Heat vs Mavericks, round 1 sum up

Why did the Heats lose in the first matchup against the Mavs. They were not in a very good condition. Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard combined to miss 21 of 28 shots.

One big factor here for Heats is free throw. Shaquille O'Neal missed eight of nine from the line, and Dwyane Wade as a shooter, only got 6 of 10.

Another is Mavs shooting guard Jason Terry's outburst in the first half, 20 points, 9 of 11 shooting, no turnovers in 18 minutes.

The Mavs won a game they should have never won. What were their goals: 1) Ride Dirk and Josh on the offensive end. 2) Keep Wade out of the lane. 3) Get Shaq in foul trouble. 4) Keep Diop and Dampier out of foul trouble... Which of these happened? NONE! But they still won. What if the Mavs played well on the second matchup?

By Zhenyu Li, sports writer for PD Online. The article represents the writer's views only