Recap: Heat 105 at Mavericks 94
Earl K. Sneed recaps the Mavericks' season-opening loss to the Miami Heat after the visiting team ruined Dallas' championship banner ceremony.
DALLAS -- “Thirty-one years you waited to call your team champions.”
That’s how Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry greeted the 20,421 fans that made up the capacity crowd and 400th straight sellout at the American Airlines Center on Sunday afternoon. And as the organization raised its first championship banner to the rafters to honor last season’s squad the wait was finally over.
But after the 2010-11 Mavericks were presented with an introduction worthy of a champion, this year’s team immediately had to turn its attention to a season-opening game against a familiar foe. Beginning a new journey that they hope once again tracks back to the Larry O’Brien Trophy, the Mavs welcomed in the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat after the two squads tangled for six games in the NBA Finals back in June.
And this time around the Heat (1-0) were the ones leaving the court with smiles on their faces, spoiling the Mavs’ banner ceremony and handing the reigning titleholders a runaway 105-94 defeat.
“The pre-game ceremony … no excuse there,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said after the loss. “We’re going to have to play a lot better basketball and we’re going to have to forge an identity with this team. It’s a different team. That’s work. And it’s going to take honesty and it’s not going to be easy.”
Beginning a starting unit of point guard Jason Kidd, newcomer Vince Carter, forward Shawn Marion, Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki and center Brendan Haywood, Carlisle looked to pick back up where he and his players left off at last summer. But the Heat’s lethal trio of two-time MVP LeBron James, ’06 Finals MVP Dwyane Wade and perennial All-Star Chris Bosh had other things in mind, lifting the visitors to an early advantage.
After Mavs new addition Lamar Odom tied the game with a 3-pointer on his first shot, the Heat’s trio stormed back with runs of 13-0 and 8-0 to take a double-digit edge. And after hitting just four of their 15 shots in the opening 12 minutes of play, committing eight turnovers for 12 Heat points to boot, the defending champs found themselves on the downside of a 32-17 score.
“The early turnovers were the biggest problems to start the game. We had some shots that didn’t go down, but the early catastrophic turnovers that are unguardable -- where they go down and lay it in or dunk it -- those are the ones that kill you,” Carlisle said of the play during opening period.
An aggressive Terry entered the game late in the first quarter before carrying the offensive load on his shoulders early in the second period. But Terry was bettered by his counterpart James Jones, as the Heat’s sharpshooter rained in a trifecta of 3-pointers to widen the gap. Meanwhile, James and Wade continued their assault on the Mavs’ defense.
Scoring 18 points and 14 points, respectively, the duo took the Heat into the locker room up 62-41 after outshooting the Mavs, 51.2 percent to 28.9 percent.
Despite scoring 13 first-half points to lead his team, Nowitzki struggled at the midway point to just 2-for-9 from the field. Meanwhile, the Heat created multiple second-chance opportunities with 11 offensive rebounds and a 28-13 margin on the glass.
Continuing the trend from the close of the first half, the Heat began the third quarter with a 14-0 spurt to further separate from Nowitzki and his crew. The Mavericks would then be further handicapped after Odom was rejected following back-to-back technical fouls for arguing with officials once he picked up his fourth personal violation.
With the versatile big man out for the night Marion stepped his game up offensively, scoring 10 points in the period to give Nowitzki and Terry a helping hand. Still, the Mavs headed to the fourth down 97-65 after James swished in a jumper to give him 33 points through 36 minutes of play.
A Terry-led 11-0 run would kick-start the final quarter for the Mavericks, trimming the lopsided score in the process. The former Sixth Man of the Year winner continued to fire away, giving the fans a show much like he did in the Finals. But in the end the 35-point margin would prove to be too great to overcome, as the Mavs’ reserves finished out the game before falling by 11.
“Tonight, obviously, we didn’t get off to the start we wanted,” Terry confessed. “You can’t give up 30 points in the first quarter, let alone three consecutive quarters. As you see in the fourth quarter, we gave up eight. So, that’s more like Mavericks basketball, but you’ve gotta do it for 48 minutes.”
Hitting 11 of his 19 shots, James dominated the game offensively with 37 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Meanwhile, Wade poured in 26 points on 11-of-21 shooting, helping the Heat to hit 48.7 percent from the field compared to Dallas’ 37.8 percent. Miami also snatched down a 51-31 rebounding edge.
“Once we get stops we have to rebound the basketball,” Terry empathically proclaimed. “So, it’s something we have to keep working on and get better at.”
Miami also racked up a 31-10 separation in fast-break points and a 44-28 tilt to the Heat’s side in points in the paint. And despite forcing the Heat into 23 turnovers, which turned into 29 Dallas points, the Mavericks (0-1) also weren’t happy with their inability to protect the ball after surrendering 25 points on 17 giveaways.
“We just weren’t sharp in really any category, and you can’t win a game like that, especially against a hungry, athletic, great team with great players,” Nowitzki explained. “So, we just weren’t sharp enough on both ends of the floor. … Just not good enough to win.”
Scoring nine points in the fourth quarter, Terry racked up a team-high 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting and 4-for-10 from behind the arc.
Watching from the sideline during the final period in preparation for Monday night’s contest with Denver on the second night of a back-to-back, Nowitzki ended the game with 21 points on 6-of-15 shooting to go along with five rebounds. Marion pitched in 12 points and six rebounds while Delonte West was the only other Mav in double figures with 10 points off the bench.
Meanwhile, fellow newcomers Odom and Carter combined for nine points on a collective 3-of-12 shooting.
“We’ve got to get better and it will take a little time to get better,” Odom said while looking ahead, “even though the start of the season is going to be a sprint. It’s still a long season with 65 to go. We’ve got another one tomorrow, so we’ll chalk this one up as a loss and get ready for Denver.”
The Mavericks return to action Monday against the Denver Nuggets, hoping to rebound from the season-opening loss in a matchup that will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. CT.
“Denver is going to come in here with a shot at the champs. It’s a situation where we’ve got to work to make quantum leaps as often and as quickly as we can as a team,” Carlisle explained.
“We’ve just got to play better,” Nowitzki echoed. “This was just the first game and it was a nice day for us and our fans with the banner, but now we’ve got to get over this. And we’ve got to figure this thing out pretty quickly, because the games are gonna keep coming. Tomorrow, we’re gonna play a hungry, young, athletic team and they’re gonna be ready like everyone is playing the champs. So, we’ve gotta be ready.”
Single-game tickets are on sale and available at the American Airlines Center North Box Office, online at mavs.com, via phone by calling 214-747-MAVS or 1-800-4NBA-TIX and all Ticketmaster outlets (Fiesta Grocery Stores, Wal-Mart, Simon Mall in Garland and the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano).
Rivalry Pack: Aside from being a season ticket holder, the only way for Mavs fans to attend the home opener against the Miami Heat or either of the two Los Angeles Lakers games is through the Rivalry Pack. Tickets to the Dec. 25 game vs. the Miami Heat and the Feb.22 and March 21 games vs. the Los Angeles Lakers can be purchased as part of a three-game package that includes one (1) of the three premium games and two (2) additional regular season games.
RPL Nights: RPL Nights return for the sixth season and will feature special discounted tickets for 10 pre-selected games. Tickets normally priced $9 will be $2, $15 will be $10, $31 will be $20 and $42 will be $32.
