Dwyane Wade secured a rebound, dribbled around in a circle along the sideline, splitting between two Dallas Mavericks defenders. Once Jason Kidd closed in, he flipped a no-look pass to Chris Bosh that brought out what appeared to be the first snow flurries South Florida has seen in some time. Bosh elevated for a two-handed dunk, raised his left index finger toward the rafters, and as LeBron James and Wade jumped into each other, fans at American Airlines Arena tossed thousands of white handkerchiefs from the stands.

The first celebration may have been 11 months premature, back when James, Wade and Bosh danced and preened over their uncommon free agent merger, but with the Miami Heat's 92-84 win in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night, the all-star trio took the first step in earnest toward ensuring that the scrutiny and strife of their first season together could be worthwhile.

Five years after he tormented the Mavericks en route to leading the Heat to its first NBA championship, Wade again came through with a stellar fourth-quarter performance after struggling for much of the first half. He finished the game with 22 points, including a three-pointer that gave the Heat an insurmountable nine-point lead with just more than three minutes remaining. But he was excited that he didn't need another 40-point explosion to do in the Mavericks.