Jason Terry scored 32 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 90-80 victory over the Miami Heat Thursday night in the opening game of the National Basketball Association best of seven championship series.
Terry scored 20 points in the first half, and the remaining 12 in the fourth quarter. His scoring included four three-point shots. Terry's offensive output made up for a weak effort by teammate Dirk Nowitzki, who scored just 16 points.
Miami was led by Dwayne Wade, who scored 28 points despite being bothered by a virus. Teammate Shaquille O'Neal scored 17 additional points, but had a miserable night from the free throw line, hitting just one shot out of nine attempts.
As a team, the Heat made only seven of 19 free throw attempts.
Game two will be held Sunday night in Dallas.
