Miami ? If they’re all this, you can start the parade.

Here were the Heat in Game 1 of the NBA finals, jaws clenched, muscles ripped, no smiles, protecting their 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 them to a different drumbeat of defense from the first possession of their 92-84 win.

Bump. Slap. Contest. Rebound. Then the Heat did it the next Dallas possession. And the next quarter. And for four quarters, all the way, 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 to the other end and hit a three, 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 LeBron James in the final seconds, that was the kind of pretty 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 they have throughout these playoffs. Of course, in some respects, this one went against script. Both teams shot better from the three-point line in the first half than the, uh, two-point line. Go figure.

Was that good defense? Bad offense?

Was it just good three-point shooting?

Or were 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.”

They gathered. They ground. And, of course, they were helped by James’ shooting. His three-point shot gave them a 60-59 lead. His desperate, off-balance three-pointer at the end of the third quarter upped 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 himself.

When he pulled up and hit a jumper early in the fourth quarter, the Heat stretched another lead.

Six points.

Slowly, they built the lead until a LeBron slam with a couple of minutes left upped it to nine. And then came his alley-oop send-off in the final minute.

And so the Heat won the only game that matters in this new series.

To Game 2 we go.