Game 1 Is All About Big D

This isn’t the time to stall down the stretch, especially with the Dallas Mavericks determined to sprint toward the prize.

The Mavericks are versatile, deep and now ahead in the NBA Finals after finishing better than the Miami Heat on Thursday night in a 90-80 victory in Game 1 at American Airlines Center.

The Mavericks got it done when things were tight toward the end, closing on an 8-1 run as the Heat failed to keep pace in a matchup of first-time Finals participants.

Guard Jason Terry did his part to make sure the Mavericks didn’t disappoint a sellout crowd of 20,475 that seemed to enjoy its first invitation to the NBA’s most exclusive party.

Terry got the show going for Dallas and had a big closing act, scoring a game-high 32 points, including 12 in the final quarter to match Miami’s total.

His clutch display helped the Mavericks outlast the Heat despite subpar performances from All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki and rising young forward Josh Howard, who combined to miss 21 of 28 field-goal attempts.

“He was big,” Nowitzki said of Terry. “He made some incredible shots. He looked aggressive, he looked comfortable, and he looked in rhythm from the beginning on. He carried us all night.”

All-Star guard Dwyane Wade scored a team-high 28 points but All-Star center Shaquille O’Neal had only 17 for Miami, which shot only 43.6% from the field and missed 12 of 19 free-throw attempts, with O’Neal missing eight of nine.

The Heat squandered an opportunity to win the opener because of its poor finish, and the Mavericks have home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series, so for Miami it’s time to make up ground in a hurry.

“They are at home, and they got a great, great game out of Jason,” Miami Coach Pat Riley said. “They hit timely shots. ... You have both teams going at each other hard, and somebody exhales for two minutes, you might be down eight or nine points; that’s the way it was.”

Actually, it was 10 points.

Dallas led, 74-72, with 9 minutes 12 seconds to play. Then the Mavericks -- well, Terry actually -- burned the Heat defense for eight unanswered points.

Terry connected on three straight jumpers, including consecutive three-pointers to give the Mavericks an 82-72 lead with 7:55 remaining. Terry then stole a pass and raced uncontested toward the basket.

A dunk might have prompted Dallas fans to begin dancing in the aisles, but he missed.

“I got a little too excited,” said Terry, who scored 20 in the first half. “I was running a little too fast and got ahead of myself.”

And he left the door ajar. Miami made a push, going on a 7-0 run behind O’Neal, who had consecutive dunks, to cut the lead to 82-79 with 4:22 to play. But the Heat didn’t have a lot left.

Miami scored its last field goal at the 5:13 mark on forward Antoine Walker’s layup. Wade made one of two free throws with 4:22 remaining. That would be the Heat’s last point until O’Neal made one of two free throws with less than a minute to play to close the team’s scoring.

Between those two points, the Mavericks scored six straight, and guard Jerry Stackhouse made two free throws to provide the final score.

Terry was the catalyst, the Mavericks said.

“This Jason Terry makes us a pretty special basketball team,” Dallas Coach Avery Johnson said. “On a night like tonight, when Josh and Dirk go seven for 28, you need to get some offense from somewhere.”

The Heat could use more offense from O’Neal. He made eight for 11 from the field despite Dallas’ late double-teams, but wasn’t as big a factor as he could have been.

“We just have to play smart,” O’Neal said.