MIAMI - Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki scored his team’s final nine points leading to a stunning 95-93 victory against the Miami Heat after they trailed by 15 with just more than six minutes remaining.

The Mavericks closed out the game on 22-5 run, hitting clutch shots to seize control. It was the Heat’s first home loss after nine consecutive victories in the playoffs.

The best-of-seven series is tied at 1, and the next three will played in Dallas, starting on Sunday night with Game 3.

Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 24 points and forward Shawn Marion had 20.   

FOURTH QUARTER

Heat is on a 13-0 run to take a 85-73 lead. Its defense pressure is leading to fastbreak opportunity. The Mavericks appear lost at this point to contend with the Heat’s athleticism. Mavericks are on a 13-2 run to cut lead 90-86.

THIRD QUARTER

The Mavericks start the quarter with a turnover that is converted for a dunk by LeBron James. The Heat is on a 6-1 run since halftime, forcing the Mavericks into committing turnovers on three of their first four possessions. Heat is taking control from its swarming defensive pressure to knocking down 3s. Miami has taken its largest lead of the game 69-61 with 3:44 remaining in the quarter. 

SECOND QUARTER

Mavericks are shooting at 59 percent and are attacking the basket and getting after rebounds. Dwyane Wade is carrying the Heat with 14 points. After Wade’s dunk that came off a steal, the Heat trail the Mavericks 40-38 with 6:33 remaining. Despite Wade’s 14 points, the Mavericks are holding a 45-40 lead. LeBron James has three fouls with 3:22 remaining in the quarter and now is on the bench. Without him, the Heat closed out the quarter on a 9-0 run to tie the score at 51 at halftime   

FIRST QUARTER

The quarter ends with the score tied at 28. The Mavericks shot 52 percent, relying on balanced scoring. DeShawn Stevenson led the Mavericks with six points. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade led the Mavericks with eight points. All of the Mavericks’ starters have scored after the opening five minutes. The Mavericks led the Heat early 12-9. Guard Dwayne Wade is off to a fast start, hitting three of his first four shots. The Heat has made its first two 3-pointers to retake the lead 14-13. The Heat is taking of mismatches like former Hornets’ forward Peja Stojakovic trying to defend Chris Bosh. Similar to Tuesday night’s loss, the Mavericks are not boxing out enough and the Heat is crashing the boards for rebounds and second-chance points.  

PREGAME

Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki had a splint on his injured left middle finger after suffering a torn tendon in Tuesday night’s Game 1.  The series shift to Dallas for the next three games, starting with Game 3 on Sunday night at the American Airlines Center.

MIAMI (KABC) —
The Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks, 92-84, in Miami Tuesday to take Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

LeBron James scored 24 points and Dwyane Wade scored 22 points with 10 rebounds to overtake the Mavericks after trailing by eight points in the third quarter. Chris Bosh had 10 points and Mario Chalmers had 12.

The Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki scored 27 points and took eight rebounds. Shawn Marion scored 16 points and Jason Terry notched 12 for Dallas.

Miami has won five straight games against Dallas in finals games going back to 2006.

Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. PDT on ABC7.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(Copyright ©2011 KABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

The Miami Heat, for all their bluster last summer about the number of championships they were going to win and talk about assembling the “greatest team” in NBA history, have gone about this season – and postseason – in a workmanlike fashion.

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They owned a 58-24 regular season record, securing the second seed in the NBA Eastern Conference, and handily dispatched the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, and the Chicago Bulls, owners of the league’s best record, in the the first three rounds of the playoffs. They are relatively young, and, rumors of an injury to Dwyane Wade’s shoulder notwithstanding, are largely healthy.

On the other hand, the Dallas Mavericks, with an average player age of 33, are one of the oldest teams in the NBA, and have had to struggle through two post-season series against Portland and Oklahoma City – though along the way they completely humiliated the Los Angeles Lakers in four games in one of the most lopsided playoff sweeps in NBA history.

They have matured as a group to the point where they fight through double-digit deficits to win where previously they might not have. The Mavs, with a 57-25 regular season record, are nearly evenly matched with the Heat, though Dallas won the two regular season meetings between the two teams.

They’ve accomplished much, even without the services of one of their very strongest players, guard-forward Caron Butler, who is not expected to see any action in the Finals. Jason Terry, in an interview earlier this week, said the team is dedicating their pursuit of the NBA title to Butler.

The Heat largely play a perimeter game. They love head fakes, and drawing fouls near or beyond the arc. They also are very fast off the transition, where LeBron James and Dwyane Wade excel in an open path to the bucket with virtually unparalleled athleticism. They have not been as strong inside the paint, where the Mavericks tend to excel.

Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks strong forward/center, can score from anywhere, and he is particularly strong at drawing fouls after posting up his defenders. When the two teams met in Dallas last November, the Mavericks won 106-95 – largely through the 48 points they scored in the paint. They will need to keep that pace up this series.

A look back at the Miami Heat’s 4-2 NBA Finals victory over the Dallas Mavericks in 2006:

GAME 1: June 8, 2006, American Airlines Center, Dallas Mavericks 90, Heat 80: With all the star power brought to the first game of these finals, it was Jason Terry, who led the way to victory for Dallas. Miami started strong, scoring 31 points in the first quarter. And the Heat held Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard to a combined 26 points. But, Miami was unable to contain Terry. And Jerry Stackhouse produced 13 points off the bench. Miami scored just 13 points in the second quarter and 12 in the fourth and was a dismal 37 percent from the free-throw line.

GAME 2: June 11, 2006, American Airlines Center, Dallas

Mavericks 99, Heat 85: The high-energy Mavericks used an 11-0 run to close the first half and a smothering defense to take a 2-0 series lead. Prior to this series, of the 25 teams to fall behind 0-2 in the previous 59 NBA Finals, only two emerged with a championship, the 1969 Boston Celtics and 1977 Portland Trail Blazers. Shaquille O’Neal had five points, the lowest-scoring playoff game of his career. Dwyane Wade has 23 points, but was 6 of 19 from the field.

GAME 3: June 13, 2006, AmericanAirlines Arena, Miami

Heat 98, Mavericks 96: Down 13 in the fourth quarter, the Heat staged a furious comeback before a “white hot” home crowd. The Heat took a nine-point lead into halftime, but Dallas surged ahead scoring 34 points in the third quarter to Miami’s 16. Dwyane Wade scored 15 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter, half of Miami’s offensive output. Gary Payton’s jumper with 9 seconds left put Miami ahead for good.

GAME 4: June 15, 2006, AmericanAirlines Arena, Miami

Heat 98, Mavericks 74: Shaquille O’Neal had a double-double (17 points, 13 rebounds) and Dwyane Wade scored 36 in the most lopsided game of the series. Wade set the tone with 14 first-quarter points. The Heat defense held Dirk Nowitzki to 16 points on 2-of-14 shooting. But few Mavericks were on target as Dallas shot just 32 percent from the field and 14 percent from beyond the arc. The Mavericks wilted during a seven-point fourth quarter as Miami evened the series 2-2.

GAME 5: June 18, 2006, AmericanAirlines Arena, Miami

Heat 101, Mavericks 100: Dwyane Wade’s two free throws with 1.9 seconds to play in overtime sealed the win for Miami in it’s home finale. Wade was 21 of 25 from the foul line and led all scorers with 43 points. He scored 26 points in the second half, and 17 in the fourth quarter. Shaquille O’Neal had his second double-double of the series (18 points, 12 rebounds). Miami also overcame 35 points from Mavericks guard Jason Terry, 25 from Josh Howard and 20 from Dirk Nowitzki, who hit the go-ahead jumper with nine seconds left.

GAME 6: June 20, 2006, American Airlines Center, Dallas

Heat 95, Mavericks 92: Down 14 early in the game, the Heat completed its comeback from an 0-2 series deficit by rallying in the second quarter and then holding on for its first NBA title. It was Miami’s first win in Dallas in more than four years. Dirk Nowitzki played all bu 58 seconds of the game and led Dallas with 29 points and 15 rebounds. But the Mavericks couldn’t overcome Dwyane Wade, who scored 36 and was named the series MVP.

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The Miami Heat proved once again that in a close series the difference often comes down to the final few possessions. Just like the Dallas Mavericks, the Heat came from behind late in the game to beat the Chicago Bulls and advance to the 2011 NBA Finals. The series is both a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals and a chance to see LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki go head-to-head in crunch time. It should be a blast.

The Miami Heat with a NBA regular season record of 58-24 will host the Dallas Mavericks who went 57-25. Game 1 will be in Miami on Tuesday, May 31 at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT with ABC holding the TV broadcast rights. The schedule format changes in the NBA Finals with the first two games at home, followed by three on the road and then the final two back on the home court of the team with the better regular season record.

Over the coming days we will get more into the specific match ups and ultimately will make a prediction on this series but here’s some immediate thoughts. The Dallas Mavericks have the deeper team but are woefully undersized at the two guard. They will need a fantastic series from Shawn Marion defending LeBron James and of course, Dirk has to be Dirk and Jason Kidd and Jason Terry and J.J. Barea need to knock down threes.

The Heat have the best two players and have proven they can both play defense and score in crunch time. Dwyane Wade didn’t have a great series against the stingy Bulls’ defense but he should have more room to roam against the Mavs. Miami shouldn’t have too much trouble scoring but is going to have a much harder time defending Dallas’ ball movement and outside shooting.

Here’s the full schedule for the 2011 NBA Finals with all games broadcast on ABC TV:

Game 1 May 31, 2011 at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT

Game 2 June 2, 2011 at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT
Game 3 June 5, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT
Game 4 June 7, 2011 at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT
Game 5 * June 9, 2011 at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT
Game 6 * June 12, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT
Game 7 * June 14, 2011 at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT
*If necessary

CHICAGO, IL – MAY 26: LeBron James #6 (C) and Udonis Haslem #40 of the Miami Heat dive for a loose ball against Ronnie Brewer #11 of the Chicago Bulls in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2011 NBA Playoffs on May 26, 2011 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls 83-80 and advance to the 2011 NBA Finals to meet the Dallas Mavericks. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)