undoubtedly, LeBron and Wade are playing consistent basketball.  So, it’s just a matter of the defense playing with maximum effort to win games.

“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.”

The defense and perseverance on the offensive end has been the Heat’s calling card this Playoffs.  It’s very easy to see that the team is in complete control because of their ability to make key stops and buckets when the game is still up in the air.

“We really didn’t play well at all tonight,” Terry said. “First quarter, 17 points and third quarter, 17 — that’s not our style of basketball. Give them credit. They disrupted our tempo and they finished at the end.”

In the end, the most hated team in the NBA did what they do best: disrupt people – whether it be the opposing team or the critics.

“It’s one game, and that’s it,” Spoelstra said. “We’re already moving on.”  On to the next one.

Game 2: At Miami, 9 ET.