Dallas Mavericks 2011 Finals Flashback: Heat Take Game 1

Continuing our series of recapping the 2011 Dallas Mavericks’ championship run, we now turn our attention to Game 1 of the 2011 Finals.

Starting on August 21st, Nick Angstadt (Mavs Moneyball) and myself began our series on the Locked On Mavericks Podcast where we are revisiting the championship run by the 2010-11 Dallas Mavericks.

On the first podcast of the series, we spent time breaking down the roster, the storylines throughout the regular season and the round-by-round breakdown of the Mavs’ path to the Finals.

You can listen to that Finals preview podcast here.

On the second podcast of the series, we turn our attention to Game 1 of the Finals and what transpired throughout the game.

The stage was set.

Miami had the young, entertaining squad who liked to run the fastbreak and smother you with their athleticism. They had become the villains of the league as it was the first season after the formation of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh as their big three.

After winning 58 games, Miami coasted through three sets of five game series’ by beating Philadelphia, Boston and the best team in the league, the Chicago Bulls.

On the other side, the veteran led Mavericks team had made their own run through the playoffs by beating a long Portland team, sweeping the Lakers and knocking off the kids in OKC.

It was revenge time for Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and the Mavs.

But the game didn’t go as planned for the Mavericks.

Not including the 2006 Finals just five years before this, Dallas had beaten the Heat the last 14 times they had met. But in Game 1, Miami rode their athleticism to the end despite poor shooting from both sides.

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Dallas scored 51 points in the first 26 minutes, but would only score 33 points over the last 22 minutes of the game. Dwyane Wade scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half and the Dallas Mavericks could never quite get over the hump as Miami took the game 92-84.

James finished with 24 points and 9 rebounds while Bosh added 19 points and 9 rebounds.

For Dallas, it was Dirk Nowitzki who led the way with 27 points and 8 rebounds while Shawn Marion followed behind with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

It was an ugly shooting night for both teams as the Heat finished shooting 39% from the field and the Mavs 37%.

You can see the full box score from Game 1 here.

During the second half of the podcast, Nick chats with a key member of the Mavericks championship team in DeShawn Stevenson that was nothing short of entertaining.

Next: 2011 Finals Flashback: The Road to the Finals

Check back tomorrow as the epic finish of Game 2 will be the focal point.

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