NBA Finals, Game 1: Heat Stifle Mavericks Offense To Take Series Opener, 92-84

Back in March, if you told an NBA fan that the Heat would evolve into the scariest crunch time team since Jordan and the Bulls, it would have sounded like some pathetic Heat message board. Like, “Dont listn 2 HATERZ people, LEBRON, and D-WADE r BETTER than Pippen-MJ!”

Fast forward to Game 1 of the NBA Finals, after LeBron James and Dwyane Wade blitzed the Mavs in the fourth, and LeBron can literally say “I told ya so” to all his critics. That’s basically what this is.

Nowitzki was held to 27 points on 7-18 shooting with 12 free throws in Game 1. Saying a player was held to 27 points seems funny, but Dirk struggled; he was 5-14 with 17 points entering the fourth quarter. Haslem played 30 minutes overall, and 23.5 minutes with Nowitzki on the floor. Haslem was the primary defender on Nowitzki throughout those minutes, though Miami sent plenty of help once Dirk touched the ball.

While that looks like Bosh and Anthony did a better job on Nowitzki, keep in mind that Dirk missed plenty of shots he’d normally make, including a plethora of gimmes at the rim. Haslem’s great success in guarding Nowitzki comes from denying the ball; that’s all about working hard before the pass comes, to recover off of screens and misdirection.

Precious little attention was paid to the team’s wondrous defensive potential, maybe because we just don’t think about defense much during free agency, maybe because, despite their gifts on both sides of the ball, we think of these stars primarily as weapons on offense. Upon joining forces, the trio had 17 All-Star berths in 21 player-seasons between them, but just five All Defense berths.

For live coverage of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, keep it tuned to this StoryStream. To see the up-to-the-minute score, along with information from around SB Nation on the game, keep your browser on this Heat-Mavs score page. Throughout the NBA Finals, check out our 2011 NBA Finals hub for more coverage. For more on the two teams, Mavericks fans should head over to Mavs Moneyball and SB Nation Dallas, while Heat fans should check out Peninsula Is Mightier.

For live coverage of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, keep it tuned to this StoryStream. To see the up-to-the-minute score, along with information from around SB Nation on the game, keep your browser on this Heat-Mavs score page. Throughout the NBA Finals, check out our 2011 NBA Finals hub for more coverage. For more on the two teams, Mavericks fans should head over to Mavs Moneyball and SB Nation Dallas, while Heat fans should check out Peninsula Is Mightier.

They go on to predict that the Mavericks will win in six games, a rather bold statement.

Over at Mavs Moneyball, they see J.J. Berea as a possible key player for the Mavs. All of the focus is on Dirk at the moment, which could open up some opportunities for a player like Barea, who is good at both driving to the bucket and making outside shots.

That’s the reality of the Miami Heat. They’ve shown this spring that they can be every bit as dominant as advertised, but even as they’ve gotten past the growing pains of the regular season, they haven’t gotten any more likable. If anything, dominating’s just made them more frustrating.

At least when Miami loses, we get to make jokes about LeBron’s excuses, Eric Spoelsta’s job security, Miami’s apathetic fans, and Chris Bosh playing like Chris Bosh. When they win, it’s just like... “Oh, well they won because they’re really good. That makes sense. And this sucks.”

Earth would be much more inhabitable if Skip Bayless would just Marty McFly himself already. The walking infection took his shrill M.O. to all-new levels on Monday, though, alleging that his co-worker, ESPN writer Chris Broussard (who broke the story that LeBron James would be signing with the Miami Heat last summer), has sold his “journalist soul” to get close to King James. (Which begs the question “What does Skip Bayless know about souls?”)

Bayless already apologized -- he said on today’s People Yelling on ESPN2 that he and Broussard talked for an hour on Monday night, which actually might be worse than the “sold your journalistic soul” allegation. But an apology isn’t enough, and every time he opens his mouth, Bayless perfectly illustrates that while it’s a great thing that ESPN hires excellent reporters like Broussard, it also employs scum like Skip. This is why ESPN will never fully win the hearts and minds of the new American sports fan: because its love for the Skip Baylesses drowns out all of the value.

Javie, Callahan and Kennedy aren’t considered to be refs more likely to play to the home crowd or be heavy-handed on the whistle.

Follow this StoryStream for pregame updates and full coverage of Mavericks vs. Heat.

There was a dash of Kidd’s idiosyncratic flair in the shot with the pump fake, the same quality that has made him one of the most unique players in NBA history. But mostly, it was a spot-up three-pointer, one that tons of players in NBA history have taken. It certainly wasn’t what the Mavericks had in mind when they sold the farm to acquire Kidd in 2008.

It’s a reality even those who know Kidd well would have had trouble predicting. It’s not a surprise that he changed the Mavericks’ culture and helped extend Nowitzki’s career. But for it to happen like this -- immediate disappointment, followed by Kidd adapting and persevering -- is so un-Kiddlike.

A secret pleasure of covering NBA basketball is that because the game is global, we sometimes hear from or run into the wonderful foreign press. All-Star Weekend is a particular highlight, but the international media all takes special interest in the NBA Finals.

An email from Mirror News reporter Sally, in full:

The vagaries of the NBA Finals schedule -- the league uses a 2-3-2 format, with Game 5 in the lower seed’s home arena (Dallas, in this case) and Games 6 and 7 back in the high seed’s gym (Miami) -- impact the odds a bit; usually, the team with home court will be more heavily favored to win in five than six because it’s easier to win at home.

The 2-3-2 format serves to equalize or dampen home court advantage a bit by giving the lower seed first crack at holding serve for a series lead. When these teams met in the 2006 Finals, Miami used that to burst out to a 3-2 series lead before winning in Dallas in Game 6.