Erick Dampier dominated the paint and Dallas never trailed in this one, leading by double digits for most of the second-half. (AP Photo/Jeffrey M. Boan)
Erick Dampier had a season high 20 points (making seven of nine shots) to go along with 17 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. The big man also added two blocks and was a force around the basket all game long. Interior defense was almost non-existent when Damp was on the bench and while he was on the floor, the Heat's post-defense was non-existent as well.
"When you double team, your going to give up something," Dampier said. "They double-teamed Dirk tonight and it gave guys open shots or hit me for easy shots around the basket."
The Dallas Mavericks (16-7) jumped out to a 24-7 lead in the first quarter as the Miami Heat (11-10) missed their first 10 shots from the field and 13 of 14 to begin the game.
"We were fortunate they missed some shots early they normally make," Mavericks' coach Rick Carlisle said. "As the game went on, our shot making was pretty good."
The league's fifth leading scorer (.1 ahead of Dirk Nowitzki at 27.1 PPG), Dwyane Wade missed his first three shots from the floor and finished the game bricking 16 of his 24 shots attempted.
Wade did lead the Heat in scoring with 28 (while also bringing down a season high 11 rebounds and dishing five assists) but Udonis Haslem had the biggest impact for Miami. Haslem scored 22 points on nine of 10 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds. His insertion into the game with 4:28 left in the first quarter coincided with a 35-17 Heat run that had Miami down by only three (the closest they got all game) at 40-37 with 5:50 left in the second quarter. Haslem was eight of eight from the field during the spurt.
That was as close as the Heat would get as the Mavericks ended the half on a 7-2 run and went into the locker-room leading 53-46. Dallas jumped out to a 17-point lead in the second-half and Miami couldn't get the deficit under nine for the rest of the game.
The Two Point-Guard Starting Line-Up Works Again
J.J. Barea started for the second consecutive game along with season-long starter Jason Kidd. While Barea starting against Phoenix on Wednesday seemed like a ploy to counter the Suns smallish lineup (and, I have to admit, it did work) the lil guy played excellent basketball and played an integral role in the Mavericks' victory.
Barea had the second double-double of his career, registering a season high in assists (10) while also scoring 12 points, forcing a couple of steals and only committing one turnover for the game. Dallas set a season-high with 30 assists on 39 made baskets, as Kidd pitched-in with 10 assists of his own along with six rebounds and two steals.
"They moved the ball, 30 assists, they played unselfishly," Heat coach Erik Speolstra said. "They played good basketball tonight."
The Dirk Show Keeps on Rolling
Nowitzki outplayed his superstar counterpart scoring 25 points on 10 of 18 shooting (56 percent) and pulling down five rebounds in 38 minutes of action. Nowitzki seems to be playing the best basketball of his career. He has the second best scoring average through 22 games (not including tonight) of his entire career at 27 per. Not having to play in international competition over the summer seems to have made for a more rested Nowitzki.
Whats Next?
This was the first night of a back-to-back for Dallas (the eighth such occurrence already this season) as the Mavericks will return home to Dallas to face the Charlotte Bobcats.
Charlotte is 9-12 this season with a dreadful 1-9 road record. The Bobcats will also be on the second night of b-2-b, having lost in San Antonio tonight 104-85. Charlotte had won it's previous two games - an impressive blowout win over Denver (107-95) and a last-second 106- 105 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. and can be seen locally on Fox Sports Southwest
News and Notes:
- Dallas made 10 of 25 three-point attempts on the night (40 percent) after going 22-76 their last three games (29 percent).
- Josh Howard played 23 minutes coming off the bench, scoring five points and dishing four assists. Howard continues to try to find his rhythm as he missed all four of his three-point attempts and only made two of eight shots overall.
- Dallas is now 4-1 in games that Howard has played in this season.
- Dallas is also 4-1 in games that Erick Dampier gets a double-double.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
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