MIAMI — If they’re all this, you can start the parade.
Here was the Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, jaws clenched, muscles ripped, no smiles, protecting its turf in a manner Dallas hadn’t run into these playoffs.
In the Western Conference, where offense rules, Dallas shot its way through the tournament. But Tuesday night, well, the Heat introduced it to a different drumbeat of defense from the first possession of its 92-84 win.
Bump. Slap. Contest. Rebound. Then the Heat did it again. And in the next quarter. And for four quarters, with the biggest three playing the hardest minutes.
What, you thought the Heat’s big stars didn’t get their fingernails dirty? That they didn’t do the dirty work? Oh, LeBron James scored 24 points, and Dwyane Wade finished with 22.
But it was the defensive end that won the game. J.J. Barea drove the lane and — swat! — Chris Bosh sent it into the first row. Dirk Nowitzki got the ball and — oops! — Udonis Haslem reached in to tie it up for a jump ball.
Then, late in the fourth quarter, Dallas’ Shawn Marion came around a screen, went up for the shot and — blam! — there was Wade with a block. And it was the Heat’s ball. And when Wade went down and hit a 3-point shot, that was a nine-point lead the Heat wouldn’t give up.
Bump. Slap. Contest. All night. And when Wade threw an alley-oop to James in the final seconds, that was the kind of exclamation point that gets everyone excited and makes the highlight reel.
But defense paced this win. Dallas’ previous playoff low was 89 points in its 15 playoff games. It did that in its first playoff game against Portland. It didn’t come close to that Tuesday.
The Heat closed this one out in the fourth quarter, just as it has throughout these playoffs. Of course, in some respects, this one went against script. Both teams shot better from the 3-point line in the first half than the, uh, 2-point line. Go figure.
Was it good defense? Was it bad offense?
Was it just good 3-point shooting?
Or was the Heat doing in Game 1 of the Finals what it did in that funk-laden Game 1 against Chicago?
“Get into this game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told his players at a timeout midway through the third quarter. “This is going to be a grind. I don’t care if the shots are going in or not.
“Let’s gather ourselves and get into this game.”
It gathered. It grinded. And, of course, it was helped by James’ shooting. His 3-point shot gave them a 60-59 lead. His desperate, off-balance 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter increased the lead to something huge.
Four points.
Well, on this night, that constituted a big lead. Especially when one of the Big Three still was playing the caboose. Wade picked up this first game of the Finals like he played for so much of the series against Chicago.
He missed seven of his 10 first-half shots. He had three turnovers. He didn’t do anything to quiet the whispers that something’s physically wrong with him.
But if you can’t do what you want, you do what you can. Wade hunkered down to play defense. And he hustled. And rebounded. And then he came out in the second half looking more like himse
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