Miami Heat's Chris Bosh, right, goes up to shoot over Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki, left, of Germany during the second half in Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Miami, May 31, 2011. AP
MIAMI—LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade paced the Miami attack as the big three combined for 65 points and the Heat beat Dallas 92-84 in the opening game of the 2011 NBA finals on Tuesday.
James finished with a team high 24 points, Wade had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Bosh scored 19 points for the Heat, who are a perfect 9-0 at home in the post-season.
After a low-scoring, tightly-contested first half in which the lead changed hands 10 times, the Heat’s star trio three blew the game open in the fourth quarter in front of the sold out crowd at the American Airlines Arena.
Game two is Thursday in Miami.
Combining Wade with James and Bosh as a triple threat in Miami is paying dividends in their first post-season together. But it also made villains of them in some people’s eyes, especially James who spurned his hometown Cleveland to join the Heat.
Wade had his typical slow playoff start but once again found his second gear late in the game.
He helped clinch the win by combining with James on an alley-oop with 30.6 seconds left that made it 91-79.
James made several plays in the second half that showed why he is the NBA’s most dominant player. He made a statement dunk with 2:48 to go that gave Miami an 84-75 lead. James also drained a buzzer beating three pointer at the end of the third quarter to give Miami a four-point lead, 65-61.
Dirk Nowitzki scored a team high 27 points for the Mavericks who are trying avenge a six game loss to the Heat in the 2006 finals.