The Miami Heat ended the game on a 6-0 run and went on to defeat the Dallas Mavericks, 123-118, on Sunday night at the Kaseya Center.
The loss snapped the Mavs’ four-game winning streak and left them with a 9-8 record entering Monday night’s game in Atlanta. Miami, meanwhile, padded its record to 7-7.
Kyrie Irving led the Mavs with 27 points and six assists, P. J. Washington finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Naji Marshall had 20 points and five boards. Also for the Mavs, Klay Thompson contributed 15 points and six rebounds, Dereck Lively II collected 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Daniel Gafford finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.
Miami was led by Jimmy Butler (33 points, nine rebounds), Bam Adebayo (19 points, 11 boards) and Tyler Herro (18 points, 10 rebounds). In addition, the Heat got 15 points from Alec Burks and 14 points from Pelle Larsson.
The Mavs enjoyed a 118-117 lead in overtime after Lively’s offensive rebound and dunk. But Miami tallied five straight points – on a triple by Adebayo and a bucket by Butler – and surged ahead, 122-118, with 1:38 left.
The Mavs could have inched closer, but Irving misfired on two three-point attempts and Washington also missed a three-pointer. Burks connected on a free throw with 12.2 seconds left to account for the game’s final point.
Dallas had an excellent chance to win the game in regulation play. Irving was intentionally fouled with 8.2 seconds left, and he split a pair of free throws, giving the Mavs a 114-112 lead and leaving the door open for Miami needing a two-pointer instead of a three-pointer to send the game into overtime.
Following two timeouts by Miami, Butler somehow got loose for a dunk to knot the game at 114-114 with 4.3 seconds to go. After that, a long three-pointer by Spencer Dinwiddie rimmed in and out, and the game entered the overtime period.
The Mavs started fast and led, 18-10, after Irving buried a three-pointer less than five minutes into the game. A lot of the early activity by the Mavs came from Lively, who contributed four points, five rebounds and three assists before the game reached the midway point of the first quarter.
It was a first half which saw an inordinate amount of fouls being called, and most of them didn’t go Dallas’ way. The Mavs were whistled for 16 fouls in the first half and the Heat turned that into 21 free throw attempts, and they made 13 of those.
Miami was charged with 10 first-half fouls. In fact, Butler (8-of-12 free throws) attempted more charity tosses in the opening half than the Mavs (7-of-8).
A 20-5 run by Heat bridging the first and second quarters pushed Miami ahead, 38-28, with less than 10 minutes left before halftime. But the Mavs countered with an 11-1 run, thanks to a three-point play by Washington, a tip-in by Gafford, and a pair of three-point plays by Irving to tie the game at 39-all with 7:20 to go in the first half.
Miami led, 56-51, at intermission and 89-84 after three quarters. After that, the Mavs took charge and were in position to win down the stretch of regulation play.
But they just couldn’t come up with the necessary plays, and the Heat, who were playing their first game since Monday, gained some momentum when they forced overtime.
