Game 1 of the NBA Finals followed a similar script for the Miami Heat – keep the game close through three quarters and let the defense and exploits of the big stars finish off the victory.

The Mavericks should have expected nothing less than what the received in American Airlines Arena on Tuesday night. Both teams were subpar in shooting the basketball, but the difference was that one of the teams had more options than the other.

Let’s look at some of the key reasons that Miami won the series opener:

Dirk’s points were meaningless - In the WCF, Nowitzki was scoring whenever he felt like it. And Dirk was able to silence runs by the Thunder, create runs for the Mavs, and win games with his buckets and free throws. Dirk’s effectiveness was drastically downscaled by the stifling Heat defense. The big German was out-of-rhythm the whole night, scoring almost half of his points at the charity stripe. So, while his 27 points led all scorers, they did not give Dallas any momentum nor give them a real chance of stunning Miami in Game 1.

Chalmers and Wade combined to knock down five three-pointers in Game 1.

The Heat won the three-point battle – We knew that Miami was going to take the ball to the basket. But the irony of last night’s contest saw the Heat outscore the Mavericks from the three-point line (Miami was 11-24; Dallas was 9-22). Although Dallas needs to have an advantage on this front, it will be difficult given Miami’s athletic ability on defense. But if the Heat are nailing their triples, this could be a very quick Finals series.

Jason Terry went AWOL and Jose Barea never showed up- Jason Terry’s first-half contribution on 12 points paced the Mavericks to a one-point halftime advantage. However, his lack of second-half productivity doomed Dallas. Terry failed to score another point in the game, virtually leaving Nowitzki as the only Mav capable of keeping Dallas in the game. As for Barea, his potential to spark Dallas was diminished by his own cower. Time and time again, the reserve point guard penetrated into the lane. But he was visibly conscious of Miami’s athletic defenders, and the shots that he threw up at the rim clearly illustrated that. Considering the fact that Barea was also scoreless in the second half, Dallas should consider itself fortunate that it was able to avoid a humiliating blowout.

Miami’s played some hot “D”- The Heat made a good offensive team look extremely tentative and uncomfortable last night. As advertised, Miami showed its ability to chase Dallas’ shooters off of the three point line (and off of any potential shots with their feet squared), and the defensive rotation brilliantly covered for any necessary run-outs. Their effort characterized the epitome of team basketball. But perhaps the biggest and most significant moves that they made were the ones that hampered Dirk Nowitzki’s effectiveness.

Dirk has been all smiles...up until last night, that is.

Dallas’ pet plays is the screen and roll, traditionally run with Nowitzki and either Terry or Barea – guards who can penetrate or shoot with equal aplomb. Miami brilliantly countered this – particularly late in the game – by playing Dirk at an angle that prevented him from setting the screen on the Heat defender guarding the ball handler. This cost the Mavericks lots of time of the shot clock, and eventually left Nowitzki in no man’s land with very little time on the clock to create a shot.

On other occasions, Miami defenders, Udonis Haslem and Chris Bosh, routinely overplayed Dirk, forcing him to put the ball on the deck. Miami understands that Dallas generates its offensive rhythm by shooting uncontested jumpers, so they are ensuring that the Mavericks have to be creative with their possessions. And, in general, the Mavs are a team that is very short on offensive creativity off the bounce.

Wade gone wild – By most standards, Wade had a productive game heading into the 4th quarter. But for him, it was clearly on the mild side. Therefore, it was only fitting for him to explode in the game’s final five minutes scoring 5 points, dishing out two timely helpers, and recording an amazing block and ball recovery which led to a game-sealing breakaway slam by Chris Bosh.

But it wasn’t just Wade. Dallas fell victim to clutch free throw shooting by Bosh. They also fell victim to the extraordinary playmaking abilities of the player who took his talents to South Beach.

If the Mavericks don’t find way to address the issues that plagued them in Game 1, King James and the Heat may be taking their talents – and the Larry O’Brien trophy – to South Beach.

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