Miami coach Pat Riley has put a lid on all the excitement surrounding Miami's first finals appearance in 18 years by refocusing the team's attention into claiming its first NBA Championship.

Crucial to the Heats' quest for an NBA title is stopping All-Star Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki.

The giant seven-foot German is one of the hardest players to match up in the NBA, combining a unique balance of size and skill, which has helped the 28-year-old to a post-season average of 28.4 points per game.

So who guards Nowitzki?

''Everybody,'' Riley told miamiherald.com.

"He's a great, great player. We know he can shoot it. We know he isolates a lot. He's getting to the free-throw line a lot, so we will have to do some different things, give him some different looks,'' Riley said.

It's been an interesting road to the finals for Miami, with leading points scorer, guard Dwyane Wade, playing the Heats' last eastern conference finals match against the Pistons while seriously ill.

Wade played the entire match after spending the previous night in hospital, but the 24-year-old is expected to be fit in time for Game One against the Mavs and was also confident the Heat could go one step further in claiming its maiden NBA title.

"The main thing he (Riley) has been saying to us is - 'You all think this feeling is good, wait until you win it all','' Wade said.

"We've got a lot of hard work to get to that point, but he said we can do it.''

It's going to be a tough assignment for the Heat which has lost both encounters with the Mavs this year by an average of 24.5 points per game, including a 36-point drubbing in Dallas.

But, coincidently, that same 36-point defeat was also responsible for turning the Heats' season around with a 10-game unbeaten streak immediately following that match, and forward Udonis Haslem insists they're a totally different team now.

''Make no mistake about it: They handled us in those two games,'' Haslem said.

"But we're not the same team,'' he said.

Game One is on Thursday in Dallas.