Ricky in the House

Dirk stumbles, but Heat fumble By Marc Stein, ESPN.com

DALLAS -- They had the start they wanted.

They had the tempo they wanted.

They even had an all-night look at the Dirk Nowitzki they dreamed of.

The Miami Heat had lots of what they wished for Thursday night in Game 1

of the NBA Finals.

Which is why they had to have serious regrets at night's end.

"They looked awesome early on," Nowitzki said.

"I thought they had everything going."

Not everything, perhaps,

but Miami had an undeniably precious opportunity to steal the series opener here,

largely because Nowitzki had a serious nightmare.

He was admittedly nervous on the big stage.

He was, in turn, passive.

Nowitzki was also roughed up by the better-than-billed Miami defensive tandem

of Udonis Haslem and James Posey, whose combined aggressiveness and physicality ushered Nowitzki to a stunning conclusion.

Zero points in the fourth quarter.

Of course, with Miami outscoring Nowitzki by only 12 in that quarter,

it cannot be recorded as a historic achievement for the Heat.

It goes down instead as a 90-80 defeat and a considerable missed opportunity,

given that Nowitzki missed 10 of 14 shots and finished with just 16 points ...

or 34 points shy of the 50 he had in his last game here.

"We had the opportunity that we wanted," Haslem said.

"We just didn't do what we were supposed to do."

The Heat had more than a mere opportunity.

They had the look of vets who had been here before,

even though Shaquille O'Neal and Gary Payton were

the only Miami rotation players with NBA Finals experience before this Game 1.

They had Nowitzki flummoxed and Josh Howard equally discombobulated, too.

It was tough to tell, honestly, which of the hosts' two steadiest players

looked shakier.

("If you would have told me that Josh and myself would go

7-for-28 [from the field] and we win this game," Nowitzki said,

"I wouldn't have believed it.")

The Heat showed a worldwide audience a lot of the newfound unity

and discipline that made them the best in the East,

to the point that they even had O'Neal jumping out hard on pick-and-rolls

to further discourage Dallas.

The problem?

Miami's mistakes were fatal.

Only two Heaters got to the line all evening and one of them

-- Shaq -- missed his first eight free throws.

(Shaq missed his first 10, really, if you count the two misses

waved off for lane violations).

The Heat also failed to build on an early 11-point lead when

Heat coach Pat Riley's gamble to spare O'Neal from a third foul backfired.

Riley sat O'Neal for the final two minutes of the second quarter,

after Shaq's second foul, and Dallas capitalized with the final seven points

of the half . . . helped along by Miami's six straight empty possessions.

Those boosts were all Dallas needed, even with Nowitzki

in a stunningly ineffective state given his new playoff standards.

That's because their defense stiffened in the fourth, nudging Miami

into its own funk from the perimeter.

But that's also because these Mavs don't fold easy,

no matter what's happening with Nowitzki.

As proven more than once in the seven-game epic against their longtime

tormentors from San Antonio, Avery Johnson's Mavs can win

these kinds of grinding playoff games.

What kind?

"Ugly and sloppy," Riley said.

Nowitzki, strangely, was at the forefront of it all.

It was the last thing you expected, frankly, with Dwyane Wade in town to

engage him in the definitive duel for unquestioned King of the Playoffs.

The role in Nowitzki's struggles played

by Haslem and Posey (and their double-team helpers) can't be discounted.

Those two invalidated the considerable pregame skepticism about their ability

to stay with Nowitzki and pushed right up on him.

Nowitzki responded with passivity as opposed to rim-attacking aggression

and even his few jumpers that dropped looked well shy of their usual smoothness.

Then there was the overthrown inbounds pass in the closing

seconds of the first quarter, setting up ex-teammate

Antoine Walker for a 30-foot heave that put Miami up eight.

"I thought we were a little frozen up," Nowitzki said,

putting himself high on that list. "Nobody has really been here before besides

Avery and Darrell Armstrong, but [Armstrong] didn't even play

when he was [in the Finals] with Orlando."

Yet the truly troubling part for Miami is that Nowitzki started the San Antonio

series in similarly meek fashion.

By Game 7, you'll recall, he was outdueling Tim Duncan and uncorking

a decisive 37 points and 15 boards on the road in what then ranked as

the biggest moment in franchise history.

"You didn't really see the real Dirk tonight," Johnson suggested.

Which had to make Miami wonder what happens when that Nowitzki returns.