Postgame Breakdown: Mavs 106, Heat 93

The Heat never led in this one. The 0-for-10 start from the field made sure of that.

Dallas raced to a 17-point lead in the first quarter and carved the Heat's defense with 30 assists, 25 points from Dirk Nowitizki and 20 points and 17 rebounds from Erick Dampier to cruise to a 106-93 victory Friday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The Heat (11-10) simply had no answers after falling behind 24-7 in the first quarter. Despite fighting back to get to within three points on five occasions, Miami just couldn't contend with Dallas' precision, experience, clutch shooting and balance. Five Mavericks scored in double figures and their two-headed point guard monster (Jason Kidd and J.J. Berea) each had 10 assists.

How do teams like the Mavericks seem to have two quality, starting-caliber point guards and a team like the Heat can't seem to get a lick of consistency from its one?

So much for the Heat's momentum from that encouraging Western Conference trip. Now, Miami stands 6-6 at home this season. The Mavericks extended their regular-season dominance of the Heat by winning their 11th straight in the series. Of course, that run does not include the Heat's 4-2 series win in the 2006 NBA Finals.

Miami owns the championship rings. The Mavericks own the regular season.

D. WADE'S DOINGS: Wade emerged from the training room after the game wearing a brace on his right shooting wrist, courtesy of a hard fall he took after missing a dunk in the second quarter. That about sums on the night for the Heat. Wade delivered his fourth double-double in five games, but his 28 points and 11 rebounds (tied a career high) couldn't offset Dallas' balanced attack. Wade also had an off night again from the field, going 8 of 24. But this wasn't just a settle-for-jump-shots sort of struggle for Wade. He tried to get into the lane. But even those bunnies weren't falling. The best news of the night for Wade was that his sore wrist didn't require X-rays after the game.

TURNING POINT: Even after its horrible start, Miami managed to pull to within three points in the first half and trailed 53-46 at the break. But then Floyd "Money" Mayweather arrived with his entourage, took his seat near midcourt and three spots down from the Dallas bench. The Mavs came out with another flurry in the second half and quickly pushed the lead back to 15 points with a 16-8 spurt capped by yet another one of those kiss-the-ceiling jumpers from Dirk. It was all but over after that. 

EDGE: Take your pick. The Mavericks' 39 field goals came on 30 assists to offer an example of the ball-movement and execution of Dallas offense. The Heat, coming off a 30-plus assist game of its own, reverted to individual players trying to make something happen against a set defense. And then there were the 17 rebounds from Dampier, who had three more than Miami's starting frontcourt.

HEAD-SCRATCHER: Considering Carlos Arroyo hadn't played the previous two games and seemed to have fallen out of the rotation, you had to wonder why so many fans and reporters were at his locker waiting for him before the game. Turns out, Friday's game was quite an event for Spanish media outlets. With Jose Barea in the Mavs' starting lineup, it might have been the first time two Puerto Rico natives faced one another in an NBA game. On cue, Arroyo entered in the second quarter to make the showdown a reality, with a group of fans waiving the Puerto Rico flag ... Lumped into the Heat's sluggish first half were three missed dunks, with Udonis Haslem blowing an alley-oop on a bad pass from Wade, Wade getting hung and falling on his back after a reverse dunk attempt and Dorell Wright clanging one off the back rim.

KEY CONTRIBUTION: Miami started to rally when Haslem entered the game. After the 0-for-10 start, the Heat then made 15 of 22 field goals. Michael Beasley gave the Heat its first field goal with a jumper at 6:26 of the first quarter. Haslem them followed with a layup. The Heat went from trailing 24-7 to pulling to within 38-35. Haslem finished 9 of 10 from the field for 22 points and 10 rebounds. Beasley added his own double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Unfortunately, Wade, Beasley, Haslem and a pinch of Joel Anthony (four blocks) were forced to play 3-and-a-half against six. 

NEXT UP: Grizzlies at Heat, 6 p.m. Sunday - AmericanAirlines Arena

(For live news, notes and updates on the Heat, follow me on Twitter @ twitter.com/wallacesports. To post a question or join our live Heat chat each Thursday from 1-2 p.m., click here.)

Comments

[pugtv]

Head Scratcher - Haslem has a monster game and Mike Wallace comes back to post his 1st post game blog in awhile ... lol.

[pmartin]

I think Mike Wallace works part time as Haslem's Press Release Agent.
Trade for Bayless;
Chalmers needs to sit next to Haslem on the Bench.
Chalmers and Haslem both are great ROLE EFFORT players off the bench.
Start Bayless and Beasley and tell Wade to STOP shooting so much!!!

[SATANLOVES]

FIRE SPO.

[Jermaine is a Beyotch]

How much more time does Jermaine need? I don't take an entire week off from work for a funeral in the family! I mean come on... Get back to work u overpaid loser!!

[rockstarjc]

it is a sad day!!! we supposed to have win @ our HOME COURT!!! hope we can win the remaining 5 game... i think we better make some trades now!!! to start...

JONES,COOK,QUINN, + draft rights DOZIER... to:
(PORTLAND)*BAYLESS & *WEBSTER...

HASLEM,DIAWARA + trade exemption we got from TORONTO 4.2M & 2nd round pick 2010... to:
(MEMPHIS)*GAY & *GASOL,M.

Q-rich + draft rights BEVERLY... to:
(WASHINGTON)*BUTLER...

WAIVED:
ARROYO,RANDOLPH,S. & MAGLOIRE to have more cap space to offer a max deal to:
(PHOENIX)*AMARE STOUDEMIRE...

re-signed:
WADE
D.WRIGHT
BEASLEY
CHALMERS
ANTHONY,J.
O'NEAL,J. (to received pay-cut)

line-up would:

PG chalmers / *bayless / wright
SG wade / *webster(sf) / wright
SF *gay / *butler,c.(sg) / wright
PF beasley(sf) / o'neal,j.(c) / wright
C *stoudemire(pf) / *gasol,m. / anthony,j.

we got now a depth bench also got a flexible line-up that a coach can experiment to use on the floor without pressure to WADE...
WE LEVEL NOW ON TEAMS LIKE: BOSTON,LAKERS,MAGIC,CAVS,NUGGETS...

i think all the trade ideas above are possible and fair for both teams...
hope this could be done!!!

RILEY & MIKEY WANT A HEAT DYNASTY... START NOW!!!

thoughts???

GO HEAT!!!

MAYBE WE COULD ALSO SIGN BYRON SCOTT AS HEAD COACH & COACH SPO AS ASSISTANT COACH...

what you think guys???

[rockstarjc]

we have still two 1st round picks on 2010 draft class...

[RP]

Folks...this is pretty much a .500 team. It ain't gonna change. Lots of coulda, woulda, shoulda. JO must be hurt again. Taking a whole week off is inexcusable. Maglorie should be playing more. At least you can expect to see some real contact inside with the Big Cat!

[305 Representer]

I think Riley is going for either Bosh, Amare, and Boozer all three would help for a championship run. I say Bosh should be the main target out of the 3 in my opinion. I still don't think with Bosh we will be an elite team if we don't get an all-star caliber point guard. I think the most possible choice and best choice would be Raymond Felton who will be a restricted free agent and Charlotte has no money to spend. What do y'all think? I also think rockstarjc need to understand this is reality and not NBA Live with his trade proposals. I still say trade J.O for Tmac to beat Atlanta because will defiently end up facing them in the playoffs again.

[ebag]

oh, the dallas mavericks. i hate them more than spo haters and udonis haters combined. but not as much as i hate the mike wallace haters. the one thing they all have on common is that they complain all the time.

another big game from the beazy/udonis combo. spo has to get these two on the court together more often. they are clearly the second and third best players on this team, in either order.

arroyo looks like the extra guy to show up for a pickup game. can't explain it any better than that, except to say that he does not fit-in on this team. give those minutes to cook.

really, the heat looked like a team that hadn't played in five days, was missing two starters, and lost to one of the best teams in the nba.

p.s. how many other people were happier than usual with the heat down 15 points with five minutes left? haha. suck it dallas

[ebag]

i think bosh and amare are top two targets.

third is probably joe johnson, or another small forward to put between wade and beazy. add a medicore center like camby or tyson chandler. as for point guard, i'd like to see the heat trade for a veteran like steve blake or kirk hinrich.

and i've tried talk sense into rockstar, but he really believes we can get monta ellis for dorell wright. his head might explode tomorrow when the heat have to play against rudy gay and marc gasol

[jdogthedog]

rather watch 15 win team than this junk lol

[rockstarjc]

hey ebag... thanx for your comment but i never say or talk about WRIGHT to ELLIS!!!

i just wanted to win the team!!! im a heat fan!!!
how about this one:
could this possible???

we trade; COOK,CHALMERS,JONES & MAGLOIRE to:
(portland)*BAYLESS & *WEBSTER...

a 3 team trade:
(heat send)O'NEAL,Q-RICH,QUINN + 2ND round pick 2010 & DRAFT RIGHTS DOZIER...
(wolves send)AL JEFFERSON & CARDINAL...
(wizards send)ARENAS...

results:

(heat receives) *ARENAS & *JEFFERSON
(wolves receives)O'NEAL + 2nd round draft pick 2010 & draft rights DOZIER...
(wizards receives)Q-RICH,QUINN,CARDINAL...

IT'S A FAIR DEAL BASED ON... (trade machine on espn)

waived: ARROYO,RANDOLPH,S.& DIAWARA...

THEN WE SIGN A MAX DEAL ON...
*STOUDEMIRE,AMARE pf/c...
HE IS BETTER THAN BOSH...

line -up would:

PG *ARENAS / *BAYLESS
SG WADE / *WEBSTER(sf)
SF BEASLEY(pf) / WRIGHT,D.(pg,sg,pf)
PF *STOUDEMIRE / HASLEM
C *JEFFERSON,AL / ANTHONY,J.

WE CAN ADD A PF & C ON (MIN.VET.)to make 12!!!
>UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS...

WE CAN NOW MATCH THE TEAMS LIKE: LAKERS,BOSTON,NUGGETS,MAGIC...

thoughts???

[True Heat Fan]

But he always gets his shot blocked. Has below average basketball awareness. does not block shots. cannot drive. Cannot dribble. always fumbling passes thrown to him. Limited basketball skills and height for a player in his position. Gets beat constantly by other power forwards. The man is average...I have nothing against him he is an ok player but please quit it with this he is the 2nd or 3rd best option on the team...whomever says this is delusional. Beasley and Jermaine Oneal are the 2nd and 3rd options. Trade him now while we can get something of value. Thanks!

[True Heat Fan]

Haslem is a good rebounder and an ok jump shooter but an average defender. Best thing he does is draw charges and does not complain. He is also D Wade's friend.

But he always gets his shot blocked. Has below average basketball awareness. does not block shots. cannot drive. Cannot dribble. always fumbling passes thrown to him. Limited basketball skills and height for a player in his position. Gets beat constantly by other power forwards. The man is average...I have nothing against him he is an ok player but please quit it with this he is the 2nd or 3rd best option on the team...whomever says this is delusional. Beasley and Jermaine Oneal are the 2nd and 3rd options. Trade him now while we can get something of value. Thanks!

[DC Heater]

Playoffs!!! Playoffs! Your talking about the Playoffs!!!

This team will be lucky to win 35 games this year... If that is the case, than I think we can all kiss Wade goodbye... Judging by his lack of effort and terrible play, I think that he is either tanking it, or is more hurt than we all think

[rockstarjc]

how many lose we have to go before we start picking up the help WADE need???
it's better to see MR. WADE go to other teams than to see HIM here!!!

it's good to see MR.WADE to sign on other teams like KINGS...